Prayer for Health Care

A dear friend of mine shared a prayer she wrote for health care and was kind enough to give me permission to share it here with all of you.  She makes some very poignant points that I feel should be shared.  Here goes:

Prayer for Health Care

Lord, we know that you must be aggrieved at the thought of so many people in the world who suffer from denial of access to the healing arts.  As a Healer Yourself, You showed unconditional compassion to so many of us humans who desperately needed to be restored to health in order to better praise and glorify Your holy name.

You did not refuse care to the leper with a terrible pre-existing condition.

You did not insist that the blind have vision care in their policies.

You made the lame walk again without demanding they turn over their entire savings for surgery or prosthetic limbs.

Your mother Mary would have been discharged from the stable after 24 hours under our current system, never able to receive the Gifts of the Magi.

The distressed and depressed found succor within Your warm embrace, without being referred to community mental health or substance abuse clinics with hopelessly long waiting lists for quick med checks and little guidance.

Lord, we have tried using the power of prayer to cure our loved ones, and sometimes it seemed like that worked.  As you know by their presence in Your Heavenly abode, prayer was often not enough.  You gave our medical professionals skill and intelligence, and You hoped that we as a people would find a way to let them make use of their great gifts for the benefit of all.

It must frustrate You when our dedicated health professionals, who received Your grace and wisdom while preparing for their arduous careers, are not permitted to treat the working poor.  You must shed tears when a hospital ER accepts uninsured people only until they are minimally ”stabilized,” then packs them off to a crowded facility with inadequate resources to provide an appropriate level of care.  And when the bills come in for the treatment they did receive, we know that You hear their despair.

It must break Your compassionate heart when Your flock is forced to choose between shelter, heat, food, or medical treatment.

 When the people in charge claim to be “Christians” or otherwise devoted to You yet base their compassion upon the size of a person’s employer or bankroll, this must provoke the righteous anger You showed towards the money-changers in the Temple. 

 Please, Lord, soften the hearts of your followers.  Make them think about how their attitudes are anything but Christ-like.  Warm their cold spirits as You provide your healing graces to us all. Bless the tireless health professionals who volunteer in free clinics after a hard day’s work, and the others who volunteer in those clinics or support them through their donations. We know that their actions are pleasing to You. 

We implore you, Lord, please hear our prayer.