In the Book of Tobit St Raphael was sent by God to Tobit and Sarah, who were strangers living in two different cities. Tobit suffered from physical blindness and had to endure being homebound and the ridicule of his neighbors. Sarah suffered from spiritual afflictions of a demon who had killed all seven of the men she had married. Both Tobit and Sarah were very faithful and very desperate. They cried out to God and God heard their prayers. St Raphael was sent to each of them by way of Tobit’s son Tobiah who journeyed with Raphael not knowing he was an angel sent by God. When Tobiah reached Sarah’s home, Raphael instructed him to make a healing oil from a fish he had caught. Tobiah’s faithfulness led to the spiritual healing and deliverance of Sarah, they were married and journeyed back to Ninevah to see Tobit. Upon arrival Tobiah applied the oil to Tobit’s eyes and he was healed of his blindness.

     In this story, we witness the spiritual and physical healing that God gives through the ‘intercession’ of Raphael. Raphael has always been associated with the praying for and healing of the sick, both physically and spiritually. The name ‘Raphael’ literally means “God’s remedy”. With this as our inspiration our St Raphael Healing Ministry has a twofold purpose. Like many parishes, we will be collecting the names of the sick in our parish and listing them in the bulletin. This includes family members and friends of parishioners who may live in different areas. The idea is that we form a list of names of people you all can pray for. We will include this list as a general intercession, at our Masses. You will find below, various guidelines on how this prayer list will work.

     In the second aspect of this ministry we will ask the sick and the homebound to pray for us as well! Our homebound who are able will also be asked to pray for the fruitfulness of the parish life, the needs of the people of our parish, and the needs of the world. By way of the bulletin, we will include various prayer intentions (like the war in Ukraine, or the Love for Live Collaboration, for example) they can pray for. We will provide for them a rosary, a prayer card and medallion of St Raphael. Our homebound will become our prayer warriors! This will have the added benefit of including them, more fully into the life and needs of the parish. We all long for a sense of purpose and this can feel taken away from us when we are sick. Much spiritual, emotional, and physical healing can happen when we are brought more deeply and intentionally into community. Asking for our sick and homebound to pray for us is as needed as our prayers for them.