We pray for the sick. We pray for ourselves when we’re sick too. But how many of us pray for health when we’re healthy? For continued health? For increasing health?
One of my favorite prayers is the “Lorica” (or “breastplate”) attributed to Saint Patrick. It’s a wonderful prayer of power and protection and a great guide for how we might pray for health even when we’re not ill. He prayed “against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul,” including “against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding.”
So, why don’t we follow his example and pray for ourselves and others when we’re healthy? Here are a few suggested prayers for the healthy. Each will be phrased for oneself but can easily be revised or adapted into a prayer for someone else:
1) Thanks for Health
Heavenly Father, thank You for the health and vitality I enjoy today.
Thank you for functioning organs, working joints, strong muscles and sharp senses.
Let Your vitality flow into every cell in my body,
driving far from me all sickness and disease,
and remind me to give You praise and thanks for the health I enjoy. Amen.
2) Protection for Continued Health
God, grant that I may continue in health today.
Wherever I go, protect me from germs and viruses and bacteria.
Keep me safe from injury of body, mind or soul,
and bring me to this day’s end filled with health and energy,
that I may enjoy good health and that all may go well with me (3 John 2). Amen.
3) Petition for Increase in Health
Holy Spirit, my body is Your temple (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)
and my desire is to keep it healthy
and to increase in health and strength.
Help me to be a good steward of the health and strength you give,
in what I eat and drink and how I conduct myself each day.
Protect me from sickness, disease and injury,
granting me mobility, flexibility and strength. Amen.
4) Appeal for Healthy Functions
Gracious God, You knit me together in my mother’s womb;
I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14).
My body is a wonder—and at times a mystery—to me.
Please keep it functioning well.
Keep my heart strong and my lungs healthy.
Keep my blood pressure and cholesterol in a healthy range.
Protect my memory and preserve my senses.
Oversee all the functions of my body that promote health and well-being. Amen.
I offer the above in the hope that these prayers will suggest others, and that regularly giving thanks and offering petitions for health and strength—for ourselves and for others.
