Can a Sick Person Pray for Another Sick Person?

by Francis MacNutt
Jan/Feb 2006

One of the questions often asked of us is, “Can someone who is weak or crippled pray for others to be healed?” Our response always has been that a person in a wheelchair certainly can pray for healing. We have known of some wonderful prayer ministers who have suffered from various infirmities. Perhaps they are better able to empathize with God’s suffering people, just as Jesus’ suffering enabled him to be a high priest who entered fully into our human condition.

Last week I read about a saintly Catholic who lived in medieval times (1228–1300). Blessed Bartolo Buonpedoni served as a lay infirmarian in a Benedictine monastery in Pisa, Italy. He thought of becoming a monk himself, then one night he experienced a vision of Christ covered with wounds. Jesus told him he didn’t expect Bartolo to become a monk, that he would “win the crown that is prepared for you in the suffering which will wound your body for twenty years.” The full meaning of this personal prophecy was revealed later when, at the age of 52, he was stricken with a form of leprosy. He then entered a hospital for lepers, where he became chaplain.

Remarkably, God used the touch of Bartolo's leprous hands to work miracles of healing!¹

(Footnotes)
1 Taken from p. 192 (Wed., Dec. 14, 2005) of Magnificat, Vol. 7, No. 10.

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.