Do not be afraid; have Faith (Mark 5:36)
Reflections from the ShrineMany devotees of St. Jude who visit the Shrine have had very serious health scares in their lives. Jenna, a devotee of St. Jude, was breast cancer free for close to five years until a lump in her breast sent her back for a biopsy. She came to the Shrine to pray for healing and strength as the memories of her first battle with breast cancer caused her much anxiety as she awaited the result of her biopsy. She is afraid of having to go down this painful road again. I told her to have faith and trust in God. She said to me that even though God has been a source of strength and healing for her, the fear of another battle with breast cancer is such a strong and overwhelming feeling and also a challenge to her faith in God. However, in spite the magnitude of our challenges, our faith in God is capable of carrying us through the rough patches of life.
The experience of the woman in Mark’s Gospel with hemorrhages teaches us that faith in God does not disappoint (Mark 5:25-34). Faith in God will bring the healing and comfort that we earnestly yearn for. The woman in the Gospel of Mark had a deadly blood disease (Mark 5:25). For twelve years she had visited many specialists, she had been to many hospitals, and she had undergone numerous blood tests, yet she was never cured. Her illness took life away from her; she lost her job and her health insurance (if she ever had any). This illness restricted her to a life filled with uncertainty and inactivity. Although the illness took away her physical life, the disease could not destroy her spiritual life. She kept the battle for twelve years and beyond with a life filled with faith and hope that God will grant her the healing she desired. She fought the illness with her faith by the simple gesture of touching the cloth of Jesus (Mark 5:28). It was her faith that cured her. Her faith in God restored her to normal life. Jesus confirms her faith and sends her home in peace (Mark 5:34).
Fear is an overwhelming force that is capable of stopping us on our tracks towards prevailing over the source of our fear. The gripping power of fear extinguishes our will-power to try overcoming the challenges of life, but faith in God fills us with courage to stay on the tracks of hope that leads to divine help. Whatever is causing you pain and discomfort; leading to fear of what its outcome would be, talk to God about it in prayer. Join us at the National Shrine of St. Jude, a place of prayer and thanksgiving to God through the intercession of St. Jude. In spite of the challenges of your life, have faith in God, be brave, take heart and put your hope in God (Psalm 31:24). Our God is able to grant you the peace you seek. Trust in God at all times.
Fr. Ferdinand Okorie, CMF
National Shrine of St. Jude
Chicago, Illinois
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St. Jude please pray for me and my family, may we find the solution to all our problems. may we find a christian buyer for the foreclosed property and and we find the means to meet all our obligations…. thank you St. jude for your intercession to our LORD JESUS…
Please St Jude help me in the hour of my need. I turn to you to intercede in my request for help. I need your help. I pray that God hears my cries for help. I ask this in the name of Jesus, His beloved son that suffered for my sins. I pray to the Blessed Mother and her immaculate heart for assistance. I will always be grateful and never forget
Dear St. Jude please pray for us, you knwo our needs, please intercede for us in this second round of bad behavior from my husband until he found himself, found balance, stability, to realized that this can have terrible consecuences that he realize that he loves his family, his kids and me. Please God help us to go thru this and move on with our marriage, as a family a happy family. Amen.
Trusting in God that they will see the right ventricle and all will be well
St Jude please heal Chris and may he be able to come home today. May you give Michael the strength needed to deal with Chris’s illness.
St. Jude, please I beg you please let my wife give birth to healthy twins. Please do not let her lose them in miscarriage or fetal demise. I beg you please protect my wife and my unborn children.
Dear St. Jude, I thank you for the many blessings you’ve provided to me in the past. I now pray to you to help my sister, Kathleen. Please let the resuts of her next examination be good ones. Please watch over her and restore her to perfect health. Thank you!……..Amen
Saint Jude I thank you from the depth of my soul for always being there whenever I call you in prayer for healing help, strength in prayer or faith. St. Jude, thank you for getting me thru yet another difficult time in my life…..thru Yours and Jesus’ interceeding my EKG & heart ultra sound came back ok…………..thank You, You have always been my patron Saint and want to make your name know to all. I beg everyone to keep praying and above all never, ever lose sight of your faith it is what will keep you going, alive and able to persevere. I honestly don’t know how people of no faith wake up each and every day and face life’s hardship and challenges without being able to lean on anything more superior than themselves!!! St. Jude & Jesus, thank You both in the name of our Lord God for once again coming to my side and holding my hand while receiving my good new. I will never abandon you and my faith, ever. I also pray for all who are on this blog receive their desires along with peace of soul and mind, in our Lord Jesus Christ and our patron Saint Jude…………….AMEN
Please, please help m daugher..please
Please help my soulmate and I find healing, forgiveness and patience.
Dear St. Jude: Please help as always. Thank you.
Thank u st Jude for all your blessings put I need help with a nephew he need alots of prayer his wife has left him and two daughters and he has pending court day that his freedom may depend on so i would like everyone to plz join me in prayer to st Jude for him his name Eric macias
Saint jude, thank you for always helping me through bad times.
St. Jude, I thank you for all of your many blessings and miracles that you bestow upon my family and me. not just in our time of need but always. I know whatever the problem, you will always be there helping and to make sure faith is never lost. thank you miracle worker for your many blessings. Amen
St. Jude, I go for my sonogram on Thursday. Please let the results be good and normal. You know how terrified I have been over this last month. I am trying to let you and God take control but I am still terrified. I do’nt want to leave Noelle with no mother. I promise to continue to encourage devotion to you and to publish my outcome and your prayer. You have always helped me in the past, please help me again in my desperate hour of need. Thank you St. Jude.
My dear St. Jude, I hade been bless in reciving your intersectiono several times, I come to you to pray for the healing of my son left shoulder, heal him St. Jude I know that no doctor can heal, no cirgury will be need because just you St. Jude can heal him . please St. Jude bless him with your healing. Thank you St. Jude because I know that my will be heal.
Dear St. Jude: I need your help; please ask Our Lord to help me in my hour of need. Thank you.
Dear St. Jude: Please ask Our Lord to continue to bless and keep us well. Thank you.
St. Jude, please intercede to our Lord, our God for a healing from cancer for my husband and for a dear friend. May their surgeries be successful with God in control. I also pray for peace of mind and faith during this most difficult time. Thank you…Amen
St. Jude, you have been such a source of strength for me over the past year, I now ask that you share that same strength with parents who are dealing with a child with drug addiction. And for all drug addicts, help them turn their lives over to God and realize how destructive their addiction is – not only to themselves, but to those that love them so much.
O blessed St. Jude, you have helped me so many times. I can bear true witness to the power of your intercession. Please help me again in my current trial. Pray that I may be completely released and be totally free. I will make it up to J.H. I will tell of your help in this matter.
I pray that there will be reconcilliation between me and the woman i so deeply love and wanna marry and spend our life together.Please I need a call from her to say everything is okay.Please help me!
My love goes to My father Michael and niece Elaina who just joined all in heaven and my their grace be shared with all thru St. Jude….Thank you….
St.Jude i pray that Derwin and I and our families may reconcile and that this relationship will be restored back completely and beautifully.Heal all hearts, take away all hurts and pains, increase love,trust,understanding and communication between us and bind us in the holy sacrament of matrimony. Bring happiness in our lives again
Saint of the impossible…though with God nothing is impossible…that my husband receive a miracle and be cured of cancer so that he may continue his life on Earth praising God and Saint Jude….
Dear St Jude, help my family friends and I to have that Blessed Gift of Faith in God! Help me to Tryst in His Divine Mercy, My Lord and My God I Prsise You and Glorify You! Help us through the Intercession of Dear St Jude, Thank you! Please Heal us all! Amen
Please pray for all those about to head down a foreign road that they have never traveled before. Give them the strength and fortitude to keep moving forward even when they are plagued by doubts.
For the healing of the cancer that is ravaging me.
St. Jude please pray for mine and my family’s health. Help us to turn to God in our time of need and pray and receive peace and hope. Thank you