Mary Healy - Healing: Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World

Praise For

Healing: Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World

Mary Healy, recently appointed a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, has written an extraordinary book on healing. Based on solid scholarship and extensive personal experience, and written in a very accessible style, my hope is that this book will stimulate conversation in the Church about this very important dimension of evangelization. And yet this book is written not just to give theoretical understanding but also to enable Gods people to open themselves more fully to be used as instruments of healing and evangelization in the challenging times in which we are now living.

Ralph Martin, founder and president of Renewal Ministries

This is a timely book, especially for us who are increasingly pressured to privatize our faith. Not only does Healing: Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World encourage us to live our faith boldly, but also to serve the Lord with gladness and to expect his mercy and his miracles to surround and sustain us. I strongly recommend Mary Healys latest book.

Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, bishop of Phoenix

In this skillfully written and inspirational book, Dr. Healy offers the whole Church an opportunity to contemplate Gods desire to heal today. The book will inspire you with stories of the kingdom of God revealed through physical healing. You will receive refreshing insights into the New Testament accounts and an understanding of healing throughout Church history and its vital role today in the New Evangelization. Healy not only calls for a restoration of healing ministry, she also shows us the way through her personal journey and practical instruction. A must read for anyone seriously examining the breadth and depth of the New Evangelization.

Neal Lozano, founder and director of Heart of the Father Ministries

Dr. Healys book Healing: Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World is challenging, instructive, and inspiring. It elevated my faith in Gods faithfulness to confirm our proclamation of his gospel. As someone committed to equipping Catholics to evangelize, I believe this book is essential reading for anyone who is open to learning from Scripture, Tradition, and contemporary examples this important but neglected dimension of evangelization. Healing: Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World opens us up to consider a radical paradigm shift that embraces the expectation of Gods working with us to confirm the proclamation of the word of his grace with signs and wonders (Acts 14:3).

Dave Nodar, founder and director of ChristLife

Healing

Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World

Healing

Bringing the Gift of Gods Mercy to the World

Mary Healy

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

Huntington, Indiana 46750

Nihil Obstat:

Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

Kevin C. Rhoades

Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

May 19, 2015

The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are declarations that a work is free from doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

Most Scripture texts in this work are from the Second Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966, and 2006 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture texts taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America are used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations from the New International Version are copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Some Scripture quotations are the authors own direct translation from the Greek New Testament.

Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, for use in the United States of America, copyright 1994 and 1997, United States Catholic Conference Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations from papal and other Vatican-generated documents available on vatican.va are copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.

Copyright 2015 by Mary Healy. Published 2015.

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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750; 1-800-348-2440

ISBN 978-1-61278-820-3 (Inventory No. T1626)

eISBN: 978-1-61278-376-5

LCCN: 2015947024

Cover design: Lindsey Riesen

Cover art: Christ Healing the Mother of Simon Peters Wife, by John Bridges (18181854); Private Collection Photo Agnews, London/Bridgeman Images.

P RINTED IN THE U NITED S TATES OF A MERICA

Contents

Chapter One

A Tsunami of the Spirit

Preach as you go, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.

Matthew 10:78

The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

1 Corinthians 4:20

It was a beautiful afternoon on the southern California coast, and 22-year-old Andrew Laubacher had just finished surfing. He was walking along the boardwalk in his wetsuit, heading back to his car, when he spotted a young girl sitting in a wheelchair on the beach. He knew he had to pray with her.

Andrew was in many ways a typical Catholic young adult. He loved surfing, playing music, and hanging out with his friends. In his teen years he had gone through a time of rebellion and had gotten into some trouble with the law. He had become an atheist for a time. Then he experienced a powerful conversion at a Steubenville Youth Conference, and he began to learn that as followers of Christ we are called to bring the good news to others in the power of the Holy Spirit. He had even witnessed some miraculous healings. So when he saw the teenage Hispanic girl, sitting by the ocean in a wheelchair, he felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to stop and pray with her. In his own words, Andrew recounts what happened next:

I got out of my wetsuit and dried off and approached the girl, who was with her parents. They didnt speak English but the girl did. I went up and asked how she was doing and if she wanted prayer for anything. The fear of rejection and of having nothing happen when I prayed was real and strong, but I went anyway.