The diagnosis of cancer impacts patients and their loved ones physically, emotionally and spiritually. Often times, people will turn to prayer to help cope with the challenges that a cancer diagnosis brings. Prayer may be silent or spoken out loud and can be done in a place of worship, in your home, out in nature or anywhere and anytime you feel connected with the Holy. Prayers often ask a higher Power for help, for guidance, for peace, for understanding and inspiration, for strength and courage as one deal with the difficulties and joys that life brings.
The following are a select number of Prayers for Hope and Healing from various religious traditions offered as a guide. Keep in mind that prayer and meditation transcend religion. You do not have to belong to a faith community to engage in prayer. Our wish is that you find in these prayers a sense of hope and peace as you reach out to the God of your Faith and/or the spiritual nature within yourself.
Centering Prayer
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. — Deepak Chopra
Living with Hope
In the beginning everything was in relationship, and in the end everything will be in relationship again. In the meantime, we live by hope.
Healing Spirit
God’s healing power moves through me now, and I am healed. No matter what form a healing challenge may take, there is power within that heals me. This healing power is God’s spirit within me. As I pray, I visualize God’s healing life moving through me as a current flowing from the top of my head to the soles of my felt. I hold to a vision of healing despite any outer appearances to the contrary. While I am praying, I include others in need of healing. I know the truth for them just as surely as I know it for myself. I see them completely healed in mind and body. I am thankful that God answers prayer. No healing challenge is too great for God’s power to dissolve. I trust completely that God is guiding me and my loved ones on paths of health and healing. I rejoice that God’s healing power is moving through us right now.
Make Me Strong in Spirit
Make me strong in spirit, courageous in action, gentle of heart. Let me act in wisdom, conquer my fear and doubt, discover my own hidden gifts. Meet others with compassion, be a source of healing energies, and face each day with hope and joy. — Abby Willowroot
May Peace Surround You
Today, may there be peace within. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. May God’s presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. God’s love is there for each and every one of us. Amen.
Prayer for Healing
At every moment of our existence You are present to us, God, in gentle compassion. Help us to be present to one another so that our presence may be a strength that heals the wounds of time, and gives hope that is for all persons through you God.
A Caregiver’s Prayer
Gracious God, help me better understand And believe I can do what you ask me to do. As I go about the many daily tasks of caregiving, Give me energy. As I watch my loved on slowly walk across the room, Give me strength. As I look for solutions to whatever is the most recent concern, Give me wisdom. As I reminisce with him/her about the “good old days” Give me a moment of laughter. As I sit beside my loved one’s bed waiting for his/her pain medication to take effect, Give me comfort. Lighten my burden, answer my prayer, and give me strength to do what So often seems impossible. Give me a quiet place to rest when I need it And a quieting of my anxieties when I’m there.
May God gift you with Balm for your heart Peace for your mind Strength for each challenge Courage to hope Grace for each moment Rest for each day Faith to trust In God’s loving ways.
Dear God, I bring to you my burdens and you know my situation. You know that I can’t make it without you. Comfort my heart, Give me strength and Help me carry on.
God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can And wisdom to know the difference. — Reinhold Neibuhr
O God, help me to become well. Teach me to do whatever my parents, the doctors, And all who love and care for me ask. Make me brave when I feel pain. I know you are with me, Now and always. — Jewish
Angel of God, My guardian dear, To whom God’s love commits me here, Ever this day be at my side to light, to guard to rule and to guide. Amen — Christian
I hear no voice, I feel no touch, I see no glory bright; But yet I know that God is near, In darkness as in light. God watches ever by my side, And hears my whispered prayer: A God of love for a little child both night and day does care. — Anonymous
I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha until I attain Enlightenment. By merit accumulations from practicing generosity and other perfections. May I attain Enlightenment, for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Prayer or Freedom From Suffering
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another. May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness—the children, the aged, the unprotected—be guarded by beneficent celestials, and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.
Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real. Oh God, lead us from darkness to light. Oh God, lead us from death to immortality. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all. Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in celestial regions. May there be peace on earth. May the waters be appeasing. May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent beings bring peace to us. May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world. May all things be a source of peace to us. And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all, and may that peace come to me also.
May the Wind breathe healing upon us, prolong our life span, and fill our hearts with comfort.
You are father, O Wind, our friend and our brother.
Give us life that we may live.
From that immortal treasure, O Lord, which is hidden in your abode, impart to us that we may live. (The Vedas – Hinduism – Translated by Raimundo Panniker)
In the Midst of Darkness
I do dimly perceive that while everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates.
That informing power or spirit is God. And since nothing else that I see merely through the senses can or will persist, God alone is.
And is this power benevolent or malevolent? I see it as pure benevolent.
For I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persist. In the midst of darkness light persists.
Hence, I gather that God is Life, Truth, Light. God is Love. God is the Supreme Good.
— Mahatma Gandhi
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known That anyone who fled your protection, implored your help Or sought intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto to O Virgins of Virgin, my mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, Despise not my petitions, But in your mercy, Hear and answer me. Amen.
Prayer to St. Peregrine
O God, who have to St. Peregrine And angel for his companion, The Mother of God for his teacher, And Jesus for the Physician of his malady, Grant we beseech You, that through his merits We may on earth intensely love our holy Angel, The Blessed Virgin Mary, and our Savior; And in him bless them forever. Grant that we may receive the favor which we now petition. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
St. Patrick’s Breastplate
Christ, be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in my heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that’s sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. Salvation is of the Lord, Salvation is of the Lord, Salvation is of the Christ. May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful. Praise be to Allah, the cherisher and sustainer of the worlds, most gracious, most merciful. Master of the Day of Judgment, you do we worship, and your aid do we seek. Show us the straight way: the way of those on whom you have bestowed your grace. We humbly ask that you shower blessings and restore peace to all those suffering loss, and grant all people wisdom and compassion. Amen
O God, you are my Lord. There is none worthy of worship except You. I rely upon You, and You are the Great Lord of the Throne. Whatever God wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen. There is no power or strength except by God. I know that God is able to do anything, and that God knows all. O God I seek refuge in You from the evil in myself and every creature that You have given power over us. Verily my Lord is on the straight path.
For Well-being
O Allah, grant my body health, O Allah, grant my hearing health, O Allah, grant my sight health. None has the right to be worshipped except You.
O God, I take refuge with You from disbelief and poverty, and I take refuge with You from the punishment of the grave. None has the right to be worshipped except you.
I take refuge in God’s perfect words from the evil He has created.
O God, I ask You for pardon and well-being in this life and the next. O God, I ask You for pardon and well-being in my religious and worldly affairs, and my family and my wealth. O God, veil my weaknesses and set at ease my dismay. O God, preserve me from the front and from behind and on my right and on my left and from above, and I take refuge with You lest I be swallowed up by the earth.
O our Father, the Sky, hear us and make us strong.
O our Mother the Earth, hear us and give us support.
O Spirit of the East, send us your Wisdom.
O Spirit of the South, may we tread your path of life.
O Spirit of the West, may we always be ready for the long journey.
O Spirit of the North, purify us with your cleansing winds.
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, whose breath gives life to all the world. Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. May my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others. Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy: Myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Navajo Prayer of Healing
In the house made of dawn. In the story made of dawn. On the trail of dawn. O, Talking God. His feet, my feet, restore. His body, my body, restore. His mind, my mind, restore. His voice, my voice, restore. His plumes, my plumes, restore. With beauty before him, with beauty before me. With beauty behind him, with beauty behind me. With beauty above him, with beauty above me. With beauty below him, with beauty below me. With beauty around him, with beauty around me. With pollen beautiful in his voice, with pollen beautiful in my voice. It is finished in beauty. It is finished in beauty. In the house of every light. From the story made of evening light. On the trail of evening light.
If the world is a maze and a giant jigsaw puzzle, then who but the Creator gazing from his celestial vantage point can see the entire picture, appreciate its paradoxes and fit all the pieces together?
The man of faith is compelled to learn from experience. He recognizes that nothing in this world is for nothing. Difficulties, illness, pain and anguish are the tests of life; hurdles in the obstacle course. And it is in passing these tests that we find ourselves morally and spiritually strengthened, imbued with renewed faith and fortitude to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
As a wise man once said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
“He who blesses God in adversity will have his prosperity doubled.” (Talmud Berachoth 63A)
Heal us O Lord, and we will be healed; help us and we will be saved; for you are our praise. Grant complete care and healing to all our wounds; for You, Almighty King, are a faithful and merciful healer. Blessed are you Lord, who heals the sick of His people Israel.
Yivarechicha – the priestly blessing
May God bless you and keep watch over you
May the light of God’s presence shine upon you and be gracious to you
May God’s presence be with you and grant you peace.
A Prayer for Healing
Merciful Lord, visit us in our time of need and affliction; and as you healed Jairus’ daughter and raised her from her bed of infirmity, visit your servant, Master, and deliver him/her from sickness and pain. For you alone have born the sickness and affliction of our world and with you nothing is impossible. For you are all-merciful and to you we ascribe glory and adoration forever. Amen Lord, at this moment, I pray that you will hear me and give heed to the voice of my supplication. Stretch forth your hand, touch me and heal me of my infirmity. Grant that I may understand the nature of my illness and sustain me as I deal with its effects upon my life. Strengthen me, O Lord, as I perceive my affliction, not as an overwhelming obstacle, but rather, as a challenge to be met and overcome. Holy Father who in your infinite love created us in Your image and likeness; who formed my body out of the earth and breathed into it Your divine and life-giving breath; do You, Yourself, O Lords, look with mercy upon me, Your child and heal my spirit and body. Help me to endure the tribulations of my infirmity and keep my soul safe through all that has happened and will happen. Yes, Lord, I know that you are present at all times, long in patience, great in mercy and compassion. Receive my prayer at this present time and direct my life according to your commandments. Sanctify my soul. Cleanse my body and set my mind aright. Deliver me from sorrow evil and distress. Surround me with your holy angels, that guarded and guided by them, I may overcome this adversity. Thank You, Lord, for hearing my prayer.
The Virgin Theotokos
Rejoice! O Virgin Theotokos! Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have born the Savior of our souls! O victorious leader of triumphant host! We, your servants, delivered from evil, sing our grateful thanks to you, O Theotokos! As you possess invincible might set us free from every calamity so that we may sing: Rejoice! O unwedded Bride!
Prayer Intention Box
Located in the Meditation and Prayer Room, main Hospital room 1403 is a prayer intention box. You are invited to write your prayer request on the form provided and place it in the box. Intentions are prayed for each month during the Meditation and Prayer services.
Request a Prayer
Your prayer concerns are important to us and that is why each and every prayer request we receive is prayed for by members of the Spiritual Care Team. Be assured, our prayer support is confidential.
Prayer Books
Prayers of Hope and Comfort Healing Words of Wisdom Sacred Time... Sacred Space