Sunshine Cathedral Blog

Question: The closest person to me in the world recently died. I honestly prayed for his healing, but he didn’t get well, and now he is gone. Why didn’t my prayers work? What did I do wrong?

Answer: Prayer, faith, a positive attitude, hope… these are all very powerful and can make a difference in the difficult circumstances of life. And still, not everything works out the way we’d like sometimes. I don’t know what was wrong with your loved one, but I’m sure he was trying to get rest and was receiving medical treatment, and those efforts along with your prayers all worked together to benefit your dear one. Maybe your prayers gave him strength to bear the difficulty. Maybe your prayers comforted him in ways that you couldn’t see. Maybe your prayers gave him hours or even days of life that he wouldn’t have otherwise had. And while a cure or remission may have eluded him, healing in other ways may have been very real for him. Your prayers may have even helped him have a peaceful transition from this experience of life to the next. We sometimes don’t know how our prayers have benefited someone, but we can know that our prayers are an expression of love, and love is never wasted. You can be sure that your faithful prayers were a blessing to your loved one. Our loving prayers are always a special gift of goodwill, and they do in some way add something beautiful to the lives of those we hold in prayer.