The Theory
Miracle healings? To say I was sceptical would be an understatement. Every time I heard a testimony of healing I would immediately apply scientific logic to explain why it happened. This is how I thought:
Example 1: Cancer patient prays and finds out their tumour has gone.
Possible explanations:
• The scan was faulty
• There is a psychological phenomenon in that if you believe something will make you feel better, you will start to feel better. So this was no miracle- just a mind trick.
Example 2: People being healed in the sense that they are relieved of some sort of pain:
Possible explanation:
• Again, it’s just a psychological phenomenon. Formally called the ‘Placebo effect.’ So with all this in the back of my mind I went to a retreat earlier this year. On the first day I developed a severe back pain down the middle part of my spine and I was finding it difficult to get to sleep due to the pain. This went on for three days.
The experience
During Mass on the third day I was in so much pain that I couldn’t stand. Around the time of the consecration of the Eucharist the priest announced that two people with back pain were being healed. The second that he said it, a great warmth came over my back and suddenly the pain disappeared! I was so confused. I told myself, “It can’t be, I’m not one of the two.” As soon as Mass finished I started bending my back, twisting and testing it in every way. The pain had truly gone!
The Conclusion
I wondered how someone who does not believe in healing can be healed. For it to have been a psychological effect I had to have at least wished, expected or prayed to be healed. Then the answer came to me – God says: “I am the Lord, the one who heals you.” Exodus 15.26. I’ll leave you with one of my thoughts about this- how do babies get healed? Babies do not have the mental capacity to believe in God. So what scientific explanation is there for the fact babies are healed when others pray? I want to be a great doctor so I must study the works of the greatest healer of all time – Jesus Christ.