# A Prayer for Illness to Bring Forth Good
*2015-11-13*

> Bill Young reflects on St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s legacy and offers a heartfelt prayer asking God to transform suffering into a means of glorifying Him.

## St. Frances Xavier Cabrini – A Model of Service

Good morning, I’m Bill Young. Today, November 13, we celebrate the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen to be canonized. Born in Italy, she came to New York in the late 19th century and founded more than 60 hospitals, orphanages, and schools. My own grandparents arrived from Italy in the early 20th century, and through the schools she established they learned English and found support as they settled in America.

## Why We Pray for Illness

St. Cabrini endured frailty and illness, yet she always offered her suffering for the Lord. In the same spirit, I want to pray not only for my own pain but for all who suffer. The prayer that follows asks God to make illness a conduit of grace, rather than a source of despair.

## A Prayer to Ask God That All Illness May Bring Forth Good

Lord, your Spirit is ever good and gentle. Grant me the grace to respond to my circumstances in a truly Christian way, even when you permit me to suffer. May I recognize you as my Father and God, regardless of my physical or mental state, for your nature never changes.

When illness comes, keep me from impatience and the sadness that self‑pity brings. Let my desire for health be rooted only in the wish to serve you, with you, in you. I do not ask for health nor for illness, but I submit my whole being—health, illness, life, and death—to your will, for the glory of my salvation and the good of the Church.

Help me accept your will and glorify you in my suffering. May my pain draw me closer to you, as you entered our hearts through your own Passion. Unite my will with yours, my pains with the sufferings of Christ, that my illness may become a participation in his redemptive work. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, sustain me, and transform my hardship into a means for the Church’s mission.

O Lord, my Savior, grant that I may no longer live merely to suffer, but that Christ who lives and suffers in me may be glorified through my weakness. Amen.

## Closing Blessing

May God bless you all.

*Illness can become a channel of grace when we unite our suffering with Christ’s.*