THE HEALING POWER OF PRAYER
| Published: 29th March 2007 14:26 |
THE HEALING POWER OF PRAYER
BY ELIZABETH ADLAM
Consultant paediatric surgeon Alasdair Fife of the Royal Hospital for sick children in Glasgow doesn't expect miracles in his line of work:' Most often I can see a medical explanation for recovery and cure' he says. But sometimes he's ‘startled by the impossible' Like the day on-year old Fearghus McKendry lay dying, his small body ravaged by massive infection following radical bowel surgery. Every line of treatment had been tried - and failed. That evening Fyfe prayed for Fearghus and in his mid her heard the words: ‘I want you to tell his mother that he will get better'
How do you tell the mother of a dying child that her son will live?. Apprehensive, yet filled with conviction, the surgeon did so. Next day, for the very first time, Fearghus started to accept minute amounts of food. Today he's a strapping 21year old joinery apprentice in Eaglesham, Glasgow.
Was it prayer that made the difference? Fearghus's mother, school teacher Margaret McKendry is not a religious person.
, ‘but there were times when I silently screamed a prayer' Family, friends and local churches were praying too!
Over the past 20 years, researchers have subjected prayer to rigorous clinical trials, seeking scientific proof of its power to heal. One of the first was in 1968 at San Francisco General Hospital. A prayer group was instructed to pray for certain coronary heart disease patients, while other recovering patients were not prayed for. The outcome was that the prayed - for group needed five times fewer antibiotics, suffered a third less pulmonary oedema and recovered with fewer complications. Since then studies have demonstrated the positive health benefits of prayer for a range of conditions.
Some studies, though, have been inconclusive ‘It's difficult to carry out a scientific prayer study when an appeal is being made to God' pointed out consultant neuropschiatrist Peter Fenwick form London University. ‘It's the attitude of the person praying that is the most important variable - the intention to heal'
A surprising number of people do pray - two thirds of us in Britain say we do. In an international survey set up by beliefnet.com with US News and World Report magazine, 40 percent of 5,600 respondents said they prayed for their health ‘all the time' and 71% prayed about specific conditions such as cancer or chronic pain.
In a BBC survey carried out with the University of Nottingham, 37% of respondents said they'd experienced help in answer to a prayer.
But what of unanswered prayers? Almost 74% of the Beliefnet/US News survey's respondents said that in such cases, the most important reason is that ‘they did not fit into God's plan'. More than one in three participants said the most important purpose of prayer was ‘intimacy with God'. This sense of relationship with a divine being has profound psychological effects.
As Margaret McKendry discovered, whether or not you're a believer, the prayers of others offer a sense of comfort and connection. I recall the mother of a child I'd tought coming up to me and saying. ‘I offer up my Holy Communion for Ferghus every Sunday'. I was touched. The prayers of other people helped me through the darkest days. This support is one reason why Peter Fenwick believes prayer groups could help patients in hospitals.
Whether or not prayers are actually answered doesn't really matter. ‘When priests receive request to pray for the sick and suffering, people aren't expecting a miracle cure' says the Reverend Linda Barley, head of research for the Archbishops council. ‘More often than not, they seek the spiritual strength that comes from knowing others are offering prayers in support'. For many that is where the power of prayer resides.
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