We all know of someone in our lives who is in need of healing. They might need a physical healing, or a spiritual one. Whatever the case might be, we can rest assured that God desires their full restoration.
While it can be beneficial for the person themselves to pray for healing or conversion, God also looks favorably upon the prayers of friends or family members. When a group of people brought before Jesus a paralytic, Jesus looked upon the faith of his friends and cured the paralytic in addition to forgiving his sins (cf. Matthew 9:1–8).
One way to request from God such a healing or conversion is to use the Green Scapular, a sacramental of the Church that has been known to be an effective channel of God’s miraculous intervention.
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About 10 years after St. Catherine Laboure received visions of the Virgin Mary regarding the Miraculous Medal, a religious sister in her order also experienced miraculous visions.
In 1840 Sister Justine Bisqueyburu received a vision of the Blessed Mother, who gave to her the Green Scapular of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was approved by Pope Pius IX in 1870 and has been a popular sacramental ever since.
The Green Scapular is a simple green cloth that has the image of the Virgin Mary on it, with a prayer on it that says, “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.” There is no official “enrollment” in the scapular, but the cloth can be blessed by a priest.
It is reported that Our Lady said to Sister Justine, “The greatest graces come from using the scapular but these graces come in direct proportion to the degree of confidence in me which the user has.”
As Jesus said to his disciples, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).
It is a frequent practice for those who have the Green Scapular to place the scapular near someone who is in need of healing, whether physical or spiritual. Then, the person who placed the scapular should pray with great faith for the friend or family member in need.
Countless miracles have been attributed to the devout use of this scapular.
As always, it should be noted that this scapular should not be used as if it were a “lucky charm,” or in a superstitious way, but with an intense love of God and trust in his divine providence.
With God, all things are possible.
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And today we celebrate...