Prayer for a Sick Child
An Original Prayer
Lord, You see my child and You know how badly I want to make this better. I would take this sickness from them if I could. Since I cannot, I place them in Your hands.
Stay close to them when they are hurting or afraid. Give their body the strength it needs, and if it is Your will, bring healing and restore them to health.
Guide the doctors, nurses and everyone caring for them. Give them wisdom, patience and clear judgment. Help me make the decisions I need to make without letting fear speak louder than it should.
And when my mind runs ahead to everything that could happen, bring me back to this moment. Give me enough strength for today and enough trust for whatever comes next.
Watch over my child when I cannot. Hold them closer than I ever could.
Amen.
About this prayer
This original Catholic prayer was written for one of the hardest experiences a parent can face: watching a child suffer and not being able to simply make it stop.
Christian prayer does not require us to pretend we are not frightened. Throughout the Gospels, parents bring their children to Jesus because they need help they cannot provide themselves. They ask Him directly, sometimes desperately, and Christ receives them.
This prayer does the same. It asks boldly for healing while also placing the child, the people caring for them and the parent’s own fear into God’s hands. Trust does not mean knowing how everything will turn out. Sometimes it means entrusting to God what we cannot control while faithfully doing what is ours to do.
Prayer can accompany the medical care a child needs. Asking God for healing and asking skilled people for help do not compete with each other.
Scripture to pray with
- Mark 5:21-24, 35-43 – Jairus comes to Jesus because his daughter is gravely ill, trusting Christ with what he cannot fix himself.
- Mark 9:17-27 – A father brings his suffering son to Jesus and offers one of Scripture’s most honest prayers of imperfect faith.
- Psalm 46:2 – God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of distress.
When to pray it
Pray this when your child is sick at home, before a doctor’s appointment or procedure, beside a hospital bed, while waiting for test results, or during the long hours when worry keeps returning.
You do not have to feel calm before you pray. Bring the fear with you. If the full prayer feels like too much in the moment, even the simple words “Jesus, watch over my child” are enough to begin.