By Fr. Ryan Salisbury
Pastor, St. Paulinus in Syracuse and Holy Trinity in Avoca
“Do you believe that I can do this?” (Matthew 9:28)
This question is one that Our Lord proposes to two blind men in Matthew’s Gospel before healing them and giving them the gift of sight. While we can know intellectually that Jesus physically healed people during His public ministry, do we have that same belief today?
Put another way, if Jesus was standing before you, in whatever physical ailments you may have, and asked you the same question; would you be able to answer with all your heart, “Yes, Lord, I do believe”?
I will admit that as I entered my priesthood 10 years ago, I would not have been able to answer affirmatively with all my heart to that question of Our Lord. While I believed God brought physical healing, I believed it was a rarity and only in certain circumstances, i.e. needing a miracle to canonize a new saint or in a specific location of healing, like Lourdes France. But because God is good, He can take the imperfect or mustard-sized faith that we have and still work through it to bring about His will!
Just in the last few years of my priesthood, I’ve seen a mother with terminal brain cancer completely healed by the prayers of her son, two individuals with viral infections healed in the matter of hours and released from the hospital after they had been told they would be there for at least a week, a newborn baby who was near death with a heart defect and complications from Covid suddenly healed, a person’s respiratory system healed to where the person no longer needs to carry oxygen around, and countless other healings of chronic pain in the body completely removed, or limited movement in extremities restored to bring back full range of motion. Jesus heals, and He is still healing today!
For physical healing, the Church has always proclaimed that the greatest healing we experience is union with God and freedom from sin. This is brought about by the proclamation of the Gospel. The Lord has commissioned us to go forth in His name, in witness and proclamation of the Gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word that Scriptures use for this is dunamis, which is where we get the word dynamite. Dynamite is power; it breaks things open and effects change! The proclamation of the Gospel has the power to effect change in people’s lives. The Gospel is not just a collection of nice words; instead, it is power.
Physical healing is part of the spread of the Gospel, and something that we see as a fruit of it. While we never assume or take for granted physical healing, we hold in hope that the Lord will continue His ministry of healing through His Church, as He did during His public ministry.
When Jesus healed during His public ministry, we see two reasons as to why He did. The first reason was to awaken faith in the hearts of individuals, and the second was to show the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God into this world.
First, as Jesus healed, faith was awakened in the hearts of those who received or witnessed the healing. Healing was proof that Jesus is who He claimed to be: the long-awaited Messiah sent to free His people from their sins. This awakened faith, allowing individuals to commit their lives more to Christ. If we find union with Christ, then we have found everything.
With the second reason, while we do await the full realization of the Kingdom of God when Jesus comes again and makes all things new, Jesus showed us that the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God has already begun. Scripture reminds us in the book of Revelation that nothing imperfect will enter heaven. And while we clearly understand that on a spiritual level, i.e., removal of all sin before entering heaven, this is also true physically. Ailments, sickness, blindness, deafness, etc. do not exist in heaven.
Physical healing points us to that and shows that reality. Sin and the brokenness of this world will be completely conquered in the fullness of time by Christ who makes all things new! God desires to heal every part of us —not just spiritually, but physically as well!
Some advice that I have found very beautiful regarding the power of the Gospel proclamation and physical healing is this: ‘seek first The One Who Heals, and let Him direct the healing.’ Jesus will always heal us as we encounter Him and grow in relationship. Pope Benedict once famously said, “Salvation is being healed every day by God.” In whatever ways He heals, we praise Him for that!
“Do you believe that I can do this?” Continue to ask the Lord for the grace to say yes to that question, with every fiber of your being!
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The John Paul II Healing Center in Tallahassee, Fla. is bringing its “Healing the Whole Person” conference, including a “Day of Equipping,” to the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln. Speakers at the conference will include Dr. Bob Schuchts, Sr. Miriam James Heidland and Bart Schuchts.
The “Healing the Whole Person” conference will be April 16-18, 2026, at North American Martyrs Church in Lincoln. Online registration opens Jan. 12, 2026 at 9 a.m. CT.
A separate but complementary event, a “Day of Equipping,” will be held April 17, 2026, and requires a separate registration. Registration for this event also opens Jan. 12, 2026, at 9 a.m. CT. For more information on both events, visit jpiihealingcenter.org.
Read more:
"Healing the Whole Person" Q&A with Dr. Bob Schuchts
Identity through the lens of healing by Fr. Ryan Kaup
