Prayers for the Sick

This page is for the people standing next to the bed. If you are the one who is ill, our prayers for healing are written for you. These are for the friend in the corridor, the daughter who has driven four hours, the person who does not know what to say when they walk into the room and says something wrong.

Below are prayers you can pray over someone or quietly on their behalf, short ones for a hospital doorway, the Catholic prayers and sacraments people ask about when a relative is seriously ill, prayers for the dying, and a few plain words you can put in a card. There is also a section on what to actually say in the room, because that is the part most people find hardest.

How to Pray for Someone Short Prayers For a Friend or Family In Hospital What to Say in the Room Catholic Prayers The Sick and Dying Bible Verses Get Well Messages Questions Browse All Prayers

How to Pray for Someone Who Is Sick

You do not need permission, training, or the right words. If you are not clergy and have never prayed aloud for anyone before, here is the whole of it.

Ask first, and keep it simple. “Can I pray for you?” is enough. Most people say yes, including people who have not been to church in forty years. If they say no, pray on your own afterwards and do not mention it again.

Use their name. Not “this person” or “your servant” unless that is your tradition. Say the name they are called by. The old liturgical texts leave a gap for exactly this reason.

Keep it short and say the actual thing. Thirty seconds is plenty. Ask for the illness to go. Ask for the pain to ease, the test to come back clear, the night to be an easy one. Vagueness is not reverence.

You can touch their hand if it is natural. In the gospels, prayer for the sick is almost always physical. Jesus took people by the hand, and James tells the elders to lay hands on the sick and anoint them. If a hand on the shoulder would be welcome, it belongs there. If it would be strange, it does not.

Do not perform. Nobody in that bed needs eloquence. They need to hear that someone brought them to God by name and did not flinch at how bad it is.

Short Prayers for the Sick

For a doorway, a corridor, a car park, or a moment when you have thirty seconds and no words of your own.

A Short Prayer for Someone Who Is Sick

Lord, be with [name] today.
Take the illness out. Ease the pain. Steady them.
And let them know they are not on their own in that room.
Amen.

A Prayer at the Bedside

Father, you know this body better than any doctor does.
Put your hand where it is needed.
Give rest tonight and something better tomorrow.
Amen.

A Prayer Before You Walk In

Lord, I do not know what I am going to find in there.
Give me a steady face and the right amount of words.
Let my being here help rather than cost them.
Amen.

A One-Line Prayer

Lord Jesus, you healed everyone who came to you. Come to [name] now. Amen.

A Prayer When You Cannot Be There

God, I am hundreds of miles away and useless.
You are in that room already.
Be what I cannot be to them tonight.
Amen.

A Prayer for a Difficult Night

Father, it is late and they are frightened and the ward is loud.
Quiet it. Let them sleep. Send someone kind on the next round.
Amen.

Prayers for a Sick Friend or Family Member

A Prayer for a Sick Friend

Father, my friend is ill and there is nothing useful I can do about it.

So I am doing the one thing I can. I am bringing them to you by name, the way four men once carried their friend up onto a roof and took the roof apart because the door was blocked. That is what this is.

Heal them. Take the illness out of them completely.

And until you do, let them feel carried rather than alone. Let them have people who keep turning up in month six, when the casseroles have stopped and everyone else has gone back to their own lives.

Amen.

A Prayer for a Sick Mother

Lord, she looked after me before I could remember any of it, and now I am the one holding the cup of water.

I do not like seeing her small in that bed. It rearranges something in me I do not have words for.

Heal her. Give her back her strength and her appetite and her sharpness. And if there is a hard road here, walk it beside her, and let her know at every step that she has not been left.

Amen.

A Prayer for a Sick Father

God, he has never once been good at being looked after.

He is frightened and covering it, and I am pretending not to notice because that is what he would want from me.

Cut through all of it. Meet him where he actually is. Heal his body, and soften whatever he has been holding shut for forty years, so that there are honest words between us before this is over, whichever way it goes.

Amen.

A Prayer for a Sick Husband or Wife

Father, we promised each other sickness as well as health, and I said it without understanding a word of it.

Heal them.

And hold us together in the meantime. Do not let fear and exhaustion turn us into two people managing a situation instead of two people who love each other. Give us patience on the bad days and something to laugh at on the ordinary ones.

Amen.

A Prayer for a Sick Child

Lord Jesus, you took children into your arms and blessed them, and when a father begged you to come to his daughter, you got up and went with him.

Come to this one.

Heal them. Take the illness out of that small body and give them back an ordinary life, school, arguments, being bored on a Sunday.

And hold their parents, who are being calm in front of them and are not calm.

Amen.

More at prayer for a sick child.

A Prayer for an Elderly Relative

Lord, they have lived a long life and this is a hard part of it.

Ease the pain. Keep their mind clear and their dignity intact. Do not let them be treated as a case rather than a person.

Give them company, and give the people who love them the patience to sit without hurrying.

Amen.

A Prayer for the One Doing the Caring

Father, there is a person in this house who is not ill and is running on nothing.

They are doing the driving and the medication and the phone calls and the being cheerful. Nobody asks them how they are, because they are not the patient.

Hold them up. Send help that is actually help. Give them one hour this week that belongs to nobody.

Amen.

Prayers for Someone in Hospital

A Prayer for Someone Admitted to Hospital

Father, they are in a bed with a number on it, wearing clothes that are not theirs, in a building that never goes properly dark.

Be in that room.

Guide the people treating them, sharp eyes for what is easy to miss, steady hands where it counts. Let the tests come back better than anyone expected. Let there be a nurse with a kind face on the night shift.

And bring them home.

Amen.

A Prayer in the Waiting Room

Lord, I am sitting out here and I cannot do a single thing.

You can.

Be in that theatre. Steady the hands that are working. Let it go better than they told us it might.

And steady me, because I have read the same paragraph nine times.

Amen.

A Prayer Before Someone Goes Into Surgery

God, tomorrow they hand themselves over to people they have met twice and go to sleep.

Go in ahead of them. Give the surgeon clear sight and good judgement in the moments the plan changes. Protect what should not be touched.

Bring them back to us.

Amen.

More at prayers for surgery.

A Prayer for the Doctors and Nurses

Lord, bless the people looking after them.

Give them wisdom for the decisions and kindness for the conversations. Keep them from going numb, which must be the great temptation of that work. Let them see a person and not a bed.

And let them go home tonight to something good.

Amen.

A Prayer When They Are Coming Home

Father, thank you. They are coming home.

Make this house a good place to get better in. Give patience to everyone in it, including the patient. Keep us from expecting too much too soon.

Amen.

What to Say in the Room

Most people are not frightened of praying. They are frightened of the twenty minutes either side of it. A few things worth knowing, from people who do this often.

Turning up is most of it. Visitors consistently underestimate how much the visit itself does and overestimate how much depends on what they say. You do not have to be interesting. You have to be there.

Say less than you think. “I am so sorry. I am not going anywhere” beats anything hopeful and general. Silence with someone is not a failure; it is often the point.

Avoid the four things that land badly. Stories about someone else who had it and died. Stories about someone else who had it and was fine. Explanations of why this might be happening. And anything that begins “at least.”

Offer something specific. “Let me know if you need anything” puts the work on the ill person. “I am doing your school run on Tuesdays for the next month” does not. Name a thing, name a day, and then do it.

Follow their lead on how bad it is. If they want to talk about dying, talk about dying. If they want to talk about football, talk about football. Do not drag them somewhere for your own comfort in either direction.

Watch the length. Twenty minutes is usually right. Being ill is exhausting and being visited is work. Leaving while they still want you there is a kindness.

Then go home and pray properly. The prayer in the room is short by necessity. The real one usually happens in the car.

Catholic Prayers for the Sick

When someone is seriously ill, Catholic families usually have practical questions before they have devotional ones. Here are the plain answers, and then the prayers.

The Anointing of the Sick

A sacrament, administered by a priest, in which the forehead and hands are anointed with blessed oil and prayer is offered for healing of body and soul. Two things people commonly get wrong about it.

First, it is not only for the dying. It was called Extreme Unction for centuries and the name stuck, but the Church’s practice is broader: it is for anyone seriously ill, anyone facing significant surgery, and the frail elderly. You do not have to wait until things are desperate, and waiting is a mistake many families make.

Second, it can be received more than once, again in a new illness, or if the same illness worsens.

To arrange it, telephone the parish office and say that someone is seriously ill and would like the Anointing of the Sick. If it is urgent or out of hours, most parishes have an emergency number, and hospitals have Catholic chaplains who can be paged through the ward. Ask the nurse; they do this constantly.

Viaticum

Holy Communion given to a person who is dying, the name means food for the journey. It is the sacrament proper to the end of life, more so than Anointing, and the Church treats it as the more important of the two at that point. If someone is close to death, ask for Viaticum by name.

The Last Rites

Not one rite but usually three, given together when someone is dying: Confession (or, if they cannot speak, absolution), the Anointing of the Sick, and Viaticum. A priest is needed. Do not delay the call out of a wish not to alarm the patient, being anointed while conscious is a great deal better than being anointed after.

A Prayer to Our Lady, Health of the Sick

Mary is invoked under this title in the Litany of Loreto, and the shrine at Lourdes has been associated with the sick since 1858. The Church keeps the World Day of the Sick on 11 February, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Mary, Health of the Sick, pray for [name].

You watched your own son suffer and did not leave. Stay near this bed.

Ask your son for healing. Ask him for an end to the pain, for a quiet night, and for courage in the family.

Amen.

A Prayer to Saint Peregrine

Peregrine Laziosi, a fourteenth-century friar, is the patron of those with cancer. He had a cancerous growth on his leg and was due to lose it; after a night of prayer, the account says, he woke to find it gone.

Saint Peregrine, you know what it is to be told there is nothing left to try.

Pray for [name]. Ask that they be given healing, and if not healing, then the courage you must have had while you waited.

Amen.

More at prayers for cancer.

A Prayer to Saint Raphael the Archangel

Raphael’s name means God heals. In the Book of Tobit he travels with Tobias and restores his father’s sight, which is why he is invoked for the sick and for travellers.

Saint Raphael, healing angel of God, be at this bedside.

You were sent to walk with a young man and to give an old man his sight back. Walk with [name] now, through the treatment and the waiting and the fear.

Ask God for their healing.

Amen.

A Prayer to Saint Camillus and Saint John of God

The two patron saints of the sick, of nurses and of hospitals. Camillus de Lellis founded an order to care for the dying; John of God founded hospitals in sixteenth-century Granada.

Saints Camillus and John of God, you spent your lives in rooms like this one.

Pray for [name], and pray for everyone looking after them, the nurses, the porters, the ones who come at three in the morning.

Amen.

The Memorare

A traditional Marian prayer, medieval in substance and widely used at sickbeds.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided.

Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Praying the Rosary at a Bedside

You do not need a full Rosary. A single decade (one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, one Glory Be) takes about four minutes and is the usual thing at a sickbed. The Sorrowful Mysteries are traditional when someone is suffering; the Glorious Mysteries are often chosen for someone near the end. Say it aloud and slowly. Even an unconscious person may be hearing it, and hearing is generally held to be the last sense to go.

See also our Catholic prayers for healing.

Prayers for the Sick and Dying

If you are reading this section you already know why. Keep asking for healing; nothing here suggests you stop. But there are other things to ask for at the same time, and most pages will not tell you what they are.

A Prayer for Someone Who Is Dying

Father, we asked you for healing and we do not take back a word of it.

Now we ask for this. Let there be no pain that cannot be reached. Let them not be afraid. Let the room be quiet and full of people who love them.

Give us the words we have been putting off, while there is still time to say them out loud.

And when it comes, meet them. You have been through that door yourself and come back out of it. Do not let them be alone for a second of it.

Amen.

A Prayer for the Family Keeping Vigil

Lord, we are taking it in shifts and none of us is sleeping.

Hold this family. Keep old arguments out of this room. Give us the grace to be gentle with each other in a week when nobody is at their best.

And let whoever is here at the end be the right person.

Amen.

A Prayer for a Peaceful Death

God of mercy, into your hands we give [name].

Forgive what needs forgiving. Quiet whatever is unfinished. Let them go gently, in their own time, without fear.

May the angels lead them home.

Amen.

A Prayer When You Have to Leave the Room

Lord, I have to go and I do not want to and I may not see them again.

Stay when I cannot. Let the last thing they heard from me have been a kind thing.

Amen.

After a death, see our prayers for the dead and our prayers for comfort.

Bible Verses for the Sick

Short enough to read aloud at a bedside. All from the King James Version.

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.”. James 5:14–15

“The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.”. Psalm 41:3

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”. Jeremiah 17:14

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”. Psalm 34:18

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”. Matthew 11:28

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”. Psalm 23:4

“I was sick, and ye visited me.”. Matthew 25:36

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”. Psalm 46:1

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.”. Psalm 55:22

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”. John 14:1

Get Well Messages You Can Send

Short enough for a card, a text, or the message box on a bunch of flowers. Change the words freely.

Praying for you today, that God would put his hand on you, take this illness out, and give you an easy night. You are not going through it alone.

Get well soon. We are asking God for a quick recovery and a boring few weeks afterwards.

Thinking of you before tomorrow. Praying for steady hands, good news, and peace while you wait.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

You are being prayed for by name today. God has not lost track of you and neither have we.

Lord, be with my friend today, heal what is wrong, quiet what is frightening, and let them feel carried. Amen.

Sorry you are unwell. No need to reply to this. Just know we are praying and we will be here when you are up to it.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and praying for one. Rest properly; everything else can wait.

Questions

What is the best prayer for a sick person?

The one that uses their name and says what you actually want. Short and plain beats long and careful, the prayers that got answered in the gospels were mostly one sentence from someone with no time to prepare. Ask for the illness to be healed, and then ask for the things they are unlikely to mention: sleep, an appetite, a day without fear, and someone to sit with them.

How do I pray for someone who is sick if I am not religious?

Say it as plainly as you would say anything else. There is no formula and no penalty for getting the wording wrong. “God, please help her” is a complete prayer. If it helps, read one of the short prayers on this page aloud and let the words carry you.

Is the Anointing of the Sick only for people who are dying?

No. It is for anyone who is seriously ill, anyone facing significant surgery, and the frail elderly, and it can be received more than once. The old name Extreme Unction created the impression it was a last resort, and many families wait far longer than they need to. If someone is seriously ill, call the parish now rather than later.

How do I get a priest to come to a hospital?

Ask the ward staff for the Catholic chaplain, hospitals have them and nurses arrange this routinely. Outside hospital, telephone the local parish office and say that someone is seriously ill and would like the Anointing of the Sick; most parishes keep an emergency number for exactly this.

What should I say when I visit someone who is sick?

Less than you think. “I am so sorry. I am not going anywhere” is better than anything hopeful and general. Avoid stories about other people who had the same thing, and avoid explaining what it might mean. Offer something specific rather than “let me know if you need anything”, a lift on Tuesday, a meal on Thursday. Keep the visit to about twenty minutes.

Can I pray for someone without them knowing?

Yes, and Christians have always done it. Praying with someone in the room does something praying at a distance does not, so ask when you can, but a prayer said in a car park counts exactly the same.

What do you pray when someone is dying?

Keep asking for healing if you want to; you are allowed to ask right to the end. Alongside it, ask for the things that are almost always given: freedom from fear, pain that can be reached, a quiet room, people who love them nearby, and the courage to say what has been left unsaid. For a Catholic, ask a priest for Viaticum by name.

More Prayers for the Sick

Deeper pages for particular situations:

• Prayers for healing, written for the person who is ill themselves
• Prayers for cancer, diagnosis, waiting for results, treatment, caregivers
• Prayer for a sick child, for parents sitting up at night
• Prayers for surgery, before, during and after an operation
• Prayers for healing a friend, when you want to carry someone and cannot
• Catholic prayers for healing, traditional prayers, novenas and the saints
• Miracle prayers, when medicine has run out of answers
• Prayers for comfort, for grief and the days after bad news
• Prayers for the dead, for those we have lost
• Prayers for strength, for the long middle of a hard season