Latest Prayer Stories

By Corey Williams Associated Press DETROIT -- Madonna is on Jennifer Zablocki's iPod. So is "The Madonna." The Detroit-area 12th-grade teacher works up a sweat to the pop diva's music as well as songs honoring Mary, the mother of Jesus. Among the hundreds of popular and top 40 selections Zablocki has downloaded are the Rosary Tapes, a collection of Roman Catholic prayers and meditations for the rosary set to contemporary music by a pair of jingle writers better known for helping Ford Motor...

By Anonymous Hilary Hayes simply wanted peace. The Yarmouth woman was a patient at Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, a specialty hospital that treats people in psychiatric and emotional crisis. She wanted a place to pray in peace, where she could complete her healing of body, mind and spirit. The facility offered patients nondenominational services, as well as visits from pastors, rabbis, priests and other spiritual leaders. But Hayes didn't want such a visit. She wasn't after a...

By Dr Manoj Jain My patient is an elderly man with end-stage congestive heart failure, kidney failure and now an infected dialysis line, and he is unlikely to live more than six months. The Bible lies on his bedside table next to his hospital breakfast tray and the morning newspaper. I wonder if I should pray with him. A neurosurgeon I know often prays with his patients prior to operating on their brains to remove a tumor or on their backs to relieve a herniated disk. In the pre-op holding...

By Coakley, Sarah An English reflection on ministry IT MIGHT SEEM otiose, even pathetic, for priests to spend time wondering about what they are and do: is it not obvious what sort of jobs and roles they are meant to be getting on with? And is it not equally and painfully obvious that any social status they may have enjoyed in earlier generations as a result of these jobs and roles has been largely eroded? The popular media image of the male clergy diverges paradoxically and revealingly:...

Experts contend strong spiritual bent and positive outlook can boost your healthTo stay healthy, you probably know that you need to eat right, get plenty of exercise and rest, and avoid bad habits such as smoking.But, it might surprise you to learn that what you believe in can have a big impact on your health and longevity."There have been a lot of studies, and more are coming out all of the time, that show how patients with strong spirituality can improve their health from a variety of...

By Michael ConlonCHICAGO -- A study of more than 1,800 patients who underwent heart bypass surgery has failed to show that prayers specially organized for their recovery had any impact, researchers said on Thursday.In fact, the study found some of the patients who knew they were being prayed for did worse than others who were only told they might be prayed for -- though those who did the study said they could not explain why.The patients in the study at six U.S. hospitals included 604 who...

By Orla Ryan ACCRA (Reuters) - Devout Christian Elizabeth Abrokwah believes prayer will deliver the child she so desperately wants, overcoming the hurdles of age and menopause. "In African custom, without children you won't be happy in the marriage. I know God will intervene," the 53-year-old woman says with fervour as hundreds of people clap and sing in the rising Sunday morning heat in Ghana's capital Accra. Faith and prayer can deliver babies where medical science fails, says Pastor...

By Gelu Sulugiuc NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five Muslims who were detained after praying at an American football game want to turn the incident into a tool to teach Americans about Islam. While at a New York Giants against New Orleans Saints game at Giants Stadium on September 19, the New Jersey residents were removed from their seats and questioned by FBI agents after other fans saw them bow to the ground as part of the five-daily Muslim prayers. "As Muslims, we just have to pray when it's...

By Alison McCook NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who learned about relaxed breathing and received soothing touch and music before heart surgery were more likely to be alive 6 months after the procedure, suggesting that these additional steps help speed recovery, according to a study released today. People who were prayed for off-site, however, fared no better after their heart procedures, according to a report in The Lancet. Study author Dr. Mitchell W. Krucoff told Reuters Health that...

Bedside therapy had minimal effect as well, researchers findAmid the debate over the value of prayer and so-called "noetic interventions" to help people heal, a new study finds that prayer and bedside therapy of music, imagery and touch don't improve the outcomes of patients undergoing heart procedures.However, patients receiving music, imagery and touch (MIT) therapy did have a slightly lower mortality rate at six months.The findings appear in the July 16 edition of The Lancet.The...