What follows is what the Church actually puts in your hands for this: the two traditional prayers to St Raphael, the archangel whose name means “God heals”; the Gospel’s own intercession for a brother; and the step most people forget, which is to ask a priest for the Anointing of the Sick rather than to keep praying alone.
Historical Context
Raphael is one of only three angels the Bible names. In Tobit he travels disguised as a young man, arranges a marriage, drives off a demon and restores an old man’s sight, and only then says who he is: “I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord.” The Church has asked him for healing ever since, and the older prayers call him, beautifully, the medicine of God.
Prayer to St Raphael for a Brother’s Healing
Glorious Archangel Saint Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court,
you are illustrious for your gifts of wisdom and grace.
You are a guide of those who journey by land or sea or air,
consoler of the afflicted, and refuge of sinners.
I beg you, assist me in all my needs and in all the sufferings of this life,
as once you helped the young Tobias on his travels.
Because you are the medicine of God,
I humbly pray you to heal the many infirmities of my soul
and the ills that afflict my body.
I especially ask of you this favour — the healing of my brother.
Amen.
The shorter traditional invocation is easier to hold on to in a waiting room:
Saint Raphael, of the glorious seven
who stand before the throne of Him who lives and reigns,
Angel of health, the Lord has filled your hand
with balm from heaven to soothe or cure our pains.
Heal or cure the victim of disease,
and guide our steps when doubtful of our ways.
Amen.
The Prayer of Martha and Mary
This is the whole of it, and it is enough.
Lord, he whom you love is ill.
— John 11:3
Worth noticing what the sisters do not do. They do not diagnose, instruct, or bargain. They name the person, state the fact, and rely on the affection Christ already has for him. Both sisters are on this site — St Martha, who did the asking, and St Lazarus, the brother they asked for.
A Prayer for a Brother Facing Treatment
Father, I bring you my brother, whom you gave me before I could choose him.
Steady his body through what is ahead.
Give his doctors clear sight and steady hands,
and give him the patience that long illness asks for
and rarely supplies.
When he is frightened in the night, be nearer to him than I can be.
Sts Cosmas and Damian, brothers and physicians, pray for him.
St Raphael, medicine of God, pray for him.
And if he is to be healed, let him know who healed him.
Amen.
Ask for the Anointing of the Sick
This is the part most families discover too late. The Anointing of the Sick is not reserved for the dying. The Catechism is explicit that it is for anyone who “begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age,” and that it may be repeated if the illness worsens or a serious operation is coming (CCC 1514–1515). A brother facing surgery on Tuesday can be anointed on Monday.
You ask by telephoning the parish office. You do not need to wait for a crisis, and you do not need to be the patient to make the call.
Best Times for This Prayer
- On the day of a diagnosis, when there is nothing yet to do.
- The night before surgery — and telephone the parish the same day.
- Through a long course of treatment, when the praying has gone flat.
- On 29 September, St Raphael’s feast, for a brother who is chronically ill.
- When you are far away and cannot be at the hospital.
- When your brother is not praying for himself.
Scripture Connection
“And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.” — Mark 2:4
Christ heals the man, and the Gospel says why: “when Jesus saw their faith.” Not the sick man’s — the faith of the people who carried him. It is the clearest warrant in Scripture for praying on behalf of someone who cannot or will not pray for himself, and it is the verse to hold when a brother has stopped believing any of this.
Related prayers
For a brother in ordinary trouble rather than illness, the site has My Brother’s Keeper Prayer. For a sibling bond specifically, St Scholastica is the one to ask — traditionally the twin sister of St Benedict, and the pair spent their last day alive together in conversation and prayer.
For a father rather than a brother, see the Healing Prayer for My Dad. St John of God, patron of hospitals and the sick, is prayed to for the whole ward rather than one bed in it.
