Blessing Drugs | Spirit Daily Blog

We say Grace—bless our food.

And that’s important. It brings health of mind and body as well as spirit.

But what about other things we ingest, especially medications? Do we bless those? Shouldn’t we?

It’s not an irrelevant question when one considers some mind-boggling statistics.

CDC’s data show that 49.9 percent of people in the U.S. used at least one prescription drug in the past thirty days.

Let’s take this further, for when we do, we see that 24.7 percent—one in four of us—used three or more prescriptions during the past month, and 13.5 percent used five or more prescriptions in the past thirty days. That’s a lot of chemicals!

If we look at it in terms of the past year (not just thirty days), the statistic rockets to six in ten (sixty percent—of all ages).

In Canada, it’s about the same (55 percent during the past thirty days).

As for over-the-counter medications, a widely-cited consumer statistic is that they are regularly ingested by 81 percent of adults.

And now let’s get still more real:

For those over the age of sixty-five, prescription use skyrockets to nearly ninety percent (if you want exactitude, 88). For most people over sixty-five in the U.S., taking at least one prescription isn’t optional—it’s part of daily life. Translation: nearly as many elderly people take prescription drugs as eat meals on their own.

This tell us a number of things, one of them that we sometimes may be over-medicated; our physicians and other doctors are not well instructed in natural remedies (after all, they are medical doctors; they practice medicine). Another is that we need to go to Jesus before anyone or anything else.

Seek His guidance at every turn, and especially before visiting a medical office, which can be a spiritual battleground.

Virtually every medication can have side effects. How possibly (even using A.I.) could a doctor know all the intricacies of potential reactions, when a patient is using a half a dozen? Yet, we are unwise not to take a doctor’s counsel. “Honor the physician… for the Lord created him…The Most High comes to heal through these…” (See Sirach 38). Hopefully, that remains true in our time.

But the point is clear: God is the Author of healing, even when the healing comes through human hands.

Considering all of the above, along with the need to pray for beneficial effects, a blessing before we gulp down pills sounds “like a plan” (as they say).

A few prayers:

“Gracious God,
You have given us many healing remedies
that are a benefit to us when we are sick.
Through the miraculous intercession of St. Anthony,
we ask Your blessing upon the medication prescribed for
(mention name)
so that he/she/you may experience healing,
and be restored to full health in mind and body.
Amen.”

Or:

“O God, You have made man out of nothing in a marvelous way,
and in a still more marvelous way You have ‘remade’ him.
You have been so kind as to come to our aid
with many remedies in the various sicknesses
with which mankind is weighed down.
Kindly hear our prayers
and pour Your holy blessing from Heaven upon this medicine,
that he (or she) who partakes of it
may merit to receive health of both mind and body,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Or:

“O Lord Jesus Christ, my Father, I ask Your blessing on this medicine. May it work for Your purpose, bringing strength and healing to my body and mind. Amen.”

Let us also invoke Our Lady of Lourdes.