Epilepsy is a word we sometimes hear in hospitals, in sorrowful family discussions, and even read about in the Bible. Despite that, not many people know much about it other than the seizures it can cause.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that occurs when the nerve cells cannot signal properly, an event that causes seizures. According to the NHS in the UK, other symptoms include strange sensations that affect the senses, collapsing, becoming stiff and staring blankly into nothing without one’s awareness. Unfortunately, epilepsy can’t be cured, but several treatments are available for people with epilepsy.
Although chances of fatality are higher for some patients, most people with epilepsy live a full life. Even though riddled with daily struggles and hardships that we may never truly understand until we possess the disease ourselves, the lives of epilepsy patients are akin to the stories of the greatest heroes. This prayer for epilepsy aims to connect them to the Lord, the One whom they can draw strength and courage from as they fight battles under the banner of their faith.
Prayer for seizures
Our Eternal Healer,
In sickness and in health, You have stayed by my side, never leaving me even when I doubted Your goodness. Who was I to question Your holy plans? I beg Your pardon and mercy for all my disobediences, my sins, my shortcomings. How can I start thanking You for all the blessings that rain down upon me? I’m grateful for the air I breathe, the loved ones I have with me, and the strength You give me each day.
I ask that You continually replenish my strength, courage, and fighting spirit as I face new battles each day. Alone, I can not handle the challenges posed by epilepsy, but with You beside and within me, I know that I can overcome anything. Help me, O God, for only You can save me.
Against all odds, I hope for a miracle, for I know that You are the God who healed the sick, who repaired the vision of the blind, made the deaf hear music again, and brought the dead back to life. With You, dearest God, nothing is impossible. But if my healing is not according to Your plan, I will not lose hope or faith. If healing is already a beautiful dream in my mind, how much more is the mysterious alternative that You have planned for me? I place my full trust in You, and I will continue to have faith until the world has reached its end.
Amen.
Short prayer for epilepsy patients
Great Healer, as epilepsy continues to plague my body, I ask for simple things: strength to keep fighting, courage never to be afraid or doubtful of myself in trying times, and hope to light my way in this journey. Guide me always and be my omnipresent Protector. I know that with You, nothing is impossible, and no illness is too grave. I place my trust in Your plans. Amen.
The Word of God
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
Psalm 6:2 NRSVUE
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26 NRSVUE
Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” He answered them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, help us! Have compassion on us!”
Mark 9:17-22 NRSVUE
Intercessory prayer to Saint Valentine
Saint Valentine, blessed patron of epilepsy patients,
I praise your name and honor your memory. Throughout the centuries, you’ve been an icon of love not only for couples but also for families, friends, and even those who struggle with internal battles. With this prayer, may you teach me how to love myself and the body God gave me despite the challenges I face due to epilepsy.
Many epileptic patients have knocked on your door seeking refuge from their sickness and healing balm for their pain. Saint Valentine, I pray that you will lay your caring hands upon me and bless me with bravery, strength, resilience, courage, hope, and, most of all, faith. Living with epilepsy is not an easy battle, but it has taught me meaningful things, too: being sensitive to the hidden scars of others, learning to appreciate the beauty of each present moment, and seeing how far my loved ones would go just for me.
Carry this prayer for seizures to the Lord’s ears and tell him of my pleas and my steadfast faith and trust in His will.
Saint Valentine, pray for me. Amen.
Further reflection
We’ve all read recovery stories of cancer patients and those with heart or spinal injuries, yet the life stories of epilepsy patients, especially in a Christian context, rarely surface among the tens of thousands of beautiful good news items we see each year. Theirs is a story of resilience and lifelong faith in the Lord: despite their incurable condition, they remain ever courageous, often drawing strength through the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
At 17, it seemed like Tony Coelho was the model student everyone aspired to be: he had excellent grades and was even elected student body president. One fateful day, he was milking cows on his family’s farm when he experienced a seizure, which he’d continually experience for the next five years, while knocking on the doors of physicians seeking a diagnosis, only to come home without an explanation for his repetitive seizures. Although every doctor they visited knew that he was suffering from epilepsy, none of them confirmed it. At the time, people believed that those who suffered from epilepsy were possessed by the devil; this hurtful belief has caused so much damage to the understanding of epilepsy and to the sufferers.
It was a while before a physician finally confirmed his condition, and Coelho’s heart—as well as his dreams of becoming a Catholic priest—sank like a dead weight.
“I was in the grip of a deepening depression. Inside, I felt lost and without purpose; that darkness was chasing away the lights of opportunity and hope inside me,” Coelho wrote in Reflections, the journal semi-annually produced by the Yale Divinity School.
On one of his “bad” days, Coelho was observing a group of children playing on a merry-go-round when he heard a voice tell him, “You’re going to be just like those kids. From today forward, you will never allow anyone or anything ever to stop you from doing what you want to do.” In that moment, he made a monumental decision: he was going to fight for his life and never look back.
In the article, peculiarly entitled “I Have Epilepsy and I Thank God for It,” Tony Coelho wrote about how he went on to advocate for people with epilepsy and break the stigma not only within the Catholic Church but also in the US Government, using his voice and experience to speak for those who could not and standing up for his brothers and sisters in Christ who were wrongfully judged by society. He never looked back.
