Why do you ask only for prayers for the healing of the body? The infant struggles for breath, the collarbone is fractured; these are indeed sorrows that pierce a parent's heart. But see the greater gift hidden within this trial. The Lord who permitted the broken bone and the labored breath is the same Lord who said, "All things must come to pass," not to overturn His promises but to fulfill them. This little one has already passed through the shadow of birth, and the mother through the knife, and both yet live. Is not that a mercy? The infant's body is broken in part so that the whole might be saved. So too the soul: when it is humbled, when it is contrite, God does not despise it. A broken and contrite heart He will not reject. This very affliction, if you receive it with thanksgiving, becomes a medicine. You fear for the body; I bid you fear more for the soul that learns patience through these pangs.
Do not trust only in the physician's skill, though we are grateful for the blood given to sustain life. But remember: the Lord who joined spirit to bone in the womb can mend bone and clear lung with a word. Yet He often delays full healing so that we may cling to Him, not to health itself. The apostles themselves grieved at the death their Master foretold because they did not yet understand the glory that would spring from it. So you do not yet see the full purpose of this trial. But if love is absent, even a perfect body profits nothing. If love abounds, even a broken body becomes a vessel of grace. Therefore, while you pray for the baby's flesh, pray more fervently that this child, and the mother who suffered the cutting, and all who weep by that bedside, may be grafted into the goodness of God, not cut off by despair or murmuring. For the Jew was cut off for unbelief, and the Gentile grafted in by faith. Stand fast in faith, lest you be broken off in your spirit while begging for bones to be knit.
Pray thus: "Lord, You who wove me together in my mother's womb, look upon this child of my child. The breath is struggling, the bone is snapped. You permitted these things, we do not ask why, but we ask for mercy. Heal as You will, when You will. But until then, give the mother courage, give the family peace, and give this infant the strength to endure. And more than all, grant that through this pain, many hearts may be turned to You, the true Physician. For to depart and be with Christ is far better, but if it pleases You for this little one to remain, let each labored breath be a witness to Your sustaining hand. We do not dictate the hour or the manner of healing; we trust the Dispenser of all things. Only do not let our love grow cold, nor our faith fail. For You have eaten our flesh and entwined Yourself with us; how then can You forsake us in the time of trouble? We ask this in the name of Him who spit upon the earth and made clay to open blind eyes, Jesus Christ our Lord."