Homily on healing the family tree, Jan 2026

Homily on Healing the Family Tree

Most of us go to the doctor every now and then, for a health check-up. The doctor may ask us about our family history whether some members suffered from such things as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, bi-polar disorder, etc., because they can be passed on in a genetic way as an inheritance from a previous generation. 

This raises an important question?

·       Can unresolved traumas be passed down in the form of dysfunctional behaviours, emotional  problems and addictions?

·       Can children of trauma survivors inherit a sense of heightened anxiety, mistrust, depressed feelings or other emotional problems, even though they didn’t experience the original trauma themselves? Could it be that ancestors who couldn’t process their emotional pain transmit it to future generations?.

·       Can ancestral curses have emotional, spiritual and physical knock-on effects on their descendants?

·       Can intergenerational hurts create misunderstandings and bitter conflicts and divisions among their descendants? 

In two places of the Bible we get an answer to these questions. Firstly, in the scripture reading tonight we heard from Ezekiel, that the Lord assures us that when our ancestors sinned their guilt was not passed on to future generations.  Secondly, in Exodus 20:5-6 we read that  “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” In other words, although we don’t inherit guilt due to the sins of our forbearers, we can be influenced by the psychological and spiritual knock-on effects of their sins. This passage is often cited when praying for the healing of the family tree because it acknowledges that the consequences of sin can reverberate down the generations. This raises an important question, how can we experience intergenerational healing? 

It was in the 1980s when I first came across the makings of an answer when I read Dr Kenneth McCall’s influential book entitled, Healing the Family Tree.  As a practicing psychiatrist he discovered that some of his patient’s problems had a psychological and spiritual background with roots in the past family history of his patients, such as suicide, murder, unresolved traumas, addiction involvement with the occult, curses and the like.  As a result, they were having negative knock-on effects  in the present generation. I met Dr McCall many years ago and had a long chat with him. Although I didn’t agree with everything he said, I was impressed by him as a person and felt that there was a lot of truth in what he shared. 

Some time after that meeting, a woman in Dublin told me that her daughter was suffering from anorexia nervosa. She said that, having read Dr McCall’s book,  she was convinced that her child’s eating disorder was largely due to unresolved issues in the family tree. After a lot of chatting and discernment we arranged to celebrate a requiem mass in the family home in order to pray for the repose of the souls of the family’s ancestors. The Mass was said with only the family members present. They had done research and had drawn up a list of relatives who had died, in the belief that some of them,  for one reason or another, might not have been resting in peace. At the offertory their names were read out and placed upon the altar. We prayed that God would have mercy on them, forgive their sins, and enable them to rest in peace. We also prayed that any negative psychological, spiritual or physical influences that might be impinging on the family members, especially the daughter with the anorexia, would be broken. I must say it was a very solemn and moving occasion. In the weeks and months that followed  the troubled teenager started eating normally and recovered her health. That experienced convinced me that McCall’s notion of healing the family tree had relevance.  

So, what can we do?

·       Firstly, we can ask that those of a previous generations, who may have harmed us because of their sins, may be forgiven and saved. It can be good to get a mass offered for the repose of their souls.  

·       Secondly, we can pray that any negative intergenerational ties, whether emotional or spiritual, which are effecting us in the present would be broken. 

·       Thirdly, we can pray that the healing power of the Lord would be released within us in such a way that our psychological and spiritual wounds would begin to heal.  

Prayer for Healing the Family Tree

Heavenly Father, I come before You as Your child, in great need of Your help. I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg Your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask You to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behaviour patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders. 

With Your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me, or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of Your divine Son Jesus, and in the power of His Holy Spirit, I ask You, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage; By Your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your Precious Son Jesus, I beg You to extend Your blessing to me and all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree. 

I symbolically place the Cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and over each generation; I ask You to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the blood lines in my family lineage. Set Your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer Your healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members' guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let Your healing power be released at this very moment and let it continue as long as Your deem it necessary. 

In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an even deeper bonding with You, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to Your Son Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus precious Name. Amen.