Sickness

Fire can cook a meal, light a candle, or provide an atmosphere of coziness in a fireplace. Yet it can also destroy a house, a town, or a forest. Water can be used for sailing, swimming, brushing one’s teeth, or making soup; but it can also destroy a town by a disastrous flood. Most objects, events, and forces in nature can produce either a good effect or a bad one.

The universal presence of human illness is no exception to this basic truth. Any sickness as part of God’s positive will, or his permissive will, can be either a scourge or a blessing, depending on whether and how it is applied to our ultimate benefit and to God’s glory. This great spiritual reality was articulated in the lengthy classical Prayer in Time of Sickness, by the holy scholar, Blaise Pascal.Part of that masterpiece I feel compelled to quote here:

     Thou gavest me health to serve thee, and I made a profane use of it. Thou sendest me sickness now to correct me; permit that I not use it to irritate thee by my impatience or to make a bad use of my sickness. And since the corruption of my nature is such that it renders thy favors pernicious to me, grant, O my God, that thy all-powerful grace may render my sufferings salutary. If my heart was full of affection for the worldly things while it retained its vigor, destroy that vigor for my salvation; and render me incapable of enjoying worldly pursuits; work in me thy will, either through weakness of my body or through giving me love for thee, that I may enjoy but thee alone.

A trusting faith, if it is deep and grace-stimulated, finds it quite possible, and even easy, to praise God fervently and spontaneously in the midst of pain, hardship, tribulation, and rejection, or in suffering’s most obvious form--sickness. Such holy trust in God’s will entails a reliance on the positive outcome of his plan and purpose for our lives, even when his designs appear meaningless and frustrating. The consoling words of Jeremiah never fade from the mind of a trust-gilded soul: “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jer 29:11).

All illness, whether physical or mental, is double-edged in its outcome; like fire or water, it provides for us the options of scourge or blessing. After you have employed every God-given means to alleviate or cure the illness, then exercise the virtue of trust to assure that it eventuates in a positive rather than a negative outcome. To consolidate your expectation of a positive outcome, take to heart the poignant words of Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Accommodating his purpose or plan for us is the essence of trust.

This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.