Sorrow fills my heart for your niece, and I shall not cease to lift her up in prayer. Yet you must not imagine that prayer alone suffices while we sleep in negligence. Would you have God work a miracle while your own soul lies in a fever of carelessness? Wake, then, and make your own life a living supplication. The mercy of Christ is upon those who cry to Him with the same earnestness as the blind men by the roadside, who sought nothing but mercy. Let your niece, and all who love her, cry out with that same voice, and let your lives cry louder still.
Do not be scandalized that a faithful soul suffers in the stomach, as though God had abandoned her. Remember the blessed Timothy, whose stomach was often weak, so that the Apostle prescribed him a little wine for his frequent infirmities. Paul did not simply command him to pray and expect a sign, but gave him earthly medicine. So too, I urge you: seek the help of physicians, for God works through them. The Creator of the body has given us remedies out of the earth, and to despise them is to tempt Him. Yet do not trust in medicine as though it were all. Pray without ceasing, early and by night, for prayer is the great weapon that steers the boat through the market place storm each day.
But above all, understand why such afflictions come. If the great Paul was given a messenger of Satan lest he should be exalted beyond measure, how much more may this sickness be a visitation for humbling, for drawing the soul to seek its true Physician? Bodily illness often cures spiritual pride. Let your niece examine her heart: Is there any secret sin, any love of the world, any stubbornness? I say this not to wound, but to heal. For Christ does not will the death of a sinner, but that he turn and live. And when He prayed at the tomb of Lazarus, He did so not because He needed to, but to show that His will and the Father's are one, and to strengthen the faith of those who stood by. So now, let this sickness become the occasion for a deeper faith. Cry out to Him who always hears, and who can say, "I will, be thou clean."
Do not delay amendment. How many, having heard the word ten times and remained insensible, were at last converted in a moment? Yet let it not be at the last moment, when the gates of death are upon you. Now, while breath remains, let there be true repentance, tears, and a turning to the merciful Judge. I do not speak smooth things, for what profit would that be? I speak the sharp but saving truth: seek first the healing of the soul, and then, if it please God, the body will be restored. But if not, what is it to lose the belly's brief health and gain eternal life? For the belly and its desires will one day be brought to nought, but the soul that clings to Christ will feast at the heavenly table where there is no sickness.
So pray, but also act. Let the whole household gather and make earnest supplication, not with cold words, but with hearts on fire. And do not say, "What need have I of prayer?" For though you were as Peter, you have need. The Church prays for her children. I will add my own poor prayer to yours: that the Lord Jesus, who healed the nobleman's son with a word, and made the withered hand whole, will look upon this young woman with compassion. May He grant her patience, faith, and, if it be for her salvation, restoration to health. But whatever befalls, may she be found among those who, having endured tribulation, have washed their robes and entered the city of the Great King. Amen.