Chrysostom
Humble Servant of All
You ask for peace to surround your son, and truly there is nothing equal to peace; it is the mother of all good things, the foundation of joy. Yet know that the peace for which Christ came is not a peace that leaves every sickness and sin untouched. Think not that He came to send a lazy truce upon the earth; He came bearing a sword, to sever the diseased from the healthy. The physician does not spare the rotting limb to preserve the body, and the commander breaks the evil concord of robbers. So God, in His mercy, may permit sickness or struggle if through them the soul is cut free from what would destroy it. Therefore, pray not merely for outward calm, but ask for that true peace which is reconciliation with the Father, the peace that passes understanding, the peace Christ left with His disciples. Where that peace is wanting, every other thing is useless.
I hear your cry for physical, mental, and spiritual healing. Be sober, then, as one who stands before the angels and the demons. Each believer has an Angel who beholds the face of the Father; we pray always for the Angel of peace. But if you would be a mother of the faithful, you must become a kind of martyr in your resolve. Is your son sick? Then take no amulets, no charms, no whispered spells from old women calling themselves Christians; these are idolatry, though they pretend to call on God. You have one weapon, one remedy: the Sign of the Cross. Speak to your son of Christ the true Physician, and hold fast to the confession that He is the Son of God, not a mere king or healer, but the Very God who came in the flesh to set at peace the things of earth and heaven.
Be at peace with all, and above all be at peace with God by keeping His commandments. The peacemakers are called sons of God; those who stir strife are sons of the devil. Therefore, if your son suffers, let him not fall into murmuring or hatred of God; rather, let this trial be his schooling in love. And you, his mother, imitate the Son of God: with those who hate peace, be peaceful. When you pray for protection from harm seen and unseen, remember that the only impregnable shield is to trust wholly in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That grace brought us who were enemies near and made us sons; it is sufficient for every wound. So I do not pray that every earthly pain be lifted, but that through them your son, and you with him, may hold fast to the love of the Father and the Son, and that this love may work an eternal healing in his soul.
I hear your cry for physical, mental, and spiritual healing. Be sober, then, as one who stands before the angels and the demons. Each believer has an Angel who beholds the face of the Father; we pray always for the Angel of peace. But if you would be a mother of the faithful, you must become a kind of martyr in your resolve. Is your son sick? Then take no amulets, no charms, no whispered spells from old women calling themselves Christians; these are idolatry, though they pretend to call on God. You have one weapon, one remedy: the Sign of the Cross. Speak to your son of Christ the true Physician, and hold fast to the confession that He is the Son of God, not a mere king or healer, but the Very God who came in the flesh to set at peace the things of earth and heaven.
Be at peace with all, and above all be at peace with God by keeping His commandments. The peacemakers are called sons of God; those who stir strife are sons of the devil. Therefore, if your son suffers, let him not fall into murmuring or hatred of God; rather, let this trial be his schooling in love. And you, his mother, imitate the Son of God: with those who hate peace, be peaceful. When you pray for protection from harm seen and unseen, remember that the only impregnable shield is to trust wholly in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That grace brought us who were enemies near and made us sons; it is sufficient for every wound. So I do not pray that every earthly pain be lifted, but that through them your son, and you with him, may hold fast to the love of the Father and the Son, and that this love may work an eternal healing in his soul.
