Chrysostom
Beloved of All
You pray for your son’s healing and protection, and this is good. But consider: when the Lord seems to delay, it is not neglect but the treatment of a wise physician. A sick man who refuses the doctor’s orders may be mourned and warned, and that very mourning becomes a kind of medicine. So I ask: does this illness of body or mind find your son holding fast to the commandments of God? For the Lord Himself said that the one who hears and does His sayings loves Him, and the one who does not, loves neither the Son nor the Father. Examine then whether there is any root of disobedience that needs uprooting, lest the sickness return sevenfold. The true healing begins when the soul bows before the great Physician.
Do not reach for any remedy that smells of superstition. What do amulets and charms profit? Even if an old woman calls herself a Christian, to trust such things is idolatry. You are among the faithful: make the sign of the Cross over your son, and say, “This is my only weapon; this is my medicine; I know no other.” The mother who would rather see her child die than resort to incantations is counted a martyr. So trust nothing but the power of Christ, who asked the blind men, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Not “able to pray” or “able to entreat,” but “able to do this.” Bring that same faith, crying out “Son of David, have mercy,” but knowing He is not merely King of Israel, but the very Son of God, Lord of all.
Yet do not measure His love by the speed of recovery. He delays the full judgment precisely so that sinners may wash away their transgressions. His unwillingness to judge quickly is a mark of boundless lovingkindness. So if your son is not yet healed, perhaps the Lord is giving him space for deeper repentance, or teaching you both to hear His words not in a carnal way, looking only at what the eyes see, but spiritually, seeing the eternal weight of glory in this affliction. Eat His flesh and drink His blood by faith; feed on the living Word. Without that, there is no life in you.
And do not cease your prayers. How many who heard ten sermons and seemed unmoved, later were cut down and converted by one more? The tree that falls at a single stroke was made ready by those ten. So persist. The Lord sits at table with publicans and sinners to heal them. Invite Him into your home, not just with words but by walking in His commandments. Then, whether He restores your son now or later, you will both be safe from the harm that truly destroys, not the seen, but the unseen foe.
Do not reach for any remedy that smells of superstition. What do amulets and charms profit? Even if an old woman calls herself a Christian, to trust such things is idolatry. You are among the faithful: make the sign of the Cross over your son, and say, “This is my only weapon; this is my medicine; I know no other.” The mother who would rather see her child die than resort to incantations is counted a martyr. So trust nothing but the power of Christ, who asked the blind men, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Not “able to pray” or “able to entreat,” but “able to do this.” Bring that same faith, crying out “Son of David, have mercy,” but knowing He is not merely King of Israel, but the very Son of God, Lord of all.
Yet do not measure His love by the speed of recovery. He delays the full judgment precisely so that sinners may wash away their transgressions. His unwillingness to judge quickly is a mark of boundless lovingkindness. So if your son is not yet healed, perhaps the Lord is giving him space for deeper repentance, or teaching you both to hear His words not in a carnal way, looking only at what the eyes see, but spiritually, seeing the eternal weight of glory in this affliction. Eat His flesh and drink His blood by faith; feed on the living Word. Without that, there is no life in you.
And do not cease your prayers. How many who heard ten sermons and seemed unmoved, later were cut down and converted by one more? The tree that falls at a single stroke was made ready by those ten. So persist. The Lord sits at table with publicans and sinners to heal them. Invite Him into your home, not just with words but by walking in His commandments. Then, whether He restores your son now or later, you will both be safe from the harm that truly destroys, not the seen, but the unseen foe.
