You ask for healing and peace for your son. Yet consider what peace means. Did not our Lord say He came not to bring peace but a sword? For there is a peace that is worse than war, when the diseased part is not cut away. If your son’s sickness is spiritual, perhaps the Physician of souls is now at work, amputating the incurable corruption. Do not then seek only a quieting of symptoms, but a radical cure, even if it comes through pain. The Apostle says, “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.” So if your son is chastised, it is a sign of sonship.
And you, as a mother, must be like the faithful women who counted it martyrdom to see their child die rather than resort to amulets and incantations. Those who string about them such charms, though they say they call upon God, are idolaters. You have the Cross; you need no other remedy. Sign him with the Cross, anoint him with the oil of prayer, and entrust him to the God who gave him. If He takes, He takes; if He restores, He restores. You have made no amulet? That is accounted to you as a sacrifice.
But do not think that your prayers are unheard because he is not instantly healed. Did not the Word Himself, when reviled, remain silent, fulfilling the prophet? He held His peace when they accused Him; how much more must we learn to hold our peace in affliction? In His humiliation, judgment was taken away; so in our humiliation, our judgment is in God’s hands. Persist in hearing the divine words. Even if you have prayed ten thousand times and seemed to gain nothing, that one more supplication, that one more hearing of the Scripture, might bring down the whole edifice of sickness. The tree that receives many blows stands, until one final stroke fells it; but that final stroke is effective because of the previous ones. So your continual prayers are not wasted.
Seek the peace that is from above, the peace that Christ gave not as the world gives. That peace is the mother of all good, the foundation of joy. But such peace comes only when the mutinous thoughts are conquered, when the passions that war against the soul are silenced. For if your son is physically healed, yet his soul remains at war with God, what profit is there? Pray then for that peace which passes understanding, which reconciles earth to heaven. Remember that each believer has an angel who beholds the Father’s face; do not grieve that angel by unbelief or by seeking sorceries. Be sober, as in the presence of tutors; there is a demon also present, ever ready to suggest enchantments.
And when you pray, do not doubt the love of God, who called you sons through grace. It is a strange thing: we who were enemies are become saints and sons. He who gave His Son for you, will He not with Him freely give you all things? If He delays, it is for your good, that your faith, being tried, might be found more precious than gold. So let your request be made known to God with thanksgiving, and the peace of God shall guard your heart. If the Son of God deigns to call you His mother, His brother, by doing the Father’s will, then do that will: hear His commandments, for this is the proof of love. And loving Him, you love the Father also.
Therefore, pray: “Father, heal him as Thou wilt; only grant him repentance, faith, and the peace that comes from a cleansed heart. And if it please Thee to afflict his body, grant him patience and spiritual strength.” This is the healing that endures to eternal life. May you both be found well-pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ our Lord, whose grace and peace be with you. Amen.