Chrysostom
Beloved of All
You come asking for healing in the name of Jesus, and that is good, for He alone is the true physician. But consider: when our Lord heard that Lazarus was sick, He delayed, and said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” So do not be troubled if relief does not come at once. The body’s fever may be the soul’s medicine, driving out the far worse sickness of pride, lust, or forgetfulness of God. Many remember Him only in affliction and then grow slack when health returns. Be not like them, but in sickness and in health, give glory to God.
Use these days not merely to petition for the body’s ease, but to examine the inner man. Perhaps this trial is permitted to heal a deeper wound. For if we spend forty days or even a whole year in outward piety and then return to our sins, what have we gained? The soul’s healing is not the work of a moment. Yet despair not: even at the very gates of hell, a soul may be recovered. Only do not delay repentance, for you know not the hour.
The body may seem incurable to physicians, but for the faithful, even the body’s death is not the final word. So whether this illness passes quickly or lingers, cling to Christ. I do not say, “Be healed,” as if merely to utter words, but I say, “Let your sickness teach you gratitude, patience, and a deeper fear of the Lord.” Offer your pain as a sacrifice, and trust that whether He restores you now or later, He works all things for your salvation.
Therefore, pray, but also attend to the medicine of the Scriptures, to confession, and to the holy mysteries worthily received. And do not let this trial pass without fruit, for affliction endured with faith yields an eternal weight of glory.
Use these days not merely to petition for the body’s ease, but to examine the inner man. Perhaps this trial is permitted to heal a deeper wound. For if we spend forty days or even a whole year in outward piety and then return to our sins, what have we gained? The soul’s healing is not the work of a moment. Yet despair not: even at the very gates of hell, a soul may be recovered. Only do not delay repentance, for you know not the hour.
The body may seem incurable to physicians, but for the faithful, even the body’s death is not the final word. So whether this illness passes quickly or lingers, cling to Christ. I do not say, “Be healed,” as if merely to utter words, but I say, “Let your sickness teach you gratitude, patience, and a deeper fear of the Lord.” Offer your pain as a sacrifice, and trust that whether He restores you now or later, He works all things for your salvation.
Therefore, pray, but also attend to the medicine of the Scriptures, to confession, and to the holy mysteries worthily received. And do not let this trial pass without fruit, for affliction endured with faith yields an eternal weight of glory.
