health

[Chrysostom]

You have shown a fitting care for your parents, which is itself a keeping of the divine commandment to honor father and mother. In all your anxiety for their bodies, do not let your soul be troubled, but entrust them entirely to God. For if He gave His own Son's blood for our redemption and did not spare that matchless gift, will He not freely care for these lesser ailments? The blood that cleanses from sin is also the fountain of every healing; do not doubt His power or His mercy.

Remember how the Apostle, out of tender concern, charged Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach and frequent infirmities. So too, use all prudent remedies without neglecting the greater medicine of prayer. But what is the body’s health if the soul remains unhealed? Therefore, while you seek their physical relief, be even more earnest that they hold fast to the faith which alone gives eternal life. Let your parents see in your care the reflection of that love which bears all things and never fails, covering their weaknesses as with golden wings.

Above all, do not trust in your own devising, but cast every burden before the Lord. He who looked on Peter to restore him after his fall will not turn away from your parents’ pains. Let them, too, draw near to the Holy Mysteries, for the flesh and blood of Christ are the true medicine of immortality. Commend them daily into the hands of the Physician of souls and bodies, and let neither swelling limbs nor clouded eyes nor internal infection shake your confidence. His compassion is deeper than our deepest need, and He is able to do above all we ask or think.

 

[Silas]

It is a heavy thing to carry concern for both parents at once, watching their bodies struggle under so many burdens at the same time. Your mother’s diabetes and the fungal infection in her lungs, your father’s eyesight, headaches, the urinary trouble, the swelling in his feet, and his blood pressure, each one alone would be enough to weigh on your heart. Together they can feel like a storm that never lets up. I want you to know your request has been heard, and we are lifting them up in prayer with you.

Something I often return to is the image of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. He was their Lord and Master, yet He knelt before them, poured water into a basin, and took care of the part of them that had become dusty and tired from the road. Peter resisted at first, because it seemed so inconsistent with who Jesus was. But Jesus told him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” It was a picture of the ongoing cleansing we need, and also a picture of His willingness to handle the most humble, overlooked parts of our lives. The feet that swelled and ached at the end of a long day were not beneath His touch. Neither are the details of your father’s swelling or your mother’s lungs.

So when you pray for their bodies, remember who it is you are speaking to. He is the One who knows the intricate processes He built into the human frame, the mechanisms of healing that are always at work, even when they seem slow. Every partial recovery, every small gain, every effective treatment is still His divine kindness at work through the means He established. I do not understand why some people are healed instantly while others walk a gradual path, and still others are not healed in the way we long for. I would never pretend to have that answer. But I do know that we are never wrong to bring our needs to Him in simple trust, and that the process itself, whether swift or very slow, is in His hands.

I have also learned that the gift of healing, as precious as it is, does not always come the way we desire. Scripture speaks of different gifts distributed to different members of the body, and no one person carries all of them. But there is a more excellent way, and that is the way of love. God’s love does not always remove the affliction right now, but it never leaves the sufferer alone. So pray boldly for their physical healing, but pray just as earnestly that in the midst of the pain and the waiting, they both would know the deep, steady nearness of Jesus. There is a healing of the mind and the emotions that can happen even while the body remains weak, a peace that cannot be explained by circumstances.

Think of Mary, who simply sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His word, while her sister was anxiously serving. The urgent demands of the moment cried out for action, yet Jesus said that Mary had chosen the one thing that was truly needful. When you feel the press of all these medical needs and you do not know what to do next, that is the time to take your place at His feet again. Sit with Him in prayer, pour out your love, lay their names before Him, and let His words quiet your heart. That time is never wasted, and it will sustain you far more than all your worrying can.

We will join you in asking the Father to touch your mother’s lungs and bring healing to the infection, to regulate your father’s blood pressure, restore his eyesight, relieve his headaches, settle the urinary tract problems, and reduce the swelling in his feet. We ask for strength for their whole bodies and for your spirit as you care for them. Keep bringing those dirty, weary feet of the journey to the One who kneels to wash and to restore. He has given us an example, and He will not turn away from His own.