Chrysostom
Beloved
You cry out for your son and your husband, and you do well to believe that Jesus can touch and heal them now. Do not doubt, for the Lord who rebuked the fever of Peter's mother-in-law did not merely cause the fever to leave, but gave her back perfect health at once, with no lingering weakness. His power is the same today. He can command the pain and fever to depart, and restore your son to peaceful sleep and your husband to strength in an instant.
But as you wait and pray, remember the One to whom you cry. He is not only a healer of bodies, but the Savior of your soul. When He met the Samaritan woman at the well, He exposed her hidden life, yet she did not turn away in anger; she marveled and recognized Him as a Prophet, and then sought from Him the living water of true doctrine. So let this trial turn your heart to examine yourself, not with fear, but with trust. He knows your situation fully. Bring it all before Him.
In your home, be the gentle and chaste wife who wins her husband not by outward adornment but by the hidden person of the heart, serving him in his sickness with meekness and propriety. You are bound to him by God's law for life; love him and care for him as the Church submits to Christ. This is your high calling, especially in his hour of weakness.
And do not let the thought enter your mind, "What good has God done for me?" Recall that He gave you your very husband and your son. Who breathed life into you and them? He who did not spare His own Son for your salvation will He not also spare you in this temporal need? It would be great ingratitude to remember only human help and forget the countless benefits of God.
So now, join your faith to ours. We pray with you that the Lord Jesus, who is the Son of God and yet called Son of David for our sake, will stretch forth His hand and touch your child and your husband, driving out all pain and fever, and granting them both swift and complete recovery. Only believe, and do not waver. Amen.
But as you wait and pray, remember the One to whom you cry. He is not only a healer of bodies, but the Savior of your soul. When He met the Samaritan woman at the well, He exposed her hidden life, yet she did not turn away in anger; she marveled and recognized Him as a Prophet, and then sought from Him the living water of true doctrine. So let this trial turn your heart to examine yourself, not with fear, but with trust. He knows your situation fully. Bring it all before Him.
In your home, be the gentle and chaste wife who wins her husband not by outward adornment but by the hidden person of the heart, serving him in his sickness with meekness and propriety. You are bound to him by God's law for life; love him and care for him as the Church submits to Christ. This is your high calling, especially in his hour of weakness.
And do not let the thought enter your mind, "What good has God done for me?" Recall that He gave you your very husband and your son. Who breathed life into you and them? He who did not spare His own Son for your salvation will He not also spare you in this temporal need? It would be great ingratitude to remember only human help and forget the countless benefits of God.
So now, join your faith to ours. We pray with you that the Lord Jesus, who is the Son of God and yet called Son of David for our sake, will stretch forth His hand and touch your child and your husband, driving out all pain and fever, and granting them both swift and complete recovery. Only believe, and do not waver. Amen.
