Sickness (Illness)
- Michael Haldas
- May 22
- 3 min read
“What does the life of the Much-Suffering Job teach us? —It teaches us steadfast endurance in suffering, love for Christ, faithfulness to God, and hope and trust that even in the darkest circumstances—in apparent abandonment by God, in imprisonment, in sickness, in the death of our loved ones—the Lord loves us, the Lord is with us, always ready to help, to comfort, and to grant us boundless and everlasting blessings. For some even in this life; but above all, for all in the life to come. Job is an image of suffering, and an image of hope—hope that is born through suffering.” (Petr Malkov)
“Healing is fostered when we are able to interpret our experience in the light of our relationship to God. Or, to put it another way, when our experience becomes consciously anchored in some archetype of ultimate value, then we begin to see the eternal significance of what we have suffered. Until we can glimpse how our life relates to God’s own life, we have a crisis of meaning.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“Zacchaeus was so transformed by the mercy of Christ that he became an epiphany, a living icon of the restoration of the human person in God’s image and likeness. This formerly corrupt and money-hungry man resolved to show his neighbors a measure of the grace that He had received, for he gave half of what he owned to the poor and restored all that he had stolen four-fold. In response to the gracious blessing he had received from Christ, he blessed others abundantly in a way that bore witness to the healing of his soul.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“Again, suffering is not to be sought for its own sake. However, it has a sacramental quality that is inherent to the gospel. When Christ spoke of His abiding presence among us, His examples included the sick, the naked, the hungry, the thirsty, those in prison – the least of these. There is a deep spiritual delusion that treasures Christ in the elements of the Eucharist while ignoring His presence in the least of these. They, too, are His “Body broken for you.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Life after transplantation—I’d never say it is somewhat akin to a magic. But it is already another kind of life. Diets, medicine, thorough checkups in search of any specific symptoms… I can’t live like the rest of us, but I do live—and this fact transforms it all. You realize that every drink of water, a single breath you make, or every step—are possible because of the mercy of God. You also begin to look at people differently, as you are no longer fixated on yourself. I get to have daily encounters with kids, yes, kids, who chose to keep on fighting. I see a permanent battle of the light and the dark and I know deep inside that the light will win, and it will break through the gloomy clouds. I admit it’s been dark in the past, but this helped me to see life in a bright and lighter way. So today, I no longer race after some “cozy” comforts of life in order to “have it all”—no! I seek a righteous life, which brings out a genuine smile, a whole-hearted willingness to help your neighbor, where your heart isn’t racing from fear, but it throbs from love for people and God.” (Maria Vasic, Filip Stanisic)
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