Just as one with weak eyes turns them away from anything that is very bright, refreshing the vision with flowers and herbs, so also must your soul not stare at sorrow, fixating on present afflictions, but rather focus your eye on the true Good.
—St. Basil the Great, On Fasting and Feasts, Homily Against Drunkards
Category: SUFFERING & TRIBULATION
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“Ordinarily we experience no pain when the soul is sick, yet on the contrary when the body is troubled we use every means possible to relieve that trouble. For this very reason God afflicts the body because of the sins of the soul, in order to restore health to man’s most noble aspect by making use of the least noble affliction.”
—St. John Chrysostom
(via The Theology of Illness by Jean-Claude Larchet) -
Because it undermines us at the level of our being, illness often challenges our former, false equilibrium, and leads us to question the very foundations of our existence. It effectively weakens our impassioned attachments to this world. And in so doing, it reveals the vanity of those attachments and leads us to surpass their limits.
—Jean-Claude Larchet, The Theology of Illness -
By virtue of illness, man comes back to himself.
—St. Seraphim of Sarov
(via The Theology of Illness by Jean-Claude Larchet) -
The illness of the body reminds us of the illness of our entire fallen nature. The loss of health appears as the symbol and perceptible sign of the loss of paradisiacal life. By confining the soul within the limits of the body, sickness and suffering destroy any illusions of fullness and self-sufficiency a person may previous have had, illusions fueled by a state of health he took for granted. They teach a person the extent of their poverty, even their ontological nakedness (Gen 3:7), and remind him that he is dust (3:19). The person can no longer consider himself as absolute, since his fundamental pride is broken.
—Jean-Claude Larchet, The Theology of Illness -
Misery.—The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is diversion, and yet this is the greatest of our miseries. For it is this which principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves, and which makes us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us unconsciously to death.
—Blaise Pascal, Pensées -
What is the appropriate attitude toward a patient who is incurably ill?
When the illness becomes incurable, speech no longer matters much. It is necessary to be able to keep silence, to be able to caress the suffering person affectionately so as to convey to him the closeness, warmth, and compassion of God. It is enough to take his hand and to look at each other without saying anything. The tenderness of a look can bring God’s consolation and comfort. In the presence of a suffering sick person, it is not necessary to speak. It is necessary to be compassionate silently, to love, and to pray, with the assurance that the only language that is appropriate for love is prayer and silence.
—Robert Sarah, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise -
“If God suffers in the flesh when He is made man, should we not rejoice when we suffer, for we have God to share our sufferings? This shared suffering confers the kingdom on us. For he spoke truly who said, ‘If we suffer with Him, then we shall also be glorified with Him’ (Rom. 8:17).”
—St. Maximus the Confessor -
St. Barsanuphius recounts that his disciple, “Abba Seridos was gravely ill one day, afflicted with a high fever that would not subside. Nevertheless he did not ask God to heal him or even to lessen his suffering. He asked only that God would grant him endurance and a spirit of thanksgiving.”
—Jean-Claude Larchet, The Theology of Illness -
Illness often challenges our former, false equilibrium, and leads us to question the very foundations of our existence. It effectively weakens our impassioned attachments to this world. And in so doing, it reveals the vanity of those attachments and leads us to surpass their limits.
—Jean-Claude Larchet, The Theology of Illness
