Q: One of the magazines I read had an article that said, "Christ never encouraged the sick to live with illness but instead treated illness as a manifestation of the kingdom of Satan, which he came to destroy." I can go along partway with that statement. But what of the redemptive side of suffering?
A: Your letter about sickness raises some profound and difficult questions. To begin with, the assertion that all sickness is the work of the devil reminds me of the occasion when a group of people told Jesus about Pilate murdering some Galileans and mingling their blood with that of the sacrifices they offered.
Jesus asked if, because these Galileans had suffered in this way, the people thought they were greater sinners than all other Galileans. And he answered his own question, "By no means!" Jesus went on to ask if 18 who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem. Again he answered himself, "By no means!" (see Luke 13:1-5).
Your letter also reminds me of the passage in John 9:1-3 when one of Jesus' disciples asks him if a man blind from birth was blind because of his own sins or the sins of his parents. "Jesus answered, 'Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.'" Jesus promptly went on to give the man sight.
The point that I am trying to make is that we cannot automatically make sickness and suffering the result of personal sin or pronounce it the work of the devil. At the same time God does not expect Christians to be complacent in the face of pain and illness. Surely God blesses the work of doctors and nurses, therapists and pharmacists--all who minister to the sick and look for cures. And surely God blesses families and friends who visit and care for the sick. In most parishes visiting the sick and bringing spiritual care to them is an important way of carrying out the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy.
When the priest anoints a sick person, he prays that God will give that person healing and strength. The priest asks God to show the sick person mercy and compassion and restore him or her to health. So God does expect us to struggle against sickness and disease. You are right, of course, to see the redemptive value of suffering. Pope John Paul II pointed out this purpose to suffering in his encyclical on suffering some years ago.
I am sure many who have endured physical affliction could speak to you of the graces they discovered in sickness. St. Ignatius Loyola would surely tell us how he discovered God, how his whole life was changed during his recuperation from a broken arm and leg suffered in battle. And Francis of Assisi would tell us how God came to him in the midst of sickness and imprisonment.
Through sickness God often stops us in our tracks and turns us around. We are forced to stop and reflect on our values and goals in life. In sickness we experience our own weakness and helplessness. We are invited to seek out God as our hope, our strengthener, our consoler and comforter.
Through sickness God detaches us from this world and turns us to his everlasting kingdom. Sickness can be a time of purgation and preparation for heaven. And in the sick who bear their suffering patiently and heroically, who consecrate their pain to God and unite it to the redemptive suffering of Jesus, we find inspiration and example.
In the midst of sickness we see the love and goodness of God in those who minister to us and make Christ present in our lives.
There are also graces for those who care for the sick. They receive the opportunity to practice charity. They are given the opportunity of finding Jesus in the sick.
Out of pain and suffering God can and does draw good.
