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You could see Jesus’ life as a struggle against sickness and death. He was a healer, and reached out to cure the pains that disabled people, so that they could forget their sickness and enjoy, as he said, more abundant life, like Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. When Jesus cured her of a fever, she got up and made the tea. Pious people with a headache sometimes offer up the pain and continue talking about it. Better to take an aspirin and get on with the job.
Pain and sickness are obviously bad, something to be fought and resisted. Yet the Lord touches us through them, and a time comes when we can no longer feel God’s touch in prayer, but we sense how he is shaping us through our suffering. It is remarkable how many people find the grace to seek whatever help medicine can offer, and then to accept the remaining pain as the background of a peaceful existence – and without talking about it. Remember the prayer of the old nun: Lord, keep my mind free from the recital of endless details – give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains – they are interesting, and my love of rehearsing them becomes sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others’ pains, but help me to endure them with patience.
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