Illness and for the Sick - #5

What is it like to be sick? Everyone knows. First, being sick is personally annoying and irritating. I feel lousy. I have to change plans, cancel appointments, and skip events. I have to rest. I have to see a doctor and I may need to take medication. I have to rely on family and friends. Sickness disrupts my routine and daily schedule, work and personal projects, deadlines and cherished commitments.

Second, being sick is socially difficult. I may have to skip a movie, a dinner engagement, or a long anticipated concert. I may feel isolated from others. I may have to practice patience because there is nothing I can do until the illness has run its course.

Third, being sick is spiritually humbling. I may have to let go of my autonomy. I may have to pray to God for help and healing. Sickness can scare me because it reminds me that I am mortal. I cannot be totally in control of my destiny. I simply am not in charge of my life. God is. God is the author of my life. God sustains me. I need God. I need others.

The above describes only one experience of sickness, the kind of illness that is temporary and short-term. There are other significant forms of illness. First, sickness may stalk me in the prime of my life. I learn that my illness is chronic and long-term. I will have to live out my years in pain, medication, frustration, discouragement, therapy, and varying degrees of disability.. It does not seem fair. This kind of illness will color the personal, social, and spiritual frames of my being.

Second, illness may occur in the latter years of life, a time already filled with diminishment and change. An individual or a couple may decide to say goodbye to a house, a neighborhood, and a parish community. They may have to relocate to a new place that provides assistance and a new level of care.

Third, a visit to a doctor, a clinic, or a hospital may reveal that I need surgery. This brings its own fears, the prospect of arduous rehabilitation, and the slow recovery of energy.

Finally, I may discover that my illness is terminal. This illness will accompany me to my final breath. All the work projects and cherished commitments will slowly be relinquished. Family and friends, pastors and church ministers, health care and hospice people will accompany me on the final journey to God. Sickness is a great equalizer. No matter our prestige, position, or power! Illness make us face our fragility, invites us to rely on others for help, and teaches us to turn to God and communities of faith for spiritual strength and sustenance. In the past we kept the church at arm's length when a family member's sickness placed them in danger of death. I remember hearing others' say - don't call the priest because, when you do, it means the final curtain, the end. If we could avoid the priest, there was a chance that death would not overtake our loved ones and us.