Diseases help people

– Geronda, what does the expression "good Paradise to you" mean?

"Have a good journey to Paradise.

– Geronda, does this expression mean: "I wish you to be in a good Paradise"?

"Have you ever heard anyone speak ill of Paradise?" But be that as it may, in order to get into the sweet Paradise, a person must taste a lot of bitter things in this life. So he will receive a "passport" of the tests he has passed. What is going on in hospitals! What tragedies! What pain people have! How many unfortunate mothers, going to surgery, think about their children and are tormented by anxiety about the family! How many fathers get cancer, go for radiation and how they suffer. These people cannot work, and they have to pay for housing, because they have so many expenses! Here others, being in excellent health, still cannot cope with expenses, and what can we say about those who are sick and at the same time exhausted, working to somehow cope with their family expenses. I am terribly oppressed by human grief. I hear so much every day! Endless torment, difficulties... All day long my mouth is full of bitterness from human grief, and in the evening I go hungry to rest a little. I experience great bodily fatigue, but at the same time I get inner rest.

– Geronda, does illness always benefit a person?

– Yes, it always brings great benefits. Diseases help people who have no virtues to propitiate God[101]. Health is a big thing, but the good that illness brings to a person, health cannot give him! Illness brings spiritual good to a person. Illness is a great, great blessing. It cleanses a person from sin, and sometimes guarantees" him a [heavenly] reward. The soul of man is like gold, and sickness is like fire, which purifies this gold. Look, Christ also said to the Apostle Paul: "My strength is made perfect in weakness"[102]. The more a person suffers from illness, the purer and more holy he becomes, if only he endures and accepts the illness with joy.

The only thing that is needed in some diseases is a little patience. God allows illness in order for a person to receive a small reward, and through this illness God cleanses a person of his shortcomings. After all, bodily illness helps in the healing of spiritual illness. A bodily illness brings humility to a person and thus neutralizes his mental illness. God benefits from everything for the good of man! Everything He allows is of spiritual benefit to us. He knows what each of us needs, and accordingly He gives us sickness, either so that we may receive a reward for it, or so that we may pay for some sins.

Heavenly Reward for Illness