{"id":365,"date":"2026-07-31T08:14:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/?page_id=365"},"modified":"2026-10-27T09:08:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T13:08:57","slug":"illness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/faith-spiritual-life\/spiritual-life-and-growth\/illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Maladie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When illness strikes, our first reaction is very often to ask: Why me? What did I do to God to deserve this? If God is truly good, how can He allow this? Faced with the drama of suffering, it is not unusual to fall into a void of meaninglessness, to feel guilty, to experience anger and revolt. What should I do? To whom should I turn?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Why me?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps we should rather ask: why NOT me? Why should we get through life without suffering? Why should we be exempt from suffering?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christian faith is the only one that believes in a God who suffered, in the person of Jesus Christ, on the cross. Jesus suffered for our sins and transformed suffering into new life through His Resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another question we should ask ourselves when we suffer could be: what will I do with my suffering? Will I allow it to stir up resentment, guilt, anger and a sense of powerlessness in me? Or will I instead find a way, through the power of the God who suffers, to transform my suffering into love? Could I not allow it to lead me to become more compassionate, more forgiving, more loving, and to accept the love and care that others want to give me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has God abandoned me?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most human reactions to a prolonged illness, despite prayers for healing that seem to go unanswered, can be a profound sense of God\u2019s absence. We wonder why our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. We do not understand why God remains silent while we are suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While suffering on the cross, Jesus Himself expressed such a feeling by repeating the words of Psalm 22: \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d In the suffering of His Passion, Jesus cries out to His Father. There, in Jesus, we find a reflection of our own powerlessness in the face of suffering, and of our need for relief that goes unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is part of the mystery of God that we go through periods of pain in which there seems to be no consolation, when we seek comfort and receive none. Saint John of the Cross, a 16th-century mystic, speaks of this experience as the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d; he describes it as a time when all the sweetness attached to our sense of God\u2019s presence and love disappears from our life for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although God neither causes nor desires our suffering, He permits it. In those moments when we feel alone and troubled by our illness, we can seek to discover God\u2019s presence in the kindness of others, in the skill and care of health professionals, and in moments of grace when we feel a strength and a love that go beyond our own strength. God is ALWAYS near us, even when we do not see Him. It is perhaps in these moments, more than any others, that we live our faith as \u201cthe assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen\u201d (Heb 11:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jesus, the supreme physician<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Church has always cared for the sick, following Jesus Christ, the supreme physician of bodies and souls. In the New Testament we find many accounts of healings performed by the Lord: healings of paralytics, lepers, the blind, a woman suffering from hemorrhages, etc. Jesus allowed Himself to be touched by every form of illness and infirmity. He even brought a few people back from the dead, including the son of a poor widow and His great friend Lazarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is more, Jesus Himself accepted our human and mortal condition. He was born in a manger among the poor and the animals, turned away by innkeepers. He had to flee with His parents and live as a stranger in a neighbouring country. He endured humiliation, rejection and threats. He knew fatigue, long walks under the sun, cold nights. He felt loneliness and the incomprehension of His own. He saw His friends sleep, leaving Him alone in the anguish of His agony. He suffered the Passion and carried the cross for our sins. He finally died in atrocious physical, psychological and spiritual suffering, wondering, He too, why God His Father had abandoned Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Church, in her Catechism<\/a>, tells us that illness and suffering are grave trials in which human beings experience their powerlessness, their limitations and their finitude. On the one hand, illness can lead to anguish, withdrawal into oneself and sometimes to despair and revolt against God. But it can also be a source of growth in maturity and in discerning what is essential in life. Very often, illness leads to a search for God and a return to Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ invited His Church to follow Him and to heal the sick. The Lord\u2019s disciples healed the sick by anointing them with oil (Mark 6:12-13). The Church takes up the rite described in the Letter of James (5:14-15) in the sacrament of the sick, one of the seven sacraments, called the Anointing of the Sick<\/strong>, which is specially intended to comfort those who are tried by illness.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Spiritual accompaniment<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A time of illness or a trial of any kind can be experienced as a hard blow, cause physical and moral suffering, and bring its share of losses and grief. One may experience a loss of enjoyment of life, a temporary or permanent loss of autonomy, a loss of control over one\u2019s schedule and sometimes even over personal decisions. One may be deprived of a part of oneself, a loss felt on the physiological, emotional, behavioural and cognitive levels, a loss of mental or psychological well-being and sometimes of one or more parts of one\u2019s body, etc. All these losses can in turn bring about others, each experienced as a form of grief: the loss of a job, of a social or family role, of financial independence, of certain relationships, or even of one\u2019s living environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we accept and come to terms with these losses, temporary or permanent, which sometimes occur gradually? It is certainly essential to trust the care team and follow the treatment plan proposed by the health system; but it is just as important to take time to consider and name the losses, to grieve them or to rise above them. Our immediate circle may be very helpful and support us greatly through their love and the countless services they must provide for a shorter or longer time. It is also possible that our loved ones are overwhelmed by events as well and feel powerless. To get through this trial well, find meaning in all this suffering and do the necessary grieving, we often need help and understanding, a reassuring presence that our family and we ourselves can trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the spiritual level, we generally wish to find our bearings again, regain balance in life and reconnect with what gives meaning to our existence. Spiritual needs are usually defined as those concerning a person\u2019s spirit; they are linked to the search for meaning and belonging, in relation to fundamental values or to a transcendent being. Here is a list of spiritual needs we might then experience (an incomplete list, of course, gathering the elements most often encountered by volunteers who make visits):<\/p>\n\n\n\n