This week’s Reflections was written by the Rev. Larry Ort, retired Episcopal priest

Recently, when preparing for a pastoral visit, I encountered a highly insightful prayer: “Sanctify, O Lord, the sickness of your servant, N., that the sense of his/her weakness may add strength to his/her faith and seriousness to his/her repentance; and grant that he/she may live with you in everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”

To sanctify something is to set it aside for holy purposes. This prayer asks God to set aside our illness for a holy purpose. When ministering to those who suffer from tragic circumstance or catastrophic illness, I have often heard the plaintive cry, “Why me?” This is a natural response; it is only to be expected. This view is undoubtedly a carryover from the Old Testament view that illness was the result of one’s transgressions. “Come on, Job, just confess your sins, repent, and all will be well!”

Yet, one might also ask, “Why not me?” Is there something so special about me that I should expect to escape any calamity? Does anyone exit life apart from experiencing suffering? Anytime we love, we are condemned to suffer, for all that we love in this life will be stripped from us. Yet, love is what makes life truly worth living. It brings us great joy, and sometimes great sorrow.

Romans 8:28 assures us, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” We need to accept this on the basis of faith. So often we think that faith is all about holding just the right set of beliefs or principles, and we often mistakenly believe we are called to impose those principles on others.

Jesus did not tell the disciples to preach or teach specific doctrines. He sent them out to be the body of Christ, to meet the needs of those they met, to deliver them from sickness and evil, to treat them with respect and love such that their lives would be transformed. Orthodoxy was not the main concern — the emphasis was placed on orthopraxy, that is, on practice as opposed to belief, on living out the gospel message in their everyday interactions with others. Have you ever wondered what the witness of the Church might be if we could come to do that?