“Listen to another story. Once a nun
wrote to me to say that she was ill and would die if she didn’t have an
operation. I wrote to her saying exactly the opposite. She wrote back saying
that the doctor told her that she would die in so many days if she didn’t have
an operation. I repeated my request, “Have faith; leave it all to God; prefer
death .”
Later she sent me her response saying
that the illness went away.
Do you see? I have experienced this
thousand of times. When you put death before you and await it at every moment,
it flees far away from you. When you fear death, it constantly pursues you.
I buried three people with
tuberculosis, nourishing the hope that I would catch it. After I undressed the
corpse, I wore his clothes, but death fled away from me to those who fear it. I
have been ill my whole life. I have never had any treatment. I absolutely eat
the wrong foods. But death is nowhere in sight.
What I am trying to say is that
without the will of the Lord, we neither get sick nor die. Therefore, far away
from us. O lack of faith!”
-Saint Joseph the Hesychast
Monastic Wisdom
Thirtieth Letter
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