October 3, 2004

As I’m going through the period of recovery, I am aware that many people misunderstand the process of recovering from a serious illness or accident. When people are recovering, they are not necessarily going to get back to where they were when before they became ill. They may recover, but only partially, and with some permanent incapacities. That is what is happening to me.
Friends assume that we are going to be back to “our old self.” That may or may not be entirely true. Some people become chronically ill and remain incapacitated for the rest of their lives. Others will not get better at all; in fact, they may face a life of severe limitation or perhaps death. We don’t like to think in those terms, but it is part of our vocation as Christians to be quite aware that we have here no lasting city and that we are on a journey.
It is very clear in the Gospel and in other New Testament writings that Christ revealed that there is a life after death for those who follow Him. He refers to His Father’s house, our home in heaven, where there will be there neither mourning, nor weeping, nor crying anymore, as it says in the Book of Revelation.
Because our society tends to be very materialistic, we don’t like to think of the fact that we are all dying. We all have a terminal illness, called life. Once we accept this fact, physical incapacity, even terminal illness, has a whole new meaning. It is no longer a terrifying possibility, but rather the opening of a door into a far better world. For this reason every Christian should be prepared for whatever happens to their physical health in this world. To be overly attached to your own physical health and life in this world is a form of worldliness, and worldliness brings discouragement and disappointment. Although I am getting better, I find that I am not totally recovered. I still have serious problems with my arm and shoulder, but I have to live with the fact that God allows me to have this incapacity.
I meet dozens of people who have serious physical incapacities and many more who are simply experiencing old age. I am sorry that I did not face this reality even earlier in life, despite the fact that I had been a religious for so many years. We kind of put it away and don’t think of it and pretend to ourselves that we’re going to be here forever. No, we are not, thank God. If we follow Jesus, we are on our way to a far better world.
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