St. Diadokos of Photiki on gracefully accepting illness.

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If you’re suffering from a cold or the flu—or even worse—it might sound absurd to hear that you should be joyful even when you’re sick. But St. Diadokos of Photiki says that such an attitude is essential:

When we become unduly distressed at falling ill, we should recognize that our soul is still the slave of bodily desires and so longs for physical health, not wishing to lose the good things of this life and even finding it a great hardship not to be able to enjoy them because of illness. If, however, the soul accepts thankfully the pains of illness, it is clear that it is not far from the realm of dispassion; as a result it even waits joyfully for death as the entry into a life that is more true.

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