Sirach 38

‘The real difficulty which confronts everybody, and which especially confronts doctors, is that the extraordinary position of man in the physical universe makes it practically impossible to treat him in either one direction or the other in a purely physical way. Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.’ – GK Chesterton

I should be sleeping but I shall write this before it leaves me. A friend gave me this lovely going away card. In it, she pasted a lovely letter, the prayer of St luke for physicians and this excerpt from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach). I shall reprint it here:

Medicine and Illness
Sirach 38

1 Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him.
2 For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king.
3 The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised.
4 The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them.
5 Was not bitter water made sweet with wood?
6 The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the meet High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honoured in his wonders.
7 By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end.
8 For the peace of God is over all the face of the earth.
9 My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee.
10 Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence.
11 Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician.
12 For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary.
13 For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands:
14 And they shall beseech the Lord, that he would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their conversation.
15 He that sinneth in the sight of his Maker, shall fall into the hands of the physician.

The remainder of the verses, 16-39, deal with mourning the dead and how people’s crafts contribute towards building the city and it is through their work that they make God happy. Of course, the ones I have reprinted here are the ones that shall interest me tonight.

The Work of God.
Sirach writes, ‘For all healing is from God’. When I read this passage, I’m reminded of the great humility with which I shall need to carry out my future responsibilities as a doctor. Without the Almighty, from whom all healing comes, would my work be in vain and most fruitless. It is so important that a doctor should remember this in his daily duties. How disheartening it is for all those physicians who do not place their faith in the one who provides them with their abilities, and does not give Him credit. How great is the mercy of God that he still works his healing powers through them.

Moreover, this is a particular vocation that ‘the most High hath created’. God is so great that he has, in the wake of the illness and disease, a consequence of original sin, created the vocation of physician to aid man. ‘[F]or his works are necessary’, Sirach instructs the reader. What a great privileged it is, to have a job created by God for the necessity of mankind. How great is God that he shall allow me to partake in his wondrous works! He has created me for this job, this vocation, and has deigned to use me so that He can heal illnesses and wounds, and through me let his mighty works be shown. He is the primary agent and how blessed am I that I should partake as the secondary agent.

God provides for the tasks he has ordained
I find great solace and comfort in the knowledge that God provides for the tasks He puts one through. Medical school is long and very stressful. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge to be learnt, assimilated and memorised. One practically has to learn to speak in a different language, whereby acronyms can replace nouns, adjectives and verbs. Once school is the done, the learning continues forever and work is stressful (‘of his works there shall be no end’). Work puts one continually at the forefront of health risks. A mistake could result in a malpractice suit and the suspension of one’s license or even jail time. Yet, this is the job that God himself has created, we cannot fail in it, certainly and especially if we stand by him, and if He wills it. Sirach says, ‘The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and the meet High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honoured in his wonders.’ Which is a great comfort for me as a student. I, for one, am not particularly intelligent, as this rather clumsy amateur exegesis inadvertently reveals. Thus, I am rather relieved that I shall not have to memorise everything alone. Not to mention, all the tools of the trade does he provide, for ‘The most High hath created medicines out of the earth’. Hurray for divine providence!

Treat not just the body, but the soul as well.
A wise Jesuit by the name of Fr Hilario heard that I was going to medical school and quickly reminded me of the nature of my future work. He said in a patient, fatherly tone, ‘A doctor is both a healer of body and soul.’ and then went on to regale me with a tale of how a Hindu doctor used to visit a sick patient every day and asked how she was, and how she felt so much better after each visit. It wasn’t that he actually did anything, but his presence comforted her soul and that brought about some healing. The entire story reminds me of two things. The first, corny as it is, is the age old adage that a doctor ‘cures sometimes, relieves often and comforts always.’

The second, is far more delightful, is of my patron saint, the first modern doctor to be canonized, St Giuseppe Moscati. He once told an intern,

‘Remember that you have to deal not only with the bodies but also with the moaning souls coming to you. How many suffering people you will more easily soothe by advising and going straight to their souls, instead of giving cool prescriptions to be given to the chemist! Be joyful because great will be your reward; but you will have to set a good example of your elevation to God.’

St Guiseppe was greatly concerned with the state of his patients’ souls and viewed the sacraments as the ‘first medicine’, often encouraging his patients who would be undergoing major surgery to receive them, especially that of communion and confession. He couldn’t have been more right. Confession truly brings healing both to our souls and to ourselves, and communion, which is the very gift of Christ himself, fills us full of supernatural grace from God!

I bring this up because it ties in largely with what Sirach has written.

‘My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee.
Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence.’

Sickness and disease, like death, are consequences of original sin. When the soul is in the state of mortal sin and is turned away from God, the body too suffers from this disconnexion. Mortal sin ruins and kills the soul by removing the connexion we have with God and destroy our humanity, which is the image of God. Consider the effects of Post Abortion Syndrome and how it affects both men and women and ruins their lives. Perhaps listen to a few of the stories from the Silent No More campaign.

His grace, the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen actually predicted this phenomenon back in the seventies when Roe V. Wade came about. He actually understood how sin corrupts the body and the need for confession. You can watch that here.

Of course, with the aggressive militant secularity of modern culture, public displays of religiosity are looked down on and attacked. We live a society that persecutes us for merely wearing a symbol of our faith on our person. I just read about a nurse who was given a desk job for refusing to take off her crucifix, a crucifix she had worn for thirty-one years without complaint from anyone in the hospital. Therefore, looking after patient’s souls will become a difficult task, however there are still ways about it. I read recently of a physician who hired people to pray for the intentions of his staff, himself and for his patients.

It is more than necessary nowadays that we center our lives in prayer and on Christ, for he will give us the strength to persevere and be good Christians. He will give us the necessary spiritual armour to face the day and the strength to carry our cross. Which brings me to the next point.

Personify Christ.
I should note that Haydock says that the verse, ‘Was not bitter water made sweet with wood?’ is an allusion to Moses, striking the rock and making the bitter water sweet. It is upon this same staff was mounted the bronze serpent that healed all those afflicted from those fatal snakebites. That same serpent on a stick is the symbol Ascelpius’ staff, the usual symbol of western medicine. Ascelpius is the greek god of medicine. That symbol of the bronze serpent foreshadows Christ. It is interesting to see this foreshadowing throughout history. Many theologists talk about how the Truth is written throughout time and space, in the very fabric of Cosmos itself.

Sirah too describes this, ‘He that sinneth in the sight of his Maker, shall fall into the hands of the physician.’ The physician is none other than Christ, God himself, who has come into the world to heal it from sin through his suffering and death on the cross. St Thomas Aquinas references this in his prayer in preparation for communion, where he goes ‘sick to the physician of life’. Christ himself uses the analogy in the gospels of Ss Matthew and Mark when he speaks to the pharisees, ‘They that are well have no need for a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but the sinners.’, Mk 2:17

In this nifty allusion, it not only foreshadows the coming of Christ, his role as the physician of life, but also our role to personify Christ for others. While all Christians are called to be Christ for others (and also to see Christ in others, since Christ may come in veil of the lowliest and ugliest that frightens us), the doctor has a special role, he personifies the healing powers of Christ, he personifies Christ the healer. Again, I say, what a great privilege that is to share in this wonderful plan of God, and co-healers with Christ.

To end of, perhaps I can take you to this tongue-in-cheek writing about the Christ, the polymath specialist.