[The parish...]
Here at God's command instruction in the divine and saving Truth is imparted to those who desire admission to the Sacrament of the Altar.
Here at the Holy Spirit's direction the cross of sickness is sanctified where it is not taken away, and the sins of the contemporary counterparts of the paralytic on his pallet are forgiven by the ministry of God's ministers.
--A.C. Piepkorn, *The Church* p. 124
"comfort [the afflicted] O God, with Thy Holy Spirit, that they may receive and acknowledge their afflictions as the manifestation of Thy Fatherly will." -General Prayer
ReplyDeleteand "Lord jesus, who hast made it my lot to bear the cross, give me also an obedient and submissive heart that I may willingly take Thy yoke upon me and follow Thee i every affliction..." -prayer for the sick and dying
Who prays for this anymore? Instead we sing "praise the one who breaks the darkness" alone. Without the notion of sanctified suffering and of the God who works for our good IN suffering, healing texts and prayers are a slap in the face to those who are not healed. Here Bach does better by singing cross and comfort hymns with healing texts.
Praise the One who Breaks is also true; but it's the truth we're not in danger of losing. That God would sanctify us in our afflictions that He is not pleased to relieve - well, that's the rub these days, as you point out. But when we have days when we can't sing "Praise the One" we can always turn to "Why should cross and trial grieve me?"
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