240 IN THE OLD TESTAMENT MAN LIVES HIS SICKNESS IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

YOUCAT Lesson 240

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick

240  How was “sickness” interpreted in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament sickness was often experienced as a severe trial, against which one could protest but in which one could also see God’s hand.  In the prophets, the thought appears that sufferings are not just a curse and not always the consequence of personal sin.  That by patiently bearing sufferings one can also be there for others.  [1502]

Painting: …..Guernica by Pablo Picasso 1937. …..Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces on 26 April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. …..240

“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”  Matthew  8:17

Illness in human life

The sick person before God

…….1502   The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the presence of God. It is before God that he laments his illness, and it is of God, Master of life and death, that he implores healing.(compare Psalm 6:3; Psalm 38; Isaiah 38.)⁹⁹    Illness becomes a way to conversion; God's forgiveness initiates the healing.(compare Psalm 32:5; Ps 38:5; Ps 39:9-12,; Ps 107:20; compare Mark 2:5-12.)¹⁰⁰    It is the experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and that faithfulness to God according to his law restores life: "For I am the Lord, your healer."(Exodus 15:26.)¹⁰¹    The prophet intuits that suffering can also have a redemptive meaning for the sins of others. compare Isaiah 53:11.)¹⁰²    Finally Isaiah announces that God will usher in a time for Zion when he will pardon every offense and heal every illness.(compare Isaiah 33:24.)¹⁰³ --CCC