Who can heal my soul except You, O Physician, so that it may serve You?

St. Jacob of Sarug asks us not to focus on our wounds, but on the Physician who came down from heaven, and so we invite Him to descend into the depths of our souls and visit them by Himself. Our soul is like Simon Peter’s mother-in-law who was with high fever and unable to rise from her bed. The soul demands that He rebukes the fever of sin that it may leave the soul, so that she can stand and witness to Him in the spirit of enlightenment and knowledge (Luke 4:39). Who can expel the evil thoughts and take away all pains except Him?

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “O my Lord, the sick soul asks You to come to her. Go in and visit her, so she can rise and serve You every day. When Simon’s mother-in-law was healed from her sickness, she arose and served You, because she relied on her health. May You do the same with the sick soul to be healed, so she could rise and serve Your word with enlightenment. O You who held the hands of her whom You healed from illness, hold the thoughts of my soul through Your love and raise them from the passions. I have been afflicted with sins like a sick man … O You the Physician who freely came, may Your healings work within me.”