We have the duty of looking after our health in order to serve God.
We have to work hard in the service of souls. Thus, we need to be fit, so that we can go on working, and so that God can continue to place loads on our shoulders. Life is a gift from God, which we want to spend completely in his service. And the same goes for our health.
We should want to die of old age, after having spent our life in the service of love. Thus, good health is something to be appreciated. It allows us to toil in the Lord's vineyard from the first hour until the last, cheerfully bearing the burden of the day and the scorching heat. We try to stay healthy and strong, out of love for God and a desire to serve. But at the same time, we avoid being over-concerned about the state of our health. And we obey all that we are told as regards looking after our health. Docility in this matter is part of our total dedication. Not even our body is ours; it belongs to God and is to be used solely for serving him.
St. Josemaría desired that we “should take special care to ensure that our body is always fit to respond as a good instrument of our soul. We should use all possible means to avoid anyone becoming physically exhausted as a result of work or other causes. Such physical exhaustion often leads to a psychological breakdown as well, and saps the vital energy which is necessary for the interior struggle. I remind you that God's grace ordinarily counts on our natural strength."
We must look after ourselves in all the ways dictated by common sense. However, we are also called to exercise detachment as regards bodily health. If we fulfill the norms of prudence and nevertheless fall ill, then we offer that illness up to God.
Besides taking care of ourselves we must also ask God for good health. St Augustine writes: “If God knows that it is useful for you, he will grant it to you. If he does not give it to you, it is because it is better for you not to have it."
“When physical pain can be removed, it should be. There are enough sufferings in life! And when we cannot get rid of it, we offer it up."
“That is why you must look after yourselves, so that you die very old, squeezed out like a lemon, accepting God's will as of now."
Illness is another chance to abandon and give ourselves. In all simplicity, we make our needs known, never forgetting that we are poor for the love of Christ, to whom we have given everything.
May our Lady, Health of the Sick, ensure that it is always love for God that moves us to want to stay healthy, and to be generous in accepting God's will when we fall ill.
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