Sickness And Cure

Infelix homo! quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Hic quatuor consideranda: infirmus, causa morbi, medicus et remedium. Medicus Deus, infirmus homo, causa morbi amor mundi, remedium amor Dei. Horum differentia haec est: Amor mundi in principio dulcis, in fine amarus nimis; amor Dei ab amaritudine incipit, finitur in dulcedinem magnam. Unde architrictinus sponso; Omnis homo primum bonum vinum ponit; sed inebriati fuerint, tunc id quod deterius est, etc. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber VI, Tit V, De infirmo, causa morbi, medico, et remedio morbi Source: Migne PL 177.813c

Wretched man, who shall free me from this body of death? 1 Four things must be considered here, the infirmity, the cause of sickness, the physician and the remedy. The physician is God, the infirmity is man, the cause of sickness is love of the world, and the remedy is the love of God. Among these last two things this is the difference, in the beginning the love of the world is sweet, but in the end it is most bitter, while the love of God begins in bitterness and ends in great sweetness. Hence the chief steward says to the bridegroom, 'Every man serves the best wine first, and then when the guests are drunk he pours out the worst.' 2 Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 6, Chapter 5, On Infirmity, the Cause of the Sickness, the Physician, and the Remedy for Sickness 1 Rom 7.24 2 Jn 2.9-10