Well, first off, don’t get too hateful about illnesses. Bacteria and viruses have a right to live, too. If Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, maybe we would coexist happily with them all the time, like we do with our gut bacteria that we need to live. But we sinned, so we have to put up with stuff like colds or even deadly diseases.
Second, there are plenty of us who have found God allowing or using illness as a sort of brake system on our stupidity. If we’re not smart enough to live a healthy life, God lets the bacteria and viruses teach us better. If we’re not smart enough to rest, getting sick makes us rest.
Illness can also be a way to find wisdom and joy. Sometimes it is a last chance, as with terminal illnesses. Sometimes it is the beginning of a new life, as with St. Ignatius of Loyola’s long sufferings after his war wound. Sometimes it is a test that eventually makes one spiritually stronger and leads to greater glory and joy, as with St. Job.
And finally, there are times when God seems to send a deadly or chronic sickness on one person as a way of saving everybody else from that person’s deadly or chronic evil deeds. If God can’t reach somebody and get him to see sense, He can at least protect other people.
