Health of body and mind is a great blessing, if we can bear it.

Newman’s line treats physical and mental health as genuine gifts, but adds a deliberately bracing qualification: prosperity can be spiritually hazardous. To “bear” health is to carry it without letting it breed complacency, self-sufficiency, or forgetfulness of God and of others’ suffering. The remark reflects a Christian ascetical sensibility in which trials can school humility and dependence, while ease can tempt one toward pride or moral slackness. The blessing is not denied; rather, Newman suggests that even good things require moral stamina and gratitude to be used well.