Pain grips the body, and medicine stands useless. Here is a trial that seems only loss. Yet if you let the soul be instructed, this very pain can become a strange gain. The body groans, but the heart can learn what comfort could not teach. Sufferings, when they come, are not without purpose. They are a school where even the Son learned obedience, and they make the soul long-suffering. For a spark falling into the deep sea does no injury but is quickly quenched. So a soul braced by patience is not disturbed by what befalls it, but the sharp pang, finding no fuel, soon vanishes. Do not then only ask for the pain to be taken away, but entreat also for the grace to give thanks in it. For this is the mastery, that we do not merely endure but turn the bitter cup into a blessing, saying with holy Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” When thou dost this, the sting is drawn, and the devil, who hoped to cast thee down, sees thee rejoicing and is himself the one in pain.
But there is more. If we remember our sins, bodily pain can become a remedy. The memory of our faults cures them, and the present affliction pays a debt we might otherwise carry into the next life. Receive this suffering, then, not as an enemy but as a physician whose knife cuts away pride and brings the soul low before God. The proud spirit is broken through the flesh, and the heart learns meekness. And just as love is not easily provoked and thinks no evil, so a soul trained by trials learns not to snap at every trouble but rests in the wise care of its Master. Do not ask angrily why God permits this, when medicine fails and relief delays. We are not commanded to pry into His counsels but to obey His will. He loves more truly than any earthly parent and orders all things for the good of those who trust Him, even when the reason hides itself in darkness.
Therefore, instead of measuring the hurt by the body alone, see what the soul might gain. The labors of the flesh can fill the vats of heaven with a harvest of patience and humility. Urge thy mother to lift up her heart in thanksgiving, to offer her groans as a prayer, and to remember that He who was mocked and beaten for our sake is not far from those who suffer. Let her turn her eyes upon the crucified Lord, and her own pains will seem lighter, her heart softer, and her spirit winged with hope. For He who was made perfect through sufferings became the author of salvation to all who obey Him, and He will not abandon this daughter of His to any pain that cannot yield eternal refreshment. Let prayer be steadfast, not only for healing but for the patient endurance that sanctifies the soul and brings it near to God.