February 8, 2023

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.” (Genesis 3:17-18)

Try as you might, you just cannot avoid pain. Physical pain as well as psychic pain. Pain is a problem that sometimes cannot be solved, only endured. I’m afraid I don’t have anything good to say about pain. Certainly not “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” That is just plain stupid. Usually pain just makes you weaker.

I suppose the best thing to say is that God is present in pain. Sounds like a cliché, I realize. But it is unavoidably true. Just look at the cross.

“Lord Jesus Christ, by your patience in suffering you hallowed earthly pain and gave us the example of obedience to yourFather's will: Be near me in my time of weakness and pain; sustain me by your grace, that my strength and courage maynot fail; heal me according to your will; and help me always to believe that what happens to me here is of little account ifyou hold me in eternal life, my Lord and my God. Amen.” (In Pain – BCP)