August 27, 2026
Ouch!
Are you crazy? How can pain be a good thing? Shouldn't we avoid it at all costs?
Toward the end of St. Francis's life, he suffered from, among many other things, a very painful form of glaucoma. His bloodshot eyes were constantly in pain, with fluid buildup regularly streaming down his face. Even his beloved Brother Sunlight felt like stabbing knives. One of the methods doctors used at that time was based on the idea: "We must divert the pain in the eyes to an even stronger pain to allow them to heal." A doctor had St. Francis sit down and used a glowing-hot rod to burn him on his forehead. While his brother monks were white in the face and about to faint, calmly, all he said was, "Doctor, did you get it all? If not, go ahead and put the spit in the fire and do it over again."
While the idea of the doctors of introducing more physical pain to heal existing pain sounds absolutely ludicrous, St. Francis's reaction, on the other hand, had a subtle and profound message. With complete acceptance of the challenges he had to face, not only did he feel pain (or rather, not identified with it), he actually welcomed more if it meant his overall healing.
For most of us, I presume, will most likely not have to endure the amount of physical pain that he did. But, as we all know, pain isn't only subject to the body...
Some months ago, my wife, son, and I were sitting at our dining table having dinner. Out of the blue, our son said, "Mama, Papa, I have a question for the world. If water is continuously flowing, why doesn't it create heat?" I have to say, he had me stumped, but after dinner I was determined to find out why. What we found was that flowing water doesn't necessarily create noticeable heat because there isn't enough "friction" to produce it. When we apply this principle to our own lives, inner challenges predominantly arise when we resist what comes our way.
A quote I love from the Indian master Paramhansa Yogananda is, "What comes of itself, let it come."
Okay, perhaps you may be thinking, "This is easier said than done!" And if so, you may be right...to an extent. We may not be able to face every challenge in our lives at this moment with complete equanimity, but we can tackle a handful of them by practicing acceptance. We are capable of so much more than we realize.
It could be as simple as when you get cut off in morning traffic. Instead of mentally shooting the other driver a handful of curse words, you could say to yourself, "He seems like he is in a rush, and perhaps he has an emergency and has to be somewhere ASAP." By learning to accept, the challenges that come of themselves rather than resisting what is, we will make leaps and bounds on our own spiritual journey.
When, step by step, we come to the point of detaching ourselves from life's inevitable difficulties, the boon is that we will see life, as St. Francis did, with an inexhaustible love and beauty.
Written by Jaidhara Sleighter
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