“Ten Fingers for God” is a biography on the life of Dr Paul W Brand, a noted leprosy expert. 

 

Dr. Brand was the first physician to appreciate that leprosy did not cause the rotting away of tissues, but that it was the loss of the sensation of pain which made sufferers susceptible to injury.

 

 

The biography, “Ten Fingers for God”, notes Dr Brand’s frightening experience one night, when he thought he had contracted leprosy…

 

Dr. Brand arrived in London one night after an exhausting trip.

 

He was getting ready for bed, had taken off his shoes, and as he pulled off a sock, discovered there was no feeling in his heel!

 >> The numbness in his heel terrified him!

 

He rose mechanically, found a pin, sat down again, and pricked the small area below his ankle.

>> He felt no pain!

 

He thrust the pin deeper, until a speck of blood showed… Still he felt nothing!

 

He supposed, like other workers with leprosy… he too had contracted the dreaded disease!

 

All that night the great orthopaedic surgeon tried to imagine his new life…

… as a leper, an outcast

… his medical staff’s shattered

… the forced separation from his family.

 

 

As night receded, “with steady fingers he bared the skin below his ankle, jabbed in the point….

… and behold…. He yelled!!”

 

Blessed was the sensation of pain!

 

He then realized that during the long train ride, sitting immobile, he had numbed a nerve.

>> And that had caused him a temporary numbness!

 

From then on, whenever Dr. Brand cut his finger, turned an ankle, or even suffered immense nauseating pain, he was to respond with fervent gratitude, ‘Thank God for pain!’

 

 

Pain was understood as being vital for the preservation of healthy tissue in anyone leading a normal life.

 

Pain is also to be understood as vital for the promotion, perseverance and progress of anyone wanting to lead a life, in deeper and closer union with the Lord!

 

 

The Gospel of the Day presents Jesus declaring the reality of the presence of pain, suffering and sorrows in spiritual life, and yet those factors being pathways and passages to experience deep joy and bliss!

 

Not negating the actuality of the darker side of life, Jesus also mightily displays the large canvas of life which is enveloped in the light of happiness…

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (Jn 16: 20)

 

Jesus was making His Apostles aware of the realities of His passion and death.

> He had came into the world to die!

>> Death was the goal and fulfilment of His life.

 

To the delicate and fragile minds of the Apostles, the Lord gives a very practical analogy: the pains and the bliss of motherhood…

“When a woman is in labour, she is in anguish, because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world” (Jn 16: 21)

 

This analogy of the Lord sheds light and hope for our sufferings and pains in life too.

 

Mothers know the pain of giving birth to a child.

To others, this pain, though not experienced, can be vaguely understood as being a very painful experience.

 

>> The pain is too excruciating…

>> The pain causes to think that everything within is being pulled out, with a piercing pain…

>> The pain sometimes makes the person to even cry out ‘I wish this never happened to me’ ….

Jesus says that the hardships, sufferings and trials that we undergo in life are such.

 

But the moment, the child is delivered and the mother sees the innocent face of her tender babe, the whole scenario of emotions changes…

>> The excruciating pain is replaced by a thrilling excitement and exhilaration!

>> The severe-anguishing sore is replaced by a delightful bliss and ecstasy!

>> The nerve-wracking ache is replaced by a heavenly joy and happiness!

 

And Jesus, such will be our joy too, if we are also faithful and loyal to the Lord, in pains and sufferings!

 

This is indeed a higher spirituality… a higher level of holiness…

>> To cherish joy, even in the midst of pain

>> To radiate happiness, even in the thick of sorrows.

It is to this elevated floor of sanctity that the Lord invites us.

 

>> He is with us to hold our hands to climb up to this floor.

>> He is wanting to embrace us in love, as He beckons us to come nearer to Him.

 

When life stings us with pain…

> When problems beset us into agony…

… With hope, trust, faith and strength,

>> Let us exclaim: ‘Thank God for pain!’

 

God Bless! Live Jesus!