A Canticle for Leibowitz

by Walter M. Miller Jr.

The girl sat expressionless. He studied her face for a moment. "Are you in pain, daughter?" "It doesn't matter." "Offer it to Heaven, child." She looked at him coldly. "You think it would please God?" "If you offer it, yes." "I cannot understand a God who is pleased by my baby's hurting!" The priest winced. "No, no! It is not the pain that is pleasing to God, child. It is the soul's endurance in faith and hope and love in spite of bodily afflictions that pleases Heaven. Pain is like negative temptation. God is not pleased by temptations that afflict the flesh; He is pleased when the soul rises above the temptation and says, 'Go, Satan.' It's the same with pain, which is often a temptation to despair, anger, loss of faith--"