This inspirational image shared by the Catholic TV network EWTN stands in stark contrast to the “prosperity gospel” popularized by Joel O’Steen and company. St Padre Pio. was a famous stigmatic, which means in exceptional holiness he was miraculously “blessed” with the wounds and pains of Christ.

In the Catholic understanding, Christian faith is accompanied by many rewards but also by great pains. To all baptized Christians, the Lord promises spiritual gifts to embody His love on earth as well as splendor in Heaven for our earthly sacrifices. As the gospel of Matthew puts it, “your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Furthermore:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

We believe that all good comes from God. So not only sustenance is a blessing, but also abundance and many pleasures that we don’t need. The Lord does not condemn wealth, but rather places it in context of opportunity, responsibility, and temptation. To whom much is given, much is expected. And beware not to become so focused on material wealth or worldly pursuits that one forgets all of this is just prologue to greater life beyond.

But the history of saints is a history of tremendous suffering. The saints thanked God for martyrdom — to suffer and die as Christ did. Many were repeatedly tortured, like St. Isaac Jogues. Pope John Paul II provided witness through a long battle with disease. Others, like Mother Theresa of Calcutta, suffered in secret loneliness and sadness. Some were banished or imprisoned for their faithfulness. Many were tragically at odds with loved ones who did not share their faith.

“To know and love God” is how Catholics summarize the universal meaning of life (leaving aside individual callings). You can know well a person by sharing only his joys. But you can know him better by sharing also his pains. And though knowledge can be gained by contemplation, experience is often the more accurate teacher. That, perhaps among other reasons, is why we suffer.

That is why we talk of “taking up your cross” alongside Jesus and bonding one’s own pains, endured but not sought, to His pains. That is the meaning in pain through which one finds solace and growth.

I have known people with incalculable pains; people who were raped, people who lost young children, people whose every hour for decades is wracked by physical jolts and discomfort. Yet they find joy. Yet they often bless the lives of others.

What does God promise His faithful children?

He promises to accompany you through every pain and trial. He promises strength for endurance and all the necessities of fulfillment.

But there is no simple formula for discerning the hand of God in one’s life because, like any person, the Lord does not interact with each other person in the same ways. To one person He offers wealth and to another poverty. To one He gives health and for another permits disease. Because we are different, because we fulfill different roles in different communities within grand designs, faithful Christians cannot be identified by their circumstances.

If you try to define the strength of your faith or the love of God by riches or comforts, your faith is built on sand. The rock is truth. Build on a relationship to Someone so much greater than a fellow human being that He takes detailed interest in every person on Earth and guides them all. If you can understand all the universe, then you can understand God.

If not, take up your cross … and tell me a joke. Pain needn’t be the end of joy.