"The means of obtaining glory"

There is only one way that pain can be handled, and that is by looking at this scene: the three crosses on Calvary and particularly our Blessed Lord in the middle. He took this absurd symbol of the cross, put himself upon it, and solved the enigma of life and death. He solved it by making a condition of life. 'Take up your cross daily and follow me.' Good Friday is the condition of Easter Sunday. The crown of thorns is the condition of the halo of light. The scourged body is the condition of the glorified body. You die with him, you rise with him. In other words, he conquered pain by using it as a means of attaining glory.