What is the purpose of the use of modern medicine? Should all attention be given to the relief of pain and suffering? Does the quest for health and the prolonging of life at all costs become a way for health-care providers to function as modern priests, dispensing immortality? This article reflects on the role of "redemptive suffering" in the light of the apostle Paul's struggle with his "thorn in the flesh" in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10.