Suffering Purified by Faith

Suffering purified by faith

Today is July 15, the Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. We read at Mass today, “But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help, O God, protect me; I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving” (Ps 69:29-20). What’s so striking is the movement of this prayer — from sorrow to praise, from affliction to thanksgiving — all in a single breath. That’s the rhythm of the Christian li…

The Relationship Between Faith, Suffering, and the “Word”

We come from a big, close-knit Catholic family. Fifty grandchildren and counting. Holidays are loud, overlapping with laughter, tears, stories retold a hundred times, and voices rising in grace before meals. From the beginning, prayer was never just a discipline—it was the breath of our home, the light by which we navigated. But if we’ve learned anything, it’s this: it’s one thing to partake in sacred ritual; it’s another to be broken open by it…