Suffering – Page 9 – Perpetual Adoration

May 3, 2014

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A Client Who Thought He Was Invincible

Last month while I was at a party, I ran into a man that I had assisted with some legal problems in the mid-1980s. (For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “Mark.”) When I saw Mark at the party he didn’t look very well to me. In addition to being extremely thin, his skin looked dull and pasty.

March 29, 2014

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The Burial of a Loved One

When I was 13 years old, a cousin of mine died as a result of a tragic accident. He was 11 years old at the time of his death. The day after he died, my parents and I went over to his parents’ house to visit his family. I went with my parents because I had been a good friend of my cousin and still was a good friend of his older brother.

March 22, 2014

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A Heart-Wrenching Experience

I’ve previously shared some of my experiences in growing up in a family of 17 children. All of my brothers and sisters are still living, except for Kathryn Mary, my parents’ 15th child. At the time of her death, Kathryn was 13 months old.

February 20, 2014

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A Legacy Worth Talking About

Imagine you are driving on University Street in Peoria and in the distance you see a large crowd of people gathered in a parking lot. As you drive closer to the crowd, you see a man who you have met before tied to a telephone pole. To your horror, you see two young, well-built men taking turns at beating the man with leather whips that have sharp pieces of metal attached to the ends of each whip.

February 8, 2014

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Something To Cry About

I met my wife, Georgette, on August 4, 1978, a few weeks before starting my senior year in college. We dated for almost two years and we got married on June 15, 1980, a couple of months before I started my second year of law school.

January 22, 2014

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The Queen of Titles

The dictionary defines the word “title” as “an appellation of dignity, honor, distinction, or preeminence attached to a person or family by virtue of rank, office, precedent, privilege, attainment, or lands.” It is said that the Blessed Virgin Mary has more than 1,000 titles, a handful of which are: Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Seat of Wisdom, Mirror of Justice, Vessel of Honor, Cause of Our Joy, Gate of Heaven, Morning Star, and Comforter of the Afflicted.

January 12, 2014

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Is There a Cure for Depression?

The psychiatry journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Psychiatry) recently published the results of a study that revealed that people who are at high risk of depression and believe that religion or spirituality is important are less likely to suffer from depression. The results of the study showed that the cerebral cortex of each of the brains of the people who were less likely to suffer from depression was thicker. The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of the brain.

September 5, 2013

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Pruning

A couple of times a week, my wife (Georgette) sends an email to me and our children with an update on what’s been going on in her life and the lives of our children. Three of our seven children live out of town — one in California, one in Colorado, and one in Chicago.

July 18, 2013

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The Language of the Rosary

I periodically encounter a devout Catholic who is struggling with emotional issues that are causing him or her to experience significant suffering. After a short discussion about what’s troubling the person, I always ask the exact same question: Do you pray your rosary every day? The answer is always ‘no.’ Always.