Category Archives: Suffering

New Interviews on Suffering

I appeared on the Busted Halo show – the longing-running slightly funny show that broadcasts on SiriusXM satellite radio. They posted a video version of the interview:

Also, yesterday, I came back on the Kresta in the Afternoon radio show hosted by Marcus Peter. Here’s the link to the segment: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kresta-in-the-afternoon-april-22-2024-hour-2/id316247661?i=1000653266960

 

Two Written Interviews on Suffering

Aleteia published an interview with me earlier this week. Here’s an excerpt:

Suffering is part of everyone’s life. It comes in all shades and varieties: illness, disability, pain, loss, depression …
Every news website today is replete with people’s suffering from around the world. Some regions of the world seem to have an unfair burden of suffering.
But most of the suffering that people endure is much less dramatic, and might not even be thought of as suffering: relatively small annoyances that stem from the rudeness of neighbors, the impatience of our own temperament, or simply the ups and downs of daily life.
Catholic spirituality has a lot to offer on not only the reasons for suffering but the ways in which we can fruitfully respond to it. (Link: https://aleteia.org/2024/04/14/if-you-are-suffering-and-you-probably-are-this-book-can-help/ )

And Catholic World Report published another. An excerpt:

   All of us suffer. We live in a fallen world, and suffering is simply a part of life. This suffering can take many forms, and we are all affected differently by it.
But why do we suffer at all? How are we to understand suffering? Is there any purpose to it? And what are we to do with the suffering we face? (Link: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/03/08/interview-with-mark-giszczak/)

Interviews on Wisdom of Solomon and Suffering

On Thursday, March 21, I appeared on the Kresta in the Afternoon radio show with guest host Marcus Peter. We talked about the Wisdom of Solomon and my commentary on it. You can find the show linked here: https://www.ewtn.com/radio/podcasts/kresta-in-the-afternoon-~NY

Or you can direct download the mp3 here: https://i.listen.ewtn.com/~NY/~NY20240321.mp3

I appear in the second half of the program.

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The same day, I also appeared on Meet the Author with Ken Huck, talking about my book Suffering: What Every Catholic Should Know. We had a wide-ranging conversation about the meaning of suffering and how to cope with it as a Catholic Christian.

Interview on Suffering with Church Life Today Podcast

I was recently interviewed by Leonard DeLorenzo on the Church Life Today Podcast regarding my new book on Suffering.

This is a summary of our conversation from their site:

Suffering is universal. But how do we understand suffering? Does it have meaning? Can it have meaning? And most of all, what is the meaning of suffering in Christian life? Questions like these inform the work of my guest today, Dr. Mark Giszczak, author of the new book Suffering: What Every Catholic Should Know. Dr. Giszczak is Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology, where he teaches a course on the Theology of Suffering that gave rise to this new book. In our discussion today we will talk about whether and how God suffers, how Christians might suffer well, obstacles to suffering well, and the importance of confronting rather than perpetually running from death.

Here’s the link to the episode: https://churchlifetoday.osvpodcasts.com/2061699/14711091

Interviews on Wisdom and Suffering

Yesterday, I appeared on Catholic Faith Network, talking about my new commentary on Wisdom of Solomon (starting at 13:07):

CFN Live – March 7, 2024 from Catholic Faith Network on Vimeo.

I also appeared on the Busted Halo Show with Fr. Dave Dwyer talking about Suffering: What Every Catholic Should Know on SiriusXM: https://bustedhalo.com/radio-shows/thursday-march-7-2024

More Interviews on Suffering

  1. I did a written interview for Catholic World Report. Here’s an excerpt:

CWR: How did the book come about?

Mark Giszczak: This book started as a course I taught called “The Theology of Suffering.” Suffering, of course, is universal. Everybody suffers. But I was interested in working on this topic from a theological angle since I had seen that a little bit of theological thinking about it could go a long way.

So many professions–from medicine to psychology to entertainment–are dedicated to relieving suffering, but I wanted to explain what to do when all the therapeutic options have been exhausted. When my suffering cannot be taken away, what then?

CWR: The book is part of the What Every Catholic Should Know series. Why is suffering a topic that every Catholic should be educated in?

Giszczak: Everyone experiences sufferings, so everyone should know about it. Sadly, I think many people just try to avoid the topic, but life does not let us get off so easy. When we run from suffering, it will eventually chase us down and find us. So, if suffering is inevitable, then maybe we should look it in the face rather than run from it. Jesus even calls us to “take up our cross” and follow after him. But how? How do we do that? In this book, I try to explain how Christian life is truly “cross-shaped.” We are meant to experience both suffering and joy at the same time.

2. I was interviewed by Drew the Catholic (just yesterday!):

3. I appeared on the Cordial Catholic podcast in both audio and video formats:

4. I also laid down some audio tracks for the Amen App from the Augustine Institute (a free prayer app):
https://amenapp.org/prayer/ktgefha