The Christian Century

In my Living By the Word column on this week’s readings, I comment on Paul’s readiness to boast of suffering, because it “produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. . . .” Suffering is a signal doorway through which the Holy Spirit enters our lives.

My dad and I fought constantly when I was a teenager. In my adolescent mind, every boundary set by my parents was evidence that they did not trust me or see me as the adult I obviously was. From my dad I inherited the need to always be right, thus ensuring regular escalations of arguments into legendary yelling matches.