Theologians in their final months at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, Florida, reflect on the meaning and purpose of human suffering in the life of the Christian. In these homilies and reflections on key passages of St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter “The Mystery of Human Suffering” (Salvifici Doloris, 1984), co-suffering with Jesus Christ, the Spouse of the Church, becomes the “setting” to contemplate Christ’s invitation to “engage” with him in co-redemption. Through this mutual commitment with Christ to suffer what is needed for the redemption of the world, “living stones” discovered among the “rough” elements of everyday life, become transformed into precious diamonds through the “Refiner’s fire.”
(Click on the image for a postcard size version you can download and print – “Jesus, alive on the cross and in converse with the Father,” designed for the chapel at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary by Msgr. David Toups, President-Rector.)
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Sister Paula Jean Miller, FSE, is Professor of Moral and Historical Theology at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, is a retired Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at 
Ronda Chervin has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Notre Dame Apostolic Institute. She is a convert to the Catholic faith from a Jewish but atheistic background. She has been a professor at Loyola Marymount University, St. John’s Seminary of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Our Lady of Corpus Christi, and presently teaches at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut.
Donald DeMarco, author of 28 books, including most recently How to Flourish in a Fallen World and Ten Major Moral Mistakes and How they are Destroying Society, is a Senior Fellow of Human Life International. He is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. He is a regular columnist for St. Austin Review and has written over a hundred articles for the website Truth and Charity. He is a board member of the NY Social Justice Review for Our Lady of Wisdom College in Ontario, Canada, and Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. In June, 2015, he was awarded the prestigious Bishop Exner Award for “Catholic Excellence in Public Life.”
Ronda Chervin has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Notre Dame Apostolic Institute. She is a convert to the Catholic faith from a Jewish but atheistic background. She has been a professor at Loyola Marymount University, St. John’s Seminary of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Our Lady of Corpus Christi, and presently teaches at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut. More than fifty books of hers have been published by Catholic presses in the area of philosophy and spirituality. Dr. Ronda presents on EWTN and Catholic radio. She is a dedicated widow and grandmother. Her many books include