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This is a seven week meditation series examining the Christian meaning of suffering according to the thought of Pope St. John Paul II in his 1984 apostolic letter “Salvifici Doloris.” This series is published by The Archdiocese of San Francisco. Week 1 - Now I Rejoice in My Sufferings... Pope St. John Paul II was no stranger to suffering. Among the challenges he faced in life include living under Nazi and then communist occupation in Poland, attending clandestine seminary, losing both his parents and his brother at a young age, watching his friends, including his fellow seminarians, priests and Jewish friends be murdered during the Second World War, surviving a papal assassination attempt and then spending his last years of life crippled by Parkinson’s disease. Continue reading here. Week 2 - Roots of Suffering Seen in Reality of Evil The Holy Father, Pope Saint John Paul II, ends this second part of his letter with sobering words: “One thinks, finally, of war” (Paragraph 8, “Salvifici Doloris”). And we know he was no stranger to war. He was born only two years after the end of the First World War and survived the Second World War when many of his fellow clandestine seminarians, as well as Polish clerics, were murdered. Continue reading here. Week 3 -Following Job's Example It is unsurprising that St. John Paul II, in his meditation on the meaning of suffering, explores the problem of human pain and suffering in light of the biblical character of Job. We discover in examining the Book of Job not only rich content for some of the reasons behind suffering but also the way in which suffering undoubtedly affects our relationship with God. Continue reading here. Week 4 - Sin and Suffering Pope St. John Paul II continues his meditation on suffering by discussing one of the causes of suffering — evil in the form of personal sin. He writes: “The conscious and free violation of this good by man is not only a transgression of the law but at the same time an offense against the Creator, who is the first Lawgiver.” Continue reading here. Week 5 - Why Suffering? Because Love. In the first part of his meditation, John Paul II unpacks suffering in light of man’s nature, the transcendent quality of man’s suffering in particular, the vocational quality of man’s suffering, the cause of suffering (namely, evil) and the biblical character of Job and its relationship to justice. In the second part, he transitions his meditation on suffering in relationship to divine love. Continue reading here. Week 6 - The Suffering of Loneliness Saint John Paul II writes that “sacred Scripture is a great book about suffering” (“Salvifici Doloris,” Par. 6). He goes on to list examples of the ways in which we suffer from the Old Testament: Danger of death. The death of one’s own children. Infertility. Exile. Persecution and discrimination. Loneliness and abandonment. Continue reading here. Week 7 - Peace and Joy The narrative of a Christian’s life takes the shape of the life of Christ in the paschal mystery: Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. 2023 was certainly a “Good Friday” year. Armenia, the world’s first nation to declare the Christian faith its official state religion in 301 A.D., witnessed the ethnic and religious cleansing of 120,000 men, women and children in a region in the Near East called the Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh. The world remains largely unaware and indifferent to this genocide of Armenian Christians. We also saw the brutality of the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7 – Israel’s “9/11” so to speak – as well as a wave of anti-Jewish protests and attacks in the United States and throughout the world in a climate which was already increasing in its anti-Jewish incidents. Continue reading here.

The Nagorno Karabakh (known as Artsakh to Armenians) is an ethnically Armenian and therefore religiously Christian region in the South Caucasus. It’s a territory not officially part of the Republic of Armenia, but Armenians have been living there since the 7th century BC. This is the place where the Armenian alphabet was developed, and is home to monastic architectural masterpieces from the 4th century. On September 19th, 2023, Azerbaijan, a majority Muslim country, launched a full assault against the 120,000 civilian Christians, including 30,000 children in the disputed territory. (Why the territory is disputed is another story.) This attack came after 281 days of blockading the region from the Lachin Corridor, the only route connecting it to Armenia proper, and thereby cutting off food, gas, medical supplies effectively starving the residents. While this blockade is new, their desire to religiously and ethnically cleanse the region is not. Nor is their desire to create one seamless pan-Turkic region: Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, right? You should be able to understand us” – Hajibala Abutalybov, former mayor of Azerbaijan's capital city, Baku, to a German audience in 2005. To continue reading on Cracks in Postmodernity, click here.

Leisure is not a thing to be done, it is a way to be. It is, for that reason, somewhat difficult to define. Pieper describes it as a “mental and spiritual attitude, a condition of the soul, an inward calm, of silence, of not being ‘busy’ and letting things happen.” Therefore, the definition of leisure is much richer than merely being on vacation, having fun, entertaining oneself, or doing “leisurely” activities. These things are often done for the sake of the rest needed to return to work. Leisure is not for the sake of work, it’s not for the sake of anything! I hope that you will find in this corner a way of leisure whether that is on your Sundays, or throughout the week when you need to connect with God. -Simone Rizkallah Visio Divina Series The Beauty of Architecture Series Litany of Leisure Series Iconography Lenten Series Hearth & Field Series Attending to the Word Series

About Simone Rizkallah Before discovering her passion for the Faith and the call to evangelize, Simone worked in marketing, communications, media, radio and her first love, theatre. Her graduate degree is in Theological Studies with an emphasis in Systematic Theology from Christendom College. She has worked at the parish level, for both youth and adult formation at St. Ambrose parish in Annandale, Virginia and taught high school seniors moral theology and Church History and chaired the Theology Department at St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix, Arizona. She also served at Endow, an apostolate for women dedicated to cultivating a New Feminism according to the vision of Pope St. John Paul II. You can find her thoughts on the prophetic value of Church documents on The Endow Podcast from 2020-2023. Currently, Simone is Deputy Director of Education at the Philos Project, a frequent guest on Catholic Answers Live, and a faculty member of the Avila Institute. As a first generation American of Egyptian-Armenian descent, Simone has a particular interest in matters of religious freedom, culture and the Eastern roots of the Faith. She currently hosts the Beyond Rome podcast which seeks to reconnect Catholics to their Hebraic and Near Eastern Christian Roots. ​ You can find her talks and publications on culturalgypsy.com . To view my CV, please click here . If your diocese requires a letter of good standing, please click here .

Contact Me I'd love to hear from you! Interested in booking me to speak at your event or write for your publication? Send me a message below! TOPICS I SPECIALIZE IN: What It Means to Be a Christian Leisure & Acedia Suffering Personal Vocation Gossip On Human Nature/Virtues Healing The Feminine Genius Evangelization & Culture The Epidemic of Loneliness Church History Moral Theology The Eastern Churches/Christianity Jewish-Christian Relations Type of inquiry Select one Send Thanks for submitting! JOIN EMAIL LIST Want to receive updates about my upcoming speaking engagements and new publications? Sign up below! Join Your information will never be sold or distributed. Thank you for subscribing!

Podcast Find me as host at one of the podcasts below Introducing a new podcast... Beyond Rome ​ Beyond Rome is a podcast that seeks to reconnect Catholics with their Hebraic and Christian roots in the Near East. Hosted by Simone Rizkallah, joined by James O’Reilly and the Philos Catholic team at the Philos Project, they explore a variety of topics related to religion and culture in the West and why the Near East matters for a healthy Church and world. Beyond Rome looks beyond the West to understand what makes the Catholic Church truly universal. ​ Available on your preferred platform and on Youtube . Subscribe to the Beyond Rome Podcast The Endow Podcast The Endow Podcast is a forum for women to foster conversations about the intellectual life and intentional community for the cultivation of the feminine genius. Hosted by Simone Rizkallah from 2020-2023. Available on your preferred platform and on Youtube . Subscribe to the Endow Podcast