We all know it's impossible to avoid suffering. But what if there was a way to respond to the suffering in your own life—from serious tragedies to everyday difficulties—in a way that ultimately led to peace?

In this powerful episode of The Chris Stefanick Show, I sit down with Dave VanVickle, a husband and father who’s walked through some of the deepest suffering imaginable.

From raising multiple children with serious health challenges to losing his beloved wife Amber to cancer when she was only 40 years old, Dave has faced hardship and grief that would break most people.

But through this pain, Dave found a path that allows him to surrender his suffering to Christ and transform it into a peaceful acceptance grounded in love.

Suffering is STILL hard, but Dave shares a perspective of gratitude and grace that will help you to offer up your daily crosses and not take any of your blessings for granted.

This episode isn’t just about grief—it’s about finding hope in the resurrection when you're living through Good Friday.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:51 His children's health challenges
7:20 His wife Amber's journey through cancer
14:33 What it means to “offer it up”
17:28 Managing grief
19:24 Preparing your spouse for death
26:30 The peace that surpasses understanding
29:00 Learning to live again after loss
32:13 Living in the moment with gratitude and love
35:41 When you feel abandoned by God

Jesus didn’t suffer so you wouldn’t have to. He suffered so you’d know how to. If you’re in pain, if life doesn’t make sense right now—this conversation is for you. You’re not alone. Christ is with you in the cross, and he’s preparing you for heaven through these trials.

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The Chris Stefanick Show will soon be premiering on EWTN+ Streaming! You can start watching more great content at: EWTN.com/ondemand/

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I’m so excited for you to watch this week’s Sunday Reflection that I filmed on a recent pilgrimage to Mexico City while literally climbing up Tepeyac Hill—the place where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531.

The story of Juan Diego ties in perfectly to what Jesus tells us in the Gospel: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

It doesn’t get much humbler than Juan Diego. He was a peasant…an absolute nobody by the standards of the world. But God chose to work through him to bring about the largest mass conversion to Christianity in history!

Are you feeling like a nobody? God doesn’t see you that way. Mary never appeared to celebrities, politicians, or influencers. She spoke to people that no one else was paying any attention to.

God is exalting you in your humility. Don’t reject his invitation. Be like Juan Diego and change the world—even for just one person. How might God use you in your personal sphere of influence? Who are the people in front of you right now that need your love? Turn your attention there.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Timecodes: 0:00 At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe 3:59 Mary appears to a “nobody” 5:11 Juan Diego’s humility 6:39 Mary’s message of comfort 7:51 The miracles of Our Lady of Guadalupe 8:44 The greatest conversion in history 9:46 Ongoing signs: preservation, studies, and protection 10:10 Three Takeaways from St. Juan Diego 13:47 Prison ministry witness—love who’s in front of you 14:28 See St. Juan Diego's tilma 500 years later

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Every Marian apparition was given to someone who seemed insignificant in the eyes of the world. When have you felt like you didn’t matter or weren’t “enough”? How might God want to use you in your humility?
2. Mary said to Juan Diego, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” What part of that message hits your heart today? Where do you most need to trust that Mary’s protection and God’s love are real?
3.What does humility look like for you in your daily life—at work, in your family, online? What’s one small, hidden act of love you can do this week?
4. Juan Diego’s tilma still hasn’t decayed after 500 years. How does that ongoing miracle strengthen your faith? What miracles—big or small—have you seen in your own life?
5. True greatness comes from focusing on the person right in front of you. Who is that person for you today? How could you love them in a way that might change their world?

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As we celebrate St. John Paul II's feast day on October 22, it's the perfect opportunity to revisit his life and legacy—especially his efforts to free Poland from communism through a peaceful revolution grounded in the public witness of deep faith.

In this episode of the Chris Stefanick Show, I discuss all things St. John Paul II with Drs. Peter and Kasia Drag, professors at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow. They experienced the last gasps of communism in Poland—and share the stark reality of that existence.

We delve into the history of Poland and rise of communism, the tragedies John Paul II faced in his early life under Nazi and Communist rule, and how God raised him to the papacy at just the right moment to begin undoing the Communist regime in Poland…and beyond.

Timecodes:

0:00 — The story of Chris Stefanick's heroic great-uncle standing up to communism
06:36 — History of Poland
08:12 — The “Miracle on the Vistula”
12:27 — John Paul II's childhood tragedies and upbringing under communism
23:31 — Daily life under communism
31:12 — “Nine days that changed the world”
36:15 — The assassination attempt on JPII and Providence at Fatima.
39:36 — John Paul II's ongoing impact
49:13 — How Divine Mercy will change the world

When you look at Poland’s story, you see how God turns suffering into strength. A nation crushed by war, communism, and loss became the cradle of some of the greatest saints of modern times—Maximilian Kolbe, Faustina Kowalska, and John Paul II. Their secret? They allowed grace to transform them in the midst of evil to unleash God’s goodness.

Oppression has the power to raise up saints—and it certainly did that in Poland through Pope John Paul II. But he reminded us that the true spark to renew the face of the earth isn’t a pope or a politician. It’s Divine Mercy—God’s love poured out on a wounded world.

Divine Mercy has the power to tear down walls, topple empires, and heal hearts. It took down the Iron Curtain without a single shot being fired. And if it can break the chains of communism, just imagine what it can do in your own heart.

St. John Paul II, pray for us!

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Are you waiting to find "the one?" The perfect job? Maybe just a general feeling of contentment in your life?

God's timing is often (usually!) not our timing. So what can you do?

Meet Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio—a man who built roads, made a fortune, and waited decades for his deepest prayer to be answered, but it didn't go quite like he envisioned it. His story is a powerful reminder that what seems like a delay from God is actually just the unfolding of his perfect plan for you.

Sebastian longed for marriage and waited until he was 60 to find “the one.” Both wives died soon after. Only later, at 72 years old, did he finally discover his true vocation as a Franciscan friar—and eventually become known as the Angel of Mexico.

In this reflection, I offer three tips for what you should (and shouldn't) do while you play the waiting game. Keep living, keep loving, and keep praying. God is never late, and he will not be outdone in generosity.

Blessed Sebastian, pray for us when we’re in a rush and God is not.

Timecodes:
0:00 – When you’re in a rush and God’s not
0:45 – The incredible life of Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio
3:15 – Don’t abandon God’s plan when life feels slow
5:20 – Keep living: the danger of waiting for “real life” to start
7:45 – Keep praying and trust God’s perfect timing

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He was a practicing satanist. A successful comedian. And totally lost.

Then one day, while sitting in the back of a Catholic church, comedian Shayne Smith had a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life forever.

In this 100th episode of The Chris Stefanick Show, Shayne opens up about his journey from abuse, violence, and satanism…to freedom, faith, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He shares how laughter became a way to heal, how radical forgiveness rewired his brain, and how the love of Christ transformed his woundedness into a life of joy—illuminating comedy as a pathway for sharing that joy with others.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
2:00 How Shayne found comedy (and what makes people laugh)
10:28 The challenge and gifts of ADHD and creativity
18:39 From “the everything guy” to the “Jesus guy”
22:22 Comedy as a sacred calling
26:45 "Laughter is getting close to God."
28:10 Using comedy to uplift rather than tear down
36:00 How conversion redeemed his childhood trauma
43:27 Covering a satanic tattoo to reveal the Trinity
50:07 Shayne's conversion story
56:10 A vision of Mary that changed him instantly
1:06:36 Forgiving those who hurt him
1:11:05 How God redeemed his life experiences
1:15:53 Shayne’s prayer for healing and freedom

God can reach into the depths of darkness to remind us that we are his beloved children and redeem any story—no matter how bleak it might seem right now.

I hope Shayne's story is a source of hope and inspiration for you if you're still struggling to overcome your wounds or if you're seeking a way to use your talents for the glory of God.

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We love to overcomplicate things—especially when we're trying to make a lasting change in our lives. But in reality, the road to healing and holiness is paved with a commitment to small, simple steps.

Want a better marriage? A deeper prayer life? Better health? Freedom from a bad habit? Don’t overthink it. What is the simplest step toward your goal? And why aren’t you taking it yet?

In this reflection, I outline four things holding you back from living the life God intended for you...and the small, incremental steps you can take to break free from stagnation in any area of your life.

1. Pride: “If it were that simple, I’d have done it already.”
2. Desire: Sometimes we don’t really want to change.
3. Distraction: We stay too busy to make room for change.
4. Fear: The simple step feels too hard, so we avoid it.

You probably already know what you have to do, and you just need to create and live out some simple rules for yourself to get there.

Stop looking at things from 30,000 feet. Ask God for help. And step out in faith today to take that first, simple step on the journey to transformation.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Which of the four—pride, desire, distraction, or fear—do you struggle with most right now? What’s one small, concrete step you can take this week to defeat it?

2. Can you think of a time when a simple act of obedience or discipline led to real change in your life? What helped you take that first step?

3. Where are you overcomplicating your relationship with God? How might returning to something simple—like daily prayer, Scripture, or confession—help restore peace?

4. St. Benedict changed the world with a “simple rule of life.” What’s one simple rule or habit you could commit to that would draw you closer to holiness?

5. Naaman almost missed his miracle because he thought God’s command was too simple. Is there an area in your life where God might be calling you to trust and act, even if it seems too easy or small?

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✉️ Sign up for Chris’s Daily Anchor for free daily encouragement: https://mailchi.mp/reallifecatholic/daily-anchor-landing-page-20

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Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the Hallow prayer app. This wildly popular platform has grown exponentially over the past few years to help millions of people to pray—not to mention making a life of prayer more attractive and mainstream.

It’s a simple idea with profound results: use a smartphone app to guide people into a habit of daily prayer. Through monthly prayer challenges, reflections, videos, and music from some of the most recognizable and influential Catholics in the world (and I’m on there, too!), Hallow has recently crossed the incredible milestone of logging ONE BILLION prayers. Praise God!

In this episode of The Chris Stefanick Show, I am thrilled to welcome Hallow co-founder Alex Jones for an in-depth conversation that goes behind the scenes on the inspiration for the app, Alex’s personal faith journey, glory stories of how God is using this app to change lives, and lessons learned from being a Catholic entrepreneur in the secular world of startups.

Highlights:

0:00 Intro
2:50 Alex’s journey from atheism to prayer
7:16 Finding the Hallow app’s name through
Lectio Divina
11:50 Prayer as a gateway to relationship with Christ
30:00 The sacred surge happening in Catholicism
35:54 When the Super Bowl crashed the app
39:46 Mark Wahlberg, Kevin James, and other Catholic celebs
44:50 Working with Jonathan Roumie
49:49 “The Man Helping Silicon Valley Find God”
54:30 Using Smartphone Technology for Good
58:00 Having an Impact Beyond Metrics
1:06:35 Why Hallow Succeeds in Business
1:19:10 Alex’s Prayer Routine
1:27:48 How God Uses Success to Purify Your Soul
1:39:00 Join Chris and Alex in Silent Prayer

Prayer is a fundamental aspect of our faith. If you want to grow in relationship with someone, you have to spend time with them. Same goes for God! I’m so grateful to Alex and everyone at Hallow for creating an app that harnesses modern technology to actually bring us closer to the Lord.

If you haven't tried it yet, click below to get a free three-month trial of the Hallow app: https://bit.ly/4odnzEc

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“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.”

But you can't have faith unless you know what it IS. And even a great mind like Jordan Peterson seems to be missing something in his definition. Faith can't be reduced to a moralistic view of obeying the rules and it demands that we let go of any skepticism about the existence of God.

Our relationship with God is not conditional and our faith can't be, either.

In this reflection, I want to set the record straight on what faith is, what faith isn't, and some practical steps we can take to grow in our faith.

At its core, faith is clinging to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, even when we don’t fully understand, even when we fall short, even when we can't prove it.

If you struggle with your faith, pray the powerful words of the man whose son was healed by Jesus: "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever struggled with seeing faith as just “following rules”? How does thinking of faith as a relationship change things for you?

2. Jordan Peterson often says he “acts as if God exists” but avoids saying outright, “I believe.” Why do you think it’s hard for some people (maybe even us) to make that leap from thinking about God to trusting in God and his existence?

3. Chris compares faith to marriage—you can learn about someone, but at some point you have to say “I do.” Where do you see yourself on that threshold with God right now? What would it look like for you to take a step deeper in faith?

4. The fastest way to lose faith is to neglect your relationship with God. What distractions pull you away from God most easily? How can you give more time to your faith?

5. Chris outlined three ways to grow in faith: Ask for it, act as if you believe, and fill your life with holy things. Which of these do you most need to focus on right now?

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The world tells you that dependence is weakness, but it's actually what makes us human. The truth is, you can’t live without being dependent. From the moment we’re born to the moment we die, we’re relying on other people.

And that’s OK! In fact, it’s the way God intended.

In this episode of The Chris Stefanick Show, I sit down with Catholic writer Leah Libresco Sargeant, to discuss her new book "The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto." Leah challenges the lie of autonomy and makes a bold case that dependence isn’t weakness—it’s the key to a thriving society.

Together, we unpack why dependence is not a burden, why our world is literally built for men, what modern feminism gets both right and wrong, and how a Catholic vision of dignity shows us that men and women are equal in worth, but not interchangeable.

This is an important conversation that touches on so many fundamental aspects of human life. Leah is ultimately asking what it would take to build a more caring world where everyone—men, women, the unborn, the elderly, and the disabled—can flourish together.

God doesn’t want us to hide our need for help. He loves us in our weakness and created us to love each other in those weaknesses as well. That's what real love is all about—depending on one another and on God—not pretending we can do it all on our own. This is a Christian reality that secular society loves to ignore.

Living through the lens of interdependence can help us to be a little bit more compassionate and Christ-like in everything we do.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:53 Leah's Tolkien role-playing game

2:48 Why Leah wrote The Dignity of Dependence

3:32 How the world is literally built for men (and why that matters)

10:21 The lie of autonomy vs. the truth of dependence

16:42 Prioritizing interdependence in the workplace

22:18 What mainstream feminism gets right and wrong

30:10 How the cult of autonomy fuels euthanasia

34:39 Why we are obsessed with being independent

37:14 Why men struggle to admit need (and how it’s killing them)

44:06 Leah's hopes for her new book

Get Leah’s book The Dignity of Dependence here: https://amzn.to/4pLjF74

Explore her Tolkien-inspired game Back Again from the Broken Land: https://cloven-pine-games.itch.io/back-again-from-the-broken-land

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The Chris Stefanick Show will soon be premiering on EWTN+ Streaming! You can start watching more great content at: EWTN.com/ondemand/

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✈️ To learn more about Real Life Catholic Pilgrimages, visit: https://reallifecatholic.com/pilgrimages/

Can money actually buy happiness? Believe it or not—Jesus says yes.

In this reflection, Chris Stefanick unpacks Matthew 25 and Luke 16, where Jesus makes it clear: a big part of our final exam before God will be about whether or not we loved and served the poor.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a sobering reminder: if our hearts are closed to the suffering right in front of us, they’re not open enough to receive heaven.

But here’s the twist—modern research actually backs this up! Studies prove that spending money on others brings more joy than spending it on ourselves.

So your money CAN buy you happiness...if you give it away to help others.

What you'll discover:

Why serving the poor is essential preparation for eternal life
How generosity changes your happiness right now
The one thing God will never forget about you
Watch now and start investing in the only thing that lasts: love.

❓DISCUSSION QUESTIONS❓
1. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that the “final exam” is about how we serve the poor. How does that challenge or affirm the way you’ve been living your faith?

2. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), the rich man isn’t condemned for being wealthy but for ignoring the suffering at his doorstep. Who are the “Lazaruses” God has placed at your doorstep?

3. God forgets every sin we repent of, but he never forgets a single act of love for the poor. How does that truth change the way you view generosity and service?

4. Research shows that giving money to others brings more joy than spending it on ourselves. Can you share a time when generosity—big or small—brought unexpected joy to your life?

5. What is one way you could “reorder your dreams” to align more closely with how Jesus calls us to use our resources?

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Living Joy by Chris Stefanick: https://real-life-catholic.myshopify.com/products/living-joy-hardcover

✉️ Sign up for Chris’s Daily Anchor for free daily encouragement: https://mailchi.mp/reallifecatholic/daily-anchor-landing-page-20

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Come on Pilgrimage and Retreat with me in Assisi! https://canterburypilgrimages.com/1226