What's your word of the year?


At the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, I heard a lot of people talking about their "word of the year." I've seen this before, and in all honesty, I've always thought it was silly. "You have no idea what's in store for you this year? How can you decide your theme of the year? Doesn't God choose that for you?" - are just some of my reasonings for thinking it silly.


But as 2024 came to a close, I realized there was something in myself that I wanted to work on. This phrase had been sitting on my heart for a couple of months, especially through an unfortunately eventful end to the year. The phrase was:

Suffering with grace.

Despite what my hobbies might have you think, I've never handled discomfort well.


Working out? Love it. A 20-mile hike in the rain? Count me in. Moving your couch up 3 flights of stairs? Absolutely.

But being injured? Hate it. Being sleepy? Count me out. Being hungry?! Hahahahahahahaha no.


When it comes to non-exercise-inflicted pains, I've always been a bit of a self-proclaimed whiner. As if letting out the words would also let out the pain and frustration. And it's not always verbal whining. Sometimes the words never leave my mouth, but I would entertain the self-pitying thoughts until it was all I could feel.

"Offer it up." - Mom to me, all the time.

We've probably all been hit with this comment before. You're complaining about school or your sprained ankle or the dinner you don't want to eat, and mom comes at you with "Offer it up."


"Offer it up. Not everyone gets a home-cooked meal every night."

"Offer it up for the souls in purgatory."

"Offer it up."


Of course, these words were never consoling to me in my childhood agonies of having to eat vegetables and brush my teeth. But despite being told this phrase all my life, I never had any real understanding of what it meant or even how to do this. But as the idea of "suffering with grace" has been spinning around in my head, it seemed like the time to finally explore this.

What does it mean to "suffer with grace"?


I've come up with a few interpretations of this phrase as I've been thinking on it.

  1. Suffering is an opportunity to be forged into something stronger. It is the chance for us to come face-to-face with our weaknesses, and we must either overcome them or bow down before them. But only through suffering can we find those weaknesses. Suffering is a cause for joy, as we learn to lean on God to make up for what we are lacking. It should drive us closer to Him.
  2. Your pains are gifts that can be given for others. "Offering it up" is real. Just as we offer up prayers for loved ones and lost souls, we can offer up our pains for them. By taking on trials joyfully, we can use our sufferings like prayers. Waking up way too early? For the forgotten souls in purgatory. Sick for the 3rd time this year? For someone who has drifted away from the faith. Hungry and exhausted, but unable to rest?
  3. To suffer is to partake in the Passion of Christ. If He could be brutally murdered for me, can I not joyfully handle being sleepy or hungry or hurt for Him? It is a fitting mission for the Jubilee Year - joyfully accepting your pains for the glory and honor of God.

How's it going so far?


It seems that God has heard my heart when I decided "to suffer with grace" was my mission of the year. I would be lying if I said 2025 has been easy so far. I have definitely been allowed opportunities to practice my mission.


Now that we are in the thick of Lent (and I'm realizing that giving up sleeping in AND coffee was poorly thought out), this penitential season is having me revisit my phrase of the year. Jesus called us to fast, pray, and repent, more often and more clearly than any other person in the Bible. May we all keep this call in our hearts as we move through the desert towards Easter. Live out joy, especially when it is hard!

"A Catholic cannot help but be happy; sadness should be banished from their souls. Suffering is not sadness, which is the worst disease. This disease is almost always caused by atheism, but the end for which we are created guides us along life's pathway, which may be strewn with thorns, but it is not sad." - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Did you choose a word or phrase of the year?


If so, then this is your reminder to keep thinking on it. Keep working on it. Always be striving to be better. The quest for excellence never ends in this life. Only in the next.