Why does God allow suffering, especially for good and innocent people who are trying to live faithfully? Many men assume suffering means something has gone wrong: a lack of faith, a mistake, or even abandonment by God. In this episode, John Heinen and Devin Schadt confront that assumption directly. Drawing from our own personal suffering they challenge the modern instinct to avoid pain at all costs and instead ask a more honest question: what if suffering is not evidence of God’s absence, but of His love and formation? The conversation moves beyond theory into the real struggles men face in marriage, fatherhood, prayer, and responsibility. John and Devin explore why men resist suffering, how pride and presumption distort our response to it, and what suffering actually produces when it is accepted rather than numbed or escaped. They also discuss why learning to suffer well is essential to becoming a strong, faithful Catholic man.

Men who are trying to be disciplined, responsible, and successful still feel internally restless, scattered, or dissatisfied. They work harder, set better goals, and chase improvement, yet something underneath remains unresolved. The problem is not effort. It’s formation. Many men were never given a clear vision of what masculinity is ordered toward, only pressure to perform and compete without understanding who they are or why they strive. In this episode, John Heinen and Devin Schadt name seven hard truths most men are not prepared for, truths about identity, discipline, interior life, spiritual warfare, vocation, marriage, and suffering. These are non-negotiables that reorder a man’s interior world and reshape how he lives, loves, and leads within his vocation.

The book of Proverbs says that 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue.' As you go about your day, you hear many use their words for good and for bad. Why is it bad? Why are certain words bad? Let's explore this.

Through the psalms, we were reminded of our constant reliance on God; through the silence, our mortality; through the minimalist architecture, our tendency to excess; through reading, our ignorance; through the monks, our pride.

What starts as a small vice for men spirals into continuous sin, addiction, and spiritual destruction. Today, John Heinen and Devin Schadt tackle three devastating habits that plague virtually every man's journey. They reveal the surprising connection between self-perception and our most dangerous tendencies, showing how both thinking too little and too much of ourselves leads down identical paths to self-destruction. With brutal honesty from their own experiences, John and Devin offer a practical and simple framework for understanding and conquering these universal male struggles before they consume your life, relationships, and soul. Every man needs these insights for the battles in his life.

How do we define purity? Seeing it as living out our God-given identity will change everything about our lives. It will allow us to be pure of heart, thought, and sight.

A man that is self-possessed, controlling his passions and putting them to the service of his will and intellect, is a man of tremendous strength. When we lack self-possession, we cannot give ourselves in love – because no one can give what they do not have. The North American Martyrs are a great model of this.

Jesus teaches us men to be humble through His actions. From His nativity, Passion, and presence in the Eucharist, His humility is on full display. Take a moment to reflect on this nature of God.