The Catholic Morning Show · Iowa Catholic Radio

The Catholic Morning Show - 04/07/2026

April 7, 2026·58 min·5 clips

A cancer survivor reveals how to drill into a deep well of joy that persists even through suffering.

April 7 starts in Easter week. Beau Bonner opens with alleluias, a full studio, and the Iowa Catholic Radio rhythm of quick welcomes and shared prayer. The gang is back together. Elyse Kerr, Aidan Pugh, and Alexia Baker join the table, giving the hour its easy morning-show pace before Laura Kelly Fanucci arrives with the devotional center of the episode. Her book, 50 Days to Practice Resurrection, treats Easter as something people live and practice, not something celebrated once and put away. Joy is the thread. Fanucci does not treat joy as a better mood or a smooth day. Happiness comes and goes. Joy, as she explains it, grows from knowing who we are and whose we are in light of the resurrection. That distinction keeps the conversation grounded. Suffering can still be real, and small joys can still be noticed, chosen, and offered back to God with gratitude. Her image is simple enough to stick: joy is like drilling down to water beneath dry ground, not pretending the dry ground is not there. Cancer gives the talk its edge. Fanucci says writing after surviving cancer helped her see how people can suffer and still share joy with others. Practice is the point. She compares Easter joy to strength training and asks what it might mean to lift a little more joy each day. Beau closes by thanking Aidan, Alexia, and Elise, pointing listeners to Catholic Connection with Teresa Tamio, and sending them out with prayer, mercy, blessing, and another Easter proclamation. The episode stays warmly ordinary, with banter and handoffs wrapped around a clear reflection on resurrection life.

As heard by us

An Easter morning segment that treats joy as a practice, not a mood.

This Easter-week broadcast follows Laura Kelly Fanucci's conversation about practicing joy when life is hard. Beau Bonner and the studio crew keep the hour moving, and the episode draws a clean line between happiness, which rises and falls, and joy, which stays put.

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Why you'd press play

You want Easter joy explained in plain Catholic morning-radio language.

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