A Catholic Monthly Magazine

Tag Archive for ‘grief’

Grow Old Along With Me

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life For which the rest was made Our times are in His hand.” Robert Browning 1812-1889. (Poem written to his wife, Elizabeth.) September 2022 Dear Marty, You became a Hospice patient on September 11, 2022, just over a week ago. In […]

Easing the Grieving

Ten Tips for Coping with Loss Amy, was in her 30s and had just given birth to her first child when her mother suddenly died. “All I feel is pain, sadness, and sorrow that my mother is no longer here to be my inspiration and to enjoy being a grandmother to my son.” Anthony, in […]

Hello always follows Goodbye

“For the Christian, hello always follows goodbye in some form.There is new life, although it will be different from the life we knew before. The resurrection of Jesus and the promises of God are too strong to have it be any other way.” Joyce Rupp, OSM, ‘Praying Our Goodbyes’ “Oh, you have loaned us to […]

Death and Taxes

’Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes.” We’ve all heard the saying.  Benjamin Franklin quoted it, praising the newly written American Constitution: “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” We always […]

The Importance of Space – Part 1

Valuing space  In Linda Ellis’s Poem The Dash she focuses on the ‘dash’; the space between the dates of birth and death of a person, for example, 1944 – 2022. Linda relates how a person, giving a eulogy on the death of a friend, referred to that ‘dash’ in their life.  She argued that the […]

Grief

Some Common-Sense Answers After her spouse died, a woman wrote in her journal: “I feel like I’m a hampster on a wheel going round and round but going nowhere. Even though Steve died ten months ago, I still feel like it happened only yesterday. I just can’t stop thinking about him. What is this strange […]

Broken Relationships –
What Do You Say?

A good friend recently lost her adult son very suddenly. Even though he had been ill and was receiving treatment, the illness was not terminal. He was not expected to die, so his death was a total shock to the family. I tried calling my friend to offer sympathy and to ask about funeral services. […]

Suicide – Seven Ways to Help Grievers

When Kristen Clifford’s husband – Steven Clifford, a police officer – wasn’t responding to her text messages, she became alarmed and drove home, where she found notes, his police identification, his driver’s licence. “Everything laid out very neatly, methodically”, she recalled. Frightened, she rushed down the hallway to their bedroom, discovering the door closed and […]

When a Friend Grieves

Seven Ways to Help I was heartbroken. I was beyond devastation. I wanted to die, pack it in, call it a day, call it quits, stop in my tracks. My son, Clark, was the light of my life, the bright, beautiful, creative boy who had survived so much, and been such a solace and beauty. […]

Monday 8 July

Genesis 28:10-22; Psalm 91; Matthew 9:18-26 Grief How often it seems that our grief leads us to Jesus. How often does our grief, or our need for healing, become the prelude to richer faith? The Jewish president of the local synagogue is heartbroken at the death of his daughter. Immediately Jesus sets out to answer […]