The Gift of Grief?

I found this post this morning browsing through facebook.  I think this is something that we can all grow from as we all go through moments of "GRIEF".  

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Good Grief: A Meditation of How Grief can be a Gift in Strange Package
By: Msgr. Charles Pope

As a priest I walk with a lot of people in their grief. It’s a regular part of priesthood. I remember back in 2007 how tough it was for me:

• The Deacon of my parish, Nerus, like a father to me, died after a long battle with cancer. His final words to me were, “I’m not so good right now, but I’ll be better soon.”
• My administrative and pastoral assistant, Catherine, like a mother to me, developed a rapid form of Alzheimer’s and within that year went from being at the top of her game to no longer recognizing anyone, within a year she was gone.
• My Parish bookkeeper, Shirley, also like a mother or an aunt, died suddenly.
• I was transferred from a parish I loved. This too was like a death, death by a thousand cuts.
• My father died shortly thereafter, after a long illness.
• A new parishioner lost her 4 year old nephew when, climbing on a dresser, it fell over on him and he was killed
• Another parishioner lost her 25 year old son, know well to us all, when he was shot to death.

All in a year. I remember telling God it was too much. And though I got no answer, I haven’t had a year like that since.   (story continued here)

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The Seventh Sorrow-the laying in the tomb

The Seventh Sorrow

7. The burial of Jesus: "Now there was in the place where He was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid. There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand." John XIX, 41-

Dear Little hearts,

And so we come to the seventh and last sorrow, the laying in the tomb. A mystery that we can all identify with, for in the midst of life death is always with us.

The Battle is over Christ is laid to rest, the seed is laid within the ground...

One of the greatest lessons to learn in life is the dichotomy often on many levels of the difference between appearances and reality. That applies equally to this mystery, "nothing is ever quite like what it seems".... this appears to human eyes to be the end , but it is in reality just the beginning. It seems like failure and the end of all.... it is but the prelude to the greatest overture and drama of LIFE... the Resurrection.

Hope in God we shall praise him still, we can never trust our God enough, even though he may lead us in strange and painful ways. HE IS LORD !