Category: Tools for Grievers

What St. Mary Magdalene Teaches Us About Loving Through Grief

July 9, 2026

I know how I feel when I have been crying for days and am emotionally drained. I picture Mary Magdalene, exhausted from watching the Man who changed her life be brutally murdered. I’m sure she got little to no sleep the night before. Her eyes were probably swollen from crying. Her shoulders likely sagged under the weight of grief. Every step toward the tomb must have felt heavy. … More What St. Mary Magdalene Teaches Us About Loving Through Grief

An Easter People: Carrying the Joy and Hope of the Resurrection Through All of Life’s Challenges

July 9, 2026

For the Christian, there is no need to separate the grief from the joy. The same hands can hold both joy and grief simultaneously. That is what it means to be, as John Paul II said, “an Easter people”. But he didn’t say that famous line during Easter. He said it in a papal address in November. Easter is not limited to a day or even a Church season. There is no “this, then that,” or suffering then not suffering. But there is always hope in suffering because the Messiah suffered, too.  … More An Easter People: Carrying the Joy and Hope of the Resurrection Through All of Life’s Challenges

On Snags and the Spiritual Life

June 11, 2026

Snags look like they do not belong because…well,  they do not belong. They are the contingency. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that God reveals Himself to us through Sacred Scripture and through creation. Paul wrote “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.” … More On Snags and the Spiritual Life

Nurturing Without Children: Finding Fulfillment in Caretaking

June 11, 2026

Sometimes, being childless just seems to come about by happenstance. While desiring to get married, many people have simply not found a soul mate to share the rest of their lives with; they thus live a life of celibacy in accordance with their moral and religious beliefs and are consequently childless. They still retain the ingrained instinct of nurturing which will need to be expressed in ways other than actual childrearing. … More Nurturing Without Children: Finding Fulfillment in Caretaking

I Thought I Had More Time: What Mary Shows us About Loving and Letting Go

May 14, 2026

Mary understands. She raised her Son. She saw him in the ordinary. She saw him in the extraordinary. Then He was gone. She is the only human who exemplifies total and pure love, trust, and faith in God. Yet, she did not get a pass on suffering. She couldn’t stop it. She could only endure it and turn to God. … More I Thought I Had More Time: What Mary Shows us About Loving and Letting Go

Grief and Parenting: How to Hold Your Sorrow While Still Holding Everyone Else

April 9, 2026

When you are a parent, especially a parent of young children, you feel like your grief needs to be put on hold for them. You dry their tears, comfort them, and then secretly cry in the shower. You want someone to comfort you but nothing seems to take away the pain. … More Grief and Parenting: How to Hold Your Sorrow While Still Holding Everyone Else