The death of a loved one is always a difficult and traumatic time. As one of our prayers says, at a time such as this, "Our hearts fail us, we long for that which cannot be, and there is none to comfort us ... [for we know] our eyes no longer will behold the one we love, and our ears no longer will hear the familiar footsteps" (See J. B. Bernardin, Burial Services, page 139).

If we were in a church with a large crucifix of the suffering, crucified Christ hanging down over the altar, I suspect it would be natural and quite easy for us to kneel down before that crucifix, because it in so many ways reflects what we hold inside. Grief. Pain. Broken hearts. Fear. Defeat.

There our suffering mingles with the suffering of Christ. As Charles Winfred Douglas wrote:

O Sorrow Deep

Who would not weep

With …