The image is all too familiar: six soldiers at Dover transferring the remains of a fallen comrade to a hearse to a place the family has designated; a President in salute as the casket passes by. The faces are familiar: young widows with children and older parents with a vacant stare. The emotions, too, are familiar: anger, grief, and confusion.
In his letter to a grieving mother, Abraham Lincoln wrote: “I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from a grief of a loss so overwhelming…” Indeed, words of consolation are weak; what grief requires is an ear to listen no matter how the grief is expressed.
Words cannot comfort or assuage the depth of such grief. Our response is usually to try to say that the sacrifice was not in vain. But often we wonder whether that is so. And who has the right to make that decision?
Prayer for the Day
We are told, O Lord, that memories will heal the deep grief we feel,
But we know that a memory cannot replace a voice, a touch, a presence;
We look at old photos that bring back times long forgotten,
And we cry out to you to heal our broken hearts.
Embrace us, O God, in our times of distress and sorrow,
Not that we forget the pain of loss, but that we remember.
In the name of the One who is always with us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The worst type of crying wasn't the kind everyone could see--the wailing on street corners, the tearing at clothes. No, the worst kind happened when your soul wept and no matter what you did, there was no way to comfort it.
Kate McGarry, American songwriter, from Pushing the Limits
In times of grief and sorrow I will hold you and rock you and take your grief and make it my own. When you cry I cry and when you hurt I hurt. And together we will try to hold back the floods to tears and despair and make it through the potholed street of life.
Nicholas Sparks, American writer, from The Notebooks
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures and leads me beside the still waters.
God restores my soul and leads me In the paths of justice for his name’s sake.
Though I walk in the valley of death’s shadow, I fear no harm, for you are with me.
Psalm 23: 1-4