November 3.  Coping with any loss at any time of life is not easy and these last 2 years have been filled with many losses.  Whether you are dealing with a Covid-related or other death in the family, with a young person with a broken heart or an older person hurting badly after the loss of a spouse and their reason for living, there are times of deep depression. For some the harmful effects of environmental degradation can also be experienced as a loss.  Helping each one of them to understand that “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” can be a possible way forward to carry on with courage.

Owe no one anything, except to love one another. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.   Romans 13:8-10.  Pope Francis:   At particular times we have to help the grieving person to realise that after the loss we still have a mission to carry out, and that it does us no good to prolong the suffering as if it were a form of tribute.  Our loved ones have no need of our suffering nor does it flatter them that we should ruin our lives.   AL255.  God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. LS 89. Reflect, share, act and pray