Have you ever known someone who was facing a truly huge loss, and struggled with what to say to them?
It hit close to home lately. A friend lost someone close to him to suicide. It has completely rocked his world. At the funeral, I spoke to several people who really just didn’t know what to say. “Saying ‘I’m sorry’ just seems so inadequate.”
Yesterday, I picked up the beautiful book Cry of the Heart, taken from talks given by my late, brilliant professor and friend, Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete. The book is about suffering — written by a man who suffered deeply. Having gone through a few of my own losses in the past couple of years, I wanted to see what my beloved Msgr. Albacete had to say on the subject.
It was deeply moving.
And so, I thought he and I would team up one last time and address the question: how do we best love people through the most difficult moments of their lives?
Let me start by saying: it is true that “I’m sorry” is not adequate. But what could…
