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When sudden death or tragic death occurs, we sometimes get lost in feelings of guilt, anger, puzzlement, betrayal by God, etc. These feelings cause many Christians to fall away from the Church or to cut themselves off from God, because they think He should have prevented such deaths. What words can you say to the grieving to help them feel God’s closeness?
These are the things that cause us to lose sight of what it means to suffer for Christ.
Suffering for Christ means accepting what has happened while praying for strength to resist failing Him regardless of what we think. Often the thoughts that pull us away from God are of Satan, who wants to grab us out of God’s Hand during such trying times. We need to realize and understand that these are the times we need to trust Him most! We need to offer up our suffering by accepting what we don’t understand.
Where Are The Words, Lord?
Where are the words, Lord, to give wisdom and strength
To those painfully suffering at such great length?
Words of love, joy and hope?
How else will we ever be able to cope?
In prayer and faith we all do stand
Within Your Blessed, Omnipotent Hand.
Our tears will be dried, our hearts will heal
For among those numbered we have Your Seal.
The pain will pass if we truly believe
That You are the Source–
The Power to relieve–
All the sorrows and images that plague the mind
Of the evil sort in humankind.
Forgetting not self-guilt or blame,
One’s limitations, or unfounded shame,
Allow us not to be destroyed from within,
By these things of Satan,
His game to win.
We’ll draw strength from You and Our Blessed Mother
From the faith and love we share in each other.
It will not be easy to recover this loss
Unless together, Oh Lord,
We carry our Cross!
© by Susie Ferguson, October 4, 1991
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