JANUARY 21
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
—MATTHEW 5:4In the catalog of only nine teachings Jesus gave his disciples
on how best to live one’s life, this comes second. Mourning
is integral to life, it is a part of everyone’s life, and its out-
come is certain. To mourn is to be comforted.
But how quickly we would turn away from it if we could.
Mourning itself is anything but comfortable.
That’s not what is promised in Jesus’ teaching.
What is promised is that those with the courage to mourn
will find, in the wake of mourning, a strange blessing: that
after the sadness is expressed, the pain released into the ac-
cepting air, it is as though some love at the heart of life wraps
its arms around the mourner and says, There, there, I am with
you, I hear you, I understand. Everything’s going to be all right.
In this darkness I will reach out my hand, trusting that life reaches
toward me, bringing me comfort and strength to prevail.