Mourning is the balm of comfort

JOLIET, Il (Catholic Explorer) - "Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).

The loss of a loved one causes many emotions to well up within. Who does not feel the pain of separation, the longing to see the loved one again, the tug of memories that flood into our minds? Who does not experience some second-guessing -- if only I had done this, if only I had said that?

There are many kinds of losses -- an opportunity missed because of indifference, the loss of a job, divorce, relocation to another city and so forth. We mourn and seek comfort at those times, too.

God extends his peace and consolation

In the second Beatitude, Jesus also draws our attention to spiritual mourning, brought about by the realization of our personal sin and the sin of the world. This realization brings sorrow, shame and regret that we have missed the mark by a wide margin. As we mature, we experience different stages of repentance -- we are sorry for our sins because we have broken a rule and will be punished; sorry because we have caused others pain; sorry because we have acted beneath our dignity; sorry because we have offended God.

The last stage -- sorrow for having offended God -- brings the kind of repentance that encompasses all the others. Repentance is a grace, because it is at the same time an awareness of the love of God: we understand how foolish and ungrateful we have been precisely because we have come to realize the overwhelming goodness of God. Moreover, we have come to realize that his goodness is directed to "me," and that in sinning I have separated myself from the family of those he loves.

Having glimpsed God's goodness, who would not regret the wrong roads taken, the selfish choices, the cavalier disregard for others, the ingratitude? Who would not long for the balm of comfort in such mourning?

Jesus said, "Blessed are they who mourn." As with the first Beatitude, we do not regard the causes of mourning -- death, loss, sin -- as blessings in themselves. Rather, the blessing comes from our final destiny, so extraordinarily abundant that it spills over into this life. The Father is trustworthy and always fulfills his promises, and when he makes a promise about our destiny in the eternal kingdom, he gives us a "foretaste" or "down payment" now. God's promises surpass every expectation: he does not only say, "Await the fulfillment"; he also says, "See how the fulfillment already affects you and fills you with hope."

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"...for they will be comforted." God's promises for his eternal kingdom spill over to the present. The blessedness of those who mourn is rooted in the way God is, eternally, in himself: merciful, kind, loving and tender. We will experience the fullness of God face-to-face in heaven, but the same God loves us and comforts us now. Whether our mourning comes from the death of a loved one or the spiritual death of sin, God extends his peace to us now. Those who follow his Son are blessed with the foretaste and down payment of what is to come, in fullness, in the kingdom of heaven.

Communion of saints

Two other facets of our faith reflect the comfort of the second beatitude: the communion of saints and the gift of conversion.

The communion of saints is the unity in Christ of all the redeemed, those on earth and those who have died. Traditionally, we speak of the three states of the church -- pilgrims on earth; those being purified as they await the kingdom; and those in the beatitude of heaven. All form one church, however, and all cling to Christ. The union of us pilgrims with those who have died is not interrupted by their death, for we continue to share spiritual goods with them, especially the love expressed in prayer. As St. Dominic said as he was dying, "Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life."

When loved ones die, we are comforted in the knowledge that death has not interrupted or canceled their love for us, just as it has not interrupted our love for them. We will meet in Christ -- but already we meet in him through prayer, especially the Eucharist, when we pray "with all the saints and angels in heaven."

Conversion involves both admission of guilt and the determination to change our ways. Even more, however, it is a gift, for it is God who gives us insight to mourn for our sins. This mourning is unique, as Abba Isaiah said more than 15 centuries ago: "Sadness according to God... is a joy, the joy of seeing yourself in God's will... [It] does not weigh on the soul, but says to it, 'Do not be afraid! Up! Return!' God knows that man is weak, and strengthens him." St. John Chrysostom wrote that mourning for sin is seasoned with hope.

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The second Beatitude also calls us to be comforters. If we are disciples of Jesus, pilgrims on the way to the kingdom where "he will wipe every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 21:4), we will comfort one another now, whatever the source of mourning. As with all the spiritual works of mercy, comforting the sorrowful is a way of demonstrating the blessedness that is already ours because of our destiny in Christ.

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of the Catholic Explorer(www.catholicexplorer.com), official newspaper of the Diocese of Joliet, Ill.