Lament

Jesus said: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comfored."

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Our culture is based on the pursuit of happiness. But does trying to be happy make us happy? Many difficult things happen in life, and hearing someone tell us to "just cheer up" rarely helps.

We live in a world of wonder and great beauty and great tragedy. When someone close to you dies, or you hear about the latest bombing the only thing that makes sense is to grieve. If your heart breaks and you don't take time to mourn, the pain only goes deeper. The sadness ends up leaking out in other ways: anger, stress, physical illness, depression or dependency on some kind of escape like food, entertainment, alcohol, drug use or some other distraction.

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We human beings have always looked for ways to escape, distract or numb ourselves from the harsh realities of life. We live unconciously running from pain. Maybe we run because we think that all that is there is despair. But as anyone in recovery knows, running from the pain doesn't help.

So this beatitude invites us to stop running. To face the pain.

In ancient cultures, people knew how to mourn. They tore their clothes. They poured ashes on their heads. They sat in the dirt and raised their voices in lament.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Brokenness and pain are not the end of the story. Jesus invites us into the reality that even in the middle of difficulty, if we have the courage to name and sit with our pain, we may experience solace.

As we choose the way of lament, we sit and weep - and we wait for comfort.

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