For the last text in my series: how to see this time of confinement as Good News in the light of the Pascal liturgy, I really wanted to bridge the gap between the two shores by approaching the question of mourning from the angle of resilience. I wanted to talk about these concepts related to death and drama, because nowadays, in addition to the fact that some people experience real mourning, the imposed changes, adaptations and renunciations that we face in all spheres of our lives, be they small or large, are also mourning to be experienced. What adds an additional anguish to the current situation is that we cannot really be in control of what will happen tomorrow and in the coming year(s).

Easter or in other words: place of passage.

Seeing these events as a mourning process, a place of passage, therefore helps us to put things into perspective a little in order to help us pass through this very very, very narrow door through which we are individually and collectively called to pass just as the disciples were. This human drama, these mourning events that are imposed on us, also impel us to hope. I find that the psychological concept of resilience can really help us to give meaning to what we are living and will live in the coming months and years. It has been defined as a person’s ability to bounce back, to “make the best of it”, to find meaning in even the most horrible tragedies. On the one hand, then, resilience helps us to make sense of the harm suffered or generated in the past, present and future. On the other hand, with time and a lot of compassion towards ourselves, it helps us to understand and/or accept those sources of anxiety related to novelty, change, unpredictability or when our ego is threatened. You can read the very relevant text below: How to hunt the mammoth without leaving its skin?

Finally, it is important to put your finger on this place that the Holy Spirit calls us, especially to let die, to let go, to change, to reconcile, to adapt, to renew ourselves. I like to see the Source of Love, among other things, as an eternal compost. Compost is made up of decomposing biological waste and is used to nourish the earth so that what will be sown, planted, will be beautiful, good, robust and abundant. It is perfectly legitimate to wish things to return to the way they were before COVID, but from the perspective of faith, we must understand that in all things, a certain death is necessary in order to let the new germinate. The new will draw its strength from the old, but will be a novelty in itself.

. . .
” tip toe if you must, but take the step ”
. . .
This means that the Holy Spirit truly accompanies us in our daily walk on the waters (biblical symbol of death). He accompanies us there so that we may become mature in Love. He accompanies us there so that we may find freedom through this personal relationship that is quietly built up with the Source of Love. From there, he teaches us discernment. He changes our defense mechanisms and our points of reference. He calls us to leave our comfort zone, our fears, our anxieties in view of abundance. Above all, He deconstructs and then rebuilds the image we have of Him, of ourselves and of the other in order to renew. Ouch… yes! not simple… yes! but slowly, with time, grace and effort, true profound Peace is established.

So my response to these multiple bereavements that we are experiencing at this time is a call to faith, because suffering, pain, the places of the dead often become places of fruitfulness for the common good.

We do not necessarily know where we are going and what will come of it, but at least we know who we are following.

We don’t really know how, nor when, nor in what way, nor why not there or there, but we know that life wants and will germinate for me, for us, for them, for you… for the common good.

——

How to hunt the mammoth without leaving its skin?

https://www.stresshumain.ca/Documents/pdf/Mammouth-Magazine/MammouthMagazineNo16_V3.pdf

Resilience :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHXec-J60ZE

https://lecerveau.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/outil_jaune06.html

Five Stages of Grief :
FR : https://www.usherbrooke.ca/etudiants/fileadmin/sites/etudiants/documents/Psychologie/Deuil.pdf

EN : https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-history/its-time-let-five-stages-grief-die

— Marie Lyne Boucher