Spiritual side of “Good grief”: What happened to holy Saturday?

Abstract

Pastoral and other caregivers of the recently bereaved offering spiritual counseling are urged to be mindful of the human element. Immediate and even mid-term responses to loss will and must be experienced, even in the face of the consolations offered by religious belief. To suggest that faith itself can drive out the pain of bereavement is to counsel badly. Instead, the author conceptualizes the process of grief “in a way that links the human processes of working through grief to growth with the spiritual resources of the Judeo-Christian tradition”; then he applies his model to particular counseling situations, emphasizing the benefits of his approach.