Now That You’ve Gone Home
Stories, meditations, and prayers to help us negotiate the tricky and often troublesome journey of grief.
—Reviewed by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on Spirituality & Practice
This paperback is a follow-up to May I Walk You Home where Joyce Hutchison and Joyce Rupp presented stories and prayers to strengthen and guide caregivers of the very ill. Here Hutchison presents stories of grief and Rupp adds meditations and prayers after each one. Another section contains the stories of others on mourning.
Some of the topics covered in this helpful and succinct overview of grief are the feeling that nothing about life is familiar, the unease resulting from an empty house, the interruption of a normal life, the impression that others just don’t understand, the dreaded first holidays, and the sense that one has lost a part of oneself.
Here is a sampler of a meditation and a prayer by Joyce Rupp:
• “Hold in your hands a photo of your loved one who has died. Allow your thoughts and emotions to come forth as you look at this photo. Visualize God’s kindness and care caressing and comforting you like a warm ray of sunshine on a cold, turbulent day. Rest awhile in the warmth of this enduring love as you grieve your great loss.”
• “Comforting One, inside of me there’s a huge cavern of loneliness. I don’t think my heart can be more empty than it is. Each part of my daily routine cries out with sorrow. Each day is an endless stretch of persistent grief. Teach me how to care for myself amid this pain. Grant me courage to do this as best I can, especially when I feel as though I will fall apart. May I be patient with my unwanted emotions and trust that one day my inner world will change.”
• “Each time grief rises up and presses against my heart, I will remember that I am held in the womb of God’s compassion.”
Read the review on Spirituality & Practice.
