My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.
[Jeremias (Jeremiah) 8:18]
Modern men often equate sorrow with something alien, like an emotional bacteria or virus that the soul must immediately expunge.
The truth is that the soul needs to pass through such seasons to maintain her health. There are occasions in life - whether we are victims or perpetrators - where the only appropriate response is a deep, inward sorrow; a grieving over some loss or a profound regret over a wrong decision or bad action. These are the proper responses of a healthy soul, awakened to the supernatural life of grace, willingly stirred in conscience by all the evil around us which at times finds us as its object.
The mad rush to obtain psychological counseling and even chemical treatment can circumvent the normal and natural motions of the spiritual soul which was created by God to grieve at times with profound sorrow.
Men rush to label every normal foray into sorrow as depression or even mental illness. And no wonder, since so few pastors explain the healthful and expedient work that only contrition, sorrow, and interior brokenness can effect in the arduous and continual work of spiritual conversion.
Lastly, it is not good for the person experiencing sorrow to be alone too much. Sorrow can be shared, and even entered into with appropriate empathy. But never tell the grieving soul not to cry, or that its not that bad, or other such superficial responses. Affirm the hurt; acknowledge the bitterness of the wound. But just being there for the one in sorrow is to provide the support they really need and want - and is itself a silent witness to hope.
Originally posted 11 January 2019
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