This Day of the Dead, I made two loaves of bread: one to share with colleagues and the less pretty one for myself and my grandpa to share over a cup of cafecito.

Darkness and light are but one, the psalmist tells us. Our lives are filled with both. Sugar and skulls. Flowers and dust. Love and loss. You cannot embrace one without allowing the other.

“How do we treat those things which are sacred? We treat them with care, dignity and respect. The church calls us to do that with our mortal remains as well.”

“Death in life” must happen in this life if we are truly to live. We have to encounter an event that overturns our agenda, our way of being in the world, our very sense of self.

What saved me? No simple answers or solutions exist. People in the throes of deep depression cannot see a tomorrow of bright sunshine and love and joy.

‘I was absolutely, unequivocally unaware of Mr. Fuller’s intention’ to kill himself.