We do not anticipate young mothers dying at a moment devoted to birth, and yet we know it happens. We know about death, and yet we are caught unawares by it.

Like many people raised in an abusive environment, I also married a man who treated me with the disrespect and violence that I had been accustomed to.

Pauline Vanier sold everything she owned and moved into a small house in Trosly-Breuil. She became “Mamie,” the grandmother of L’Arche.

Our Lady knows exactly what it is like to stand by and see someone you love suffer and die. But Our Lady also knew that, somehow, God was with her in that time of grief. But we could well ask: Where was God yesterday in Paris?

I love this man who expressed his love with deeds and whose last deed will likely be his slipping away from me.

When the suicide monster invades the psyche, more than kindness is required. More than toughing it out.