Keenan argues that there are three steps to a Christian moral life: grief, vulnerability and recognition. When we grieve we are vulnerable. Then Jesus enters our lives, and we recognize the suffering of others. We can then approach them with mercy and with the Good News. Jesus lives.

This is much better than therapy, although seeing a Christian counselor, which I have done, can also help. Fr. Keenan examines the deep pain of those who had just lost the Lord, who did not yet know He had been been raised. They weren’t quietly asking each other how he was “doing.” This was not “a therapeutic check-in. Jesus’ apostles and His mother were wracked. Maybe they were sharing stories about Jesus. No doubt that they were in fear for their lives. They were traumatized. That’s where and when He came to them.

So when I take my bike to get my mail, I ride right by the place where I lost my brother and tell him that I love him. Next I ride by the place where my mother passed away, and feel my connection to her and the joy, love, and laughter with which she filled my life.