When tragedy strikes

I’ve just learned that a family from a nearby community has suffered a terrible loss. Their eldest child has been killed in a car accident. The funeral is soon.

The tragic loss of a loved one is devastatingly reverberating. The death overcomes the ones who loved the person. The death scares the people who know the family and who fear for the lives of their own loved ones. The death wounds friends and close acquaintances.

Comforting the family of the suddenly bereft is hard. Here are the word...