How to Talk with Someone Who is Grieving | Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc
Below is a transcript the the video:
Hello, this is Deacon Marc with Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc, and today we’re going to talk about that difficult conversation for many people; what do you say to someone who’s just lost a loved one? How do you have that? For many people that very difficult conversation and what I’m going to do is offer you 5 suggestions as ways that you can prepare and have that conversation in a healthy meaningful and loving type of way.
One is it is very simple to start the conversation, just let them know I’m sorry for your loss my condolences on your loss and let them know that you’re empathizing with them and that you’re sorry that they lost their loved one.
The second piece of it is, offering to pray but even better yet offering to pray with them right then. “I know you lost your dad it’s difficult time for you can we just pray together?” You just take a moment to pray together and be with them in prayer and lift yourselves up to the heavenly father and the love of heaven flow.
The third piece to think about is a favorite memory. “I’m sorry you lost your mother. I’m sure you’ve have several great memories of her. Can you share one of those memories with me? I’d love to hear more about your mother that you loved.” Asking them to share a favorite memory.
Fourthly, you want to just be present with them and sometimes that means just having some silence. As awkward as it may be, just let them be in silence and let the person be there with you.
And finally number five, what can I offer for you? And if you’re offering to help them, most of them they don’t even know what help they need or what you can offer. It’s very good to say “Hey I love to help and bring a dinner over on Tuesday. Would that be helpful to you? Or would there be a better way for me to help you out?” and be very specific in what you can offer but also open-ended that if there’s something else they want to ask you for that they can ask you for that.
It is a very difficult conversation to have with someone but it’s a very important conversation to have with people and so just offer your condolences being there offering your prayer love and support is the way that you can help console and be there for a friend who’s lost a loved one.
This is Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc make it a great day. God bless
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services (CFCS) of Colorado is dedicated to providing caring support before, during, and after the end-of-life process, thereby fulfilling our core purpose of “Filling the Void of Loss with Faith.” CFCS Colorado has partnered with Saint Raphael Counseling (a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Charities) to provide a Grief Support Program to the families we serve. Through this partnership, CFCS Colorado offers a tiered grief support program to meet the needs of our families and to help families navigate the journey of grief. This program is also open to the public as part of our community outreach.
To learn more about our Grief Support Program, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/mission-programs/grief-support/
