When the Church Treats Sadness Like the Villain: What Pixar’s Inside Out Gets Right About Grief
Sadness is not the enemy of faithfulness, and the impulse to suppress it may do more harm than the grief itself.
Let’s Talk About Angel Movies (and Hope When All Seems Lost)
Angels are a link between earth and heaven, providing guidance in life and comfort in death.
Apple TV+’s Shrinking: Why Things Get Worse Before They Get Better
This series captures the reality that the most difficult parts of life are the most transformative.
I Believe in A Christmas Carol (and the Redemptive Power of Memory)
These memories could make holidays without my daughter miserable. But the opposite is true. Remembrance makes Christmas all the more precious.
Let’s Talk About Abbott and Costello Movies (and a Communion of Grief)
With a heart that came near to breaking, Costello made the world laugh: the more he suffered, the more he wanted to bring healing to others.
Let’s Talk about Exorcist Movies (and God’s Love)
If demons do exist, if real exorcists are not crackpots, it may be that we escape to the movies hoping reality might be tamed.
Let’s Talk About Mummy Movies (and Life After Death)
Ancient Egyptians were deeply involved in questions of the afterlife: God did indeed set eternity in the hearts of all humanity across the ages.
As Grief Metaphors Go, Godzilla Is Better than Most
When this allegorical behemoth lumbers through our lives, we are helpless in the wake of its devastation.
A Separate Bargain: How Grief Is an Act of Love
How many parents, driven to despair, have offered their lives to God or the devil if only their child could survive?
Love and Loss with Metalcore
My daughter Jess died in 2015, yet through music, she feels less absent somehow. Her CDs are a bridge of sorts, conciliatory and consoling.
Look to the Survivors: 9/11: One Day in America
Certainly grief fatigue is real and present with so many of us right now, but even in the midst of ongoing, present tragedy, we must pause when we can to remember why life is sacred at all.
My Last Name, Timeless Rhythms, and the Grace of Memory
What I discovered in My Last Name is a story that has continued to help me process not just the grief and disillusionment of these last several months, but diagnose some of our current cultural ills, as well.
Mare of Easttown and the Allure of Other People’s Grief
As Mare of Easttown poignantly depicts, when we’re in serious pain ourselves, it’s tempting to hide behind other people’s grief.
WandaVision Recap: Therapist Says What? (Episode 8)
Agatha takes Wanda to therapy, and the show essentially takes its viewers to therapy, as well.
WandaVision Recap: A Grief Observed (Episodes 1 & 2)
WandaVision is zany and funny and nostalgic, with occasional bursts of creepiness and dread.
Profound Grief Through Teen Eyes in Never Have I Ever
What you will find in Never Have I Ever is a surprisingly profound look at grief through the eyes of teenagers.
