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Grief presents itself in many forms, including the loss of control during difficult news. Explore how modern dependency on technology for answers differs from seeking spiritual guidance during times of uncertainty and fear.

• What might happen if we took our questions to God instead of Google?
• Spiritual answers may be different but more meaningful than information alone  • Connection to divine love is universal and available to everyone 
• Recognition that technology, while useful, cannot provide the living presence we truly seek

You can find us on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple. You can contact me through my email in the show notes. A new episode drops every Friday. 

For spiritual direction, art, and workshops shared through Santa Clara University, https://events.scu.edu/markey-center/event/344943-spiritual-accompaniment

You can reach us at: [e-mail].
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION WHILE GRIEVING IS AVAILABLE

Art:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/vasonaArts?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
and  https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/candee-lucas

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2SFH4Z6

Music and sound effects today by:   via Pixabay

Episode Transcript

Candee (00:05):
Thank you, welcome to Solace

(00:52):
My name is Candee Lucas and I'ma Jesuit trained grief chaplain
and spiritual director.
When we started this ministrywe wanted to create a space for
all those struggling with loss,whatever kind.
The death of a loved one is anenormous physical, spiritual,

(01:22):
emotional and psychologicalshift.
I created this library ofpodcasts for those who are
struggling with particular griefissues and for those who just
wish gentle accompaniment.
I'm glad you're here with metoday.
Remember you're always welcomein our circle of healing love
and support, of healing love andsupport.

(01:49):
Recently I heard a story about awoman struggling with a
difficult pregnancy.
During a routine sonogram inher doctor's office, the
technician suddenly went quietand, of course, the woman was
gripped with fear.
The doctor came in and reviewedthe sonogram and told her there

(02:16):
might be some abnormalities,but they needed to do further
tests, further tests --a phrasesome of us have gotten used to,
a phrase some of us dread, butthat's not the interesting part

(02:37):
about the story.
The woman went on to describehow, if she'd only had her phone
with her she would have Googled immediately the words the
doctor was saying and thereason she confessed she did

(03:03):
this was because it would giveher back the power over her
situation.
Now, many of us greet bad newsor difficult news with an urge
to learn more, reassuringourselves that more knowledge
will make us able to makesharper, more effective
decisions about whatever theissue may be.

(03:26):
But this woman was quite clearthat it was the power of the
phone, the power of having thattechnology at her fingertips,
that made her feel she couldmeet this situation, and later

(03:48):
she came to understand that thepower she had attached to that
phone was something moremysterious.
She talked how, when shelearned this horrific and
difficult news about herpregnancy, she had no belief in

(04:12):
God or anything else-- I thinkthose were the precise words she
used.
Yet because she had tracked herpregnancy on an app in the
phone, she had suddenly giventhat phone much more power over

(04:35):
her life and over her decisions.
She talked about wanting tounderstand the depths and
breadth and the possibilitiesfor her unborn son.
But after a while, afterbrowsing to the ends of the

(04:58):
internet what the possibilitiesfor her son were, she felt no
more equipped to deal with theunknown than she had before, and
I thought what if she had takenthose same questions, those

(05:21):
same doubts, the fears she hadabout the pregnancy, about the
future of her child.
What if she'd taken thosequestions to God instead of her
phone?
She probably wouldn't havefound better answers, although

(05:43):
some of us think she might have.
She would definitely finddifferent answers, things she
might have.
She would definitely finddifferent answers.
She would come to understandthat that love and healing in
the face of loss whether it bethe loss of an idea of a perfect

(06:05):
child, a perfect baby, or theloss of control over one's body,
the possible death of her babyall of these would have been
answered in a different way.

(06:26):
I don't know if you can know Godin one day.
Maybe you can-- I'm sure somepeople do in circumstances of
extreme suffering and loss.
But we don't need to know ourwhole God in one day.

(06:47):
We need to know that we canreach out to Him in the moment
and he will give us an answer.
It may not be the answer thatwe want to hear, but it is an
answer-- an answer given tothose of us who love Him and

(07:14):
those of us who are loved.
I believe everyone has access tothis God and this love, not
just Catholics, not justChristians or Buddhists or
Zoroasters or Jewish people, buteveryone.

(07:39):
Our connectedness to oneanother reminds us of the power
found in an electronic device,no matter how ubiquitous, no

(08:13):
matter how clever it's only anobject.
It is not a living, breathingpresence.

(08:51):
That concludes another episode.
You can find us on Spotify,Amazon Music and Apple.
You can contact me through myemail in the show notes, a new

(09:13):
episode drops every Friday.
Take gentle care of yourselves.
Travel with God.
Vaya con Dios.