Well, she’s very religious. And she’s not sad, either. Angry, bitter, miserable, yes. The only sad people are her middle-aged kids!
Well, being angry and bitter is a sort of sadness.
It’s another way of expressing sadness. You know of no joy, so you fill your life with whatever else you know. Anger has a place, but it was never meant to be our main spiritual food.
I feel for her. I wish I could help more, but I will ask God to help her somehow. You haven’t said what kind of faith system she has, but in both Jewish and Christian frameworks she might benefit from learning something about the joy of the Lord. And every time she expresses anger at something is the time to counter with the joy of the Lord, if you can counter with a joyful or at least comforting attitude. “See, things are not so terrible. God is here. God will help you too.”
I think you mentioned Catholic, actually. We’d discussed your situation early and I said that if you were matrilineally Jewish they’d take you in a Jewish congregation with no problem. And you said no, that was patrilineal.
Catholic congregations vary so, so much. Some are stiffly legalistic. The church clergy becomes a salvation gate committee, so to speak. If you don’t toe the line exactly the way they say, then you go to hell. And that’s very sad because it isn’t true. The bible quotes Jesus: “No one shall snatch them out of My hand.”
[The bible quotes Jesus: “No one shall snatch them out of My hand.”]
And this is blockbuster spiritual news. Ah, if you could write a musical of your choice, ma’am, you should write it about this. It is spiritually pro-life. It is victory.
Blame Baptists for being prudish about drink, but they got THIS one right square on the nose. Maybe if there is a Baptist congregation she might be persuaded to visit, she’d hear about this?
You will miss her when she’s gone.