“Grief is the unavoidable consequence of ‘letting go’,” says Catholic priest Monsignor  Tony Doherty.

Tony has sat with families and friends at the bedside of the dying on many occasions during his 50 years as a priest.

“One of life’s fundamental human equations goes like this: the more you love the more painful it is to let go.”

“Grief is one side of life’s most precious coin. The flip side is human love,” he says.

“While grief can be one of the most excruciating of pains, in a sense the totality of our life’s journey is a continual process of ‘letting go’ – our youth, our home, our parents, those we love most. Perhaps the experience of grieving may be one of our great teachers.”

“I think that may be what the gospel is saying when it warns: if you will lose your life with me, that is, learn to let go, you will save it.”

Tony and author Ailsa Piper wrote a book together that goes to the heart of this, The Attachment: Letters from a most unlikely friendship. This beautiful book, published by Allen and Unwin, goes to the heart of love and loss.

Ailsa Piper is also the author of  Sinning Across Spain?  Watch Ailsa talk about her Camino experiences.