Death should be hard. Mourning is undervalued in our age and culture maybe because we belittle death.
Yes, as a Christian there is something beyond rotting in the ground, but the hard reality is that person, that life is no longer there. The joys of stupid jokes from that person aren't there, the entertainment of watching friends wince at that person's awkward moments is not there, the late night conversations is not there, the feel of skin against yours as you embrace your friend is not there. The person is not there; a portion of one’s community is gone. Death, even if merely physical and temporary for the Christian, is the opposite of what God ultimately desires thus, it should causes us pain , draw tears from our eyes and simply feel wrong.

It perhaps in that feeling of disarray and frustration that I find I must turn to a God who shares in my mourning and has the power to bring redemption, even to death. My joy then is not so much in the fact that my Christian loved ones are in heaven - a theologically complex issue- but that my God is bigger than death.

Although I neither knew Maricela nor am physically present with you, know that as your brother, a piece of my hearts mourns with you.