While I have written in the past about funerals, as customs seem to be changing regarding funerals, I would like to offer some understanding of what funerals are about and how we do them in our Catholic faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, \u201cThere is an appointed time for everything\u2026a time to be born and a time to die.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 When one\u2019s time to die comes, it leads to a \u201ctime to be mourn<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 As part of the mourning (grieving) process, every culture normally has customs designed to help us deal with our grief.\u00a0 Often, one\u2019s faith is involved in the grieving customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Catholics, we have formal rituals\ndesigned for our grieving. Many might\nthink this only involves the Mass in church and the prayers at the\ncemetery. The official Catholic ritual\nalso recognizes the calling hours as a formal part of the customs. This is because coming together to remember\nour loved ones to share memories and to offer the family comfort is an\nimportant part of our faith. Burying the\ndead is part of the Corporal Works of Mercy as we read in Sirach 38:16, \u201cMy\nson, shed tears for one who is dead with wailing and bitter lament; as is only\nproper, prepare the body, and do not absent yourself from the burial<\/em>\u201d (cf. Tobit\n1:16-18) as well as the Spiritual Work of Mercy to pray for the living and the\ndead. We pray for God\u2019s consolation for\nthe family and for our deceased loved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Church also sees importance\nin gathering after the funeral Mass and burial for a reception to come\ntogether. Now, often receptions are in\nrestaurants but some churches host receptions for the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I want to speak about the\nfuneral Mass itself. Many denominations\nwill offer a prayer service at the funeral home or a simple graveside\nservice. While those are options in the\nCatholic Church, it is not the tradition or the preference. We are called to gather in church for, not\njust a service, <\/em>but a funeral Mass<\/em><\/strong>. In the Mass we celebrate the Sacrifice of\nJesus giving his life for us on the Cross so that our sins can be forgiven so\nwe can share in the Resurrection. We\noffer the funeral Mass for our loved one to be welcomed into Heaven. We are praying for their time in Purgatory to\nbe swift. This follows our Catholic custom\nof offering Mass intentions. The Mass\nintention at a funeral is for our loved one whose funeral we celebrate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A funeral Mass includes specific\nprayers written for funerals. It also\nincludes readings from the Bible<\/em><\/strong>. \nI emphasis \u201cfrom the Bible\u201d because we use Bible passages that help us\nfind hope in Jesus\u2019 promise of Resurrection for all who believe in him \u201cas\nthe way and the life and the truth<\/em>.\u201d \nSometimes families want to use a poem instead of Bible readings. Poems can help console us. They can be shared on prayer cards, at the\nfuneral home, and\/or reception but in Church we use Bible readings to focus on the\nhope our faith offers us during our \u201ctime to mourn<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The homily should focus on our\nfaith but to do so in a way that also reminds us of our deceased loved one as\nour loved one and a child of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the same reason as for\nBible readings at a funeral Mass, we sing Catholic hymns at a funeral\nMass. There are some very good secular\nsongs out there that might help console us in our grief. Yet, they are not written for a funeral\nMass. Often, they do not speak of\nfaith. They do not speak of the hope\nthat we have in Jesus. That doesn\u2019t mean\nthey are bad songs. They just aren\u2019t written\nfor the setting we have at a funeral Mass where we focus on Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion\nand Resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, a few words about \u201cWords\nof Remembrance\u201d, often referred to as a \u201ceulogy.\u201d I have some people who try to tell the whole<\/em><\/strong>\nlife story of their deceased loved one. \nThat is not the intent in church for \u201cWords of Remembrance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWords of Remembrance\u201d highlight\nkey aspects of a person\u2019s life. They may\nshare a short story from the person\u2019s life that can be understand by all. Think about who is normally at a funeral\nMass. There are two categories of people\nthere. The first is family or friends\nwho already know the person, so they don\u2019t need to hear the whole <\/em><\/strong>story\nbecause they already know it. The\nsecond category is people who don\u2019t know the deceased but come to offer comfort\nand support for the family. They may enjoy\nhearing a short story about the person that they can relate to but aren\u2019t\nlooking for the whole <\/em><\/strong>story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like people to share\nmore of the story or to allow people to offer spontaneous thoughts about the\ndeceased, the reception can be a wonderful place to do this depending on the\nsetting. I have seen it done at a couple\nof funeral receptions where it was wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, in one sentence, the funeral\nMass is offered for the soul of the deceased and to remind us of the hope we\nhave in eternal life through Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion and Resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While I have written in the past about funerals, as customs seem to be changing regarding funerals, I would like to offer some understanding of what funerals are about and how we do them in our Catholic faith. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, \u201cThere is an appointed time for everything\u2026a time to be born and a …<\/p>\n