Anthropologists and archeologists study burial customs of different peoples with great interest in that they reveal so much about what the culture values in the living as much as the culture’s attitude toward death. In Scriptures and in tradition, Catholic burial customs are not just about how we mourn the loss of those we love, but most importantly, express our faith in God, how we value life and the hope of our ultimate destiny in final union with God. Jesus himself attended funerals and even wept at the grave of Lazarus. How the Gospels relate Jesus’ own death and burial is central to the story that leads up to his resurrection from the grave.
Catholic funeral rites do three things: our prayers, especially offering the Sacrifice of the Mass, assist the dead on their way to heaven; they comfort those who mourn by surrounding them with a faithful community; and they proclaim the hope of resurrection to all who participate. Because Jesus has shown us that the grave is the door to eternal life, we hold burying the dead with the most sacred reverence. The Church teaches us that we must keep our mortal remains intact and placed in a sacred place since all of us await the fullness of the resurrection of the body. This corporal work of mercy is meant to ensure that no soul is left un-mourned, neglected, and not assisted by prayer.
At Mary Immaculate we strive to fulfill our duty to offer to the faithful what is their right as members of the Church: a Mass of Christian Burial with full solemnity and honor. This is just how the Catholic Church handles death. In offering the sacrifice of the Mass for the deceased, the reality that in our lives and in our deaths, we are caught up in the Paschal Mystery. The funeral Mass begins with the sprinkling of the holy water: In the waters of baptism, this soul died with Christ and rose with him to new life. May he/she now share with Christ eternal glory. The Mass then continues to tell the dramatic story through which the Christian becomes more and more united with Christ, especially in the Holy Eucharist, and completed in “a death like his.”
Many people are familiar with how Saint Theresa of Calcutta started a religious order to care for the poorest of the poor. What often isn’t emphasized is how the corporal work of mercy which is bury the dead was the cornerstone of her personal conversion to a new mission in life, away from the classroom, and into the gutters and alleys of the immense city of Calcutta. Many things lad to that conversion, but central was her experience of witnessing the deaths of millions from the Bengal Famine of 1943-44. I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating in this context. She saw thousands of people dying of starvation, left to die alone, left lying out in the open after death, unburied and un-mourned.
Our culture denies death. It is nowhere more evident in the cult of eternal youth, beauty, and strength that has captured our entertainment, the media, and our health care. In the endless pursuit of novelty, the wisdom of our elders is passed over for the latest fad. In our denial of death and refusal to accept the truth of our human condition, we also devalue any life that is weak, vulnerable, and without a voice. The dignity of unborn life is denied or is seen as insignificant when put up against the worldly values of status, honor, economic benefit, and a-responsible individualism.
We have a great task before us, to tell the world the Good News of the Risen Christ, and a funeral is one of the most important means of evangelizing we have. In the coming year, I hope that our Worship and Social Concerns Commissions can evaluate all the services, rituals, and charity we offer “at the hour of our death.” This ministry is ripe for renewal and expansion and offers many opportunities for parishioners to be involved in outreach to those who mourn and above all in praying for the dead. By the funeral customs we dedicate ourselves to, we give witness to the sanctity of all life, commending our dead ultimately to the Author of Life
We are blessed to have a cemetery at Mary Immaculate and a committed cemetery board which ensures that proper honor and respect is given to the deceased. It has been the custom to use Memorial Day, the day where we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in military service, also as a day to remember all the deceased of our parish, and the deceased friends and family who are elsewhere buried. We will gather at 9:00 AM on Monday, May 30 at the cemetery and offer the Mass. After Mass, those who attend may go to the graves of their loved ones and I will do a special prayer and blessing for each. Please know that all parishioners are invited to this celebration, for as in every Mass we offer, we are not just offering it for our own particular intentions, but for the salvation of the world. The Mass is the greatest gift we can offer in love and respect for those who have died. Offering Mass in a cemetery has been common from the very beginning of the Church and very simply and beautifully expresses the hope that is our faith in the power of the resurrection.