“a man who had died was being carried out”
At some point in our lives we will all attend a funeral. However, many people do not know there is a specific way a funeral should be done for Catholics. Funerals, while sad because of the loss of the person, is a time for hope and reminder of us all that we too will die; we will face Jesus; and we pray that others will have pity on us and pray for our soul.
What do funeral rites express? “Although celebrated in different rites in keeping with the situations and traditions of various regions, funerals express the paschal character of Christian death in hope of the resurrection. They also manifest the meaning of communion with the departed particularly through prayer for the purification of their souls.”[i]
What are we suppose to do with the body? “The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection. The burial of the dead is corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit.”[ii] Burying the dead is not just physical, but the spiritual. We are called to mourn with those that mourn, we are also called to pray for the dead. Many times in addition to a funeral Mass, we pray a Rosary for the soul, and we may also pray the Office of the Dead, from the Liturgy of the Hours for the soul.
ACIVITY – Office of the Dead
Download the Office of the Dead packet on the packet page. Solemnly pray the Office of the Dead privately or with a group praying for the faithful departed. The Office may be prayed at any time. If praying the Office with a group it would be good to pray for by name any soul that the Office is being offered for, this may be done prior to the Pater Noster (Our Father). You can also use the Office of the Dead as Lectio Divina, praying the Office together in a group and then sharing any word or phrase from scripture that spoke to you.
Can we allow a body to be autopsy? What about organ donations? The Church does permit bodies to be used for autopsies for legal reasons or scientific research. The Church also allows the freedom of organ donations if the person so desires.[iii]
Can a person be cremated? While the Church prefers and stresses that a body be buried wholly intact to show value to the funeral rite, “The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.”[iv] With cremation there are certain rules that must be followed. Please see and discuss Archbishop Michael Sheehan letter on cremation. Download the letter on the packet page.
How are we suppose to do a proper Christian Funeral? First, the funeral should be in the liturgical celebration of the Church. If our whole lives are entered into the body of Christ through the Sacramental life, then so should a funeral be. “The Christian funeral is a liturgical celebration of the Church. The ministry of the Church in this instance aims at expressing efficacious communion with the deceased, at the participation in that communion of the community gathered for the funeral, and at the proclamation of eternal life to the community.”[v]
“The Order of Christian Funerals (Ordo exsequiarum) of the Roman liturgy gives three types of funeral celebrations, corresponding to the three places in which they are conducted (the home, the church, and the cemetery), and according to the importance attached to them by the family, local customs, the culture, and popular piety. This order of celebration is common to all the liturgical traditions and comprises four principal elements.”[vi]
What are the four elements? The greeting of the community, The liturgy of the Word, The Eucharistic Sacrifice, and a farewell.
A greeting of faith to friends and family begins the celebration. They are welcomed with a word of consolation. “The death of a member of the community is an event that should lead beyond the perspectives of ‘this world’ and should draw the faithful into the true perspective of faith in the risen Christ.”[vii]
The liturgy of the Word should be prepared with careful attention because there may be people present that rarely hear the Word of God or attend any liturgy. “The humility in particular must ‘avoid the literary genre of funeral eulogy’ and illumine the mystery of Christian death in the light of the risen Christ.”[viii]
“The Eucharistic Sacrifice. When the celebration takes place in church, the Eucharist is the heart of the Paschal reality of the Christian death. In the Eucharist, the Church expresses her efficacious communion with the departed: offering to the Father in the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of the death and resurrection of Christ, she asks to purify his child of hi sins and their consequences, and to admit him to the Paschal fullness of the table of the Kingdom. It is by the Eucharist thus celebrated that the community of the faithful, especially the family of the deceased, learn to live in communion with the one who ‘has fallen asleep in the Lord,’ by communicating in the Body of Christ of which he is a living member and the, by praying for him and with him.”[ix]
Finally, a farewell to the deceased person is the final praise to God by the Church. “the last farewell by which the Christian community greets one of its members before his body is brought to its tomb.”[x] In the Byzantine Rite, there is an expression by the kiss of farewell. “By this final greeting ‘we sing for his departure from this life and separation from us, but also because there is a communion and a reunion. For even dead, we are not at all separated from one another, because we all run the same course and we will find one another again in the same place. We shall never be separated, for we live for Christ, and now we are united with Christ as we go toward him…we shall all be together in Christ.”[xi]
What music should be played at funerals? The Church teaches that there should be no secular music played during a funeral. While secular music can be important in a person’s life, and can bring about strong feelings, it has no place within the liturgy. “Rather than adopting popular secular songs which are inappropriate to a liturgical setting, we should seek out good liturgical music on a paschal theme which can ‘support, console, and uplift participants and help to create in them a spirit of hope in Christ's victory over death and in the Christian's share in that victory.’”[xii]
ACTIVITY – Lectio Divina (Funeral Mass)
Chant or read and reflect on the antiphons and songs chosen by the Church for a funeral Mass. Using lectio divina reflect on the scripture and then share if you are in a group. Chanting these antiphons for the entrance, offertory, and communion should be the priority because of the solemnity and the text. These are the antiphons in English in the Simple English Propers setting.
http://media.musicasacra.com/books/sep/084_SEP_Funeral-Mass.pdf
[i] Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 355
[ii] CCC 2300
[iii] cf. CCC 2301
[iv] CCC 2301
[v] CCC 1684
[vi] CCC 1686
[vii] CCC 1687
[viii] CCC 1688
[ix] CCC 1689
[x] OCF 10
[xi] St. Simeon of Thessalonica, De ordine sepulturae. 336: PG 155, 684
[xii] Order of Christian Funerals, number 31