November Message...
This coming weekend, we observe All Saints' and All Souls' Day, wherein we are reminded liturgically of our membership in the Communion of Saints and of our sacred responsibility to pray for the repose of the souls of our deceased brothers and sisters.
The fact that All Souls' Day will be observed at the Sunday liturgy and its vigil this year provides a special opportunity to reflect on our Christian understanding of death and on the reasons for the pastoral practices which the Church employs to observe the passing of its members from death to life.
This Sunday observance of All Souls' Day is also fortuitous because it marks the date established by the bishops of the United States for implementing the indult granted by the Holy See permitting the full celebration of the funeral rites in the presence of the cremated remains of the deceased. Hence, it can be an occasion for offering a catechesis on this new pastoral practice.
Theology of death
To understand this and other pastoral practices of the Church associated with burying the deceased, we must recall the Church's theology of death. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council taught that "the enigma of the human condition has at its most baffling point the confrontation with death."
They point out that "the seed of eternity existing in each one of us reacts against death because that seed is itself not reducible to mere matter....for God has called us and continues to call us to cling with all our being to an everlasting share in the imperishable divine life."
This human longing for union with God finds its fullest expression in our sure hope as Christians that "the Lord Jesus Christ will change our mortal bodies to be like His in glory, for He has risen, the first born from the dead" (Order of Christian Funerals).
Jesus' message
Jesus has told us that He is the resurrection and the life, and that those who believe in him will never die. Furthermore, Jesus was not merely content to proclaim this mystery of death unto life but testified to its efficacy by the example of His own life.
Jesus is the one who brought eternal life into our world by dying on the cross of Calvary; by being Himself entombed for three days; and then by rising gloriously on Easter Sunday, heralding the triumph of life over death.
Our faith as Christians, then, is founded on a paradox: the paradox of death leading to life; the paradox of suffering leading to glory; the paradox of defeat and failure leading to victory.
Death, therefore, in the Christian perspective is not viewed as a misfortune or tragedy but rather as the fulfillment of a life that has been from beginning to end a pilgrim journey to the Father, shared with Jesus and animated by the Spirit; the fulfillment of a life that has been molded, influenced and shaped by our conviction that having imitated Christ in His death, so we shall imitate Him in His resurrection (Rom 6: 3-5).
When death arrives
As Christians, we are very tangibly and vividly confronted by this mystery of life and death when we are faced with the presence of the body of one who has died.
This body brings to mind unequivocally our belief that human bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, destined for future glory at the resurrection of the dead.
Hence, the Church in its burial rites has always shown respect, love and care for the bodies of the deceased because of our belief in their sacredness and ultimate destiny for eternal glory.
Three rites
In honoring and reverencing the deceased, then, the Order of Christian Funerals prescribes three separate and ideally sequential rites to celebrate the journey of the deceased from this life to the next:
1. The principal celebration is the funeral liturgy, which typically is a Mass and which, under ordinary circumstances, should take place in the parish church, amidst the faith community wherein the deceased was washed in Baptism, anointed with the oil of salvation and fed with the bread of life.
I mention this, because of my concern about the growing phenomenon of having the burial rites take place in the funeral parlor, often without a Mass. This trend is fueled in part, I believe, by an exaggerated sense of privacy and individualism that fails to appreciate the membership of the deceased in the Christian community and in part by the decision of family members, who may themselves be unchurched, to shorten the time and rites for mourning the passing of the deceased for reasons of convenience, discomfort with Church ritual or their own denial of the reality of death and human mortality.
2. Two smaller celebrations should also take place. The vigil for the deceased (or wake service) usually occurs in the funeral home and consists of a prayer service with Scripture reading and possibly songs. This vigil service also provides the opportunity for family members and friends to share reflections on the person's life, which is more properly and appropriately done in this context rather than at the Eucharistic liturgy itself.
3. The final celebration is a short committal service at the cemetery, ideally beside the open grave or place of interment.
Saying goodbye
This threefold ritual of vigil, funeral Mass and committal is a fitting way to commemorate the pilgrimage of the deceased Christian, and to enable family members and friends to experience the sense of separation and mourning that must take place before they can reenter their lives, following the death of a loved one.
These Catholic funeral rites, moreover, are designed to highlight several important beliefs and values of our Catholic Christian tradition: the sacredness of all human life; the dignity of the individual person; the resurrection of Jesus and His promise of everlasting life for His followers; the respect to be shown the bodies of the dead; the importance of remembering the dead and praying for them; and the need of the Church to provide a ministry of consolation to those who mourn.
I am especially pleased, therefore, that so many of our parishes have formed bereavement committees to assist family members in preparing for the funeral rites, to be present at the wake, funeral Mass and committal service, and to follow up with visits in the weeks and months after the burial. The establishment of support groups for the bereaving, being conducted throughout the Diocese, is also a most encouraging development.
Cremation
Finally, the new indult, effective on All Souls' Day, permitting the presence of cremated remains at the vigil, funeral Mass and committal service is a pastoral response on the part of the Church to the growing phenomenon of people in our society opting for cremation.
Recent studies report that more than 20 percent of Americans are choosing cremation either for personal, emotional or psychological reasons, or because of hygienic, economic, geographic, ecological or family factors.
From early Christian days, cremation has been viewed as a pagan practice and as a denial of the Doctrine of the Resurrection. That is why, as many can well recall, cremation was expressly forbidden by the Catholic Church until recent years. The 1917 Code of Canon Law, for example, forbade the practice, a prohibition that continued until 1963 when the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) issued an instruction that allowed for cremation in cases of necessity, as long as this method of burial was not chosen as a denial of Christian teaching, especially the resurrection of the dead and immortality of the soul.
Change in rules
However, the 1963 instruction indicated that although cremation is now permitted, the long-standing practice of burying the body of the deceased in the grave or tomb is clearly to be preferred in imitation of the burial of Jesus' body. No allowance was made for any prayer or ritual to be used with the cremated remains.
In other words, all services were to be in the presence of the body of the deceased, with cremation allowed only afterwards. The reasoning was that the funeral rites are intended to honor the body of the deceased.
The new indult makes it clear that when cremation is chosen, "it is greatly to be preferred that the funeral liturgy take place in the presence of the body of the deceased person prior to cremation." But when, for particular reasons, cremation has already occurred, the diocesan bishop may grant permission to allow for the celebration of the vigil, funeral Mass and committal service in the presence of the cremated remains.
Permission needed
It should be underscored, however, that the presence of the cremated remains at the funeral rites is permitted only in cases where special circumstances warrant it and with the permission of the bishop.
If such permission is granted, it is to be carried out in the following manner: The remains of the body are to be placed in a "worthy vessel" and placed in a spot usually occupied by the coffin. Furthermore, whether cremation takes place before or after the funeral service, careful attention must be given to ensure that the cremated remains of the body are buried in a cemetery or entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium.
The instruction clearly states that "the practices of scattering remains on the sea, from the air or on the ground, or keeping cremated remains in the home of a relative or loved one are not the reverent disposition which the Church requires."
Reminder
I hope this weekend's All Souls' observance, coupled as it is with the new permission granted to bishops to allow cremains at the funeral rites under certain circumstances, will serve to remind us that the purpose of our funeral rites is to honor the body of the deceased...to be a source of hope and consolation for surviving relatives and friends...to encourage us to remember to pray for the dead...and to prepare ourselves for our own passage from death unto eternal life.
(Editor's note: More information on the Church's teaching relative to cremation and the funeral rites can be found in "Reflections on the Body, Cremation and Catholic Funeral Rites," published by United States Catholic Conference, and in the October 1997 "Catholic Update," published by St. Anthony's Messenger Press.)