Lifted Up From This Earth
In today’s Gospel (John 12:20-33) we hear Jesus speak about being, “lifted up from this earth,” and that He will draw us to Himself.
Christ subtly reminds us we are not merely just a soul but body and soul. Christ desires not only our soul but that we love Him with our whole being – our body and soul.
Lent lends itself for us to think about the four last things – death, judgement, and heaven or hell. Our society and even our own church culture have seen a resurgence of all sorts of heresy, even if subtle and not intended to be heretical. We have a culture that on one hand denies “life everlasting” and on the other denies the “resurrection of the dead.” I’ll say it again, we are body and soul—a “hylomorphic composite”, to use philosophical jargon.
The Catholic funeral complements this reality. The vigil service, also known as a wake or visitation, is where our funeral liturgy begins. According to the Order of Christian Funerals, at this service, “the Christian community keeps watch with the family in prayer to the God of mercy and finds strength in Christ’s presence.”
Vigil also should make us think about other “vigils” of the church. We often call the Saturday night Mass a “vigil Mass,” though it is technically an “anticipated Mass”. We have a true “vigil Mass” most notably at nightfall before Easter Sunday and on Christmas Eve. These liturgies are distinct from the actual Easter and Christmas “Day of” Masses.
The fact that there is a distinction applies to our funeral rites. The funeral vigil occurs the day before the funeral and provides all the faithful the opportunity to pray and mourn the deceased and to comfort and keep vigil with the family. The vigil should be located at the funeral home and not the Church.
Our struggle to deal with death has led to a growing number of families opting to skip this part. I know when my dad died, I didn’t particularly want to be in a receiving line for hours. Yet doing so was remarkably healthy for me. To see the broader community come to pray and to offer their prayers and support for me and my family was, in hindsight, a gift of our church and tradition.
The funeral mass, sometimes called a requiem mass, is the central part of the funeral liturgy. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and in the funeral mass, we lift-up our prayers to Christ and unite our deceased loved ones to the source of love –God. The tradition of the church is for her clergy to wear black vestments though purple and even white are allowed to be used. Black symbolizes our death and mourning. It reminds us that we are there to pray for the deceased.
There was a man at my dad’s funeral who, trying to be charitable but failing to understand what is true, said to me, “funerals are more for the living than for the dead.” This sounded nice but it was fundamentally wrong. As Catholics, we recognize the funeral indeed is a part of our mourning, but it is most centrally about praying for the soul of the deceased. This is why we do not have celebrations of life, but instead a Mass of Christian Burial to pray for the deceased.
The highest prayer of the Church is the holy sacrifice of the Mass and in a funeral Mass we entrust the soul of the deceased to the merciful love of Christ—something far higher and greater than our human words can do.
Finally, we have the Rite of Committal, also known as the interment or burial. We go from the Church to the gravesite and there we gather to pray for the deceased and to bring a liturgical closure to mourning. From this place we look up at the cross as a sign of our hope for the resurrection of the dead— when Christ will reunite our souls to our bodies in the new heaven and new earth.
You may have noticed this leaves out a place for a public eulogy. Words of remembrance are allowed but focus on the faith life of the individual and thanking people for attending. You may have seen a eulogy allowed at a funeral mass, but it is not proper nor advisable in the rubrics. Let me explain.
In my hometown, after the funeral rites are complete, we come back to the KC Hall from the cemetery and have a luncheon. If the Church were to ever consider a fourth part of the funeral rites, I would hope it would be a funeral luncheon. After burying our loved one, we come back, together with family and friends, to eat and share with one another stories and memories of the deceased. What a great place to have a eulogy! Also, historically the eulogy was done as part of the wake, as it was telling memories to see if the deceased would “wake” before embalming was a reality.
As we near the final part of Lent and look for the Resurrection, please pray for the deceased, perhaps visiting the cemetery to pray. Have masses said for your deceased loved ones. How have you thought about the four last things? Are you preparing for the resurrection of the dead? Have you been to confession in the past month? Have you considered how Christ desires you, not only your soul but your body as well?
In Christ,
Thomas Marten, Seminarian
Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
5200 Glennon Drive
St. Louis, MO 63119