-
-
Bishop Hying: Death from a Catholic Perspective
The Church encourages us to prepare for death, most importantly on the spiritual plane of being ready to meet the Lord with our interior house in order, but also on the practical level of health decisions, an updated will, funeral and burial plans, and the dispersal of possessions.
Continue Reading.
-
-
-
The Christian meaning of death
The New York Times has a series called “Those We’ve Lost” with obituaries of some who have died of COVID, attempting to put faces and names to the increasing numbers of the dead.
With death all around us, it is an opportune time to ground ourselves deeply in the truths of the faith about death, to give us a solid foundation for our own responses to the next tragic report.
Because of the sorrowful death and glorious Resurrection of Our Lord, the Christian tradition is rich in resources reflecting on death.
But these resources are scattered across many centuries and languages, both of which can be barriers to us as Christians today.
-
-
-
Annointing of the Sick
On August 4, 2013, a 19-year-old girl named Katie Lentz got in a serious accident along a Missouri highway.
She was barely clinging to life, and her vital signs were fading when she asked rescue workers to pray with her. Suddenly a priest appeared from nowhere. A rescue worker welcomed him with the words, “Father, we need all the help we can get now!”
Read More
-
-
-
Dr. Patrick Gorman: The Funeral Mass
“Open the gates of paradise to your servant.” — Prayer of Commendation
“O day of wrath! Day of calamity and misery! Day immense and day most bitter!”
Keep Reading Part 1
Read Part 2
-
-
-
Are 'celebrations of life' Catholic?
When Catholics die, we mourn and pray for them in a three-part liturgy. The night before the funeral itself, there is the vigil — at the home, the church, or a funeral home — where friends and family gather to pray for the soul of the deceased.
The next day, there is the Funeral Mass at the church, and following this the committal, when we accompany the body to its final resting place in the cemetery.
Each ceremony has its own prayers said in the presence of the loved one’s body.
A couple of times — for a neighbor and for a cousin — I’ve been invited instead to an event called a “celebration of life.” In both cases, the family insisted, “It’s not a funeral.”
-
-
-
Bishop Morlino: Theological Reflection on Eulogies
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins, so that we may be found worthy of the Eternal Life prepared for us. This is the unwavering doctrine of the Catholic Church, and it only follows that the Funeral Mass, given the circumstances of its celebration, carries with it a uniquely intense focus on the mystery of God´s endless Mercy. ...
Click here to read more [pdf].
-
