For Catholics, the funeral liturgy highlights the sacredness of the body and a belief in the Resurrection.  Holy Week and the subsequent weeks of Easter are like no other time in the Catholic Church.  During these days and weeks, we celebrate the core mysteries of our faith, namely Christ's death and resurrection.  Just as Jesus was raised from the dead on Easter Sunday, Catholics believe all people will be raised on the last day.

When we celebrate a funeral, we remember and commemorate the life of the deceased and their Christian belief that death is not the end.  We also gather as a community of believers to express support, love, and sympathy to the family for their loss.  Most importantly, we pray for the deceased person.  A funeral for a Catholic should be a spiritual treasure of comfort and hope for the deceased and their family members. 

Catholic funerals consist of three parts: a vigil service where family and friends gather in the presence of the body, offering prayers for the deceased and those who mourn the loss of the loved one.  During the vigil, Scripture is shared with their expectation and hope in bodily resurrection.  The second part is the funeral mass where the body of the deceased is brought into the church, the body is blessed with holy water recalling their baptism into Christ Jesus.  A white pall is placed on the casket emphasizing the importance of baptism.  Mass is offered for the deceased and the deceased is joined to Christ in the Eucharistic sacrifice, the central act of Catholic worship.  The third aspect concerns the burial of the deceased.  If the body is buried or interred in a mausoleum, the resting place is blessed by the priest or deacon.  If the family chooses cremation, the remains should be placed in a sacred resting place with the hope and expectation of the bodily resurrection.  In light of this core belief in the resurrection of the body, the Catholic Church reveres her sacred rights of burial with the hope in life to come.

Rev. Curtis Kiddy, pastor of Visitation Catholic Church in Miami Gardens Florida is a guest contributor to this blog.  Rev. Kiddy was ordained in 1992 as a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami.  To learn more about his parish, please visit  http://visitationmiami.parishesonline.com