Fr. JC Maximilian

Last week I had a funeral. Nothing unusual about that, we do about 150 funerals a year at this parish (yes, that’s a lot). The funeral sheet I received informed me that the person was being cremated after the funeral Mass, so there would be no committal immediately afterwards. While this is not typical, it is actually the preferred way according to the Church.

As you know, for a long time the Catholic Church held a very dim view on cremation. The reason is that we do not believe that the body is an empty shell that houses the soul/spirit. To believe that leads to the error of dualism, and in the history of the Church we have had a lot of problems with heretics who believed in a dualism of some sort or another. The basis of the Church’s belief is found in the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus was incarnate and that means an awful lot. It means that our bodies are not junk that we can do whatever we want with, and that we will just discard when we are finished with them. As we proclaim in the Creed, we believe that our body and soul will be reunited for all eternity at the end of time (hopefully in Paradise). The body is a sacred thing, especially when it has been baptized.

The instructions in the Order of Christian Funerals makes this clear; “Although cremation is now permitted by the Church, it does not enjoy the same value as burial of the body. The Church clearly prefers and urges that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites, since the presence of the human body better expresses the values which the Church affirms in those rites” (#413). The Code of Canon Law, 1983 goes further by saying that cremation is only permitted when it is not inspired by motives contrary to Christian teaching, namely thinking that the body is unimportant or even bad (canon 1176, s 3).

Many of the priests that I know have mentioned that they wish that the Church had never permitted cremation because many of the Faithful really do not understand the Church’s teaching, and they do not want to take the time to understand. Too often people just want to do what is easiest and fastest. Part of this is due to their grief, undoubtedly, but it is also motivated by less than Christian reasons. In my State there is even a company that describes itself as something like, “Direct Cremation.” They pick up the body, cremate it, and then mail it where ever the family wants. At one parish I was at (as a deacon), we received a package which turned out to be “Fred” (fictitious name to protect the innocent and guilty). The secretary didn’t know what to do with “Fred” so she placed him on the safe until the day of his funeral, and Father had to carry “Fred” over to the church himself. Clearly “Fred’s” body was not treated with the dignity and respect that the Church wants (the priest was quite upset when he found out what it was he had to carry over to the church because he thought it was disrespectful). I had the experience of being asked if it was OK to bury the remains (cremains they often call them) at sea. I did the research as to the proper means for doing this in a dignified manner (they cannot be scattered, but must be dropped as a whole) as quickly as possible, and got back to the family within 2 hours of their request, only to be told, “that’s OK, we just rented a boat and threw them into the ocean). Again quoting from the Order of Christian Funerals, “The cremated remains of a body should be treated with the same respect given to the human body from which they come…. The cremated remains should be buried in a grave or entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium. The practice of scattering cremated remains on the sea, from the air, or on the ground, or keeping cremated remains in the home of a relative or friend of the deceased are not the reverent disposition that the Church requires” (#417).

Even after the Church permitted cremation, it was more than a decade later before they allowed diocesan bishops to give permission to have the cremated remains in the church for the funeral Mass or service. Clearly the preference of the Church is to have the body in the church, and then to bury or entomb the body. Next in preference is to have the body in the church, then cremate it, and finally bury or entomb the cremated remains. It is the last choice, while permitted it is CLEARLY NOT preferred, to cremate the body, then bring the remains to the church for the liturgy, and finally have the remains buried or entombed. For some reason, when the body is going to be cremated, 90% of the times (or more) the least preferred option is chosen.

Getting back to the funeral last week, the family had chosen the preferred option for when the body is going to be cremated. They brought the woman’s body to the church for the funeral Mass, and after cremation, they were having her remains buried at a veterans cemetery in a different county, but they had arranged for a priest or deacon from there to do the committal a few days after the funeral Mass, after the cremation was finished. The unusual thing was they wanted me to go to the crematory. The part that irked me was, that despite knowing this for a couple of days, no one from the funeral home or from our office told me. I do not like having things sprung on me at the last minute; especially if it has anything to do with the liturgy of the Church. I do not believe we should be “creative” with the Church’s liturgy; it is a gift that Holy Mother Church gives us. However, with notice, I guess I could have come up with some prayers to say, but at the last minute I had nothing, so I told the funeral director to inform the body that I would say all the prayers at the church during the Mass, and that the other priest/deacon would say the prayers of committal. That there were no prayers to be said at the crematory. Again, I think that if the family were told this when they made their request a few days early, they would have accepted it more.

But it got me thinking, what could I say at the crematory? Now, if you know me you know that I can have a very sarcastic sense of humor. I work very hard to suppress it, and I most certainly do NOT think of it as virtuous. Yet it can be funny at times. Of course I did NOT say this to the family or even the funeral director, but later, that sarcastic jokester in me started to think of a prayer for before cremation, “Heavenly Father, we pray for our brother/sister, N. We pray that the flames that s/he are about to be cast into are the only flames that N. will encounter, and that N. will not encounter the eternal flames of Hell….” I’m guessing that the family would not care for such a prayer.

One of my priest friends, with whom I shared this terrible, sarcastic prayer, laughed, and suggested that I compose a Rite Prior to Cremation. Any suggestions?

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[Drawing by Fr. Robert Staes, O.P.  You can view more of his drawings at http://www.domcentral.org/LIBRARY/BobStaes/default.htm]

The deacons are preaching this weekend, but here is a quick little Corpus Christi story. When the Pope was planning to extend the celebration of Corpus Christi to the whole Universal Church, he asked the two leading theologians of the time, St. Thomas Aquinas, OP and St. Bonaventure, OFM (in the drawing above), to each compose the proper prayers for the Mass for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.  Both St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure were professors at the University of Paris at the time.  When both had completed their Masses for this Solemnity, they went to see the Pope.  In the presence of the Pope the lot fell to St. Thomas to read his Mass first.  When he was finished, St. Bonaventure allegedly  stood up and threw what he had written into the fireplace, say that nothing could top what St. Thomas had written.  Hence the prayers at this Mass were originally written by St. Thomas Aquinas (though through “translation” through the years they do not preserve the beauty of his original Latin prayers).

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I would not expect many people to know who the person in the picture above is. If I was just shown a photo of him, I would not know who he was either. He is Dr. Francis Beckwith. Now some are asking, “Who is Dr. Francis Beckwith?”

About a month ago there was some, actually a lot, of gasping and shock in the Evangelical community. Dr. Francis Beckwith, the President of the Evangelical Theological Society, announced that he was swimming across the Tiber, and returning to the Roman Catholic Church of his youth. His wife is also preparing to become a Catholic. This was so shocking for many of our Evangelical Protestant brothers and sisters, because Francis Beckwith is one of the finest philosophers in the U.S. He has published extensively, particularly in the area of Pro-Life ethics, but also providing a philosophical defense for the Constitutionality of teaching Intelligent Design theory in schools, as an alternative to Darwinian evolutionary theory.

I am sure that you can find several good articles about his “reversion” to the Catholic Faith — there is a good interview with him in the June 3, 2007 issue of National Catholic Register — but there is one thing, from that “good NCR” interview that I would like to comment on. In discussing why he originally drifted away from the Catholic Church in his teens and early 20s, Dr. Beckwith says:

For someone like me, who was interested in both the spiritual and intellectual grounding of the Christian faith, I didn’t need the “folk Mass” with cute nuns and hip priests playing “Kumbaya” with guitars, tambourines and harmonicas. And it was all badly done.

After all, we listened to the Byrds, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and we knew the Church just couldn’t compete with them.

But that’s what the Church offered to the young people of my day: lousy pop music and a gutted Mass. If they were trying to make Catholicism unattractive to young and inquisitive Catholics, they were succeeding.

What I needed, and what many of us desired, were intelligent and winsome ambassadors for Christ who knew the intellectual basis for the Catholic faith, respected and understood the solemnity and theological truths behind the liturgy, and could explain the renewal movements in light of these (National Catholic Register, “In Person: He Could No Longer Explain Why He Wasn’t Catholic” June 3, 2007, p. 10).

AMEN!!! I have been saying pretty much the same thing for years. Too many, in a misguided attempt to attract young people to the Church think we have to copy the dominant youth culture. We have gone from “folk Masses” to “Rock n Roll Masses”, homilies have too often been turned into “father’s weekly stand-up routine”, and the liturgy has become focused on us, on the horizontal level. And the thing is we do contemporary music poorly most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Contemporary Christian Music. I listen to Jeremy Camp, MercyMe, Switchfoot, Tree63, and Casting Crowns. But their music really is not appropriate for the liturgy.

The Mass is suppose to be our entering into the God’s work of salvation. The focus is suppose to be on God, and not on entertaining the congregation. Besides beauty is something all people can appreciate. Whether it is in music, art, architecture, or intelligent speech, people respond to the Good, the Beautiful, the True, and the One. If we make the Mass just like any other bit of entertainment and the Church just like any other social group, we will continue to lose so many people. Today less than 25% of American Catholics go to Mass every week, and we are not as bad as Europe. Yet when the Mass was more noble, more sacred, and not trying to be “popular” well over 75% of American Catholics went to Mass every week. People ARE too busy today for more of the same. But they will respond to the sacred, they will respond to the deepest desire of their hearts — God.

Hopefully we will learn from our past. Instead of lowering the bar we will keep it high, and focus more on helping people rise up to it.

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Jesus, as the Divine Logos (“Word”), is eternal. He always was, is, and always will be. However, as the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel makes clear, “The Word (in the Greek, Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us.” In other words, the Eternal Son entered into time, into history, by becoming the Incarnate Word. Since Jesus lived in a particular period of history, and in a particular culture, He used the language, expressions, and images of that culture at that time in history. While the words of Scripture are truly Living words which continue to have meaning and value for us today (they are eternal), the manner of their expression can be difficult to understand and fully appreciate at times because they are “dated.” For example, what is a “denarius”? We do not use that term today, in English (it was equal to one day’s pay). To fully appreciate the Eternal Word being expressed in Scripture we often need to have it brought into terms that we understand today. This is why in the seminary, more than any other single subject, the Scriptures are studied. It is the purpose of the homily to explain the Living Word of Scripture.

The GIRM #65 states, “The homily is part of the Liturgy and is strongly recommended, for it is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life.” For this reason, the homily really should never be omitted on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and it is highly recommended even at daily Mass, particularly in the seasons of Advent and Lent. The homily should be an explanation of some aspect of the Scripture readings for that Mass or some other text from the Mass (e.g., explaining the Eucharistic Prayer, talking about the Solemnity, feast, or saint of the day). The homilist is suppose to take into account “both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners” (GIRM #65). One thing this suggests is that as a priest gets to know his congregation better, his homily should start to be geared toward their own manner of expression, images, and even challenge the particular congregation in the areas of the Christian life they need to work on to a greater extent. The homily may only be given by an ordained minister.

Sometimes you might hear someone make a distinction between a homily and a sermon. Some people might say that a sermon is done at a setting other than Mass, or more instructional and old-fashioned, whereas a homily is done at Mass and focuses on the Scriptures. As one author put it, “the idea that there is a subtle difference in content is moonshine….” (Randolph, Know Him in the Breaking of the Bread, p. 80). Basically the difference is one of languages; in Greek the word homilia means sermon or “homily,” whereas in Latin the word is sermo. For some reason, after Vatican Council II, the Greek terms became more in fashion instead of the Latin (as a side note: Vatican Council II did not “forbid” the use of Latin and mandate the use of the vernacular. While the Council did suggest that the use of the vernacular be expanded, it explicitly stated that the Latin language was to be maintained in the Liturgy, especially the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, to facilitate the celebration of Mass when the Faithful from different countries and/or language groups are present. So, how’s your Latin?).

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The committee of liturgists that were charged with revising the Mass in the late 1960s, originally proposed that there would be several Responsorial Psalms during the Mass, including one just prior to the proclamation of the Gospel. However, the group of bishops responsible for overseeing this committee rejected this idea. All that remains is the Gospel Acclamation. For most of the year this consists of the acclamation “Alleluia!” bracketing a verse that tries to draw our attention to the importance of the Gospel reading that will be proclaimed. Since the Gospel Acclamation is meant to be a rather triumphant greeting of the Lord who is about to speak to us in the Gospel, the preference is for this acclamation to be sung. If the Gospel Acclamation is not sung it may be omitted (GIRM #63, only at Mass when there is only one reading before the Gospel, therefore it is never just recited at a Sunday Mass); if it is recited it should be spoken with vigor. Because the word “Alleluia!” is a sort of joyful shout, it is considered inappropriate during the Lenten season, and is replaced by another phrase. Of course, for the Proclamation of the Gospel all the people stand.

The Gospels are the story about what Jesus said and did. While there is certainly a biographical character to the Gospels, they are more “portraits” of the life of Jesus rather than “pictures.” One characteristic of the Gospels, which makes them often more easy to understand, is that can be broken into short sections which can be understood on their own. We call these sections “pericopes.” For any one Sunday, a complete story or section of teaching from the Gospel is read. Often one Sunday’s Gospel reading immediately follows the previous week’s Gospel reading.

There are several actions that the priest or deacon does in the act of Proclaiming the Gospel. If a deacon is assisting at the Mass, he should be given the preference in proclaiming the Gospel. During the Gospel Acclamation, the deacon stands before the presiding priest and says, “Father, give me your blessing,” to which the priest responds, “The Lord be in your heart and on your lips that you may worthily proclaim his gospel. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.” If there is no deacon assisting at the Mass, the priest bows before the Altar and inaudibly says, “Almighty God, cleanse my heart and lips that I may worthily proclaim your gospel.” After greeting the People with “The Lord be with your,” and receiving their “And also with you,” the deacon or priest proclaims, “A reading from the holy gospel according to (N).” He then makes the sign of the cross on the book, and then on his forehead, lips and breast. Strictly speaking, the congregation is not asked to mimic this action, although it seems to have become customary in most places. After proclaiming the Gospel, as the congregation responds, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ,” the deacon or priest kisses the book and says inaudibly, “May the words of the gospel wipe away our sins.” If the Bishop is presiding at the Mass, the deacon or priest does not kiss the book, but rather brings the Book of the Gospel to the Bishop, as the Apostle and Guardian of the Gospel for the diocese, to kiss; all should remain standing until the Bishop kisses the Book of the Gospel, before sitting for the homily.

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