The Beauty of a Catholic Funeral

Yesterday I attended a Catholic Funeral for my dear friend of over 50 years.  She died a woman of Faith, in good standing with The Church.  That is saying a lot, considering our past lives and how we once lived.  I got to participate.  All three of her children received The Eucharist.  She was surrounded by people who loved her and forgave her and saw her death as a release from the demons she had battled for so long.  How wonderful that day was for her and for all of us.

I attend a lot of Celebrations of Life, usually for people who are not comfortable with the idea of death or who have a weird theology that states that everyone and everything goes to heaven.  At my age, there is more of a comfort in the celebration provided by The Church.  The idea of hope, of the promise of prayers and the knowledge that heaven is not a given even for those who shout their belief in Jesus all over Social Media.  The fact that I am held to a standard of behavior that is difficult to hold to - especially in this world - but that I am provided the ways and means to do so through Sacramental Grace means a lot more to me now than it did when I was a kid.  

No doubt the fact that I am entering the Winter of my life is why this Way comforts me so much.  I know what I HAVE to do and I understand that I GET to do it, one day at a time and with the support of the Communion of Saints.  My earthly family is now small and scattered.  My heavenly family is always close by - that is a comfort.  

I believe the beauty I got to enter into yesterday is meant to instruct, to comfort and to give hope.  The music, the prayers, the priest lifting Our Lord to the Father in Sacrifice, all this allows me to get as close to heaven as I possibly can on this side of the Veil.  I am so grateful. 

Yes, I will miss Kelly.  I will miss our late night talks and our laughing at our stupid actions as young women and our praying together.  I will miss all that I saw in her that others did not - her beauty even as her body failed her and that smile....and her sense of the absurd.  I will miss her.  

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and may Perpetual Light shine upon her.  May her soul, and the souls of all the dearly departed, through the Mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.