The death of a loved one, whether it be a family member, a spouse, or a close friend, is always an occasion of grief. Whatever the circumstances, most of us experience a profound sense of irretrievable loss. From our perspective, we have lost someone forever from our lives. We miss their company. Their love. We think about the things we did or didn’t do, we should or shouldn’t have done when they were alive. We mourn their departure and we are pained by our own sense of being dispossessed.

These are all normal and natural emotions for human beings. We are, after all, just specks of dust traveling through space on a twirling rock in a huge universe, our mortal lives are a milli-instant in the vastness of eternity. But what a sad and pointless existence it would be if that were the only reality of being human. Fortunately for us, by the infinite love and grace of God, our Creator, each of us was endowed with an eternal soul, and to each of us has been promised by the witness of Christ, the ultimate reunion of our bodies and souls. Death is nothing more than the temporary departure of our souls from our bodies. When our Lord returns for the final Judgment, our bodies will be resurrected and reunited with our souls. Because of Christ, we conquer death. As awful as we may feel at the moment of a loved one’s death, the loss is temporary.

Death is the natural consequence of humankind’s disobedience to God (Original Sin). The sin of Adam and Eve characterizes each of us at the instant of our birth and through our lives. We suffer in this life and we toil to survive. We experience illness, heartache, unfulfilled desire. This is the human predicament, a predicament we created for ourselves because we are such prideful creatures. Death is the mere culmination of a process most of us came to understand as we grew up: we are mortal. Each of us is going to die. Thank God that is not the end of it.

Because of His love for us, He sent His only son to experience mortality Himself, to pass more than thirty years on Earth as a human being. Jesus was as human as you and I. He suffered exquisite pain and, ultimately, death in our behalf -- to redeem us and make possible for us eternal life.

As you contemplate the meaning and significance of death as a feature of human existence, consider the example of Jesus. Remember the grief of His disciples upon his crucifixion and death. Their sorrow is not unlike the sorrow we feel at the death of someone we love dearly. They loved Him. Recall their astonishment and joy when

our Lord returned after his Resurrection and spent some time among them, so to witness to the promise held out to every Christian -- that though we suffer and die -- we will one day rise from the grave and join Our Lord in Heaven.

The Funeral Rite of the Church is designed for several purposes -- central among them is the message of hope for Christians, who are reborn and made one with Christ through Baptism. The Baptized have been ransomed by the Blood of Jesus and will one day live forever. The Paschal Mystery is a central teaching of our faith. This incomprehensible love for us by God is the source of our hope as Christians. We can sneer at death, because we have triumphed over it.

On the occasion of a Catholic funeral, we gather to say good-bye, to remember he or she who has passed on, to honor them and the contributions of their lives, to pay tribute to them for the part they have played in ours. Together, as a community of fellow Christians, we also come to support each other through this time of sorrow and pain. But overshadowing every other aspects of a Catholic funeral is the bedrock of faith we share, a faith that allows us to live with hope, to accept the passing away of someone we love, and to acknowledge God in thanksgiving for His promise of eternal life.

--Bob McPhail