Why Christian Burial
Little is known concerning the burial of the Christian dead during the early centuries of the Church. Since most of the first Christians were Jews, they probably followed many of the traditional Jewish customs. Each of the Gospel writers describes the burial of Christ, whose sacred Body was wrapped in fine
linen together with spices in the customary manner of the Jews. As burial had to be made before nightfall, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were unable to complete the traditional washing and anointing of the Corpse. Thus several of the holy women took note of the location of the sepulcher, and how the
The body was laid and returned to their homes over the Sabbath to prepare more spices and ointments (cf. John 19, 39).
The Gospels also tell us about a few other Jewish customs associated with burial. On one occasion a man named Jarius, a certain ruler of the synagogue, had come to Jesus, beseeching the Master to hurry to the bedside of his dying daughter, so that he might lay His hand upon her and restore her to health. While he was yet speaking, a messenger reported that the child had died. When Jesus came to the house
“He saw a tumult and people weeping and wailing greatly” (Mark 5, 38). Besides the relatives and neighbors of the bereaved family, there were “flute players and the crowd making a din” (Matt. 9, 23.).
Another time our Blessed Lord was approaching the gates of the city of Naim, when
“a dead man was being carried out, the only son his mother; and a large gathering from the town was with her” (Luke 7, 11).
Not unlike their pagan neighbors, the Jews regarded death as a tragic event and expressed their grief in shrieks and wailing. Professional mourners were engaged to sing their plaintive chants, with the weird sounds of musical instruments for accompaniment. The whole community usually joined in the great funeral procession to the place of burial. The rabbis are also assisted at these services, considering such marks of reverence and respect for the dead as a duty superior even to the study of the Law. Whereas the pagans ordinarily buried the bodies of their dead, the constant Jewish tradition demanded burial.
WHY BURIAL?
The first few chapters of the Bible teach us that man was pronounced to live and to serve God and was never intended to die. Death was the threat of punishment pronounced by God to ensure the keeping of His commandment. As soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they heard the fatal consequence of their pride:
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the Earth, out of which thou wast has taken; for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return” (Gen. 3, 19).
Having formed man from the slime of the earth, God now demanded that his lifeless form should again return to its material source. This does not mean that God positively commanded burial in the earth, for every dead body, regardless of how it is treated, and aside from the miraculous intervention of Divine power, will eventually decay and be resolved into the basic elements of matter. Burial in the earth, however, is the most natural and convenient method of disposal, and as such is most in keeping with the implied will of God.
As far as the person who dies is concerned, it matters little what happens to his earthily remains. Our blessed Lord has said:
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do” (Luke 12, 4).
In times of persecution, the bodies of martyred Christians have been subjected to every form of desecration and conception. Lest anyone should worry about receiving such treatment, Our spirit and of supernatural values. The one really important concern of every man is the salvation of his immortal soul, and this is precisely where the trouble with cremation enters the picture.
FINAL RESURRECTION
The Catholic Church has forbidden cremation simply because those who advocate this practice do so out of contempt for the doctrines of Christ, and with the express purpose of destroying belief in these truths. By reducing the corpse to the smallest amount of matter possible, they attempt to frustrate and deny the final resurrection of the body, and to prove that the soul of man is not immortal. In their own bewilderment and despair, the proponents of cremation cannot stand, or even understand the profound hope that inspires the faithful followers of Christ. They are indeed shrewd in their tactics, however, for they realize that the doctrine of the resurrection is the foundation for this Christian trust and confidence.
St. Paul openly admits as much:
“If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die” (I Cor. 15, 32). “If there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ risen; and if Christ has not risen, vain then is our preaching, vain too is your faith.”
“If with this life only in view we have had hope in Christ, we are all men the most to the pitied” (ibid. vs. 13, 19).
DIGNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN BODY
The doctrine of the resurrection is based on the fact that through Grace the Christian shares on the Life of God, and his body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (I cor. 3, 16). “But if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8, 11.). This teaching is not an invention of St. Paul, for at the tomb of Lazarus Our Blessed Lord consoled the two sisters of His friend with these beautiful words: “I am the resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me, even if he die, shall live, and whoever lives and believes in Me, shall never die” (John 11, 25). So, too, He told his disciples after the Last Supper:
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14, 23).
Through the reception of the Sacraments, the body, as well as the soul of the Christian, is anointed with the consecrated oil as a sign and a blessing, that through the proper use of his body during life, he might gain salvation and life everlasting with Jesus Christ in Heaven. Sacraments of confirmation and extreme Unction mark the Christian as the soldier and faithful follower of the Mesias, “the anointed One”. During the ceremonies of ordination, the hands of the Priest, for dispensing His treasures of Grace and mercy. But it is through contact with the sacred Body of Christ in the reception of the Eucharist that the body is specially sanctified and given a pledge of sharing one day in the eternal glory of the blessed soul.
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life everlasting and I will raise him on the last day” (John 6, 55).
BURIAL SERVICES
In her services for the dead, the Catholic Church seeks to give expression to the genuine human grief and sadness that naturally mark such an occasion. Many of her customs have been borrowed from the Jews and the ancients; but as St. Augustine wisely observed, “All these things, care of funeral bestowal in the sepulcher, pomp of obsequies, are more for the comfort of the living that for help to the dead”. Since the earliest days of Christianity, however, the Holy sacrifice of the deceased Christian, and often at his grave, that “he who was united with the faithful on earth, may have fellowship with the choirs of Angels in heaven”
Christian burial ten is an honor a privilege and an obligation. It is an honor which the church bestows upon her faithful children, as benefits their dignity as adopted sons of God and brothers of Christ. It is a privilege ex- tended extended to Catholics at a time when they are particularly in need of the prayers and indulgences embodied in the consoling burial service of the church. It is an obligation also since the church has always insisted that Catholics be brought to the church for the rites of burial, and finally laid to rest in consecrated ground. It is the mark of a Christian to look beyond the grave, taking to heart the consoling words of St.Paul:
“We would not, brethren, have you ignorant concerning those who are asleep, lest you should grieve, even as others who have no hope, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so with him God will bring those who have fallen asleep through Jesus” (I Thess.)
