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I hold in my hand a Memorial Card. It is from the Wake and Funeral of my maternal grandmother who died on August 22, 1964. On the front is a picture of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and on the reverse is her name, the date of her death, and a prayer:
O Gentlest Heart of Jesus ever present in the Blessed Sacrament; ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory; have mercy on the soul of Thy departed servant. Be not severe in Thy judgment but let some drops of Thy Precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames and do Thou, O merciful Saviour, send Thine Angels to conduct Thy departed servant to a place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.
May the souls of all the Faithful Departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
In the other I hold another card. This one is from any number of Wakes I have attended in the last several years. On the front is a photograph of a sunrise (sunset?); on the reverse is the name of the deceased, the date of death, and a poem. I won’t quote the poem at any length, but it is addressed to the mourner from the deceased along the lines of “Do not worry or grieve about me” and so forth.
The first card was totally unexceptionable for its time and the prayer would have been on almost every Catholic’s Memorial Card at the time, only the holy picture varying.
The second card is totally unexceptionable today, with slight variations of the poem and occasionally a holy picture on the front, instead of nature scenes.
The two cards do not represent two different “approaches” to death; I fear they represent two different religions.
The first encapsulates the traditional Catholic doctrines of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharistic Species; the devotion to the suffering and loving Sacred Heart of Jesus; the doctrine of the purifying (and yes painful) process of cleansing a sinful human soul after death in Purgatory; the doctrine of the Communion of Saints in both intercessory prayer from us on earth, and the ministry of the Angels; and a trust in the ultimate victory of the Divine Mercy as well as the Divine Justice. There is a sense of urgency to the prayer and the focus is on Christ and the departed loved one in need of our prayers here and now.
The second is, well, what?
Devoid of any specifically Christian doctrine; it asserts a general reassurance that our loved one is fine; and we need not trouble ourselves too much about him/her. The focus is on us.
I believe this is not a good thing.
Is there any thoughtful person among us who does not sense the draining away of the Catholic Faith not only in the secular world, but even among the Catholic community itself?
Less and less do we see and hear the evidences of those Catholic doctrines I listed above.
To the contrary:
The former silence and reverence that once distinguished Catholic churches is gone, replaced by the chit-chat and noisy conversations appropriate to an auditorium.
The sense of the majesty or transcendence of God is replaced by the omnivorous need to feel “comfortable”.
The sense of that gift of the Holy Spirit once unashamedly called (and literally translated as) the fear of the Lord is replaced by our own touchiness and a critical spirit towards the Church, the liturgy, the preaching, etc.
The once nearly universally memorized (and correct) answers to catechism questions known by almost every Catholic child are replaced by blank stares, fumbling words, and incorrect approximations of simple truths that one nearly universally gets today.
Dear reader, as the saying goes, “when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing is: stop digging!”
We are badly in need of a new “Counter-Reformation”. As the Church responded to the stresses and losses of the Protestant Reformation by purifying her life, and self-confidently expressing her true teaching in the face of error, confusion, and doubt so must it be today.
We have to face facts.
What was so confidently proclaimed as “renewal” has turned out to be a “mixed bag” to say the least. Men and women, clerical, religious, and laity who embraced the “new Church” find themselves in dying congregations, shrinking presbyterates, and amidst children who have abandoned the Faith altogether.
This is not mere nostalgia on my part.
It is an honest truth, as I see it.
The religion represented on my grandmother’s funeral card built this and so many other parishes, schools, and fostered many vocations.
The religion represented by the second has little to show for it, other than that we feel more at ease. And the “we” gets smaller and smaller in size year by year.
I know that many of you, practicing Catholics, have arranged funerals and have chosen memorial cards much like the second I’ve described in good faith. This is not meant as a personal rebuke or criticism; but as a “wake-up call” so to speak.
But, Father, you’re not saying we need to “go back”?
Well, fasten your seat belts.
Yes, we need to at least stop digging ourselves into the hole we’re in.
Yes, when you find you’re driving in the wrong direction, you don’t step on the gas; you stop, and yes, (sorry) turn around and regain the right road!
This is not to say that we can recreate the world of 40 or 50 years ago; or ought to simply reproduce the prayers and faith expression of that era. I used other prayers and quotes from Saints on my own mother’s funeral card.
But we certainly need to stop avoiding Truth.
We need to be consciously Catholic, with a capital “C”.
That prayer on my grandmother’s card expressed the universal practice of the Church in regarding every person who died as a sinner in need of Christ’s Mercy and of the Masses and prayers offered here on earth. Canonizations were reserved to the Pope in Rome, not to every priest at every Funeral Mass. I know priests ( and I must confess, I have felt this temptation as well) who shy away from any phrase even in the texts of the current Liturgy that in any way imply that the deceased “might” have committed sin. We fear the possible disapproval of the families to whom we wish to be “nice”; but leave a sinner unprayed for.
As stark as that prayer might seem today; it left her to God’s mercy; and there’s none better than that!
To be a saint takes more than a heart-attack.
To be redeemed by the demanding, searching, and insatiable love of God takes more than a verbal pat on the shoulder.
We need to recover “our former zeal” as one prayer put it.
It is so easy for you and me to fall lazily into the current of the world of “cheap grace” and “reassuring religion” and ignore hard truths.
I say this not to shame or embarrass you, but to recall you (and me) to the whole truth of Christ.
May all our souls here find “the peace of Christ which passes all understanding” and may all the souls of the Faithful Departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Amen.
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