Reverencing the body

The Executive Office of the President of the United States
 (Wikimedia Commons) 

I was at a funeral in my local parish church earlier in the week.  Funerals are very special moments in the life of any Irish community. This seems to transcend the rural/urban as well as social class divides.  People from all walks of life turn up – family, extended family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues and more besides.  ‘Paying our respects’ are deeply imbedded in Irish culture so much so that if is sometimes said ‘here in Ireland we do death well’. It is true.  The sense of solidarity, companionship and support at times of bereavement are strong. 

In the church and at the end of the funeral mass the priest incenses the body of the deceased before the coffin is carried out from the church.  This is part of the final farewell. Our bodies – which according to scripture are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)  – are honoured with incense as a sign of reverence and respect. 

The whole sacramental life journeyed by a Christian is corporeal from the sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation to the Eucharist - we touch the invisible and inner with the means of visible outward signs of water, bread, wine and oil.  The funeral mass and the procession from there to the place of burial is the final journey.  It is characterised by grief but reassurance in faith that earthly death does not end life but marks a passage into a new mode of existence as we await the fullness of resurrection promised by Christ.  We do well to nourish our bodies, respect our bodies and those of others and offer up our bodies with and through the Lord Jesus in every Eucharist.