Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz
and this is Ascension Presents.
Let's talk about funerals a little bit.
Here's one of the reasons I want to talk about funerals is because
I've been to a number of funerals in my life
and maybe you've been to a lot of funerals in your life as well
and maybe you've been to none or very few.
But the big question that
I would kind of ask and want to answer is
what's the point of a Catholic funeral?
Like "Why do we do it?"
like "What's the goal?"
Because a lot of times we look at it and we say
you know, the funeral is where you get to say goodbye,
it's where you get some closure.
Third reason, we get together to celebrate the life of that person
but those three reasons
To say goodbye, to have closure, to celebrate their life,
they're not the actual reasons why we have a Catholic funeral.
In fact, I don't know if you caught it but
Former Justice Antonin Scalia,
his son, Fr. Paul Scalia is a priest,
Fr. Paul Scalia, and he did the homily at his father's funeral at the basilica
in Washington, D.C.
Started his homily by thanking people and then he said
Basically, I'm going to paraphrase, he said, "We're here today because of a man who was very misunderstood, a man who some people loved and some people hated."
"We have this man that some people thought they knew and some people do not think they knew."
"Some of you are really close to him and you loved him and some of you are not close to him."
And you know, he said, "and this man is of course Jesus Christ."
It was, the audience was kind of like, the congregation was kind of like, "Whoa, what?
"We thought you were talking about your dad."
and he was like "No, no, no, we're here because of Jesus."
That's the number one reason for a Catholic funeral,
is that we're there to worship Jesus.
We're there to worship God.
The whole point of the Catholic funeral is not to canonize the person who died.
You know, a lot of times that's how it goes, right? "They're in heaven now."
We don't know that, we have no idea if they're in heaven now.
Only God can judge. Isn't that interesting? When it comes to like
judging people in a negative way we're like "Hey, don't do that!"
but when it comes to judging people in the positive way, "They're in heaven now," no one says, "Don't do that."
So, the funeral role is not to canonize the person, to say "They're a saint now, they're in heaven now."
It is number one: to worship God.
Number two: is to thank God for his mercy.
that's the...
I mean, it's remarkable
that we get to come into God's presence, that if you're a Catholic Christian
You get to walk into God's presence. You get to actually worship him
that we get to go to confession.
Like, whenever we need our Lord's mercy, he is there with his mercy.
So the second reason for a Catholic funeral is to thank God for his mercy, for his unending mercy,
for the fact that he at least fills us with hope for the future of the person who has died.
So, it's to worship God, to give God thanks,
the third thing is to renew our own faith.
It is one of the lowest moments in our lives.
Maybe even lower than our own death
because we've lost this person that we loved terribly.
And it's in that moment that the Church asks us to renew our faith in the Resurrection.
It's in that moment, the moment of sorrow, the moment of grief,
That the Church says but remember you can renew your own faith in Jesus Christ's triumph over death.
That you can, like Paul, we can say, "Oh death, where is your sting? Where is your victory?"
Christ has conquered death and so when we go to a Catholic funeral, third, we get to renew our own faith
in Jesus Christ and in the Resurrection, his victory.
The fourth reason, for the Catholic funeral is maybe the most important.
We're there to pray for the person. We're there to intercede for the one who's died.
Again, it's one of the things, that kind of stinks about
us kind of defaulting to "They're in a better place now" or "They're in heaven now, they're with God now."
Like, A) again, we don't know that. We don't know that.
But, B) if they're there in heaven with God now, then we're not going to pray for them.
But there is a doctrine called purgatory, that if someone has chosen God,
and yet, they're not prepared to enter into God's presence fully because of
whatever reason (we can talk about that in another video)
that they need to undergo some process of enlargening their heart, of purifying their love, of purifying their life, that God does,
and that we can actually pray and help them.
How many times when you've lost someone that you've loved
you feel absolutely helpless, completely powerless
to do anything. I wish I would've said something before they died, I wish I would've done this for them,
before they died, I wish I would've asked for forgiveness from them
or given them forgiveness before they died. Well, you know what?
If you're Catholic, you can do something for the person who has died, you can pray for them.
And the number one reason that we have Catholic funerals is to offer up the holy sacrifice of the Mass
in petition to intercede on behalf of the person who has died.
And we believe that it actually does something.
That is the number one reason why we have a funeral, not to celebrate their life,
not just to say goodbye, not just for closure ... but to intercede on their behalf,
to pray for the person who has died, because we believe that makes a difference.
These four reasons.
Yes, say goodbye. Yes, to celebrate their life. Yes, to have closure.
But, above everything else, to worship God, to give him thanks, to renew our own faith in his resurrection
and in Jesus Christ.
Fourth,
to pray for the person who has died.
So, if you know someone who has died,
pray for them.
If you know someone who has died that you love, offer up your Holy Communion for them.
If you love someone who has died, ask your priest,
"Hey Father, would you be able to offer up Mass for this person?"
Why not? What's holding you back?
It's a fantastic, it's a perfect way
for any of us
to truly love those who have passed on.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Fr. Mike.
God Bless.
I was really talking fast during that one, wasn't I?
It's a vicious cycle, and then I start talking faster, and it keeps going faster, and faster, and faster,
and it feels like Willy Wonka on that weird ride.