Another Good Funeral
Jesus makes it good
This week I shared the “miracle” of my brother’s funeral in Chapter 4: Portals, which got me to thinking about other good funerals I’ve attended over the years. I thought of my friend Kara’s mom’s funeral. Her mom died of cancer earlier than they’d expected. The funeral was a week before Kara’s wedding. Kara wore a white dress and together with her three brothers told the story of God’s grace and love. I also thought of this other funeral—totally different from Kara’s and Bobby’s but beautiful in its own way.
I wrote about it recently, but never shared the essay. Here it is. Hope it blesses you.
Six years ago I attended the funeral of a friend of a friend. The man who’d died was 34 years old, married with three daughters. He had colon cancer, died quickly–a tragedy if ever there was one (though it did seem cancer helped turn his face toward the Lord at the end–a beautiful grace). The funeral took place at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church; the priest spoke only Spanish.
I speak only elementary Spanish, but I read pretty well, and fortunately the entire service was printed in a program. I still have it.
It began:
Aspersión del agua bendita participamos por primera vez en la resurrección del Señor en nuestro bautismo.
In the sprinkling of the blessed water we participate for the first time in the resurrection of the Lord in our baptism.
En las aguas del bautismo Jason murió con Cristo y con el resucito a nueva vida. Que el participe ahora con Cristo de la gloria eterna.
In the waters of baptism Jason died with Christ and with him resurrected a new life. He participates now with Christ in the eternal glory.
Maybe I should say explicitly that this was both my first all-Spanish funeral and my first Catholic funeral. Perhaps you’ve never been to a Catholic funeral, and so you, like me, are surprised to find holy water on your forehead and every word scripted, intentional and universal, printed in a barely-personalized program. Maybe you’re surprised that the priest is remembering the moment of Jason’s baptism before even acknowledging his death. I was surprised, too. And I had goosebumps.