Why be Buried in a Catholic Cemetery │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc
Below is a transcript the the video:
Hello and welcome to funeral facts with Deacon Marc we are going to dive into today the question of why be buried in the Catholic cemetery, in the Catholic Cemetery what are the benefits of it and so that’s what going talk about.
Last week we talked about why being be buried in turn in a cemetery in general now we’re going to talk about the Catholic cemetery and what is the benefit of being in a Catholic cemetery and there are a couple of different benefits to it.
One is the care. The obligation according to Canon law for diocese to take care of their cemeteries and so oftentimes with effective leadership within the diocese as we have here in Denver the Catholic cemeteries are well beyond what you’ll find anywhere else in the local area and so the quality of the beauty that is there is just exceptional we really strive to have beauty because it’s one of those 3 transcendentals truth goodness and beauty and it’s a way to be drawn towards God and the love of God and so that is one piece of it that’s just secure the beauty that you typically find in a Catholic cemetery.
The second piece is tradition. When you go back into the early Christians, not the ones that arrive early to mass on a Sunday, but early Christians went right after Jesus went up ascending to heaven. In those early days of the church they started having martyrs and what they would often do is bury is have a church near where that person was martyred and then cemeteries started being built by those churches.
And so there’s a long tradition in Christianity and Catholicism of having the Catholic Church be the center of cemeteries and where people are laid to rest in this day and age with land the way it is and with the church spread out the way it is in cities the way we have it oftentimes we don’t have church cemeteries although many cases we do, but in most a lot of cases we have like we have here in Denver these larger cemeteries that are run by the Catholic Church and so it’s part of our tradition of bringing that community together.
And then the third piece would be prayer, and being part of a Catholic community even upon passing away we truly know and believe that prayers are prayers for those who’ve passed away make a difference and we’re called to pray for them as one of those spirit spiritual works of mercy is to pray for the dead.
So being buried here at a Catholic cemetery you have people regularly praying for those that are in our care here at the cemetery every First Friday of the month for the last decades of years and we’ve been having the First Friday that’s what we’ve been praying for all those who are in our care we get together regularly as a staff every morning we’re praying for those that are in our care and see how those prayers being said formally but then I can’t tell you how many times I’m walking and driving around the cemetery and see people walking around just saying prayers for all those that they come across as they’re walking through the cemetery.
Actually have one priest great suggestions he said go in any section of the cemetery on like All Souls day and just as you pass each gravesite say a Hail Mary with that person’s name as you walk by them and just pray for them so you’re part of this community.
We often joke we have over 150,000 people here at Mount Olivet it I think we probably have the largest parish in the whole archdiocese if we actually qualified as a parish and so there is this community of a faithful that are here and that we pray for on a daily basis.
So, does it make a difference being buried in a Catholic Cemetery? Absolutely, you’re on consecrated ground you have that prayerful community with you and we really strive to make sure that there is that beauty that it should be there and then it draws us closer to God and so funeral facts with Deacon Marc this Friday; why should we be buried in a Catholic Cemetery? Tradition, beauty, and in the prayers that go along with it.
Have a great week and God bless!
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