Editorial

Some people think of cemeteries as gloomy places. Perhaps that's because they connect cemeteries with the death of family members and friends.

Yes, I admit that there is some sadness connected with cemeteries. However, I like cemeteries. I believe that they can be places of joy, not just sadness.

How can cemeteries be happy places?

Death is not the end. For Catholics, the answer is based on our faith. We believe that death is not the end of life. We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day" (CC 989).

Belief in the resurrection of the dead has been an essential element of the Christian faith from its beginnings. Jesus himself teaches about it during his life on earth. In Mark's Gospel he says that faith in the resurrection rests on faith in God who "is not God of the dead, but of the living."

And Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the life." During his lifetime on earth, Jesus restored some dead people to life, a sign of his own resurrection to come.

The Catechism explains that in death, the soul is separated from the body. The human body decays, but the soul goes to meet God while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body.

Praying for the deceased. Therefore, cemeteries are places where the bodies of our loved ones wait for this final reunion. We hope that their lives on earth were lived well so that they merit a heavenly reward. But if not, we can pray for those in Purgatory.

The Catechism reminds us that "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven" (CC 1030).

We can honor the memory of the dead and offer prayers for them so that they may enter Heaven. Besides prayer, the Church recommends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance be undertaken on behalf of the dead.

Although we can pray for the dead at any time and place, it is appropriate to visit the cemetery where the body rests. I find it comforting to visit the graves of deceased family members and friends. I often feel peace during such visits.

Sense of tradition. Cemeteries also provide our families with a sense of tradition and an understanding of who their ancestors were. My children have always enjoyed visiting cemeteries where their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins are buried. They learn more about their "family tree" than in a book.

Often the inscriptions on the monuments reveal interesting things. My father's tombstone has a Rosary engraved on it, denoting his special devotion to the Rosary (he always carried one in his pocket). Some tombstones have pictures of the deceased.

I remember reading about traditions in some countries where families spend a day at the cemetery and bring along a picnic lunch. That doesn't seem so strange to me now. Perhaps that's a tradition which could be revived in the United States, where so many people seem to be afraid of death and dying.

The month of November is an especially appropriate time to pray for the dead and make a visit to a cemetery. You, too, might find it a happy place.

Mary C. Uhler

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