Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Two › Section Two › Chapter Four · Article 2 (§§1680–1690)
Paragraphs · 11
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
Christian Funerals
- §1680 — All the sacraments, and principally those of Christian initiation, have as their goal the last Passover of the child of God which, through death, leads him into the life of the Kingdom.vatican.va
I. The Christian's Last Passover
- §1681 — The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope.vatican.va
- §1682 — For the Christian the day of death inaugurates, at the end of his sacramental life, the fulfillment of his new birth begun at Baptism, the definitive "conformity" to "the image of the Son" conferred by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and participation in the…vatican.va
- §1683 — The Church who, as Mother, has borne the Christian sacramentally in her womb during his earthly pilgrimage, accompanies him at his journey's end, in order to surrender him "into the Father's hands."vatican.va
II. The Celebration of Funerals
- §1684 — The Christian funeral confers on the deceased neither a sacrament nor a sacramental since he has "passed" beyond the sacramental economy. It is nonetheless a liturgical celebration of the Church.vatican.va
- §1685 — The different funeral rites express the Paschal character of Christian death and are in keeping with the situations and traditions of each region, even as to the color of the liturgical vestments worn.vatican.va
- §1686 — The Order of Christian Funerals (Ordo exsequiarum) of the Roman liturgy gives three types of funeral celebrations, corresponding to the three places in which they are conducted (the home, the church, and the cemetery), and according to the importance attached to them by the family, local customs, the culture, and popular piety.vatican.va
- §1687 — The greeting of the community. A greeting of faith begins the celebration. Relatives and friends of the deceased are welcomed with a word of "consolation" (in the New Testament sense of the Holy Spirit's power in hope).vatican.va
- §1688 — The liturgy of the Word during funerals demands very careful preparation because the assembly present for the funeral may include some faithful who rarely attend the liturgy, and friends of the deceased who are not Christians.vatican.va
- §1689 — The Eucharistic Sacrifice. When the celebration takes place in church the Eucharist is the heart of the Paschal reality of Christian death. In the Eucharist, the Church expresses her efficacious communion with the departed: offering to the Father in the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of…vatican.va
- §1690 — A farewell to the deceased is his final "commendation to God" by the Church. It is "the last farewell by which the Christian community greets one of its members before his body is brought to its tomb."vatican.va
Scripture cited · 5 verses
1 Corinthians 15:42 · 1 Corinthians 15:43 · 1 Corinthians 15:44 · 2 Corinthians 5:8 · 1 Thessalonians 4:18