Funerals
Part 9 Conclusions
Chapter f91 Conclusions
Conclusions 2006 |
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Conclusions 2006
In the Spring of 2006 eight experienced ministers met over the course of a semester at Saint Meinrad School of Theology to improve their skills in ministry to the sick, dying, and bereaved. At the end of 12:906 Sacraments of Vocation and Healing, we spent some time reflecting on what were the most important things we had learned during the course and the following points were mentioned.
1. God Our our ministry to the sick, the dying, and the bereaved is influenced greatly by what God we believe in: the God of earth, of the God of Jesus Christ. Apparently through the incorporation of Greek philosophy into theology by the scholastic theologians, Aristotle’s God figures prominently in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas and consequently in the decrees of the Council of Trent, the Catechism of Trent, and the Baltimore Catechism. Pope Benedict XIV mentions this same insight in his first encyclical Deus caritas est; he points out that there is an important difference between the God of Aristotle and the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible loves us! Whereas the God of Aristotle does not have love but is solely the object of love. "The divine power that Aristotle at the height of Greek philosophy sought to grasp through reflection, is indeed for every being an object of desire and of love—and as the object of love this divinity moves the world—but in itself it lacks nothing and does not love: it is solely the object of love. The one God in whom Israel believes, on the other hand, loves with a personal love." (Deus caritas est, 9) Once we "get the bible out of the attic" and begin to see the God of Jesus Christ, we find that this God, the God of the Bible, is much closer to us. This God weeps with us. This God suffers our suffering and does not stand apart uncaring. This God "empties himself." The God of the Bible respects the evolving world and is often as helpless as we are in times of crisis; this God understands, even experientially, our helplessness. For example, Benedict XIV, in the paragraph following the above quotation, says that "God's passionate love for his people—for humanity—is at the same time a forgiving love. It is so great that it turns God against himself, his love against his justice." (Deus caritas est, 10) "God turns against himself...." Aristotle would never talk that way!
2. The communal Dimension of Liturgy. In the document Art and Environment #16 published by the United States Bishops, we are reminded that liturgy is a communal, personal act.
A culture which is oriented to efficiency and production has made us insensitive to the symbolic function of person and things. Also, the same cultural emphasis on individuality and competition has made it more difficult for us to appreciate the liturgy as a personal-communal experience. As a consequence, we tend to identify anything private and individual as "personal." But, by inference, anything communal social is considered impersonal. For the sake of good liturgy, this misconception must be changed.
This understanding of liturgy as a communal personal act extend also to funerals and the Anointing of the Sick. The care of the sick, the dead, and the bereaved, is the concern, not merely of the immediate family, but the body of Christ, particularly the parish family. These are parish events, they are times when the whole parish should not only be concerned for the one who is sick , who has died, or those who are bereaved, but also these events should be catechetical and religious moments in their own spiritual journey. These threshold or Liminal moments play a key role in our understanding of our own faith journey and our own transitions into the Trinitarian life. The history of these rituals, mainly: the Anointing of the Sick, Viaticum, the Rite of Christian Funerals, point to the fact that the early church was more pastoral in their approach. Today we have become more dogmatic.
3. Way of Life We often forget that Jesus did not found a religion, there were plenty of religions at the time of Jesus, actually more that enough. Jesus simply revealed to us who the Father is and how we are to live to be taken up into this Trinitarian life. Following Jesus is much more concerned with doing than believing. True, there are things that we must believe but when one examines the bible, we find that Jesus says a lot more about what we are to do (love God, love your neighbor as yourself, I was hungry and you gave me food, what you did to the least of these little ones, unless you become like little children...etc) Try to think of all of the things in the Gospels that Jesus said we would have to believe. Your list will not be very long. It certainly will not fill a 600 page catechism, or a 10 volume Suma, or a 16 Volume Catholic Encyclopedia.
4. The Beauty of the Ritual. At the end of the course one of the general conclusions mentioned frequently was that the new rite are truly beautiful. It is regrettable that they are so seldom used, fully completely and intelligently. It is perhaps similar to what Chesterton said about Christianity. It is not that it has been tried and found wanting. It is that it has not yet been tried.
5. The minister of the sacrament. The minister of the Sacraments for the sick , the dying, and the dead, is the entire parish community. All are called to be ministers in these situations. We are called by our baptism. This is not a ministry that is the exclusive preserve of the clergy alone.
6. The Pascal mystery. When we compare the current Rite of Christian Funerals with that which was employed before the second Vatican Council, one is struck by the emphasis in the current ritual on the resurrection. Not only is this emphasis lacking in the Pre-Vatican Two rituals, it seems as though this is another situation in which the diagram "Facts, Attitudes, Behavior, Group Behavior" is instructional and helpful. Even though we have a new ritual which emphasizes hope and confidence in the pascal victory. This emphasis, this hope is often lacking in the way the ritual is employed today. If the rites were celebrated with this proper emphasis on the pascal mystery and the victory of Christ in his resurrection, what a powerful catechetical tool we would have, to help people embrace their own dying. Their own transition to eternal life.
7. Vigil, Eucharist, Burial: one action. From our experience of funerals in parishes throughout the country, it seems as though some pastors and liturgical planners have not grasped the unity and the progression between the vigil, the funeral mass, and the burial. They form one progressive action. Much in the same way as the Triduum is one progressive action. Each of the pieces is best understood in the context of the whole sequence.
8. Change There are those elements which cannot be changed, and those elements subject to change. When we study the Rites of Anointing the Sick and the Order of Christian Funerals, we are reminded once again of the great variety of sacramental understanding and celebration that has existed in the history of the church. Many of us learned that these things we fixed by Jesus himself and we unchangeable, even by the Church. The study of history, however reveals how many elements of these rituals have evolved and changed in the course of time. Perhaps one of the most important elements that has changed, is the importance of the bible in Catholic Thought. And along with "getting the bible out of the attic" comes the re-asking of the question, who was this Jesus.
9. Our Vocation As we read the Gospels and the call of Jesus Christ, it becomes more and more evident that we are not called to be intellectuals and theologians, be we are called first of all to be disciples, to be pastors. To be those who care for the flock. Go into the whole world, Jesus told the apostles and make disciples of all nations. And on the last day when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats and he turns to the sheep and calls them to everlasting life, it is not because of their grade point average, or their wonderful term papers, or their academic degrees, but rather their pastoral care and their love for the poor (I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink... Matthew 25)
10. Competency The fact that we are primarily "ministers" first, even before we are intellectuals or theologians, does not in any way diminish the need for competency. We must know what we are doing; we must have acquired the necessary knowledge, attitudes, and skills to be an effective minister. And we must be mature, balanced, truly "human" human beings if we are to minister well. In his first encyclical, Deus caritas est, Pope Benedict XIV states:
Individuals who care for those in need must first be professionally competent: they should be properly trained in what to do and how to do it, and committed to continuing care. Yet, while professional competence is a primary, fundamental requirement, it is not of itself sufficient. We are dealing with human beings, and human beings always need something more than technically proper care. They need humanity. They need heartfelt concern. Those who work for the Church's charitable organizations must be distinguished by the fact that they do not merely meet the needs of the moment, but they dedicate themselves to others with heartfelt concern, enabling them to experience the richness of their humanity." (Deus caritas est, 31a)
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