Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: Italian English Spanish

Question

Hello Father Angelo,

For several reasons related to a sense of gratitude to the Rumanian caregiver who took care of one relative of mine, later deceased, I had the funeral rite celebrated by them (they are Evangelicals). I had the doubt of having somehow made a mistake from a catholic point of view. My relative was catholic like me.

After her death in hospital the deceased was blessed by a catholic friar though.

In any case, during the evangelical celebration there were only chants and sermons, without blessings or even making the sign of cross. I thought Jesus was one. God was one. Anyway, if I was wrong with making this choice, can I somehow later on remedy by having a catholic ceremony celebrated in memory of the deceased or anything else? Do I myself have to confess because of this action?

I thank you in advance for your piece of advice.

My most heartfelt greetings.

Walter

Answer from the priest

Dear Walter,

1. You acted in good faith, yet, you deprived your relative from the most precious good which is the holy service.

As you realized from the participation to their ceremony, they chanted and sermonized. However, Christ’s sacrifice, which is perpetuated on our altars, was missing.

This is the emptiness Catholics feel when they participate to Protestant worship.

“Do this in memory of me” is missing.

And if they repeated Jesus’ words at The Last Supper, they would not consecrate anything, as they lack the apostolic succession which is that unbroken chain allowing our ministers to have those divine powers Jesus gave to the apostles, from whom through the laying on of hands and prayers it reaches to us.

2. Chants performed by Evangelicals are prayers.

However, no prayer is worth as much as Jesus’ sacrifice, because the latter is not human work but a divine one, being Jesus the only God who became man.

Now Jesus’ sacrifice has infinite value.  It is simultaneously the sacrifice of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, atonement and purification, supplication and plea for grace.

For the Dead it is particularly a sacrifice of atonement and purification.

Therefore, by doing what you did, you took away from your relative the biggest good , which you could give her: Jesus’ sacrifice that she probably cared about a lot.

3. Now you can remedy this with the celebration of Masses.

It is true that Jesus’ sacrifice has an infinite value but the benefit we receive is always finite and proportioned to our openness of spirit and our devotion.

For this reason, I was saying, have more Masses, not a single one, be celebrated.

4. For the celebration of the Mass the faithful concur with an offering, which is not the pay you give to the celebrant for the service provided. Instead, it means that we want to unite with Jesus’ sacrifice through a particular sacrifice.

This is the first form of openness of spirit.

Some people give to the priest a more substantial offering and by doing so they intend to unite with Jesus’ sacrifice more closely and strongly.

Poor people give what they can but, although they give less, they do not give it with less credit because the Lord looks at the heart and knows that the sacrifice was greater for these individuals.

5. In addition to this, with the celebration of the funeral liturgy by Evangelicals you deprived your relative of the merit of your Holy Communion. It is indeed true that we can offer the merit of Holy Communion both for the living and the dead.

6. There was no sprinkling of holy water and incense which are also necessary to keep the demons from our dead’s souls away.

7. There was no making the sign of the cross by the faithful either.

In fact, as Saint Thomas says, the sign of cross is the triumphal sign of Christ’s victory against the demons.

8. There was a lack, in particular, of the priest who makes Jesus present during liturgical celebrations. At that moment the priest acts indeed in persona Christi[1], identifying with Christ.

There is magnitude in the person of the priest and you can feel it.

9. In conclusion, if you had taken your relative to the Church that she had always attended and was daughter of, you would have offered these Evangelicals a chance to attend a Holy Mass and feel that very magnitude and power which is missing in their celebrations. Compared to our celebrations, these may have more chants but lack the essential, the most precious, most important and irreplaceable thing: Christ’s sacrifice.

10.  So, summing up, you made lots of mistakes with those obsequies and deprived your relative of lots of benefits.

She must not have been happy about what you did. She would have never requested nor desired it.

11.  Now you can remedy it with a good confession.

After that, you can go on remedying by having holy Masses celebrated and praying for her, specifically the Holy Rosary. It would be good, if it was daily. You would have so many different kinds of graces descended on her and on yourself.

I join my prayer to yours and bless you.

Father Angelo

  Translated by Irene Visciano

[1] English translation: In the person of Christ.