Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I believe I am one of those rare individuals that really plans ahead, even for death. Some thirty years ago, in my first parish, a young man made me a coffin in his high school carpentry class. Some ladies of the parish were even kind enough to paint it and make a quilt lining for it. On the coffin’s cover is a large anchor painted yellow. The anchor is one of the most ancient of Christian symbols and it can be found in many of the early catacombs in Rome. Although it was used by the ancients as well as a symbol for safety, it has been used by Christians from the beginning as a symbol of hope in future existence. In the Roman catacombs, the anchor is often associated with inscriptions like “pax tecum, pax tibi, in pace”, which express the firm hope of the faithful that their friends have been admitted to heaven. The use of the anchor for such a hope has a solid biblical foundation:

“We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us. This hope is like a firm and steady anchor for our souls...Jesus has gone there ahead of us, and he is our high priest forever.” (Hebrews 6: 19-20)

We can have this sure, solid hope in a future life because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and for the fact that we are part of His body, all of us in the Communion of Saints, the living and the dead. We are first incorporated into Christ’s body at our baptism, but our entire lives are an ongoing deepening of this initial incorporation. We grow more and more into Christ especially through our participation in the Eucharist, where according to St. Augustine “we become what we eat.” Perhaps more than anyone else, St. Augustine grasped the ramifications of making all of creation one in and through Him. All of us are intimately joined to one another through our incorporation into Christ. Augustine’s vision of the afterlife is summarized in a few words that I would love to put on my tombstone: “Erit Unus Christus Amans Seipsum”, “There will be one Christ loving Himself.” The union or communion of all Christians in Christ will be so total and complete that we can speak simply of Christ loving us all in Himself. He brings all of us into the loving embrace of the Trinity through His body, which suffered, died, and rose for our sake.

Because of this oneness of all Christians in Christ, Christians from earliest times have wanted to be buried together in expectation of the resurrection of the dead on the last day. Catholic cemeteries exist because of our belief in the resurrection of the body, in some new shape or form, at the end of time. The Catholic cemetery is sacred not only because of a blessing or consecration, but also by the sacred function it performs on behalf of the entire Christian community: It holds our bodies, once temples of the Holy Spirit, until the Lord comes again in glory. It is sacred, too, because it is a place where prayer and liturgy are celebrated. It serves as a symbol of the extended community of believers, a community unbroken by death. As its core function and purpose, the Catholic cemetery, in union with the whole Church, helps to illuminate the path as we make our pilgrimage from earth to heaven.

I encourage you to come to the cemetery out of love and remembrance and pray for your loved ones who have passed from this life. Join us in the regular liturgical celebrations that we offer in our cemeteries and let us take comfort in the plan of salvation that God-our anchor and our strength- has laid out for us. Let us rely too on the Word of God:

“You have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem and myriad of angels, to the festal gathering and the assembly of the first-born enrolled in heaven, to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, to Jesus, mediator of the New Covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12: 22-24)

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Michael J. Murray
Priest Director