Why are burials important

Burial services tend to be the more traditional choice, and if you or your loved one are more conventional, then this would likely be the choice for you. It is very common for people to consider burial the default method of saying goodbye, and honoring their loved one.

For most people, when they think of a funeral they generally envision a casketed burial service following the ceremony. Permanent Gravesite to Visit. One of the main benefits of choosing burial is that it provides a permanent gravesite or mausoleum that loved ones can visit when needed.

For many people, having an allotted space at a cemetery where they can physically go to visit their loved one helps with their grieving process. Visiting the grave at the cemetery is considered by some to be a sacred event and allows them to feel a connection to their loved one during their visit.

Follows Religious Requirements. Another strong reason why people choose burial over cremation is due to the religious beliefs of their loved one. There are profound religious reasons families choose burial services over any other final care option. For example, the Christian concept of resurrection of the body is deeply held by many and makes burial an act of religious ceremony.

Jewish families and those practicing Islamic traditions also have strong religious and social commitments to burial. Body is More Respected. Some people get uncomfortable when thinking about cremation. Today, belief in resurrection is the cornerstone of our Faith. John The grave, the tomb and death itself no longer signify the end.

They are a transformation into a new beginning. Without the physical reality of a place for earthly remains, we take away the opportunity to focus our attention on the mystery of this good news. Without the cemetery, this truth loses its impact in our lives. You have heard the saying that our bodies are a gift of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Just as the human body ought to be treated with respect and dignity in life, so it is meant to be treated in death. Casketed remains—preferably whole—are present during the vigil and funeral to emphasize the connection between the living and the departed. This would be hard to manage without inviting the congregation to Mass, much less if the ashes of the departed are scattered on a distant mountainside or washing away from a garden and into the gutters of a street.

Some years ago, Bishop James Garland of the Diocese of Marquette MI addressed the issue directly in a widely published pastoral letter. Bishop Garland writes:. Why a Catholic cemetery? We live our lives following Catholic traditions, conducting our lives as Catholic Christians. We come together weekly as a worship community with our families and friends.

We are asked to intern our loved ones within a Catholic cemetery, within the worship community where they have spent their lives. Like no other time before or after the death, the funeral invites us to focus on our past relationship with that one, single person and to share those memories with others. At traditional funerals, the eulogy attempts to highlight the major events in the life of the deceased and the characteristics that he or she most prominently displayed.

This is helpful to mourners, for it tends to prompt more intimate, individualized memories. Later, after the ceremony itself, many mourners will informally share memories of the person who died.

This, too, is meaningful. Moreover, the sharing of memories at the funeral affirms the worth we have placed on the person who died, legitimizing our pain. Often, too, the memories others choose to share with us at the funeral are memories that we have not heard before. Another primary reconciliation need of mourning is the development of a new self-identity. We are all social beings whose lives are given meaning in relation to the lives of those around us. I am not just Alan Wolfelt, but a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend.

When someone close to me dies, my self-identity as defined in those ways changes. The funeral helps us begin this difficult process of developing a new self-identity because it provides a social venue for public acknowledgment of our new roles.

If you are a parent of a child and that child dies, the funeral marks the beginning of your life as a former parent in the physical sense; you will always have that relationship through memory. In addition, having supportive friends and family around us at the time of the funeral helps us realize we literally still exist. When someone loved dies, we naturally question the meaning of life and death.

Why did this person die? Why now? Why this way? Why does it have to hurt so much? What happens after death? To heal in grief, we must explore these types of questions if we are to become reconciled to our grief. This does not mean we must find definitive answers, only that we need the opportunity to think and feel things through.