Requiem Mass...

The Colorado trip is over, and the return to Washington is getting closer and closer. Today I was the celebrant of a Requiem Mass for a member of the Latin Mass community here in Louisville who just passed away. I always have liked the sequence for the requiem: the "Dies Irae." It, along with the use of the color black for funerals, is often "poo-poo'd" as being too harsh for our modern spiritual sensibilities, but I disagree. I think it touches upon many of the emotions which are too often overlooked or dismissed at death. People are touched by sadness and grief at the death of a loved one. While it would be unrealistic to be too focused on grief and loss, I also think that it would be too unrealistic to do nothing but sing "alleluia's." It seems to me that some balance needs to be struck: maintaining that our faith ultimately gives hope in the face of death, while also admitting to the very real fact that the family of the deceased is experiencing grief. It reinforces as well, in my estimation, the need to pray for the deceased as they face the judgment seat of God. Just my thoughts...

"Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord. May perpetual light shine upon her."