The Mystery of Death and Christian Funerals - #6

There are three interconnected funeral rites: the vigil, the funeral liturgy, and the committal. These correspond to the three principal ritual moments. When the assembled church shares in these three rites, the community correlates the mystery of a Christian's death with the paschal mystery.

The first rite is the Vigil. The vigil may take place in the parish church where the funeral liturgy will be celebrated or in a funeral home. The vigil is somewhat similar to what we've been accustomed to call a wake. A wake is a watch kept over the body of a deceased person prior to her or his burial and is sometimes accompanied by festivity. Everybody's heard jokes and stories about festivities associated with Irish wakes (including the Waking of Ned Devine) on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean! But the focus of a vigil is distinctive.

The Order of Christian Funerals describes a vigil. "# 52. The time immediately following the death is often one of bewilderment and may involve shock or heartrending grief for a family and close friends. The ministry of the Church at this time is one of gently accompanying the mourners in their initial adjustment to the fact of death and to the sorrow this entails. Through a careful use of the rites contained in this section (Vigil and Related Rites and Prayers), the minister helps the mourners to express their sorrow and to find strength and consolation through faith in Christ and his resurrection to eternal life. The members of the Christian community offer support to the mourners, especially by praying that the one they have lost may have eternal life. #53. Ministers should be aware that the experience of death could bring about in the mourners possible needs for reconciliation. With attentiveness to each situation, the minister can help to begin the process of reconciliation. In some cases this process may find expression in the celebration of the sacrament of penance, either before the funeral liturgy or at a later time."

The vigil rite ministers to the family and close friends who feel bewilderment, shock, and heartrending grief. Quietly and unobtrusively priests, deacons, lay ministers, Christian neighbors, and those skilled in bereavement ministry, funeral directors and their personnel gently accompany the mourners. They help families and friends who are beginning to adjust to a harsh and painful fact. Someone beloved has died and there is profound sorrow. We note the following distinctive, though intertwining qualities of wakes and vigils. A wake is a time when people come to pay their respects, to fulfill their duty, to give honor to the deceased, and to communicate condolences to the next of kin. A vigil is a holy time to express profoundly personal sorrow in a public setting. It is a doorway into an unfamiliar, infrequently visited space, a space of loss and immense ache. The presence of other vigil-keepers strengthens those mourning in faith and consoles them in Christ. Fellow Christians offer support in word and gesture, in kiss and presence, and in "praying that the one they have lost may have eternal life." Newspaper announcements need to publicize the name of the church or funeral home where the wake and the vigil will take place, the hours of the wake, and the time when the public vigil prayer will happen