From Death to New Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

"There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to love..."

Music Suggestions

Amazing Grace
Ave Maria
Be Not Afraid
Blest Are They
Gift of Finest Wheat
Here I Am, Lord
Hosea
How Great Thou Art
I Am the Bread of Life
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Let There Be Peace on Earth
Loving and Forgiving
Prayer of St. Francis
Song of Farewell
You Are Mine

Funeral Ministry

Several parishioners are a part of St. Cecelia's bereavement group:

Altar Servers
Choir
Lectors

Funeral Arrangements

You have loved others, comforted them and shared their losses. During the time ahead it will be your turn, your time to be loved, to be comforted and to let others share your grief. Perhaps you are entering into the process of making arrangements for your own Funeral.

Several local Funeral Home representatives are available to help you through the necessary planning and preparation. Many of them have placed an advertisement on the back of St. Cecelia's weekly parish bulletin. For more information, please pick up a bulletin at the entrances of the church.

The Vigil Service

The primary purpose of wakes or calling hours is to make it possible for others to share your sorrow, to lend you support, and to pray for your departed loved one. The words and embraces of friends and relatives, their prayers, their phone calls, written notes and e-mails, their silent presence at the family residence or in the funeral home will raise you from the depths and help you carry on.

The Funeral Mass

The Funeral Mass especially expresses our faith in Jesus' victory over death and our personal share in that resurrection. It does so through prayers and blessings, through songs and readings, through ceremonies and symbols.

Having funeral rites in the presence of the body of the deceased is still the expressed ideal of the Church; however, bringing the cremated remains to the Mass is also acceptable. A table is available near the Sanctuary.

The family, relatives and friends of the deceased person should, if possible, at least choose personal Scriptural Readings for the Mass.

Scriptural Readings

A reading from the Old Testament

Wisdom 3:1-6,9 "The souls of the just are in the hands of God..."
Isaiah 25:6a, 7-9 "The Lord God will destroy death for ever..."

A Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 23: "The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want..."
Psalm 27: "The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation..."

A reading from the New Testament

Romans 6:3-4, 8-9 "Let us walk with newness of life..."
Revelation 21:1-5a, 6b-7 "There will be no more death..."