Flowers on altar during lent

[Gorgias]

Ah but Christ wept when Lazarus died.

And that’s relevant because…?

Yeah, He showed grief. What He didn’t do was go against Jewish burial customs when He arrived.

He was not near as harsh as some people want to be when dealing with the bereaved.

I would think that allowing a person to wallow in grief, rather than point them toward resurrection, is ‘harsh’. To-may-to, to-mah-to.

Mercy. It’s a thing.

You seem to be confusiing ‘empathy’ with ‘mercy’. They’re different things.

 

[casslean]

You seem to be confusiing ‘empathy’ with ‘mercy’. They’re different things.

Actually, no, I don’t think they are. One of the spiritual works of mercy is to comfort the sorrowful. Surely that requires a certain amount of empathy.

 

[GoGoDiego]

But flowers can be put where the coffin will be placed, provided that it won’t be placed in the sanctuary. Same principles go with images of saints for public veneration located outside the sanctuary.

 

[FrDavid96]

You mean European churches decorate with flowers during Lent with no regard for the GIRM and other documents that say not to do so?

I find it pointless to look to Europe practice to interpret liturgical norms. I’ve seen too many examples of outright ignoring norms (even after being corrected by Rome time and time again) by our fellow Catholics on that side of the Atlantic.

 

[FrDavid96]

My mother has recently passed away and the funeral is Friday 16th March. I have been told we cannot put flowers on the alter for the funeral. Is this true or can we get an exemption for this occasion.

The pastor may allow a modest amount of flowers during a funeral Mass, because even though it is inside the season of Lent, it is a ritual Mass, and ritual Masses follow their own norms; in the same way that the priest is not required to wear violet vestments for Lent (he can wear black, for example).

At the same time, he can also choose not to allow them. It’s his choice, either way.

 

[AngelusDomini]

To be honest, in the UK, almost every church I have seen during Lent is devoid of flowers unless it’s a Solemnity. Veiling of images from Passion Sunday/5th Sunday of Lent has been taken up again.

I know we’re viewed as heathens in Europe but that’s a very sweeping statement regarding so many countries.

 

[FrDavid96]

To be honest, in the UK, almost every church I have seen during Lent is devoid of flowers unless it’s a Solemnity. Veiling of images from Passion Sunday/5th Sunday of Lent has been taken up again.

I know we’re viewed as heathens in Europe but that’s a very sweeping statement regarding so many countries.

The point I made was that I do not look to Europe for how to follow norms–instead, I look to the liturgical norms themselves. If someone says “Europeans do it this way” (which is what happened here) I simply move along and continue looking at the Church’s own norms.