Need hymn suggestions for funeral mass

[Guitar]

You rock, Guitar!

Why, thank you. I will admit that I do, on occasion - but never in church. Glad to be of service! I searched for a hymn for years myself and remember the eureka moment when I finally fell over it.

Pgee, TKOL is fine for communion/thanksgiving (you’ve picked three of my favourites!) and thank you for printing the article - so often the most interesting stories about what people have achieved and seen in their lives only surface at the funeral or the wake, and that’s a shame. You guys got in early!

 

[hermanowicz]

When my father died, everyone, his sisters, my brothers and sisters, his grandchildren - all cried at different times. All of them cried in the funeral home (and some continuously before). Except Uncle Jim and me. Uncle Jim cried when moved during the mass. I still did not cry. Don’t get me wrong. i loved my father very much and i was grieving; i just wasn’t crying. The recessional hymn was one you can have a priest find for you. the words i remember, which just may be the title were:

I go before you always…come, follow me…

Of course, the person they are referring to is Christ. But i was standing right in the middle of the aisle, and my father was going before me out of the church. He was going before me. I cried.

In the long run, it has made a bond between my father and Christ for me. They both went before me, especially at that moment when he left the church in front of me, with me following. That is why it is always a very touching recessional hymn. i don’t know if people see the significance the way i do, or if the significance is supposed to be seen the way i do. i just happened to be standing there watching as my father went before me, just as the words said, “I go before you always.” It was too perfect not to cry."

Now that you know my story, at least for you, you will see the significance, the tie to Christ that i have drawn.

Others will not see this. They will see what is most likely meant by the hymn. Christ is going before us. Come, follow me. It can be looked as person who just died following him, it can be looked at as all following him.

It is a very, very good recessional hymn.
I highly recommend it.
Please look it up and let me know what you think.
You may also give me a knee-jerk response.
Julie

 

[hermanowicz]

I have now read thru your threads and listened to your proposed music. (You accidently put the same link in for communion and meditation). I truly believe you will like my much “lighter” recessional hymn than your very heavy one.

Please do look it up. Any Catholic hymnal has it. if you are as good as i think you are on the internet (I know i couldn’t find those hymns you did, and that is why i am not including a link here), you will find it. If you don’t give me a knee jerk reaction to show some interest, i won’t bother coming home from mass tomorrow (I go every day), with the actual title. But i bet you could get the whole song before i could get the title! It is a light and happier song. You have a really heavy song!!! and it is extremely serious. Please rethink.

Goodness, you may be done looking at this column.

Sincerely,
Julie

 

[benedictgal]

I have now read thru your threads and listened to your proposed music. (You accidently put the same link in for communion and meditation). I truly believe you will like my much “lighter” recessional hymn than your very heavy one.

Please do look it up. Any Catholic hymnal has it. if you are as good as i think you are on the internet (I know i couldn’t find those hymns you did, and that is why i am not including a link here), you will find it. If you don’t give me a knee jerk reaction to show some interest, i won’t bother coming home from mass tomorrow (I go every day), with the actual title. But i bet you could get the whole song before i could get the title! It is a light and happier song. You have a really heavy song!!! and it is extremely serious. Please rethink.

Goodness, you may be done looking at this column.

Sincerely,
Julie

I think you are referecing “Be Not Afraid.” From what you describe that sounds like the song. That song was also suggested to me by the folks in Austin when planning my grandmother’s funeral. I gave the music director a flat out NO. Someone suggested this for my mom’s funeral. I refued.

I can understand your feelings about the song. However, for me, that song does nothing, especially when there are other hymns from the Church’s 2,000+ years of sacred music that can beter convey the message and don’t sound like something from the Carpenters.

When I hear “Be Not Afraid” or “Eagles Wings”, I can’t help but think of that Bobby Goldsborough song, “Honey.” It’s sentimental and sweet, but, the style doesn’t belong in the Mass. Oddly enough, even Meat Loaf’s “I Would Do Anything for Love” sounds better. To this day, I cannot listen to that song without remembering my mother. I was driving home from Austin like a mad woman trying to get to the hospital on the day she died. Every radio station seemed to have been playing that song on auto-play. I must have heard it about 10 times on the road. I missed my mother by 30 minutes, even though I was driving close to 90 miles an hour.

When I hear Attende Domine, which asks the Lord for pardon for our sins, it reminds me that the funeral is not a “celebration” of the person’s life. As much as we love our deceaesd relatives and friends, we are obligated to implore God’s mercy on their souls. In fact, if you study the funeral prayers, most of them are about imploring the mercy of God. Yes, for the faithful, death means being born into eternal life; however, all of us stand need of some purification and intercession for our souls.

To this day, I cannot hear “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” without thinking of my mom’s funeral Mass. That was the entrance hymn at her Mass. Although I am not a huge David Haas fan, “We Have Been Told” was ideal for Communion because it is taken from Jesus’ final discoiurse.

The Salve Regina has taken an entirely different spin for me, ever since I heard it sung at my former pastor’s funeral. In fact, the final hymn for the diocesan Mass for the repose of the soul of Pope John Paul II was the Salve Regina. All of the priests gathered, facing the altar, and sang it. We are asking Mary’s intercession, we who are in this vale of tears, we the children of Eve who are banished. We ask for Mary’s clemency.

That is why I thought it would be a fitting recessional for my grandmother’s funeral, especially since she was so devoted to Mary, and, her name was Mary, too, as was my mother’s.

 

[hermanowicz]

Somebody helped me out. The hymn i am suggesting as the recessional hymn is “Be not Afraid.” I do not believe it is in a minor key, but I do not know for certain. i just know it is a beautiful song, meant to be for recessionals, is a light song, unlike your very heavy one you are still considering - but are not certain of, and i know that the one you are considering will have everyone leaving the church feeling very weighted down, instead of lifted up, as this song can do for them. Please look it up, now that you have the title. Let me know what you think.
Julie

 

[benedictgal]

Somebody helped me out. The hymn i am suggesting as the recessional hymn is “Be not Afraid.” I do not believe it is in a minor key, but I do not know for certain. i just know it is a beautiful song, meant to be for recessionals, is a light song, unlike your very heavy one you are still considering - but are not certain of, and i know that the one you are considering will have everyone leaving the church feeling very weighted down, instead of lifted up, as this song can do for them. Please look it up, now that you have the title. Let me know what you think.
Julie

Actually, the one that you are referencing is the “Be Not Afraid” written by one of the St. Louis Jesuits. Not all Catholic hymnals have this song.

A lot of the hymns suggested do have an uplift, such as “Sing With all the Saints in Glory” (based on Ode to Joy), “Salve Regina”, which is the Hail Holy Queen in Latin, and even “Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today.”

“Attende Domine”, which is “Draw Near Us, O Lord, Graciously Hear Us” is Gregorian and is very beautiful. While it is a Leten hymn, it certainly works very well as an entrance procession for funerals. When Pope John Paul II died, the entrance procession was the Litany of the Saints, in Latin. Mind you, he died at the beginning of the Easter Season. The recessional was solemn, but, very beautiful and very powerful.

I recall a very mournful chant that the Eastern Church prelates and the Orthodox sang front of Pope John Paul’s casket, just before the final commendation. It was solemn and rather etheeal. It was also in Greek.

Solemn music for funerals works in a very powerful way because the music expresses both the grief and the hope for God’s mercy. That is something that very many people tend to forget. The Church has a wonderful treasure trove of sacred music that is most fitting for funerals. The problem is that we’re so used to tripe that we don’t appreciate the solemnity and the beautiy that we already have.

 

[hermanowicz]

Any songs that are in the Catholic hymnal are approved songs by the Roman Catholic Church. Certain ones are special for funerals. “Be not Afraid” happens to be a very good one for recessionals.

You are not Catholic. This is a Catholic Forum, and i will tell you right now, that anyone who tells you that the approved Catholic music sounds like Meatloaf or the Carpenters should never be listened to. They do not agree with the Roman Catholic Church’s choice of music. They have their own ideas of what the church should choose for music, and the church does not agree with them.

That is all i am saying on this matter.

Please make the best decisons that you can. it is a Roman Catholic Mass. Please don’t even listen to anyone who calls the Roman Catholic Hymns anything else but what they are. Or, if you are looking at any other part of the Catholic forum, anyone that deviates from Catholic beliefs. Toss their ideas and move on. They are leading you astray. That is my warning to you on how to choose, who to immediatly cast out of your help system and who to look to for help. In anything related to this forum. The man who quoted me first emailed me the name, thus my response that thanks him for his “help.” I had no idea he was going to defame the Catholic Church in a response.

I have let you know what i think about an idea of a recessional hymn. i don’t know if it is the right one. But the one you have is the wrong one.
Listen to “Be not Afraid.”

It may not fit into the style of the other 3 songs. Or you may like the light ending. But it is a beuatiful humn. Try it.

Sincerely,
Julie Herman

 

[CatholicNerd]

Any songs that are in the Catholic hymnal are approved songs by the Roman Catholic Church. Certain ones are special for funerals. “Be not Afraid” happens to be a very good one for recessionals.

You are not Catholic. This is a Catholic Forum, and i will tell you right now, that anyone who tells you that the approved Catholic music sounds like Meatloaf or the Carpenters should never be listened to. They do not agree with the Roman Catholic Church’s choice of music. They have their own ideas of what the church should choose for music, and the church does not agree with them.

That is all i am saying on this matter.

Please make the best decisons that you can. it is a Roman Catholic Mass. Please don’t even listen to anyone who calls the Roman Catholic Hymns anything else but what they are. Or, if you are looking at any other part of the Catholic forum, anyone that deviates from Catholic beliefs. Toss their ideas and move on. They are leading you astray. That is my warning to you on how to choose, who to immediatly cast out of your help system and who to look to for help. In anything related to this forum. The man who quoted me first emailed me the name, thus my response that thanks him for his “help.” I had no idea he was going to defame the Catholic Church in a response.

I have let you know what i think about an idea of a recessional hymn. i don’t know if it is the right one. But the one you have is the wrong one.
Listen to “Be not Afraid.”

It may not fit into the style of the other 3 songs. Or you may like the light ending. But it is a beuatiful humn. Try it.

Sincerely,
Julie Herman

Dear sister in Christ, I ask you this with sincere respect: Where have you been for the last forty years? :bigyikes: Saying that a particular piece of music is “Catholic” just because it is in a hymnal sold to Catholics is like saying that pre-marital cohabitation and the use of artificial birth control are ok because a particular bishop said so!

To the OP and anyone else: please, please, please review the documents of the Second Vatican Council and of the Pious Holy Fathers of the 20th (and now 21st) century. Rome has spoken, our bishops disobeyed out of ignorance. It is our responsibility as the laity to fall in love with our heritage anew and set things back on the right path. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have both said so!!!

 

[hermanowicz]

This guy isn’t Catholic, and he hasn’t had time to research the music of the centuries of the Catholic Church. i don’t believe his Grandfather, the baseball player would have wanted those titles, either. One must always think of the deceased.

Now, i would like to talk to you for my OWN funeral. That would be a very good conversation. But we are not going to play “Jesus Christ has Ris’n Today.” That is His song. It is sung in the Easter Season. i will never have that played at my funeral because of this. Bad choice altogether.

Write back. i want to talk to you. you wrote a half witted reply that was anti- Catholic that i stomped on pretty heavily on the poor guys page, because he is simply in search of some good songs for his mass. He is ok for the first three, althougth you and i know if he had time and was Catholic, he could have done better. For a non-Catholic, he is doing great. His recessional song is too heavy. OK, Mr. Bad Guy. You stomped all over a beautiful song: give him an uplifting song that is light like his other ones, perhaps a bit on the strong side at first, but happier before the first person leaves the church. Then apologize for stomping on most beautiful “Be not Afraid” song, which will most definitely be MY recessional song, by the way, and stop it with the anti-Catholic comments. You may see where they have gotten you so far. And now i see this letter…

 

[hermanowicz]

Response to Catholic Nerd:

I am 48 years old and live in the midwest, where we have had a few priests go to jail for pedophelia.

Our bishops, as well as our archbishops, and the Cardinals above them have presented no problems. As far as i know, then believe the same way as the Popes have, and that i do. Artificial birth control has ALWAYS been UNACCEPTABLE, everyone in the Midwest knows it, and absolutely everyone, Catholic or not, knows that premarital cohabitation is unacceptable. That doesn’t mean that they don’t do those things. But they are carrying an awfully heavy burden for doing so. So, everyone out here knows the rules. That is where i live. like i said, i am 48. Please give me those first 8 years before i started getting all of the rules down…by the way, where the heck do you live? Sounds like you need some new bishops and you have been shifting the blame for your own faults when you already know exactly what the rules about prenarital cohabitation and artificial birthv control to these guys. i had a priest once who said, “You guys already know what is right and wrong,” and one person said, “For some of these things, it is too late.” Well, now this single person knew all of the rules. the others already knew without being told. The people in the vicintint of the "BAD: bishop knew right from wrong and used the bishop as the means to get whatthey wanted, “wrong.” So, that is hwere you lived, huh? i am sorry you guys resorted to that kind of life, instead of keeping your consciences and iminds and doing what you knew was rignt. If you simply CANNOT do what is right unless you are around perfect priests, bishops, archbishops, and the Cardinals above - all who believe in the Pope, then please, move to Columbus, Ohio. We do know how to blame only ourselves for our wrongs, and we also try to keep our side of the street clean. Meantime, we put a lot of effort in. How do you do. We had more than 59 peopl at daily mass at my church today. Yes, i was there. Many pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I do. And others pray from the Magnificat. We have book clubs, Bible studies run by theologians - we are in constant study. Maybe you would like to visit before you move here?

 

[catharina]

Response to Catholic Nerd:

I am 48 years old and live in the midwest, where we have had a few priests go to jail for pedophelia.

Our bishops, as well as our archbishops, and the Cardinals above them have presented no problems. As far as i know, then believe the same way as the Popes have, and that i do. Artificial birth control has ALWAYS been UNACCEPTABLE, everyone in the Midwest knows it, and absolutely everyone, Catholic or not, knows that premarital cohabitation is unacceptable. That doesn’t mean that they don’t do those things. But they are carrying an awfully heavy burden for doing so. So, everyone out here knows the rules. That is where i live. like i said, i am 48. Please give me those first 8 years before i started getting all of the rules down…by the way, where the heck do you live? Sounds like you need some new bishops and you have been shifting the blame for your own faults when you already know exactly what the rules about prenarital cohabitation and artificial birthv control to these guys. i had a priest once who said, “You guys already know what is right and wrong,” and one person said, “For some of these things, it is too late.” Well, now this single person knew all of the rules. the others already knew without being told. The people in the vicintint of the "BAD: bishop knew right from wrong and used the bishop as the means to get whatthey wanted, “wrong.” So, that is hwere you lived, huh? i am sorry you guys resorted to that kind of life, instead of keeping your consciences and iminds and doing what you knew was rignt. If you simply CANNOT do what is right unless you are around perfect priests, bishops, archbishops, and the Cardinals above - all who believe in the Pope, then please, move to Columbus, Ohio. We do know how to blame only ourselves for our wrongs, and we also try to keep our side of the street clean. Meantime, we put a lot of effort in. How do you do. We had more than 59 peopl at daily mass at my church today. Yes, i was there. Many pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I do. And others pray from the Magnificat. We have book clubs, Bible studies run by theologians - we are in constant study. Maybe you would like to visit before you move here?

Why are you turning this lovely and touching thread into some sort of battlefield? WHY?

This thread: asking for hymn suggestions for deceased 102 yr-old lifelong Catholic.
Please settle down. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

 

[hermanowicz]

To Catholic Nerd:

All Songs in the Catholic Hymnal have to be approved by the Church. Some are kicked out. Each year, there is a short list of a few that the chrurchg no longer wants in the hymnal for some reason, and a few more are added, most likely at the church’s request. Who do you think asks for the songs, pray tell. The church is not accepting a hymnal blindly. i can’t believe you thought that.

I hope i have straightened that small issue out.

i have talked to the school music director this year, and that is how i found this out.

Julie

 

[hermanowicz]

I’M SORRY. A FEW PEOPLE SEEMED TO THINK IT WAS IMPORTANT TO ATTACK ME ABOUT OTHER ISSUES THAT WERE BROUGHT UP IN A WORD OR TWO IN MY EMAILS. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WE WERE STILL ON THIS MAN’S THREAD, AS I SEE ONLY TWO EMAILS AT A TIME, THE ATTACKER, AND DEFENSE.

iT IS A VERY GOOD qUESTION, THOUGH. Why have so many people decided to come and examine me about other issues that have nothing to do with this man’s forum?

All’s i wanted to do, and i did, was suggest a beautiful hymn for a recessional hymn, as he was undecided. it is: “Be no Afraid.” The Church will leave this hymn in their hymnals for many, many years.

I am sorry that i had to immediately dispel the myth that the hymn was anything like meatloaf or the Carpenters, and tell the man that the person that mentioned Catholic hymns to be like anything other than Catholic hymns shouldn’t be listened to.

I stand by that.

To the man who is plannin the funeral: I am certain you see what has transpired, how people have led the column away from your intended desire to come up with hymns, and how i followed them away. I asked a question once, but no one had an answer, This is the first time i am responding to a column. if you look, you will see that i had to press reply on my own response to reply to Catholic Nerd who led me away then asked me why i went away!!! because i didn’t know how to respond to her thread. i saw no reply button.

i am sorry for the trouble in your column. i wonder if you will get any other apologies.

 

[hermanowicz]

Why are you turning this lovely and touching thread into some sort of battlefield? WHY?

This thread: asking for hymn suggestions for deceased 102 yr-old lifelong Catholic.
Please settle down. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

Thank you Catharina, for calming me down. if you read the threads today, starting where Hermanowicz starts, you will understand what happened, and how i got pulled away. i really didn’t think we were still in this man’s column by the last question i was asked. I just responded to the question. That is why you saw the reply you quoted. i’m glad you responded so quickly. Thanks.

 

[catharina]

Thank you Catharina, for calming me down. if you read the threads today, starting where Hermanowicz starts, you will understand what happened, and how i got pulled away. i really didn’t think we were still in this man’s column by the last question i was asked. I just responded to the question. That is why you saw the reply you quoted. i’m glad you responded so quickly. Thanks.

You’re quite welcome.

 

[benedictgal]

First of all, I am Catholic. I have planned several liturgies at both the parochial and the diocesan level. I have also planned the funeral Masses for my mom, my paternal grandmother and my former pastor.

What I think you need to realize is that just because a song is included in a Catholic hymnal, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s got a stamp of approval. OCP, the purveyor of the Glory and Praise Hymnal (where “Be not Afraid” and other SLJ songs are found), has laid a few eggs, especially in its contemporary songbooks by including Protestant Praise and Worship songs (the stuff that Time/Life sells on informercials that is not at all appropriate for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass).

We also don’t pick hymns simply because they “feel good.” The Church does have her standards. Unfortunately, “Be Not Afraid” and the rest of the stuff from the 1970s (written mostly by the St. Louis Jesuits) sounds like something from the Carpenters or Bobby Goldberg (the one who sang “Honey” about a man’s deceaesd wife). It’s that syruppy sappy stuff that really has no substance. That’s why I made the observation that even Meat Loaf’s song sounded better than what came out of that era.

Now, if you were to read what Pope Benedict wrote in Sacramentum Caritatis, to this point. He writes:

Liturgical song

1. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. (126) Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that “the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love” (127). The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. ***Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. ***As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons (129). Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed (130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).

This line is very important and certainly fits a lot of the 1970s era music that OCP continues to push to the parishes. The only reason why the SLJ are still around is because OCP is still around.

There is more to putting a funeral together than just slapping some hymns and leaving it at that. You need to take the liturgical season into account and the readings, as well as the person’s station in life. Certainly, my grandma’s funeral differed from my former pastor’s. And, both of these will differ sharply from a funeral for a bishop or the Pope.

The OP was asking a perfectly legitimate question. We gave him suggestions for which he was grateful. He is trying to understand the Catholic understanding of funeral liturgies. He’s making an honest effort. He should not be disparaged for his attempts.

Something that you also need to realize is that the funeral Mass is not just about the living. It’s not geared towards “lifting us up”. It concerns offering God the Sacrifice of His Son’s Body and Blood for the expiation and repose of the soul of the deceased. There is a degree of solemnity and sobriety to the funeral Mass. This is not a celebration of the life of the deceased, as many Protestant look at their funeral services. Yes, the grieving relatives find comfort, but, the prayers of the Mass are directed for the suffrage of the deceased.

Now, “Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today” is perfectly appropriate for a funeral Mass. Jesus, through His Passion, Death and Resurrection, opened the gates of heaven for us. In fact, I am having this image printed in my cards because I like Fra Angelico’s interpretation. He painted Jesus busting down the door to limbo and he’s freeing Sts. Joseph, John the Baptist, Joachim and Ann, and Elizabeth and the prophets, from limbo. At the bottom, the demons are scurrying.

Free art print of Christ in Limbo by Fra Angelico

Christ in Limbo

www.freeart.com

Now, of course, you can’t use this hymn during the Lenten season because of its penitential nature. When planning a funeral during Lent, things change. The music takes on a more somber note. You don’t have the Alleluia as the Gospel Acclamation and things are much more serious.

 

[aloysiusg]

getting back on track…

pgee, if you are ok with using contemporary fare such as “Be Not Afraid” or “On Eagles Wings”, you might also consider “We Will Rise Again” by David Haas, note - not “We Shall Rise Again”, which is more popular in the contemporary books. It is often cited for funeral masses, has the same eagle-theme as OEW, and if you have someone who can do a high harmony for the 4th verse and refrain, is an absolutely gorgeous piece.

 

[hermanowicz]

Benedictal, I am sorry you felt the need to write your biography to prove you are Catholic. I was speaking to the man who is looking for hymns when i said, “You are not Catholic.” Of course I knew you were Catholic, Benedictal. Please don’t worry.

Is the funeral over? Did the young man get his 4th hymn from us, or did he go away and look elsewhere, i wonder…

 

[CatholicNerd]

Thank you Catharina, for calming me down. if you read the threads today, starting where Hermanowicz starts, you will understand what happened, and how i got pulled away. i really didn’t think we were still in this man’s column by the last question i was asked. I just responded to the question. That is why you saw the reply you quoted. i’m glad you responded so quickly. Thanks.

I was hardly trying to pull the discussion away from its intended purpose. The point I brought up and Benedictgal substantiated is indeed a valid point.

I do confess to crafting my reply in a very uncharitable way, however. Please forgive me.

 

[benedictgal]

Benedictal, I am sorry you felt the need to write your biography to prove you are Catholic. I was speaking to the man who is looking for hymns when i said, “You are not Catholic.” Of course I knew you were Catholic, Benedictal. Please don’t worry.

Is the funeral over? Did the young man get his 4th hymn from us, or did he go away and look elsewhere, i wonder…

Somehow, I think that my references to the Carpenters and Meat Loaf got blended in with the OP. That’s why I figured I needed to explain the reasons behind my commentary.

There are two liturgies that the average Catholic gets to plan in his lifetime. One is the Nuptial and the other is the funeral. Of course, if you wind up not getting married, then you (or your loved ones) plan your funeral.

What I would love to do is to get the funeral directors in my city together and go over some norms. The funeral directors are great at logistics, but, they don’t have the liturgical acumen to assist the family with the religious aspect. Of course, one of our directors is also a permanent deacon, so that helps, some. Now, I realize that the family does have to meet with the priest; however, the funeral directors down here give references for music that may nor may not be suitable for the Mass. One musician likes to play “Heaven Must Have Needed An Angel” for the offertory. My PV glared at him during the Mass and he stopped. He also likes to play a lot of the Glory and Praise stuff. He is one that the funeral home recommends, along with the woman I previously mentioned several posts ago who will not deviate from her standards, no matter how bad the songs are.

The most interesting Mass I’ve ever planned was for the diocesan observance of All Souls Day. It was supposed to be celebrated in the Resurrection Garden. I was cringing because I don’t like outdoor Masses for many reasons. The Lord must have heard me because it rained and rained. We moved the Mass to the mausoleum, which, had a beautiful marble altar. It was certainly a more appropriate venue.

The music was solemn and somber, in keeping with the idea of offering suffrage for the Holy Souls. I served as cantor for the Mass and the music I picked consisted of hymns that I had used for previous funerals (Attende Domine, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence and a What Wondrous Love is This). Aftewards, we went to small reception area for dinner.

The funeral directors said that, often, they don’t get guidance from the Church regarding things like music. Quite a few of the funeral Masses are celebrated without music. The ones that do have music, often have horrible choices in songs. You can only imagine how tiring it must be for the priest to have to hear “Pescador de los Hombres” funeral Mass after funeral Mass.