Why Can’t Catholics Scatter Their Ashes?

when a jew would die the nineveh's ninevites ninevites that's the names then they like would throw them their bodies into the over the wall outside into the into the fields right race please what do they call it wilderness forest not forest hi karumba hi my name is father mike schmitz and this is ascension presents so someone recently asked me this question they said why is it that we as human beings but specifically as catholic christians why do we visit cemeteries like why would you go to someone's grave because they said well they're not really there so why would you go there it's just their body and i thought oh my gosh this is such a great question on so many levels and actually opens up an opportunity to talk about a bunch of different things the first thing is what is a human being and we've talked about this before in on these videos when we talk about theology of the body and one of the the core realities is what a human being is what a human person is is a body and soul composite right a human being is a body soul together a human person is the body and soul united so either they have divine persons like the father son holy spirit that's just just their immaterial spirit essentially you have angelic persons which also don't have bodies but human persons what we are as human beings is our body and our soul together and so in death what is death death is the separation of the body and the soul so a person in death without their body back which will come at the resurrection of the dead they're not fully them quote unquote them there either like if you were to say well their body they're not that's not really them like you're right but their soul just alone their soul is also kind of sort of not quote unquote really them does that make sense because what a human person is is a body and soul together you are your body you are your soul what you are as a human person as a human being is body and soul together so in some ways you could say that their body is just as much them as their soul is now obviously the soul is immaterial and therefore the soul soul is immortal it endures into into infinity whereas the body corrupts and decays but there is a sense in which that body is just as much them as their soul is in a certain sense right so one of the reasons why we would go visit a graveyard go visit someone's grave is because there's this tangible connection to that person this is this is where their body was laid to rest now as catholics we also have these things called the corporal works of mercy so the corporal works of mercy corpus means like you know so corporal comes from corpus corpus refers to the body so in matthew's gospel chapter 25 jesus says things like i was naked and you clothed me i was hungry and you fed me i was thirsty you gave me to drink i was in prison and you visited me i was in hospitals basically there are six of them and then in the middle ages uh the church came up with and said well actually another corporal works of mercy another work of mercy one does to care for someone else's body is the bearing of the dead essentially the church has kind of elevated this corporal worker mercy of burying the dead to that level of caring for someone in fact this isn't a new invention it's not even a new to christianity even in the book of tobit it talks about one of one of tobits himself acts of virtue is burying the dead in fact it would say that when the ninevites he was living in a syria at the time he was exiled right from the northern kingdom of israel when he was outside nineveh the ninevites would take the bodies of the jews and just throw them into a field throw them into the countryside and tobit would go and gather their bodies and lay them to rest he would bury the dead it was this act of virtue in fact topic almost lost his life a couple times because it was so important to him to take care of his his fellow jews those people that who were related to him through the covenant there's a rabbi i heard about or a jewish author who was quoting some rabbis who had said like the rabbis would say that when it comes to those corporal works of mercy not the ones jesus mentions but all the works of mercy that person can do to another person the the mitzvah you got the commandments right um out of all of them bearing the dead is the only one that you can do without anticipating any kind of repayment right you do without anticipating any kind of payback because you're taking care of someone who cannot offer you anything back that's one of the reasons why the church has said this is one of the corporal works of mercy why because mercy what is mercy mercy is the love that uh we need most and we deserve least mercy is the kind of love that we in so many ways do not have the ability to pay back in some ways right so so so the church has seized burying the dead as a corporal work of mercy and so we take care of bodies and we lay them trust in holy ground and that is absolutely central that's one of the reasons why as catholic christians we do not ever ever ever scatter someone's ashes even if someone is cremated we inter those cremains in the earth or in a sacred place you don't put them you know on your on your mantle in a locket and wear it on your neck no we always take the remains of the person whether that's their body or their cremains right so their remains after being cremated and put that in a holy ground sacred ground why because it is a corporal work of mercy because we're honoring the fact that yes human being is a body and soul together death is the separation of body and soul so while their soul god willing is in heaven it doesn't have to be but hopefully they chose heaven their body is taken care of here on earth so you might say okay that's great one of the corporate works of mercies is burying the dead we have funeral directors now we have funeral homes we have other people who take care of that kind of a thing of bearing the dead what do i do how do i how do i exercise that corporal work of mercy well great question cause i'm really glad you asked uh yes we have other people typically now in our 21st century world that we bring the body of our beloved person to them and they take care of the body they make sure the body is prepared for and then buried what we can do for our part is we can visit the graves of those who have gone before us why would you do that like that that question that came to me why would you do that we do it and when we do it we pray for them we do it and when we do it we intercede on their behalf you know second macabre chapter 12 says it is a good and righteous thought to pray for the dead to receive on behalf of the dead and we go to the place where their body is resting one of the things we're doing you're not only memorializing them we're not only remembering them we're not only like honoring them but we're also praying for them and that actually does something we believe that prayer does something and we believe that prayer for the dead based on second maccabee chapter 12 and also other other places in scripture we believe that that actually does something so here's my invitation for all of us the invitation is when someone close to you dies recognize that burying the dead burying them making all the funeral arrangements and making all the arrangements for them to be laid to rest in the ground recognize that that's not just a task you have to do to get to quote unquote get rid of or dispose of their body it is an act of mercy then when it comes to visiting them recognize that every time you pass a cemetery every time you you walk into a cemetery every time you go to the grave of any individual it doesn't matter who they are how long they've been dead you have the opportunity to pray for them last thing here quick um there's a there's a church in rome i mentioned it in a sunday homily a couple weeks ago called the bone church and uh this church is called the bone church because the walls are essentially made of bones the altars are made of bones like every there's entire almost entire skeletons of people in this bone church now you say wait a second i thought you said they had bodies had to be interred had bodies had been taken place okay i'll tell you this if your body is building a church your body's in a sacred place just get that right right now but in this bone church as you walk in above the the entryway to the bone church is this saying written that you get everyone passing underneath this arch can read and it says what you are now we once were what we are now you will be that when you go to that grave you go to that cemetery you can think the exact same thing that that person that body that's laid to rest in the earth could simply say what you are now i once was what i am now you will be it is a good thing it is a good and righteous and holy thing to pray for the dead so pray for the dead and it is powerful to be in their presence in the presence of a body in a cemetery in a grave site and intercede on their behalf anyways that's all i got for you today from all of us here at ascension presents my name is father mike god bless where they are now i won i one day i will be and what they are now shoot ah stop that

Channel: Ascension Presents

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Keywords: ascension, ascension press, ascension presents, fr. Mike, father mike, catholic advice, catholic inspiration, catholic motivation, fr. mike schmitz, fr. Mike schmidt, father mike schmitz, michael schmitz, fr. Mike advice, fr. Mike videos, burying the dead, corporal works of mercy, catholic cremation, can catholics scatter their ashes, catholic teaching on cremation, pray for the dead, visit the dead, visit the cemetary, catholic cemetaries, catholic teaching on death

Id: D2M367Kj-Zg

Length: 9min 27sec (567 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 17 2022