Tragedy hits close to home.....

For those in the Kansas City area you may or may not have heard of the death of the young woman on Friday on I-435, This young woman was a killed in her pickup truck Friday when she veered off the road and hit a pole, upon impact the truck burst into flames and despite good intended pedestrians efforts to extinguish the flames there was nothing they could do.

Cecile Hernandez, 21 died yesterday from the fire that consumed her truck, the exact cause of her accident is still unknown, Cecile was my sisters best friend, she would come over to our home often, while my interaction with her was mostly kept to a friendly "Hello!", her untimely death was very hard on her family, add to that the questions that are left, as state troopers are desperate for clues as to what actually went on.



From the Introit to the Requiem Mass:

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Ierusalem. Exaudi orationem meam; ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

(“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn becometh thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee a vow shall be repaid in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer; unto thee all flesh shall come. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”)

Please keep Cecile and her family in your prayers.

The Mass of Christian Burial:
Wednesday July 18th, 10:00 a.m.
Prince Of Peace Catholic Church
Olathe KS

Requiem Mass...what is good for the soul?

On reflection of my grandmother this evening, I was focusing in on her Funeral Mass, a few things bothered me and I'm not just trying to be picky here

• Minimal Holy Water
• For some reason I was expecting holy water to be sprinkled on everyone during the procession and after... maybe I was fabricating this one in my head, My later talks with a different priest said this was not common practice....but I just expected more
  
• Sloppy Accord
• The Priest started mass with the sign of the cross in the back of the church with the body in the back, after the procession in, he started to say the sign of the cross again but halted to an "Let us Pray"
• Priest tried to do some eulogizing at mass in a round about way but not proper for a Catholic Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
• Rushed a Burial Site
• The burial site ritual, was lacking. Father seemed to be in a hurry to eat back at the church hall.

Since I have been attending Tridentine Mass I was curious what was the Requieum Mass and what could have been?

Requiem Mass

Some Key note differences-

• The Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a wholly different ritual form and texts.
• Its theme is a prayer for the salvation of the souls of the departed, and it is used both at services immediately preceding a burial, and on occasions of more general remembrance.
• This use of the word requiem comes from the opening words of the introit: Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. (Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.)
  
• The requiem Mass differs from the ordinary Mass in omitting certain joyful passages such as the Gloria, Credo, and Alleluia, and by the addition of the sequence Dies Iræ.
• The Dies irae was rendered optional in the Requiem in 1967 and was omitted from the revised Mass altogether in 1969; at the same time, the Alleluia was added to funerals outside Lent.