Those are some of my favourite words in the entire liturgy, pronounced in the rite of commendation at the end of a funeral Mass. I try to pronounce them slowly and solemnly, with an appropriate sense of finality — “he is now dead”.
I look forward to them because they are utterly honest. No “passing away”, “he is still with us” or “in a better place.” The reality is that the deceased is, according to the lights of this world, dead.
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