The Ashes of a Thirty Year Old

The Peanut Gallery has weighed in with some useful thoughts and information on the issue of burial vs. cremation and the laws of the Church. I can always rely on our dear readers to fill in the blanks and put in the two cents I need to pay the bill. Here's a lovely anecdote to start us off:

 I once had an interesting discuss about the Church's view of cremation with my youngest son, then 18. In response to his question as to why it was forbidden at on time, I launched into a detailed history of early Roman practices, the various issues since and finally ended up by telling him that it is now permitted with the caveat you mentioned. He thought about all that for a moment and then said: "Dad, that's pretty stupid thinking. I think if God can make everything out of nothing than putting me back together out of ash isn't a problem." It was probably the best reasoning I've heard about the subject.

Which was followed by this very important information that I neglected to mention.

...also, spreading ones ashes anywhere is forbidden too. I, unfortunately, have a sister in law who was cremated and she "remains" a little bit here and a little bit there. ew. 

That is correct! You still have to bury the ashes or put them in a vault. Not to be confused with vaulting them (into space or anywhere else)or wearing them in a locket around your neck. Also, burial at sea is okay, because it is sometimes a necessity. God may well be able to gather your ashes from the four corners of the universe, but please don't make Him have to do that much work.  He would need such a giant dustpan.

Speaking of giant dustpans...we just found ours. It has been lost for almost 2 years. We lost it when we were battling the morning glories that grew all over the front of house and down the neighbor's fence and out over the sidewalk. It was so massive that the neighbors on the other side of the house came and helped and when it was all over, the giant dustpan was gone.  We looked high and low for it and even St. Anthony could not find it. We assumed it had gotten tossed out with the two enormous cans work of clippings. And the, lo and behold! it turned up buried in a closet over this weekend.  We would call it a miracle but it was not instantaneous and unexplained, although we have no explanation.

I digress.

It was Thomas Aquinas, right? And he thought we'd be 33 because Jesus was 33 when he died. You may have something there! As much as I love St. Thomas Aquinas, I am in over my head  trying to slog through his writings.  I  thought it was because that is when you are at your peak  as a human and was more or less correct about that , from a scientific standpoint.  We're living  longer, but it's all downhill from there.   Here is what he actually said: Man will rise again without any defect of human nature, because as God founded human  nature without a defect, even so will He restore it without defect. Now human nature has a  twofold defect. First, because it has not yet attained to its ultimate perfection. Secondly,  because it has already gone back from its ultimate perfection. The first defect is found in  children, the second in the aged: and consequently in each of these human nature will be  brought by the resurrection to the state of its ultimate perfection which is in the youthful  age, at which the movement of growth terminates, and from which the movement of  decrease begins. (Supl Q. 81.1) I think it was actually St. Augustine that mentioned that Jesus' age at the time of His death  would be the perfect age. Whatever. It's kind of useless speculation. Much more interesting is another notion of  St.Thomas Aquinas, that we can finally have a perfect body in Heaven, because when we  are in Heaven we have perfect souls and our  body and souls are going to match. The body  conforms to the soul.  That's a relief, isn't it?  Get that soul in shape! Jack LaLanne can go  sit down. Well, let's remember, the original reason that you weren't allowed to be  cremated was because people WERE running around thumbing their noses at  the Churches teachings. In order to draw a clear line against this heresy, the  Church put a kabosh on cremation, but considering that plenty of saints were  burned to death, I don't think anyone thought you wouldn't be able to get to  heaven if you had been burned to ash.  It was more of a "Let's not encourage  the heretics" type of thing. This is news to me. I must have been absent the day this was covered. Honestly, not that much was covered. I just read a lot.

		on 1/13/13