Funeral Music

The Role of Music during the Celebration of a Christian Funeral

At a time when emotions are conflicted and tense, Holy Mother Church, in its liturgy documents regarding funerals and the celebration of the Eucharist, highlights the importance of music.

Music is integral to the funeral rites. It allows the community to express convictions and feelings that words alone may fail to convey. It has the power to console and uplift the mourneys and to strengthen the unity of the assembly in faith and love. The texts of the songs chosen for a particular celebration should express the paschal mystery of the Lord’s suffering, death and triumph over death and should be related to the readings from Scripture. (Order of Christian Funerals, ¶ 30).

Because when “one member suffers in the body of Christ which is the Church, all the members suffer with that member (I Corinthians 12:26), music allows the community – family, friends, neighbors, parishioners – to come together, express a sense of loss, but more importantly, a sense of faith and hope in the Resurrection.