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For some reason I don't mind doing funerals unless the person was mean and unrepentant.

You are just TOO KIND. If I were in your shoes, it would be the old meanies I'd enjoy sending off.

By the way,,, I 'got' to bury someone once. It was the funeral of a neighbor. Our priest was hospitalized, and we had a very frail, retired priest in to do the funeral Mass. I was the lector for the Mass. When we got to the cemetary, it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing like crazy. The old gentleman tried his best to conduct the final rites, but he was trembling and shaking so badly from the cold he couldn't hold the misal. He finally motioned to me to join him,, then whispered, "you're gonna have to finish this for me".

There really wasn't much to it,,, I just followed along in the book in the Rite of Christian Burial section.

Hehe...I'm sorry IG, that picture just struck me as being funny. Some of the funniest things can happen at funerals. Poor little Father, he must have really been in a bad way. Being a Lector is interesting. I love the Catholic Mass. It's so beautiful. One of my best friends here is the Catholic priest, Father Regis. He's a little old elf and we are both huggers. I always enjoy my time with him as we talk about our respective ministeries.

You know, I did a funeral before I even answered the call to the ministry. It was one of those things that God will put in front of you to test your intentions. Out of the blue, a girl called me one day to say that her husband had been electrocuted on the job and she wanted me to do his memorial service at their farm. He was being cremated. I was scared to death, but how do you say no to a request like that? I just recreated the memorial service we had for my son and the family was very pleased with the results.