‘Celebrations of life’ and funeral liturgies which choose ‘My Way’ or ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ are interesting phenomena because they reflect the metaphysical superficiality of this present age and our childish inability to face up to the seriousness of death even when it is staring us in the face. They also represent the perfect paradox of an age built on so many fundamental contradictions. If the life was worth anything, then its end must represent a painful and permanent void for those left behind.

The seriousness of a society’s funeral rites speaks volumes about the seriousness of a society, for the way we treat the dead is really a function of how we value life. That aborted children are disposed of as so much medical garbage is of a piece with society’s denial of their personhood. And that so many funerals are now cast as ‘celebrations of life’ [sic] reflects a childish refusal to acknowledge what we all know to be true: That death is universal, and universally devastating.

I was reminded of this basic truth last Friday when Justice Antonin Scalia’s casket arrived at the Supreme Court. My wife and I happened to be in DC for a visit to Georgetown and, hearing helicopters circling over our hotel, switched on the news to see what was happening. It was the arrival of Scalia’s casket at the Supreme Court.

Two things about the event struck me. First, that Scalia’s son led the funerary rites was remarkable and moving. Years ago my mother asked me to preside at the funeral of my father. I could not oblige. I knew that I would be unable to utter a word, let alone preside as minister. It was a good decision: At the service it was all I could do to hold myself together. By contrast, Fr. Scalia’s recitation of the Lord’s Prayer was simple, self-controlled, and somber. Only as he reached out his hand to touch the casket was the strain he must have been experiencing evident. The voice had been steady but the hand was clearly shaking.

The second was the evident seriousness of the occasion. The simplicity and the surrounding silence underscored the loss which the death of a loved one represents. The straightforward seriousness of the rites reflected the metaphysical depth of the Christian understanding of life and of its end.

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