The Final Goodbye

 

After my shower this morning, I replaced the urn into the cardboard box for the transport to Holy Cross Cemetery. I was reluctant to let it go; it actually occurred to me that I wish I had not bought a niche. On the other hand, I do believe in the formality of a final resting place and the fully panoply of a Christian burial.

The brief ceremony was set for 11 a.m. I wanted to get there early to make sure everything was prepared, not knowing what the preparation was to look like. I announced myself to the upstairs office and they told me that somene would be by niche 22 in section 7 to receive the official permit.

The marble slab covering that portion of the columbarium where my father would soon rest was removed, and a green velvet curtain was across the 11 by 11 by 11 by 11 space. A small lecturn was beside it and a dispenser for the holy water that would be sprinkled shortly on the remains and its container. Five or six chairs were across from it for the guests. That's just about how many were there, Len, from Len Speaks, Anonymous of the Barbara Judith Apartments, Fr. Paul, who had not been able to make it to the funeral, Delores, who sang at dad's funeral, the presiding priest, Fr. Murphy, and me. As Fr. Murphy and Fr. Paul shared the prayers of interment, a warm summer breeze wafted through the corridor and bird chirps reverberated. Life and death met as friends for a passing moment. I could not pray the Lord's Prayer for choking back tears. Monsignor asked for my father's intercession for all of us, now that he is closer to God than he would have imagined possible. How would my father found all of this, he the reluctant Catholic? I don't know. I think he would have enjoyed the ritual. He always loved the ritual, whatever questions and objections he had. I hope all his questions have been answered. I think they have been. That is my faith.

My friends left me and I let the two young men who were hovering to close the niche begin their work. I watched them seal the niche, closing my father's remains off from the world as long as they survive time and its remaining decay. They replaced the marble and they removed all the accoutrements that had been there to mark the occasion.

It is finished.