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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nI am fascinated by the music\nlists that my liturgical music pals come up with for their own funerals. Often\nthey are very, very<\/em> specific. Most of\nthese same folks are surprised when I say that my instructions are \u201cDo whatever\nmusic helps you remember, grieve, and celebrate.\u201d This is sometimes seen as a\nmanifestation of my own laziness and\/or passive-aggressive tendencies. That may\npartly be the case, not entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason for my directive is this:\nI do not think the music at my funeral (or any funeral, for that matter) is for\nthe purpose of enshrining my personal preferences, tastes, or understandings\nabout liturgical music selection. This goes against the current grain of many\nfunerals, which do turn into enshrinements (of musical tastes, tastes in food,\npersonality traits, hobbies, etc.), if not outright canonizations*. While I\nrealize that I could come up with a musical list that would help avoid that,\nI\u2019m convinced that the music at that time really should tend to those who are\nbodily present, and not some sort of attempt to hear my \u201cvoice\u201d from beyond the\ngrave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The primary reason, however,\nthat my instruction is pretty much \u201cDo what you need to\u201d is because\u2014even though\nI have no concrete, factual knowledge of exactly what will happen upon my\ndeath\u2014I firmly believe that whatever my post-mortem destination may be, I will\ndefinitely be in a place where I will not be occupied by the music happening at\nmy memorial. Should the Spirit send the chorus\nangelorum<\/em> to lead me to realms celestial, I\u2019ll be much more involved in the\nplaylist of heaven. Maybe to make me feel more at home there will be some of\nwhat has already given me glimpses past the pearly portals, but I\u2019m hoping for\nfar more on the iParadisum list: music with which I\u2019m not at all familiar, that\nmy too-limited mortal life was not able to encounter or appreciate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Above all, I hope that\niParadisum playlist contains a whole bunch of musical selections to which I\ncurrently have an aversion, or those I have treated uncharitably with disdain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This would mean that the\nSpirit, at long last, had bent my stubborn heart and will, had melted my frozen\nbeing, or at least warmed my chilliness, as I have requested so often in\npraying the Pentecost Sequence. What will heaven sound like? I have no idea\u2014but\nI keep trying to listen for it here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *At the 2019 gathering of the\nLiturgical Composers\u2019 Forum in St. Louis, we were reviewing new\/recent pieces by\nmember composers, and there was one funeral piece that addressed the deceased:\n\u201cNow that you are home in heaven.\u201d (Or some such.) It came as a surprise to\nmany that the funeral rite never overtly expresses any sentiment like this. The\nrite\u2019s confidence and hope in the Resurrection is a different matter. Our\nultimate destiny\u2014no matter what the greeting card industry may want us to\nbelieve\u2014is in the hands of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am fascinated by the music lists that my liturgical music pals come up with for their own funerals…Most of these same folks are surprised when I say that my instructions are \u201cDo whatever music helps you remember, grieve, and celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":48707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3118,275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-celebrandi-new-ws","category-funeralsburial"],"yoast_head":"\n