Burial

Today, a funeral can be as unique as the individual who is being honored. From simple touches like displaying personal photographs to events created around a favorite pastime, funerals can reflect any aspect of a person's life and personality.

Funerals fill an important role for those mourning the loss of a loved one. By providing surviving family members and friends a caring, supportive environment in which to share thoughts and feelings about the death, funerals are the first step in the healing process. 

 The ritual of attending a funeral service provides many benefits including: 

• Providing a social support system for the bereaved.
• Helping the bereaved understand death is final and that death is part of life.
• Integrating the bereaved back into the community.
• Easing the transition to a new life after the death of a loved one.
• Providing a safe haven for embracing and expressing pain.
• Reaffirming one's relationship with the person who died.
• Providing a time to say good-bye.

The death of a loved one is always difficult. Making plans for the funeral service is much more difficult and usually not thought of until one is looking at the situation directly. Plans still need to be made for a proper disposal of the remains and what services one feels is appropriate for their loved one to honor their life and memories. The choice to honor your loved one with a funeral or memorial service is one made up of love, respect and consideration. A funeral service is a way for family and friends to say their last good-byes. It offers a real way to accept the finality of death, to bring closure to one relationship, and begin the journey of living through this significant change.

Through organized religion or personal beliefs, most people have some sense of spirituality in their life. Often those values are from the very core of who the person was in life. Therefore, you may feel it is important to incorporate the individual's sense of spirituality into their funeral service. 

Following are ideas on how to incorporate spirituality into a funeral service: 

Hold the service at the person's parish or religious facility. 

• Have someone read excerpts from a key religious publication (i.e. Bible, Koran, etc.).
• Decorate the funeral home with symbols of the person's faith.
• Have the person's cremated remains scattered at a place of spiritual significance to them.
• Read a prayer that touches on their key beliefs.Include sacred music from the religion in the service.

Divine Passage will provide a way for people to celebrate the life of the individual when it ends, and for the living, to gather social support, bring closure and to continue with their lives.