Bishop’s Note: Blessing of the Grave

Bishop Eric Menees

Dear brothers and sisters, I pray that this Bishop’s Note finds you safe and well this second week of Eastertide! This week we continue our discussion of the Burial Rite in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. As we did last week, today we will continue to look at the Committal, this time focusing on the blessing of the grave. Many people have false understandings of what a blessing is, with some in the world thinking blessed objects have some sort of holiness in and of themselves. A blessing like we have here doesn’t make the grave into an object of superstition, it sets apart the grave to be used by God. In this way, it’s similar to the way a bishop consecrates a church to set it apart as a space dedicated to the worship of God. In this case a grave is set apart as a place to await the resurrection. That’s something that we should reflect on this Eastertide. Rather than seeing gravesites as morbid, we should see them as signs of hope. The people resting in those graves have died with a faith and hope in the same resurrection we’re celebrating this season.  I hope you all have a blessed rest of Easter Week and a wonderful Second Sunday of Easter!

The grave may be blessed. The Priest may use the following prayer here, or before the liturgy of Committal, or at some other convenient time. O God, whose blessed Son was laid in a tomb in the garden: Bless, we pray, this grave, set apart for the repose of your servant N., that he whose body is buried here may rest from his labors in peace and quietness, until the resurrection on the last day, when the New Jerusalem comes down, the dead are raised, and the righteous are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.