Funeral for nature spiritualist vs Catholic sentiments.

[seshen]

Hmmm. A friend just called me up. She was asked to speak at a friend's funeral (tomorrow morning) and needed advice on how to honor her friend (nature-oriented, very spiritual, but no specific path) and at the same time not freak out the Catholic family. Suggestions welcomed.

Comments

[sometimesadream]

she can still say that her friend was spiritual, and had a good relationship with her god, and was thankful for the world and the nature that god gave to her without freaking out the catholic family. maybe she can think of a story about her friend that demonstrates what a kind/loving/other good adjectived person she was?

i hope that's helpful. it's hard when i don't really know who i'm talking about.

[juniperus]

I use 'the divine' a lot in cases like these - general, comfortable for any sort of Christian in the group, but not so wishy-washy as to be meaningless.

I'd be inclined (thinking how I might speak at a friend's service with a similar family situation) to talk about her deep love of family and friends, deep commitment to living in an honest, open-hearted, and respectful way, and her deep relationship with the Divine...talk about how much she'll be missed, how much she brought to the world during her short stay, and how much her memory will inspire all who knew her.

[kestrel127]

She loved nature. She was a very spiritual person and believed very strongly in the other world.

Something like that that's fairly generic. The world beyond the veil, that sort of thing.

[aristurtle]

Maybe a poem or prayer with the message of finding the Divine through nature? Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Pied Beauty" is a nice selection. (Not to mention that Hopkins was a Jesuit priest.)