Note:
When death has lost its sting for us, we look differently at death. Christians, especially, should have a lighter-hearted view of death than many of us have. Sure, there’s sadness at the separation, but we know that the deceased is with God. With God! Isn’t that what all our religion and spirituality is all about?

And just for the record, I haven’t gotten “excited” at a funeral as Quenon professes he gets, but I do know the comfort there is in having full confidence in the resurrection. It’s helpful to know that for the recently-deceased “the real fun has just begun.”

Quote:
“This is partly why a strange exhilaration usually comes over me when somebody I have known well in the community dies. It feels like a cutting free and a circling around. The feeling comes strongly at the end of the funeral. After the final blessing, when the bier is lifted and carried toward the west door to the burial ground, I get excited like a boy getting out of school for the summer–a thrill that the training has ended and the real fun has just begun.” (p. 8)

Source: Quenon, Paul. In Praise of the Useless Life: a Monk’s Memoir. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2018.