I just want to say that this liturgy is beautiful.

[RevCheesehead]

I am watching the procession of the body on MSNBC. Solemn, but not sad. Hopeful, and extraordinarily beautiful.

I love your Church's rituals. They strengthen and give hope.

[SaveAmerica]

1. And peace.

Go to CBS news to watch live, you have the music, hope and peace without the constant background chattering.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml

[RevCheesehead]

2. Actually, I just switched to EWTN.

Although, I'd admit that Chris Matthews has been uncharacteristically quiet. EWTN is giving thoughtful commentary. I am learning a lot.

[Princess Turandot]

7. Do you have EWTN on your television service?..

I went to their webpage this evening and while I noticed they had streaming video, the schedule was unclear. I figured that I could do what I do when the Yankees games were on FOX: keep the volume off and listen to the game on the Yankee radio network.

I saw the ceremony in rerun on CNN at 11PM EST. They did have some voice-over which seemed to be just translations of what the Italians were saying. I'm not sure if the commentators were even talking at that point.

I was surprised to hear Aaron Brown say during his show that covering the ceremonies was to him a privilege he could not describe, and I think he was sincere.

Is Olbermann a Catholic? I thought his coverage during the evening that the Pope died was very dignified. I switched to CNN as soon as Matthews came on that evening.

It's funny, on a general gab board which I post on that is connected to a cat forum, one of the long term posters, who is Jewish, got very sincerely upset and thought that they were being disrespectful to the Pope by moving his body that way. I told her that if she had been a Catholic, by the time she hit 35 she would probably have a few dozen corpses under her belt!

[etherealtruth]

3. I often find the beauty of the Catholic rituals overwhelming ...

... overwhelming in the same sense that the sun setting on the ocean is ... it overwhelms me as the beauty of my children does...

[RevCheesehead]

4. I agree.

To me, it is an indescribably joy. Joy meaning not happy, but instead, filled with the presence of the Spirit. This is why I am crying. Tears of joy.

[Cuban_Liberal]

5. We do death well.

I agree that it's solemn without being morbid, or sad. It's peaceful and quietly joyous.

:)

[RevCheesehead]

6. Indeed you do.

When one of my best friends was murdered several years ago, I found comfort - real comfort - in listening to musical settings of the Requiem. Mozart, Faure, Durufle, Rutter... All so moving and dignified, yet elevating and hopeful.

sigh - I am a catholic (just not Roman).

[DemBones DemBones]

8. I read once that while it can be very difficult to live as a Catholic,

it is blessedly easy to die as one.

I'm not sure if that is an old Catholic saying, a quotation from a well-known person, or something said by an "ordinary" person. It was used to mean that the graces a faithful Catholic may expect to receive during his/her last days and hours, the great peace brought by receiving the final sacraments, and the assurance of Heaven to the faithful, tip the scales against the difficulty of living by the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church and defending a faith that has always had, and will always have, many enemies and detractors.

But it seems to me that the quote also relates to the Catholic way of handling death. I think a key point is that the Eucharist is the focus of every Mass, including funeral Masses.

Also, we on earth, the Church Militant, pray for the dead, to free them from Purgatory {the Church Suffering), and ask them to pray for us once they're in the Church Triumphant, Heaven. That is the meaning of "the communion of saints"; that we on earth are in cimmunion with those in purgatory as well as in Heaven, not just with each other on earth.