This is Viaticum, food for the journey. Members of the local Church may wish to join the family in a vigil of prayer. After the person's death, the family is encouraged to continue in prayer ...

Prayer for the dead is almost a battle with the reality of death and destruction that weighs down upon the earthly existence of man. This is and remains a particular revelation of the Resurrection.

Whether it was Irish wakes or Tibetan death prayers, these practices acknowledged death as a natural conclusion to life’s story. With the decline of such traditions, death became something ...