Friday, December 12, 2025
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
My sisters and brothers in the Lord,
Welcome to week fifty of BMW, Be My Witnesses. To be a witness is to carry out the Corporal Works of Mercy. This week we will talk about the last of these seven activities: Burying the Dead.
Mission: Bury the Dead
The seventh corporal work of mercy, burying the dead, is not mentioned in Matthew 25, but was added by the Church in the light of our respect for the human body. Saint Paul reminds us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body” (I Corinthians 6:19-20).
The story of Tobit speaks directly to this kind of respect. He was deported to Nineveh in the 700s BC. There he made a practice of burying the dead, especially his fellow Israelites, many who had been left exposed after civil execution. This, of course, got him in trouble with the civil authorities. Still, he persisted in this behavior due to his respect for his Jewish heritage and the Law of Moses.
Our Judeo-Christian heritage stems from our belief as outlined in the Book of Genesis, that God made us spirit and body and that it was good. Our bodies are not prisons nor are they toys; they are integral to who we are as human beings. We are body and soul. Our bodies convey our inner life and sentiments. Words from our mouths speak what our heart intends. Our embrace conveys our love for another.
This really is what it means to be a full human being and this is very good.
Even when we die and our bodies and souls are separated, our souls go to that state which we have chosen by our use or non-use of God’s grace: either Purgatory or Heaven or Hell. But, it is noteworthy that we remain incomplete. It will only be on the Last Day, when our bodies are miraculously transformed and united back to our souls that we will be for all eternity what we have merited.
This is why our celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection, body and soul, humanity and divinity, as well as Mary’s Assumption into heaven, body and soul, are such important events in our Christian life. They are signs and harbingers of what awaits us.
This is why we show the respect that we do toward the dead, ensuring, in so far as we are able, the proper burial or placement of the bodily remains. This action affirms and proclaims our steadfast belief in the Resurrection of the Dead and the unity of our being as material and spiritual, as body and soul.
My Challenge
For our challenge of this week, visit a cemetery, preferably where some relative or a friend is buried. Take your witness colleague or go with your small group. There pray not only for the repose of the soul of the buried person but perhaps also for the soul of the one buried nearby.
Until next week, may God Bless you.
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Here is a video version of this week's Be My Witnesses. Please do share with friends and family. Thank you.