Yes, I agree, great post Merry. Again, wasn't it Pope Paul VI who gave example by getting himself cremated, with not a cross or anything on his plain 'humble' coffin? Matthew's point that Jesus entered a grave is also most interesting. As a long time Catholic it has always been wrong to get cremated. It used to be atheists or pagans who got cremated, and thus was anti-Catholic. I went to one recently, a school friend. Not a prayer, nothing. I could not believe he went to his grave an atheist, one like me educated by Archbishop Lefebvre's Holy Ghost Fathers. In his case it was not money, he had lots.
A few things, one a joke, others not a joke. This man said he was going to be cremated because he didn't want to wake up in the coffin and hear the clay being piled upon him. His friend said, 'Oh, you would prefer to wake up and find your bum on fire.' I know two others who had their ashes put into the sea where he used to swim and another who had his ashes put into a reiver he fished in.
When my father-in-law was being buried ten years ago my mother-in-law asked my wife to buy the grave beside it to keep all together. She did, it cost her 700 Euro. Since then graves have gone up in price by 700%. Average cost is 5,000 Euro, 5,500 dollars. The dearest in Dublin is now 32,000 Euro.
Finally, I love telling friends not to dance on my grave because I have already done that, and I have. Oh before I forget, I knew a very Catholic man who not only bought his grave but had all the inscriptions put on the gravestone, everything except the dates of birth of him and his wife. He told me he wanted to make sure it was done as he would wish. Both have been added since. May the Lord have mercy on all the souls departed.