Graves: Interment Background: A Better Understanding
In the second account of creation in the Book of Genesis (2:4-25),
God breathed life into the clay of the earth to not only form, but
also enliven human beings in the divine image. (The Hebrew word
for "human" means "breathing clay.")
The prayer of the Church refers to earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust when burying the faithful. It is a natural
and normal process to return to the earth from which we are made.
This return to the earth is the essence of in-ground
burial customs. The practice is deeply embedded in the Judeo-Christian
tradition. Burial in the earth has close connections with the natural
process of planting, growing, reaping and lastly death. There is
a certain trust in placing a seed in the earth; we abandon and bury
a seed believing in the warmth of the sun, the nutrients of the
soil and the moisture of timely rains. Jesus said, Unless
a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a
single grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit (John 12:24).
