Disposing of Sacred Objects

I recently went to a local mortuary to plan a cremation and burial.  With a heavy heart and some trepidation, I entered the doors of the funeral home.  I met with the undertaker and handed over the body—not a human body—a body of liturgical books.  Outdated lectionaries and sacramentaries, (the big red books used by the priest at Mass) once used to pray the liturgy, had cluttered part of the office for years.  As much as I wanted more office space, I realized that the words in these books, the scripture readings and the prayer texts, had for a time formed a people into faith and just throwing the books away didn’t seem right.

There are few guidelines on what to do with liturgical books that have been revised or updated.  But a compendium known as the Book of Blessings gives us some direction.  This book contains a compilation of blessings for people and for objects, including books used in the sacred liturgy.  There are blessings for students and teachers, blessings for travelers, blessings for homes and offices, even blessings for boats and fishing gear.  This tells us that the Church believes that everything, even fishing equipment, is touched by God and is sacred. 

Blessings are a way for us to acknowledge this reality.   Because we believe in the sanctity of all of creation, we are called to treat everyone and everything with respect.  Even in death, we are to treat the body with respect by either burial or cremation.  Likewise, it is  customary to dispose of objects that have been blessed, such as palms, rosaries, and liturgical books by either burying them or burning them.  In this way, we return everyone and everything to the creator from which it came.  As the Book of Blessings reminds us, “Scripture attests that all the beings God has created and keeps in existence by his gracious goodness declare themselves to be blessings from him and should move us to bless him in return.”