Catholic Funeral Readings for a Grandparent

There is no special set of readings for a grandparent. The Church approves 56 reading options for a funeral Mass, and any of them may be used for your grandmother or grandfather. Two things are usually different at a grandparent's funeral, though. The person lived a long life and often handed on the faith to two generations. And the readers are often grandchildren, some of them teenagers who have never read at Mass before. This guide keeps both in mind.

A safe combination: Wisdom 3:1-9, Psalm 103, 1 John 3:1-2, and John 14:1-6. The Second Reading is two verses long, which makes it a good first job for a younger grandchild.

First Reading

Outside Easter Time, the First Reading comes from the Old Testament. During Easter Time (the fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost) it comes from Acts or Revelation instead.

Wisdom 3:1-9: "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God"

Gentle and familiar. "In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died... But they are in peace." It also speaks of people tested "as gold in the furnace," which fits someone who came through a lot in eighty or ninety years. A shorter form (Wisdom 3:1-6, 9) is approved.

Isaiah 25:6a, 7-9: a feast for all peoples

It opens with God preparing "a feast of choice meat, a feast of choice wines" and then "He has swallowed up death forever!" If their table was where the whole family ate on Sundays and holidays, heaven described as a crowded table will be easy for everyone to picture.

A note on Wisdom 4:7-15

This reading is often listed under the title "A blameless life is a ripe old age," which makes it sound right for someone who lived to ninety. Look at the first line: "But a righteous man, though he die before his time, will be at rest." The passage is about a life cut short, and it argues that a short life can still be a full one. At the funeral of a grandparent who died in old age it can sound out of place. It may fit a grandparent who died young, before the grandchildren were grown. Readings for that situation are gathered under death of someone young.

In Easter Time: Revelation 14:13

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord," and the Spirit's answer, "that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them." Two sentences about a lifetime of work, and the easiest First Reading for a nervous teenager. It can be used only during Easter Time.

Responsorial Psalm

A cantor usually sings the psalm. If your parish has it recited, it is a good part to give a grandchild.

• Psalm 103: "As for man, his days are like grass," and then the promise that the Lord's kindness lasts "from everlasting to everlasting," with "his righteousness to children's children." Children's children are grandchildren. It is hard to find a psalm that fits better.
• Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd." Short lines, words the grandchildren may already know by heart, and the psalm most guests can follow.
• Psalm 143: "I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings." For the grandparent who told the same family stories at every gathering, and who also prayed.

Second Reading

1 John 3:1-2: "we should be called children of God"

Two verses. "See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!" and "we will see him just as he is." A young reader can manage it, and it says a great deal for two verses.

2 Timothy 2:8-13: "Remember Jesus Christ"

It opens "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead," and ends with "If we are faithless, he remains faithful." This letter has a link to grandparents that is easy to miss. Its first chapter recalls the faith that "lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice." That verse is not part of the reading, but a homilist may mention it if you tell him why you chose this one. One line is stern ("If we deny him, he also will deny us"), so read it through first.

2 Corinthians 4:14-5:1: "our inward man is renewed day by day"

"Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day." An honest description of growing old in faith, and it ends with "a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens." The sentences are long and the argument is dense, so give it to an adult grandchild or one of your siblings.

Gospel

The priest or deacon proclaims the Gospel, so none of the grandchildren will need to read it.

• John 14:1-6: "In my Father's house are many homes." In many families the grandparents' house was the place everyone gathered. This Gospel promises another one.
• John 12:23-28: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit." Jesus is speaking of his own death. Families sitting in the pews, children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, often hear their grandparent's life in it too. A shorter form (John 12:23-26) is approved.
• John 6:37-40: "of all he has given to me I should lose nothing." For a grandparent who prayed for every grandchild by name, including the ones who stopped going to church.

Readings grandchildren can manage

Asking a grandchild to read is a kind thing to do. It gives them something to carry them through the day. Some readings are much easier than others:

• Shortest: 1 John 3:1-2, Philippians 3:20-21, and in Easter Time Revelation 14:13. Each is two verses.
• Short and plain: the short form of Wisdom 3, 1 John 3:14-16, and Psalm 23 if it is recited.
• Better for an adult: Romans 5:17-21 and Romans 8:14-23 (long, dense sentences), 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 (numbers and drachmas), and Revelation 20:11-21:1 (judgment and the lake of fire).

The text on this site may not match the translation your parish reads from, so have the reader practice from the parish's copy if possible. Ask them to read it aloud at home twice, slowly.

Grandchildren who do not want to read can still have a part. In many parishes they can read the intercessions, bring up the gifts, or help place the pall on the casket at the start of Mass. Ask your parish what they do. Our guide to funeral prayers of the faithful has intentions a young reader can manage.

How to actually choose

Look for clues they left. A marked page in a Bible, a prayer card kept in a wallet, or a reading they asked for at their own spouse's funeral will tell you more than any list.

Do not try to make the readings tell their life story. That is the job of the homily and the words of remembrance. The readings say what the Church believes about death and are offered for them.

Talk with your parish early. Practice varies on things like whether the psalm is sung and who may read, and it is better to know before you ask a fifteen-year-old to prepare.

Putting it in the program

Read the full text of all 56 funeral readings, or browse them by theme, such as the Father's house. When you have chosen, you can build a printable funeral program with the readings and the readers' names already laid out. Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus by tradition, are the patrons of grandparents if you would like to name them in the prayers. See also the guides to readings for a husband or a wife if the surviving grandparent is helping to plan.