Does this reading work if we have chosen cremation?

Yes. The Church permits cremation (with the ashes reverently buried or entombed), and the reading's promise does not depend on the state of the remains — the transformation is God's work on the whole person, "by the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself."

What is "the body of our humiliation"?

Paul's frank name for the mortal body — subject to weakness, illness, and death. The phrase honors what mourners saw in a hospital room without leaving them there: that same body is destined for glory.

Second Reading (New Testament)

Philippians 3:20-21

"Our citizenship is in heaven"

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Scripture text (World English Bible)

For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.

Themes

citizenship in heaven
awaiting the Savior
the body transformed
glory
brevity

Reflection

Two verses, one complete hope: "our citizenship is in heaven," and the Savior we await from there "will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory."

Paul wrote to Philippi, a Roman colony whose residents prized their citizenship in a capital most had never seen. He turns the civic pride on its head: the Christian's true colony status points to heaven. A funeral proclaims that the deceased was, all along, a citizen of somewhere else — a resident alien here whose papers were in order there.

The second verse answers the question every mourner silently asks at an open casket: what becomes of the body? Not abandonment — transformation. The "body of our humiliation," with its diminishments so visible in a final illness, will be conformed to the body of Christ's own glory, by the same power that subjects all things to him. Christian burial honors the body precisely because of this promise; the Church buries a seed, not a shell.

Its brevity makes this reading flexible: it suits a liturgy where the Gospel and homily will carry the weight, and it pairs naturally with resurrection Gospels. What it lacks in length it repays in memorability — "our citizenship is in heaven" is a line guests take home.

Best for

·A deceased whose final illness visibly diminished the body
·Families choosing cremation or burial who want the body's dignity affirmed
·Immigrants and exiles, for whom the citizenship image carries lived weight
·Liturgies that want a brief, strong second reading

In the liturgy

The shortest New Testament option in the funeral lectionary; ask the lector to read it unhurried. Its transformation theme makes it an apt companion to the Rite of Committal and to homilies on the resurrection of the body.

Pairs well with

Frequently asked questions

Does this reading work if we have chosen cremation?: Yes. The Church permits cremation (with the ashes reverently buried or entombed), and the reading's promise does not depend on the state of the remains — the transformation is God's work on the whole person, "by the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself."
What is "the body of our humiliation"?: Paul's frank name for the mortal body — subject to weakness, illness, and death. The phrase honors what mourners saw in a hospital room without leaving them there: that same body is destined for glory.

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