Is "our days are like grass" too bleak for a funeral?

It is honest, but the same passage immediately contrasts our brevity with God's eternal kindness. Read whole, the psalm holds grief and hope in the right balance.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 103:8, 10, 13-18

"The Lord is kind and merciful"

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Scripture text (World English Bible)

Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more. But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children; to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.

Themes

the Lord is kind and merciful
as a father has compassion
our days are like grass
God's love from everlasting
across generations

Reflection

Psalm 103 (also chosen for many wedding liturgies, in different verses) is the Bible's great hymn to divine mercy. The funeral selection lifts up the verses that speak directly to mortality: "As for man, his days are like the grass; like a flower of the field he blooms; the wind sweeps over him and he is gone." But the same passage holds the answer: "The kindness of the Lord is from eternity to eternity toward those who fear him."

For a Catholic funeral, this psalm names the truth of mortality without making peace with it. Yes, our days pass like grass. Yes, every flower of the field eventually fades. But none of that is the deepest truth. The deepest truth is the kindness of the Lord, which does not pass, which holds the soul of the deceased in eternity, which extends across generations to children and children's children, which is older than time and outlasts it.

The fatherly imagery, "as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him", gives many families particular comfort. To know that God receives the deceased not as a stern judge but as a father waiting for a returning child is a profound consolation. Many funeral homilies have built on this image; many bereaved have wept over it.

This is a psalm for funerals where the family wants Scripture to acknowledge the brevity of life while announcing the unbreakable kindness of God.

Best for

·Funerals for elderly people whose passing came naturally at the end of a long life
·Families who want a psalm that names mortality honestly while proclaiming hope
·Multigenerational funerals. The psalm explicitly speaks across generations
·Liturgies where mercy is the central note

In the liturgy

Frequently chosen and widely known. The antiphon "The Lord is kind and merciful" appears in many Sunday lectionaries; most parish music directors have multiple settings.

Pairs well with

Frequently asked questions

Is "our days are like grass" too bleak for a funeral?: It is honest, but the same passage immediately contrasts our brevity with God's eternal kindness. Read whole, the psalm holds grief and hope in the right balance.

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Other approved responsorial psalm options

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