Joseph of Arimathea and the Arms of Mercy

 A question was posed, to which I would like to respond. I quote and edit for brevity:

"I recently lost a close friend and business associate to cancer. To my knowledge he believed in “something”, but wasn’t sure what “it” was. During our friendship we had many discussions about God, Jesus and our differences in beliefs. I was not Catholic when our friendship began...Some things transpired at the end of his life. I do pray that he did at least make a spiritual conversion. I found out this weekend that one of his companions used his ashes to plant a flower in the cemetery where his parents are buried. I am just at a loss for words over this. I know that it is none of my business. I have had such difficulty discussing his death with anyone because I know details of his life that no one else knows. Is it wrong to keep praying for him? My heart is just broken for his adult children and how they have been treated. I believe they are all atheists also. Does you have any advice?"

 

There was a phrase from a prayer from my Anglican days that was used originally as a commital of a body to the deep, but later became part of the Anglican funeral liturgy proper, that I always loved from the Book of Common Prayer. It's partially a paraphrase of a verse from Hebrews. It basically says, "receive him into the arms of thy mercy..."

 

That image of committing someone into the arms of God Himself, like Jesus' body was committed to Joseph of Arimathea when he was taken down off the cross, is a very power image. It was not coincidence that Jesus' body is given to a man named Joseph. Joseph was the name of his earthly father, but also in Hebrew the name means "he will add."

 

Combined with the town of Arimathea, which is curiously never listed as a town name in any other source or map from the period. What's curious about the name Arimathea is that is a combination of the words meaning "high place" (same root we get "Ramah" from) and "gift of God." So, you get Joseph (meaning "he will add") from the town of Arimathea (literally meaning the "high place gift of God") Joseph takes the body of Jesus and adds that body to the tomb, and in the tomb is where death is defeated, literally making that tomb a high place gift of God.

 

Therefore, going back to your question: Is it wrong to keep praying for this man's soul? By no means. We pray that God will receive him into the arms of his mercy. We pray that like foreshadowing of Joseph of Arimathea, God will accept that soul into his arms of mercy and add that soul as a gift of His mercy to the high place where God dwells in infinite light.