I agree. I love to walk around. It's VERY peaceful and comforting.

Good things for this newbie to ponder. Of course, none of my friends or family members are buried anywhere near me--they're either on the left coast or the right--but I can still learn a more correct way of thinking about the whole thing.

When I visit a Catholic cemetary, I am visiting family. The Church suffering and the Church triumphant - we are all family.

But his body is. Strictly speaking the person is dead, doesn't exist anymore if you are going to take that attitude. I am emphatically not my soul. I am a single unified thing, and my soul stands to my body as the image impressed in a waxen seal does to the wax. So the person is gone, his soul hopefully with the Lord and his body with which shall rise again is in the ground. It is owed an immense, enormous dignity.

It is a very Catholic thing to do to visit cemeteries by the way, even if no relatives are there. There is nothing wrong with visiting cemeteries where ever they are regardless of whom you know is buried there. There is something distinctly uncatholic about not caring for the dead

Oh, yeah, that's right. ::makes note to self to look for Catholic cemeteries::

Well, there you go. I am learning all the time.

I am never closer to my deceased relatives than I am at Mass. That is where I remember them. They (if they are in heaven) surround ever altar, at every Mass, everwhere around the world. And that is distinctly Catholic.

Considering the fact that it is that body that will be resurrected, I think gravesites should be visited and respected. They are not so much worm food never to be used again.

We may not be able to visit their soul, but we can visit their body and keep their final resting place (until the Resurrection) tended.

That being said, all my relatives are buried 3000 miles away, either in the South or in New England. I know my folks visit and tend my brother's final resting place regularly - and it has been 20 years since his death.

One of my favorite Masses to go to is the one celebrated on Memorial Day at a local cemetary. It makes me feel very close to my brothers and sisters of the Early Church, who celebrated the Mass amongst their dead.

My mother and I and all of her sisters have for years kept the tradition of going to the graves on Memorial Day, even some miles and miles away, to place flowers on the graves. Also in between each year, we have visited various gravesites and I have visited gravesites of my ancestors at various times throughout the year. I find it's a great place to find peace and quiet, and to have solitude to really think things through or to pray to those who have gone before. So, yes, we do visit, at pretty regular intervals.

I don't visit grave sites. I just never got into the habit. Part of it had to do with the fact that my mother and father moved so far away from their families so it never became a custom. It has little to do with whether the person is there or not...its just not something we did. I do believe my mom would have had we lived closer and now she is buried 500 miles away.

I can say that the graveyards back in the mountains where my family was from were scary. They were not at all peaceful or quiet and there were always these weird stories connected with them. Not at all conducive to visiting.

However I do say a prayer every time I pass a cemetery.

We try to visit the cemetery where most of our deceased relatives are twice a year; usually in the spring, which is when most seem to have died (generally around Easter, unfortunately), and once in the fall. Since that cemetery lies in between my parish and my old high school, where I drop off my sister every morning, I find it convenient to cut through the cemetery and spend some time there.

About once a year I go with Grampa to the Polish cemetery on the other side of town, where his and Gramma's relatives are buried. We usually have to do a bit of groundskeeping too, Some punks have a penchant for defacing or destroying the tombstones, and trees and weeds tend to overrun the place.

Thanks to everyone so far for the replies.

I had a very busy r--- l--- thingie today so didn't have much time to post.

I don't do it very often, but when I do, something feels very respectful about it. I certainly wouldn't discourage it.

Greetings;

....My wife and I go often.Instead of paying lips service for the favors,we
do something physical and planty.To us,appreciation is verbal,and
gratitute is costly.

by(e)tutitarg