Catholic Funeral Readings

If you are planning readings for a Catholic funeral, the first thing to know is that you are not starting from a blank page. A funeral Mass follows the structure of every Catholic Mass: a First Reading from the Old Testament, a Responsorial Psalm, a Second Reading from the New Testament, and a Gospel. The Church provides an approved menu of options for each slot — the funeral Lectionary — and the family chooses from it, usually in a sit-down with the priest or parish funeral coordinator in the days before the Mass.

That structure is a kindness, not a constraint. You are choosing three or four passages from a short, well-loved list rather than searching the whole Bible while grieving. This guide walks through each slot, the most popular choices, who may read, and how the eulogy fits in. (Quotations below are from the King James Version for reference; on the day, your parish will provide the approved Lectionary translation in the readings booklet or on the ambo.)

The First Reading: Old Testament

The Mass opens with a reading from the Hebrew scriptures — or, during the Easter season, from the Acts of the Apostles or Revelation. The most chosen option by a wide margin is Wisdom 3:1–9:

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery… but they are in peace.

— Wisdom 3:1–3 (KJV, Apocrypha)

Its opening line answers the question every mourner is silently asking — where is my person now? — with one image: in the hand of God. Other common First Readings include Job 19:1, 23–27 (“I know that my redeemer liveth”), a defiant choice after a hard death, and Isaiah 25:6–9, with its promise that God “will swallow up death in victory” — often picked for its hopeful, almost festive tone. For more passages from the Hebrew scriptures, see our full collection of Old Testament funeral verses.

The Responsorial Psalm

Between the readings, the congregation responds with a psalm, ideally sung by a cantor with everyone joining the refrain. If your parish has no cantor, it is read. Psalm 23 is the overwhelming favorite:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want… Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.

— Psalm 23:1, 4 (KJV)

Psalm 27 (“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”) suits someone of steady, unshowy faith, and Psalm 103 (“Bless the LORD, O my soul”) turns the Mass toward thanksgiving for a long life. The psalm refrain is one of the few moments the whole congregation speaks — choose one they can say and mean.

The Second Reading: New Testament

The Second Reading comes from the epistles or Revelation, and this is where the theology of Christian hope is stated most directly. The most loved option is Romans 8:31–39, which ends:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life… nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

— Romans 8:38–39 (KJV)

Other frequent choices: Romans 6:3–9, which links baptism to resurrection and is echoed in the sprinkling of the casket with holy water; 1 Corinthians 15 (“O death, where is thy sting?”); 2 Corinthians 4:14–5:1, on the earthly tent giving way to “an house not made with hands”; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, often picked for a sudden death because it speaks directly to those who grieve; and Revelation 21:1–7, with God wiping away every tear — a gentle choice when children will be present.

The Gospel

The Gospel is the summit of the Liturgy of the Word and is always proclaimed by the priest or deacon — never by a layperson. The family still chooses which Gospel. The two most requested:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

— John 11:25 (KJV)

John 11:21–27 puts the Church’s central claim in Jesus’s own voice, spoken to a grieving sister. John 14:1–6 (“In my Father’s house are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you”) is the tender alternative. Matthew 5:1–12, the Beatitudes, suits someone who lived the works of mercy, and Luke 23:44–46, 50, 52–53; 24:1–6a — the death and burial of Jesus followed by the empty tomb — is sometimes chosen to place a hard death inside the larger Easter story.

Who chooses, and who may read

The family chooses the readings together with the priest, usually at the funeral planning meeting; many parishes hand you a booklet of the Lectionary options to take home. The First and Second Readings may be read by lay people — adult children, grandchildren, godchildren, close friends — and inviting two different readers is a natural way to involve more of the family. Choose readers who can hold steady under emotion, and ask the priest to have a backup ready. The Gospel and homily belong to the clergy.

What about the eulogy?

Strictly speaking, a Catholic funeral Mass does not include a eulogy; the homily is a reflection on the readings and on Christian hope, not a biography. What most parishes permit is a short tribute called words of remembrance — typically one speaker, three to five minutes, delivered either before the Mass begins, after Communion, or at the vigil (wake) the evening before, where the rules are far more relaxed. Practice varies by diocese, so ask your priest early. If you are the one writing it, our eulogy examples can give you a working shape for a brief, warm tribute that fits the time limit.

Readings for a mother or grandmother

For a mother or grandmother, families most often pair Proverbs 31:10–31 as the First Reading — “Strength and honour are her clothing… her children arise up, and call her blessed” (Proverbs 31:25, 28, KJV) — with Psalm 23 and the Gospel of John 14:1–6. The Proverbs reading is one of the few places the Lectionary lets scripture itself deliver the tribute, and hearing a daughter or granddaughter read “her children arise up, and call her blessed” is often the moment the congregation remembers. Wisdom 3:1–9 with Psalm 103 is the gentler alternative for a grandmother whose long life is being given thanks for rather than mourned as a shock.

Readings for a father

For a father or grandfather, 2 Timothy 4:6–8 as the Second Reading — “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (KJV) — carries the weight of a working life faithfully completed. It pairs naturally with Job 19 or Isaiah 25 as the First Reading and Matthew 5:1–12 as the Gospel for a man known for quiet decency. Psalm 27, with its unafraid confidence, is the psalm families most often choose for a father.

Putting your selections together

Aim for readings that talk to each other: a First Reading that names the loss, a psalm the congregation can lean on, a Second Reading that states the hope, and a Gospel that gathers it all up. If you are also choosing scripture for the vigil, the memorial cards, or a graveside moment, our main collection of funeral verses from the Bible is organized by theme — and for poems and prose to read at the wake, where non-scriptural texts are welcome, see our guide to funeral readings.