For those who do NOT have faith...a cemetery is a place where we bury the dead. And, even though we may have loved them in life and miss them, we simply repose their remains.
For those WHO DO HAVE FAITH...a cemetery is a place where we commend to God the earthly remains of those who have died. At our Baptism, the Living God makes a dwelling place within us in such a way that our Body is now Holy and a Temple of the Adorable Trinity. Further, at Baptism...we receive the promise of Eternal Life in the World to Come, and, as is affirmed in the Creed, the promise of a Resurrection of our Bodies after the pattern of Chirst and His Holy Mother. While the GREAT DAY OF RESURRECTION OF ALL THE DEAD at the end of time is known to God alone, we as Catholics anticipate this day daily in our prayers and in the Offering of the Mysteries during our Sacred Liturgies. When we bury the remains of a loved one...we do not merely repose their remains, but commend them in anticipation of this great Mystery knowing in faith that...here...in this place...God will call forth from the ground our ramains and while Breathing His Spirit upon them, re-unite them to our Souls to be with each other together again and together Glorify Him in Eternity.
A Catholic Cemetery is, therefore, ground which is consecrated, that is dedicated or set apart for this great miracle to take place. Individual remains joined together with others makes the cemetery a common witness of the Expectation of the Church based on the Promise of the Lord of Life.