The Cremation Association of North America projects that in 2010, 35 percent of deaths in the United States will result in cremation. By 2025, the association predicts, 43 percent of us will choose cremation over traditional, in-ground burials.

This trend can be attributed to economic considerations (interring ashes costs less than burying bodies), geographic realities (families may live miles or continents apart), ecological factors (cremation is better for the environment), and other practical or even aesthetic realities.

Having recently witnessed the dignity and formal beauty of a relative's military funeral and inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery, my husband and I were moved to make plans for our own eventual cremation and placement in designated niches in the columbarium of our local cemetery.

In addition to the financial agreements that we made with the cemetery manager, we signed forms from the Diocese of Pittsburgh to show we were aware of Canon Law 1176.3: "The church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be observed; it does not, however, forbid cremation unless it is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching."

The church once considered cremation as "pagan, detestable and an abomination." The law was quietly changed in 1962 with no major announcements from the pulpit. It was not until 1996 that the bishops agreed to allow the urn containing a loved one's remains to be present at a funeral mass.

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The issue of cremation raises one of the most profound mysteries of Christian faith -- how human beings receive life after death. Logic and practicality must give way to religious belief in the resurrection of the body, however it is accomplished.

Whatever our burial arrangements, the church seems to be asking us to maintain our respect for the human body that had been touched with the water of baptism, the oils of confirmation and the bread and wine of the Eucharist. While still preferring the slow decay of in-ground burial, the church does acknowledge in the Ash Wednesday ritual that we are dust and into dust we shall return.

The famous "Bodies" exhibition of a few years back shocked many of us to reconsider what we mean when we refer to our physical selves. Without the covering of skin and hair, the exposed bones, muscles, blood vessels and nerves made the bodies seem all too fragile and subject to harm. These organs and flesh are what get vaporized in the process of cremation, while the remains of bones are ground down to fit into an urn weighing from six to 10 pounds.

Being able to picture ourselves in this final state has given my husband and me a sense of peace and relief. Our children will know exactly whom to call and what to do when the moment comes for making the dreaded arrangements.

Signing the burial agreement caused less anguish than agreeing to all the "do not's" in our living wills. Calling up the experience of watching our elderly and other loved ones sink slowly into death gave us the strength to say no to the all of the mechanical means of prolonging physical existence beyond the processes and dictates of nature.

Most Americans are averse to facing death, often putting all thoughts of funerals and end-of-life decisions off until they have no choice but to confront them. For us, though, getting the future described on paper provided a sense of release and readiness to accept what may lie ahead.

In a strange way, the cremation contracts my husband and I signed together reminded us of the agreements we had made almost 50 years ago when we went together to proclaim our marriage vows at the altar. We may not end our lives at the same moment, but we take great comfort in the knowledge that we will rest together side by side when our days together come to an end.

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