We often think of cemeteries and graves in terms of finality – the grave is our domus ultima, our “final resting place.” But the etymology of the word “cemetery” shows it was originally meant to suggest a sleeping place, a “dormitory,” as Jesus says of Lazarus, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him” (Jn 11:11). The grave, then, can be understood as, on the one hand, the end of a person, or, on the other, as a site of transition.