BOMAI D WITNE
I accompanied my Parish Priest Fr Michele and a catechist to celebrate mass for the gift of life of a two days old infant who passed away.
Four girls stood at one of the side doors of Mary Help of Christian church at Kefamo last Saturday and pointed at Fr Michele. The oldest girl had lost her infant brother. She was too young to feel grief so behaved normally like her peers.
Her father made arrangement with Fr Michele to have a funeral mass in his makeshift haus-krai at Tais, about a kilometer from Kefamo Catholic church.
The parents of the deceased were from Simbu Province and had been renting a piece of land to build a house and settle on to find their share of goodies in Goroka town.
I recognised the father of the deceased because he attended church on some Sundays. The mother, the four girls and the relatives were all new to me.
While Fr Michele got into his priestly clothes, I hugged the parents of the deceased and shook hands with everyone at the kaus krai. Joseph, our catechist, did the same. The family prepared an altar and put the coffin in front.
Fr Michelle served mass for the family and assured the family that their child was God’s child who shared its life with the parents and the rest of the family members for two days and was recalled by God to his Kingdom where it would have eternal life.
The joy of having the child for two days is a revelation of God’s love. The sadness after is God’s mystery.
In blessing the coffin, Fr Michelle said the candle and water are symbols that mark eternal life and encouraged the family to remember them and pray for their child.
After the mass, I passed condolences of the parishioners to the parents and the relatives of the infant and encouraged them to use the gathering to learn and prepare their own lives in prayer and communion in the church.
There are so many churches that these people can choose to be part of to prepare their lives for after death.
The father of the deceased was thankful to Fr Michelle and catechist for turning up for the funeral mass and the Tais community that gathered burst into tears.