In memoriam...

Homily by Fr. Sylvain Dansou Hounkpatin scj during the prayer vigil for Father Omer at St Bernard’s Church

A priest’s life is an invitation to the Hope of Jesus Christ which he announces as the God who comes into our lives to give them meaning, their real meaning. The Hope of that decisive meeting with God which he announces as he celebrates the mystery of the Risen Christ.

Why should we be astonished if God invites a priest at the prime of life to enter into the fullness of this Hope?

The knock at our door which the Lord has just struck may seem hard for us. Yet he warned us himself “Behold I stand at the door and knock”. If we are surprised it is because once more the Lord wants us to realise that our thoughts are not his thoughts, that our ways are not his ways. So we must dry up our human tears – too human perhaps – so that the dampness will not extinguish the flame of our faith. But a faith which wants to be true does not run away from questions.

Here we are before the coffin of a priest, that is of a man who heard God’s call, who answered “yes”, “here I am” to the Lord and who gave his life to announcing the Word of God in a world which has an ever greater need to hear the message. No sooner has this voice been heard than suddenly the silence of death extinguishes it just like the sea breeze extinguishes the flame which was lit with great difficulty

Here we are before the coffin of a young priest whose availability, zeal, gentleness, fervour and dedication promised a bright future. A young priest on whom our religious family was building so much hope and so many projects. And in a matter of a few hours the whole thing has collapsed like a house of cards.

We have to ask ourselves: Why? My God Why? Why has the Lord allowed this? Why was this his will? Why has the Lord done this? It is up to each one to put the intensity and force according to the measure of affection, friendship and fraternity..... In a word his relationship with Father Omer. For with him the well spring of generosity has suddenly dried up, a light has been extinguished. Things will never be the same again.

What are we crying about? Who are we weeping for? Why are we weeping? Who are we blaming? Men? What can they do against death when the inescapable hour has struck? “Fear not those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul” Jesus tells us.

Who are we blaming? God? If it is God, let us blame Him for giving us Omer in the first place, for calling him and bestowing on him the priceless grace of priesthood. Let us blame God for endowing Father Omer with all those qualities, talents and possibilities which won us over and which we admired. Then we will know that we owe God an immense song of gratitude.

Yes, we want to say “Thank you” to the Lord! Thank you for giving us Father Omer. Thank you for sending him to this life. Thank you for calling him to divine life by Baptism. Thank you for associating him to the priesthood of Christ. Thank you for letting us see in his generosity and dedication what Christ’s love for mankind means. Even if it only lasted a fraction of a second, we believe that it belongs to those things which have a beginning in time but know no ending because they are like the living water of which Jesus speaks in the Gospels. They are springs, springs gushing with eternal life.

Yes, Father Omer, we have brought your remains before the Lord because we believe that your life has not been destroyed, simply changed. We know before this altar where we often celebrated with you the sacrifice of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, that he who eats the flesh of the Risen Christ and drinks his blood has eternal life. During two years of your ministry it was here that you pronounced the Words of Eternal Life. It was here that you consecrated the Bread of Life, that you distributed this Bread, the Real Bread, which gives real Life. Why should we be feeling sorry for you; you have reached the goal which you had fixed for your life?

It was here that on 5th June 2010 Omer responded to Christ’s call, verified by the Bishop, “Here I am, send me out to proclaim the Gospel and to celebrate the sacraments in the footsteps of the Apostles”. Today, three years later, Omer lying before this altar says to Christ: “Accept me!” And we who are here beside him make our prayer to the Lord: “Accept him, Lord, with the same mercy as you showed him during his life time.”

We have no intention of making heavy weather of a life which is over and which we consider short, because our judgement is short. However his life has been much longer than what Christ spent on earth to win our salvation. Yes, we have no intention of making heavy weather of a life which seems like a shot. That was a sorry night Thursday 19th September- a tragic night. A phone call! We can’t understand what is happening. Or rather we end by understanding in depth that our lives are in God’s hands, that God calls us when he wants to, where he wants, and how he wants, and that finally the end of all true Christian prayer is to accept God’s will, even when it disturbs and mystifies us. What must have been the Way of the Cross of Fr Omer from the moment of his hospitalisation in Pisam? Did he, like Christ, say “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” What we are sure of is that his Way of the Cross led into eternal life.

On 17 December 1978 a child was born against whom death waged a terrible crime by depriving him of the person who had borne him in her womb – his beloved mother. Today the son will rest with the Father beside his mother. Dear relatives of Father Omer, dear Mr. Amedee Koutouan, we know what you mean to Father Omer and what he means for you. May the Lord himself wipe away your tears! May the memory of your son continue to live among you!

Finally, for you Omer I am going to repeat what I was saying to you on 12 October last when together with the parish community we were wishing you farewell for the one year’s formation at Mater Christi at Bobo Dioulasso: Today the parish community thanks God for the two years of fruitful ministry of our brother Omer, at the same time showing him the route for a new mission entrusted to him by the Congregation for the Lord.

“Brother Omer, for you marriage was the consecration of your life to God for ever; it was the total offering of your life for God’s mission; here too fidelity was demanded! As for you, after two years spent with the community of Adiapodoume as PP of St Bernard’s Parish, continuing to progress with Christ meant that you accepted to leave us for another mission. We know that for us Betharramite community and for the parishioners it was not without a twinge of sadness. But you accepted to go with the conviction that since it was God’s will, this change could only be beneficial for us (Betharramite religious, parishioners of St Bernard’s) and for you.

As you are about to leave Adiopodoume, your Anono, I thank God for the fact that you were the sacrament of the presence of Jesus Christ among us. With us and with all your heart you tried to share your own closeness to Christ and to bear witness to it as best you could. You helped us to discover and deepen how much Christ gives Himself to us to the utmost. You were sufficiently open and confident to urge us forward always to choose life. You gave us the meaning and helped us appreciate our daily and Sunday Eucharist to fortify our links to Christ who loves us with a great love.

May the Spirit of the Father and the Son who gathers us in a single body, make us grow in fraternal communion. May he help us to make of our lives gifts given for love”.

We are heartbroken but our Hope is not diminished. Our Hope is upright, facing the love of the Lord. He alone knows how to wipe away all tears; he alone makes us sow in tears, so that we can go out and reap as we sing.

It is with this expectation that we ask the Lord to welcome Omer, priest of Jesus Christ, Herald of his Word and witness to his love, to welcome him into the joy reserved for his faithful servants. May Mary, Mater Christi, Mother of Christ, alongside whom you progressed during this formation year, welcome you beside her Son to share henceforth the happiness of eternity.

Goodbye Omer, and may we meet again one day, God willing, in the house of God, our Father. Amen.