FUNERAL MASS OF BR. JOHN ABELA OFM – HOMILY
During the funeral Mass of Br. John Abela, celebrated in the Church of Santa Maria Mediatrice on 20 December, the Minister General OFM, Br. José Rodríguez Carballo ofm, pronounced the following homily.
Homily for the Funeral of Br. John Abela.
Rome, Church of Santa Maria Mediatrice, 20 December 2010.
Is 7:10-14; Ps 23; Lk 1:26-38
Most dear brothers and sisters. May the Lord give you peace!
A few days before the celebration of the Birth of the Son of God and our Brother, the Lord of life has visited us, once again, in the life of our Fraternity of the General Curia OFM, to take with him one of our brothers, a dear brother to all of us: Br. John Abela, who was born in Malta in 1954, entered the Order of Friars Minor in 1971 and was ordained priest in 1979.
During the days of his illness we prayed intensely for him, asking for a miracle through the intercession of Blessed John XXIII. The miracle did not occur, at least not according to our expectations and desires. But if we think in a right way, we should say that, even though the Lord did not grant us what we asked and desired with our whole heart, namely the healing of our brother, He had already worked for us a greater miracle, giving us a good and generous brother.
Br. John, in fact, has been all this for all of us! I had known him in 1974, when he arrived in Jerusalem to study theology at the Franciscan house of studies in Jerusalem, where I had been since the preceding year. In 1978 we said goodbye. He returned to Malta and I went back to Spain. But in 1997 Providence reunited our paths once again: both of us were called to serve the Order in our General Curia, John in the Communications Office of the Order and I as a General Definitor. We spent many years together. We knew one another and loved one another as brothers. For me, on Sunday 19 December at 9.30 am, I lost a brother, a companion of studies and of life. Since I had known him, in fact, I always maintained a close relationship and a fraternal friendship with Br. John. I never thought that I would be the one to carry out this very sad duty, a duty of Christian charity and Franciscan fraternity: that is, to consign Br. John into the hands of God.
Because of the closeness and friendship that united me with Br. John, I can say that he was a good person, profoundly human, with a generous heart and an amiable character. He was a Friar Minor who loved his Franciscan vocation; he was a man who had discovered the “grace” of work; he was an able professional who had a thorough knowledge of the service that had been placed into his hands by obedience, namely the art of communication. He was a brother who was always ready to help, without taking notice of time-tables or of the conditions in which people would request him to give the most varied services, not thinking much about himself, but always keeping others in mind. Even though he was very free in manifesting what he thought about Franciscan life, and these thoughts were not always shared by those who listened to him, he always did so moved by love towards this family. This is the way he felt about the Franciscan Order and his beloved Province of Malta: that of one family. One could feel this love, indeed one could almost touch it; that is why people would listen to him willingly and would respect his way of thinking. In the life of Br. John there were, besides, two other great areas where he centred his love: love towards the Holy Land and love towards his family, particularly towards his mother and blood brother. He dedicated many of his energies in favour of the Holy Land, guiding pilgrims, coordinating courses of ongoing formation for the Friars, and participating actively in the excavations in Jordan, under the leadership of his great friend and teacher, Br. Michele Piccirillo, who also died more than one year ago. He thought constantly about his family, even when he was in hospital, and wanted to avoid causing any kind of suffering, particularly to his mother.
In the Gospel that the Church presents to us in this day close to Christmas, Mary, the Virgin Mother, face to face with the mystery of God, asks: how is it possible? I confess that the same question has come to my mind many a time in similar circumstances, that is, whenever the Lord calls to himself a beloved person or a dear brother or friend, especially if that person is young like Br. John. I have also asked this question, particularly when my mother, who was also young, died; when Br. Antonio Franjic and Br. Sean Collins, respectively Vicar General and Secretary General of the Order, died during the preceding sexennium. The answer has always been the same: my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts (Is 55:8-9). And again: these persons are mine and I want that where I am they also will be (cf. Jn 17:24). Yes, brothers and sisters, our ways and thoughts do not always coincide with those of the Lord. On the other hand, we belong to the Lord: it is He who created us and we are His (Ps 100:3). Here we are on a journey, pilgrims and strangers, as our father Saint Francis writes in the Rule (Rb 6:2). Our permanent home lies alongside the Father of mercies (2Cor 1:3). This is why we should be prepared at all times (cf. Mt 24:44): the Lord can arrive in the morning, at noon or in the evening of our life. All this comes to our mind when we reflect on the death of our brother John, who according to our calculations, was still too young to go away, or better still, to be called. Truly, His thoughts are not our thoughts. Ours is a time to be vigilant, trusting that the Lord will come to save us. This does not exclude the commitment to render the fruit of the talents with which the Lord has endowed us (cf. Mt 25:14).
Brothers and sisters, the liturgical season of Advent, which we will shortly conclude, prepares us to celebrate the memorial of the first Christmas of the Lord, but also of the final coming of our Saviour and of our definite encounter with Him through sister death. May He find us ready, as Mary was when the Angel visited Her, so that with Her we can say: Behold, I am ready. May the Lord, who is the key to the house of David, open for us at that moment the doors of the Kingdom of heaven. May He come to free us from the darkness of sin, as we pray today in the great antiphon. May the Lord, who knows that our years are over like a sigh, teach us to count our days in order to come to have a heart of wisdom (cf. Ps 89).
Br. John died on the day when the liturgy proposed as a central personage the figure of Joseph, husband of Mary. Like every Maltese who is born in Rabat, and grows up close to the Church of Saint Joseph, Br. John also nurtured a profound devotion to the legal father of Jesus, who is the patron of the Universal Church and of a good death. To the Father of mercies, to Mary and Joseph, we recommend our brother John Abela. We consign our brother into the hands of the Lord, to whom belongs the earth and all who dwell in it (Ps 23), so that he can go up to the mountain of the Lord (cf. Ps 23) in order to rest in his peace. Making use of the words of the Canticle of Canticles, we can say that for Br. John, after a very difficult illness, the winter has now passed and the rain is gone, and the time for singing has returned. For him, in the midst of winter, is born the eternal spring where the voice of the turtledove will not cease to be heard (cf. Cant 2:8ss).
Dear John, brother, companion and friend, with profound sadness, but with an inexpressible trust in the Lord who loved you and called you to be part of our Franciscan Family, I and all of us here tell you: Happy Christmas in the House of the Father. Pray for us, while we pray for you. A loving embrace from all of us.
Br. José Rodriguez Carballo ofm, Minister General OFM.
(translated into English by Fr. Noel Muscat OFM)