HOMILY BY REV MSGR. CLETUS TANIMU GOTAN AT THE FUNERAL MASS FOR THE LATE MRS SAFIRATU DWAKNAAN FOMWUL AT THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, ZARAMAGANDA ON FRIDAY 9, JUNE 2017

Job 19.1, 23-27; Rom 14;7-9, 10-12; Lk 24:35-

It is with sorrow that we assemble here, in this church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception this morning, to entrust our sister Lady Safiratu Dwaknaan Fomwul LSM into the "hand of God" (Wisdom 3:1). Although, saying goodbye is always the most difficult thing to do, we do so this morning, finding comfort in the fact that it is into the Lord's hand that we commend her, knowing by faith that death is not the end. We all know that we are all on pilgrimage to the Lord's house to which our sister has gone ahead before us. While she is no longer with us serving our community of faith, she is in a position to be a powerful intercessor for us. We are deeply saddened by the sudden way Safiratu has passed from us and it is difficult to let her go for a time.  Yes, we feel all of the normal human emotions that come to us when someone so close to us and whom we love so much dies.  But we are privileged to be able to gather together as her family and friends to pray for her and for ourselves and to offer this Eucharist, a word which means "Thanksgiving", thanking God for the gift of the life of Safiratu Fomwul.

To you, Sir Joseph Fomwul, the members of your family and friends, I extend the loving prayers and sympathy of all of us here and those of the
entire parishioners of Kanagang and CIC. May the presence of Christ and of his Church lift you up and give you comfort and peace. The death of Safiratu, your wife, no doubt leaves a void in your family, in the Church, and in the whole community.  Many will feel her loss keenly because of her person, her unique gifts and her role in the community.  We entrust her good and gracious soul to God confident that she will know new life, eternal life in Christ. May she rest in perfect pace.

Our sorrow is comparable to that of the two Emmaus bound disciples of the Gospel, who soon after the death of Jesus were plunged into a terrible gloom: their dreams about Jesus being the long-awaited Messiah was reduced to rubble. Now the journey of the two disciples leaving Jerusalem, the city of Peace, to Emmaus was not a joyful one. They left Jerusalem, the city of peace in utter confusion, their faith had grown cold just as ours over the death of Safiratu and they needed some warmth. Disappointed that their expected (political) Messiah suffered humiliation, died a shameful death, and the years of following Him had been fruitless, the two disciples travelling to Emmaus could not recognize the risen Lord. At best they took Him to be a stranger. Can you imagine that: their own Master, whom they had travelled several times with, whose miracles they had witnessed, whose voice they had heard several times as He preached, and with whom they had eaten and drunk, was now a stranger to them! They could not even recognize His voice! What could have caused this? It is the lack of faith in the power of the Lord to rise from the dead that made the two disciples feel that the crucifixion of Jesus was the end of their Messiah; and so the message of the empty tomb was a mere fairy tale to them. In short, for the two disciples, the journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus was one of disappointment, dis-belief (unbelief), and despair (3 D's). The resurrection of Jesus made no impact on their lives.

When someone close to us, when someone whom we loved so much, when someone who meant so much to us dies, we are deeply shaken and our heart is as troubled as that of the disciples and we begin to question everything. What is life? Why is death? Where is God? Is God no longer concerned about us or what have we done to merit this? All these questions rise out of our inability to cope up with death. It is in this context that the Gospel of St John always comes alive and gives meaning to our death and the separation we feel. Far from the thought that God abandons and does not care for us in such circumstances, the Gospel account of the raising of Lazarus, the beloved disciple shows us that even in such sorrows God does care for us. The passage of the raising of Lazarus mentions three times that Jesus loved Lazarus. The first time is when Martha and Mary sent to Jesus, and they said: "Lord, the one whom you love is sick."  The second time is when Jesus hears the news, and St. John notes: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." And the final time is when Jesus wept: "So the Jews said: 'See how He loved him!"

St. John saw the need to constantly draw our attention to the simple fact of Jesus's love for one who has died and His love for those who are close to Him. In the face of death, in the face of our own death and the death of those who are close to us, we need to be reassured that God still loves us, especially since His love is revealed in actions which we often misunderstand as indifference.

St. John says, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. But when He heard that he was sick, He remained for two days in the place where He was." Why would Jesus do such a thing? Why would one who loved Lazarus delay in coming? Why is that an expression of His love? This certainly must have been in the hearts of Martha and Mary when each said, in turn, to the Lord: "Lord, if you had only been here, my brother would not have died!"

The truth is that Jesus could have prevented the death of Lazarus even without being there bodily, as He did with the son of the centurion. Yet Martha and Mary desired the consolation of His sensible presence, thinking that their brother died because He Who is present everywhere by His divinity had not been present there by His humanity. They were in error.  God wants us to trust Him completely, even - and especially - when we do not sense His presence, even when it seems that He is not with us. Jesus once told St. Catherine of Siena, "Nothing you have done, nothing you are doing, and nothing you will do pleases me as much as when you believe that I love you." The culminating moment of this trust is the moment of our death, and in that moment, we need to trust that Jesus loves us. This trust at the moment of our death is simply another name for the grace of final perseverance.

Since God permits even death as an expression of His love for us - as a manifestation of His love for us when we die - then it follows that we ought to thank God even as we come to mourn the death of one so dear to us. Now is the time to thank Him.  We ought to thank God first of all for the blessings He has bestowed upon each one of us through the life of Safiratu.  But the time comes for all of us to return home to our Father, who made us, and so we ought to thank God also for her return.

We no doubt see things happening in the church or in our world the way they should not. That is not time to blame God for abandoning us to our own whims and caprices. No, God is always with us. It is rather a time for serious soul searching, a time for us as individuals and as a church to ask ourselves: Where did we miss it? How can we get back on God's track? What is God saying to us in these events and crises? We should not let our hearts be troubled. We believe in God, let us now believe in men and women made in the image and likeness of God.

Even when bad things happen to us, more often than not they are for our own good. I recall the story of an only survivor of a shipwreck who was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him.  Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?' Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you come to know I was here he asked. They said we saw the signal of fire smoke you sent and came here to rescue you. The very thing he blamed God for was an instrument to rescue him.  It's easy to get discouraged when things go bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning.  It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

While Nigeria as a nation is lucky that an overwhelming majority of her population are adherents of either Christianity or Islam, two main religions, whose teaching highlight peace with God and righteousness, fairness and justice in our dealings with each other, the need for a proper management of the worldly good, sharing of such worldly goods with the less privileged, honesty in our dealings with each other, many of us are religious only in name.

A visitor to Nigeria will be astonished at the apparent religiosity of Nigerians. Going through the streets of many Nigerian towns, he will encounter signposts depicting the existence of different Christian Churches, and mosques of various sizes and shapes. Should he spend the night in any big city, he will be frightened by the shouts of alleluias and calls for prayers from Mosques warning from loud – speakers that rend the stillness of the early morning air and leading to the instantaneous conclusion that Nigerians are religiously addicted.  But how come we cannot stay in peace with our neighbours? How do we account for the sorts of destructive crimes, ranging from looting of public funds to election rigging, inflation of contract fees, assassination of political opponents, cheating in market places, receiving salaries for work not done, extortion of fellow brothers and sisters and all forms of other crimes that portray  man's inhumanity to man? The name of religion in Nigeria, has been turned into a legitimate weapon where lives have been lost, places of worship desecrated and razed and whole populations and towns sacked.

While religion should help break down barriers, demolish walls erected by ethnic or regional prejudices and help us to welcome each other as brothers and sisters, foster peace, stamp out violence and ensure orderliness and brotherliness in different parts of Nigeria, today misunderstanding based on religious, ethnic or economic reasons causes us a lot of drawback. Today, our youth from the South East and the Niger Delta area and arewa group are threatening to violence and secession, they are issuing threats and ultimatum to others to leave their regions. I however, see ordinary Nigerians living peacefully and doing business together and yet these others who have access to electronic publishing and social media and these others who are pseudo elites who are cocooned in their ethnic or religious enclaves, who have lived and survived on our differences fanning the embers of disunity because they are far away from the struggles of everyday people who want to live and let live. I pray the Almighty to give voice to this people toiling everyday just to make ends meets to find the strength to take over their destiny and make a real change by uniting us in our diversity which should be a source of strength!

My dear friends, it is at a time such as this that we miss the dedicated and simple life of faith, service, generous dispositions and life of sacrifice for others, and in short the seriousness with which the likes of Mrs Fomwul faced their Christian religion.  This was an ordinary and simple woman, a lady of St Murumba and a dedicated member of the CWO whose departure seems as if the sky above our community has collapsed and many of us feel somewhat diminished and even orphaned. We must realize that the life of Lady Safiratu and her likes are exemplary not because they did extraordinary things but because they did those simple things of life extraordinarily.  They trained their children for life and for God and simply played the role of parents. Such people are a blessing to the world they lived in and I wonder how many more we have around. Every funeral calls upon us to concentrate in life more on who we are than on what we have.  Yes we Nigerians may be well known for our religious fervor, but we are also better known for our crass but elusive quest for wealth, power, status and significance. Our presence at this funeral should be a wake up call, and the coffin before us here another divine teaching aid that one day all this years of corruption and abuse of office will end. As for the revival of our values and reorganization of priorities, our vocal denunciation must be accompanied by action because:

It is not enough to lament that our society is sick, that bribery and corruption are acquiring rights of citizenship, and that armed robbery and high scale dishonesty are becoming a threat to social life. It is necessary for the godly ones among us to take particular steps to change the situation... to jump into the arena of social life, take mature initiative and strive to infuse a godly spirit into the market, police, civil service, government, scholarship Board, court, school, hospital, customs office, etc.

The death of Safiratu reminds me of the story of one Tom Smith who, at the point of death, called his children and advised them to follow his footsteps so that they can have peace of mind in all that they do..  His daughter, Sara, said, "Daddy, its unfortunate you are dying without a penny in your bank.. Other fathers' that you tag as being corrupt, thieves of public funds left houses and properties for their children; even this house we live in is a rented apartment.. Sorry, I can't emulate you, just go, let's chart our own course..  Few moments later, their father gave up the spirit.

Three years later, Sara went for an interview in a multinational company.. At interview the Chairman of the committee asked, "Which Smith are you...?"  Sara replied, "I am Sara Smith. My Dad Tom Smith is now late.."  Chairman cuts in, "O my God, you are Tom Smith's daughter..?"  He turned to the  other members and said, "This Smith man was the one that signed my membership form into the Institute of Administrators and his recommendation earned me where I am today. He did all these free. I didn't even know his address, he never knew me. He just did it for me.." He turned to Sara, "I have no questions for you, consider yourself as having gotten this job, come tomorrow, your letter will be waiting for you.."  Sara Smith became the Corporate Affairs Manager of the company with two Cars with Drivers, A duplex attached to the office, and a salary of £1,000,000 per month excluding allowances and other costs..

After two years of working in the company, the MD of the company came from America to announce his intention to resign and needed a replacement. A personality with high integrity was sought after, again the company's Consultant nominated Sara Smith..  In an interview, she was asked the secret of her success. With tears, she replied, "My Daddy paved these ways for me. It was after he died that I knew that he was financially poor but stinkingly rich in integrity, discipline and honesty".  She was asked again, why she is weeping since she is no longer a kid as to miss her dad still after a long time.  She replied, "At the point of death, I insulted my dad for being an honest man of integrity. I hope he will forgive me in his grave now. I didn't work for all these, he did it for me to just walk in".

So, finally she was asked, "Will you follow your father's foot steps as he requested?"  And her simple answer was, "l now adore the man, I have a big picture of him in my living room and at the entrance of my house. He deserves whatever I have after God".  My dear brothers and sisters, Are you like Tom Smith. It pays to build a name, the reward may not come quickly but it will come however long it may take and it lasts longer.  Integrity, discipline, self-control and fear of God makes a man wealthy, not the fat bank account.  Leave a good heritage for your children.

I would like to conclude my homily this morning with a prayer, which is close to my heart, which I would like to give to you today.  Cardinal Terence Cooke composed it.  It is a prayer I love and often pray on the occasion of the death of one who is close to me in thanksgiving to God for the gift of their life here and hereafter.  May these words of hope serve as a fond and collective farewell from all of us to Safiratu until we see her again?

We seem to give Safiratu back to you O God who first gave her to us, yet as you did not lose her in giving her to us so do we not lose her by her return to you.  For, not as the world gives do you give.  And, what you give you do not take away, for what is yours is ours also if we are yours.  And, life is eternal and love is immortal and death is only a horizon and a horizon is nothing except the limit of our sight.  So, lift us up strong Son of God that we may see further.  Remove the scales from our eyes that we may see more clearly, draw us ever closer to you that we may know ourselves to be nearer to Safiratu and all of our loved ones who are now with you.  And, while you prepare a place for us, prepare us also for that happy place that where you are we may also be forever.  Amen