HOMILY OF THE BURIAL MASS OF THE LATE MRS. GEORGINA AFUA DETTY AND MRS HELEN YAA AGBOSEY
AT THE HOLY SPIRIT CATHEDRAL ON FRIDAY, 30th August, 2024
By Most Rev. John Kobina Louis
READINGS: 2 TIMOTHY 4:6-8 AND JOHN 11:17-27
SONG: “Yɛ wɔ fie bi wɔ sur hɔ” (Akan words which translate, “We have a home in heaven”)
INTRODUCTION
Beloved, on behalf of the priests, religious and all mourners gathered here, I wish to express our sincere condolences to the family of the late Mrs. Georgina Afua Detty and Mrs. Helen Yaa Agbosey.
The gospel reading of this funeral Mass was taken from John 11. This chapter of John’s Gospel tells us about the illness and death of Lazarus as well as the fact that Jesus Christ raised him up. In this homily, I wish to focus on three main lessons from this Gospel story:
- Friends of Jesus
- Living in Bethany
- Jesus is the resurrection and life
- FRIENDS OF JESUS
According to John 11, Jesus loved Lazarus and He called him His friend (cf. John 11:11). Indeed, the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, were also friends of Jesus. Like Lazarus and his sisters, Mrs. Georgina Detty and Mrs. Helen Yaa Agbosey were friends of Jesus. Their friendship with Jesus influenced their church life, family life, social life, professional life, etc. Born into the extended family which “produced” the first Ghanaian Catholic priest, the late Rev. Fr. Anastasius Dogli, in 1922, our two mothers were introduced to Jesus in their infancy through baptism.
Subsequently, their parents would nurture their relationship with Jesus while they provided for their physical, intellectual, socio-cultural and emotional developments. No wonder, Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen grew up with strong faith in Jesus which they, in turn, transmitted to their children, grandchildren and many others. They nurtured their friendship with Jesus further through charity, the Word of God, prayers, regularly participation in Holy Mass and other church activities.
Mrs. Georgina Detty
Mummy Georgina would become a member of the Sacred Heart Confraternity, St. Anthony Society and Catholic Charismatic Renewal of St. Kizito Parish, Nima. Because of her devotion to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, she was commissioned and she joyfully and piously served as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for many years. A Christian mother at heart, Mummy Georgina was a natural counsellor to many young people whom she brought closer to Jesus.
By the grace of God, I was a beneficiary of her good counsel. Forty years ago, during the long vacation of 1984, when I was about beginning my Upper Sixth Form Studies in St. Augustine’s College (Cape Coast), Mummy Georgina engaged me in a conversation which would change the course of my life. Until that fateful day, I was dreaming about becoming a civil engineer for which reason I pursued the GCE Advanced Level Science Programme with Mathematics as my elective subject.
Apparently, for the three years I was visiting her home, Mummy Georgina was observing me; and so she asked whether I intended to become a priest. When I responded, “No, Mummy!” she said to me: “Think about it and pray about it.” After two years of prayer and meditation, I concluded that the Lord was calling me to serve Him and His Church; and that He had spoken to me through Mummy Georgina, just as long ago, the priest Eli prompted the boy Samuel that God was calling him (cf. 1 Samuel 3:1-10).
Throughout my years in the seminary and even after my ordination as priest, Mummy Georgina accompanied me with motherly care and counselling. She was so happy that I have become a priest and always cherished me as a son. This is how she expressed it in her citation on the occasion of the silver jubilee of my priestly ordination in 2017: “you [are] the priest I always yearned to have in my family.”
Mrs. Helen Yaa Agbosey
After my ordination and appointment to Our Lady of Mercy Parish, which had St. Peter Catholic Church, at Tema New Town, as an outstation, Mama Helen who lived there would be concerned about my well-being.
Like her elder sister, Mama Helen expressed her close relationship with Jesus by being a devout Catholic. She was a devotee of the Holy Rosary, and she regularly attended weekday and Sunday Masses. She was passionate about her Catholic faith and would readily defend it. Later on when her family relocated to Lebanon – Ashaiman, she became an active member of St. Luke Parish. She served in various capacities in the church, including serving as a Parish Pastoral Council member. She was also an active member of the Christian Mothers’ Association, the Sacred Heart Confraternity and Friends of the SVD. She was also a patroness of the choir and various associations in the parish.
Beloved, the lives of Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen should inspire us to become true friends of Jesus in our church life, family life, social life, professional life, etc.
- LIVING IN BETHANY
According to John 11, Lazarus and his sisters, the friends of Jesus, lived in the village of Bethany. The name “Bethany” has a couple of meanings. For this homily, however, I wish to focus on only one meaning of Bethany, namely, “a house of afflictions/sufferings”.
Lazarus and his sisters did not only live in a village whose name was associated with afflictions, they actually suffered. As we know, Lazarus was seriously ill and he eventually died. Then, his death brought grief to his sisters. Like Lazarus and his sisters, Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen were friends of Jesus who experienced sufferings. For instance, both of them experienced serious lifelong challenges which they endured with admirable patience and faith in Jesus.
In addition, like Lazarus, both of them got seriously sick and eventually passed away only a few days apart. In the midst of so much suffering, Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen never wavered in faith. Rather, their faith in Jesus, their divine Friend, grew stronger. Thus, they could each say with St. Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).
Beloved, like Lazarus, his sisters and Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen, though we are friends of Jesus, we may sometimes have our “Bethany experience” – we may experience various kinds of sufferings including sickness, the loss of job, failure in exams or a venture, lack of marriage, childlessness in marriage, serious marital misunderstandings or quarrels, divorce, loss of dear ones, etc. Beloved, in all such Bethany moments, though the Lord may seem far away or unconcerned (cf. Jesus did not respond promptly to the news of the ailment of Lazarus), He would eventually turn our misfortunes into blessings, as He did for Lazarus and will do for Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen in the glory of Heaven. Let us, therefore, be constant in patience, steadfast in faith and unwavering in hope during our “Bethany experience”.
- JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE
Jesus entered Bethany, the house of sufferings, when the pain in the village was at its peak, on account of the death and burial of Lazarus. However, within a few hours, Jesus would turn the situation entirely around. He brought joy to the people and glory to God by raising Lazarus to life. Let us consider this story further:
- Lazarus had been buried for four days and so initially for Martha and Mary, Jesus had arrived late. They each said to Him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32). A further indication that for Martha, Jesus had arrived late could be seen from her response when He ordered that the stone at the entrance of the tomb be removed. She said: “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days” (John 11:39).
However, for Jesus, nothing is too late. Thus, He said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die will live” (John 11:25). By saying, “I am …” like His Father who said to Moses, “I am who I am”, Jesus alluded to His divinity. Furthermore, it meant that for Him, every time is in the present. That is, no time is past or late for Him, for He “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). He then demonstrated that nothing is too late for Him, by raising Lazarus back to life. So, for Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen and all of us who believe that Jesus is the resurrection and life, death is not a permanent “case closed” situation. Jesus is able to do something about our death. Though, He may not bring us back to this earthly life, He is able to resurrect us unto the everlasting happy life of heaven.
- As Jesus asked the people to remove the stone at the entrance of the tomb (cf. John 11:39), so He is asking us to take away any stone we might have place on the deaths of two mothers. It could be a stone of despair, of lingering doubts, of fears or of our sins. By hope in the resurrection, let us remove the stone of despair; by faith in Jesus, let us remove the stone of doubts; with confidence in Him, let us remove the stone of fears; and by repentance, may the stone of our sins be removed.
- To raise Lazarus up, Jesus cried out aloud: “Lazarus come out” (John 11:43). Fortunately, Lazarus was not the last person to benefit from a loud cry of Jesus. For on the cross of Calvary, Jesus made a loud cry that continues to benefit billions of people across all generations. He cried out: “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This cry of Jesus re-echoes in His Father’s ears anytime a friend of His dies. And as the repentant thief was favoured, so anytime the Heavenly Father hears this cry for forgiveness, departed friends of Jesus are freed from their sins and beaconed to enter into Paradise. So, may the Father beacon Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen into Paradise! Amen!
- When Lazarus came out of the tomb, his hands and feet were bound with strips of burial-cloth and his face was covered. So, Jesus instructed the people: “Untie him and let him go” (John 11:44). I see these strips of cloth as representing the outstanding penance of a departed soul. Therefore, while God frees a departed soul from his/her sins, we can help to untie the strips of cloth by celebrating Holy Mass and praying for him/her. Hence, through Holy Masses and our prayers, may Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen be fully untied to enter into Paradise! Amen!
CONCLUSION
Beloved, like Lazarus and his sisters, Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen lived as friends of Jesus and in Bethany, the house of afflictions. However, our two mothers trusted in Jesus as their resurrection and life. So, as God frees them from sin and beacons them to Paradise, let us remove the tomb-stone of despair, doubts, fears or sin, and untie them of their burial-cloths by our prayers and Holy Masses. Eventually, then, may Mummy Georgina and Mama Helen receive “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge” (2 Tim. 4:8) has prepared for them! Amen!
