The Day of Raphael's Burial, the Ninth Night of Novena- The Night of Glory
/“You are not here to find love, nor to be greeted by happiness at every turn, nor to be showered with kindness, nor to be appreciated by all, nor to forever remain a child.
You came here to create love out of war, by God’s grace.
Your soul eternal soul was created and placed into a stifling frame of bone, blood and flesh.
Only here can inner strength be forged by pain, can wisdom be nurtured by failure, can love be the reward of those who choose to give love.
Your soul struggles with the bitter things of life to know the sweetness of inner joy.
There is no river of love that runs as deep as the love forged through a battle of the heart, no strength as powerful as that wrestled from the hands of evil through defiant resolve, no wisdom as that gained by stumbling in darkness, standing up again, stumbling and walking again, and again.
All that is good, all that has meaning, can be yours by your striving shorn up by with God’s Mercy."
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
i don't have my own children, but I am called Father
and I know like many priests that I have been father to many.
Raphael by his own testimony was bound to be a gang leader.
It could not be avoided where he was born and grew up.
i started working as a priest-physician in his marginalized neighborhood, with Mother Theresa's Brothers, in 1999
when he was 17 years old.
He was searching for something else for his life, other than being condemned to crime.
He started to work with me, with us.
For 25 years he worked at my side, dying at 42 years old.
He became very skilled in medical care, disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, covid and cholera.
He was good hearted and loyal and a lot of fun. I loved him like a brother, like a son.
I brought him and many others into my world- you knew him and have known many.
With many others we ran a peace marathon in Bethlehem, we raised money in Italy, Spain, Germany,
we visited Africa and India.
He brought me into his world too, in a priveleged way.
As Haiti became more and more violent, many times I tried to convince Raphael to take his children to USA and stay there with them.
He did not want to leave Haiti.
But he especially did not want to leave Haiti if I was staying here.
He made it a point to protect me. I made it a point to protect him.
He told me he would not leave me alone if I stayed in Haiti.
Yet I would also never leave him alone with the dirty and dangerous work.
I went with him every time, in dangerous turf, to free kidnapped people, to rescue the injured, to try to broker peace.
Haiti is so violent, his work is no dangerous.
We have picked up so many dead on the streets together, to get them away from dogs and pigs that eat them, to bury them.
Bodies that had been smashed, beaten, dismembered, shot in the face, burned.
For many of these we could only pick them up with a shovel.
I was always afraid I would get a call one day that Raphael was killed a brutal way.
that only with a shovel would I be able to pick him up.
When he died of a stroke in the hospital he helped build and with me at his side,
I was so very grateful for the way Raphael died.
A good death, if one has to die.
Fast and peaceful.
When we then travelled through violent gangs to visit his mother in the Province,
we passed through with no problem because they were also grieving Raphael for all his humanitarian work in their areas,
They guaranteed us safe passage.
I drank bitter coffee with his mother, which is a tradition in the mountains when one is mourning.
Her name is Fifi, and she said to me she was so very glad of how Raphael died. She was afraid also of what I was afraid of. That he would die a violent death.
She is so grateful that he died with my holding his arm, with many of us around him, in a hospital he helped build and where he worked with such heroism in every disaster.
I could not describe what happened to many of as he left this world, as I held his arm.
So very peacefully.
The best way I can describe it is, many lost a true father, many lost a cherished brother, everyone lost a treasured friend, and like Fifi, I lost a beloved son.
“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
“Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.” (John 11:10)
Please click to listen
++++++++++++++++++++
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”\
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life."
Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children."
(Revelations 21:1-27)
Click to Listen
++++++++
May the soul of Raphael Louigene, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the great mercy of God, rest in peace. AMEN
Click to listen
