HOMILY AT THE MASS CELEBRATING THE RETURN OF BABY ANGEL VIOLA BAPTISTA TO GOD...
My dear friends
We have come not to bury or mourn Angel but to rejoice at her resurrection - at her going back to the Father from whom she came to spend some time among us....We chose very short readings - not just because Angel is very tiny but also because we want to leave out the dross and remind ourselves that God wants us to be saved - to be with Him....eternally....Jesus brought us that message clearly in the Gospel.
For our reflection today let us go back to etymology....What does the name of our baby Angel mean? God will perhaps lead us through this reflection....
Interestingly the Hebrew and Greek words for angel - 'malakh' and 'angelos' do not signify a name as much as a function. Angel referred to a mission, a message that had to be delivered....
What was the message that Angel came to give us? Many messages to diverse people....
To the doctors and the nursing staff she was a bundle of joy - they enjoyed playing with her....of course she reserved her best smiles and cries for her mum....how she wished she could spend more time in her arms but her infection did not permit that...God had his message and he would deliver it in his way and in his time...Of course another message she reminds us is that medicine is not omnipotent - try as much as we could we had to admit that we were helpless in the face of her infection....He is in control - We do what we can - Then we surrender - He knows best....
To her parents she taught so much - she brought out an inner strength to love in the face of pain, to care despite ones tears, to hope against hope and to go to any lengths to care for someone who is weak....Dear Nancy and Dickie - God could not have chosen better parents than the two of you for Angel - believe me he must have said to himself: I have got this precious person and I need to make sure that for her 26 days she has the best carers - God chose you....I know that God chose well.....
To her family she brought hope and joy tinged of course with pain and worry....they longed to see her well - they prayed and hoped that she would soon be among them, that they would be able to hug and kiss her, to play with her.....they wept when the crises in her health came...I say crises because in her 26 days Angel went through several crises and each time she came through...
To many others she came with the message that prayer is always wonderful - prayer is asking, hoping and then accepting what God has in store....some of us ask "Hey God don't you care that we prayed - why did you let us down?" And Angel came with the message that "God knows best - let Him control things - they will work out well and for our good! See how much I am now enjoying peace and serenity after all my pain and suffering!"
Each of us will now have to mull over the message Angel brought us - take it to heart - live it out and then say "Thanks Angel" "Thank you God our Loving Father"
I want to end with what Jaden her doting brother - who always wanted to play with her and see her - told his aunt yesterday after they made a visit to "pray to the Infant Jesus" in Nashik Road....He said: "God says Angel will be proper!" Of course we interpreted it as meaning that she would get well - but we know in faith that Angel is now "proper" without tubes, without trasfusions, without medicine, without respirator and glucose monitors, without heart and pulse controls, without an antiseptic environment - where she can now be hugged and kissed as so many of her family longed to do....God is doing it today and will do it for eternity....and all of us will be able to do it when we reach Heaven....
Till then we reflect on the message that God has for us and that he sent us through Angel...Peace...
We have come not to bury or mourn Angel but to rejoice at her resurrection - at her going back to the Father from whom she came to spend some time among us....We chose very short readings - not just because Angel is very tiny but also because we want to leave out the dross and remind ourselves that God wants us to be saved - to be with Him....eternally....Jesus brought us that message clearly in the Gospel.
For our reflection today let us go back to etymology....What does the name of our baby Angel mean? God will perhaps lead us through this reflection....
Interestingly the Hebrew and Greek words for angel - 'malakh' and 'angelos' do not signify a name as much as a function. Angel referred to a mission, a message that had to be delivered....
What was the message that Angel came to give us? Many messages to diverse people....
To the doctors and the nursing staff she was a bundle of joy - they enjoyed playing with her....of course she reserved her best smiles and cries for her mum....how she wished she could spend more time in her arms but her infection did not permit that...God had his message and he would deliver it in his way and in his time...Of course another message she reminds us is that medicine is not omnipotent - try as much as we could we had to admit that we were helpless in the face of her infection....He is in control - We do what we can - Then we surrender - He knows best....
To her parents she taught so much - she brought out an inner strength to love in the face of pain, to care despite ones tears, to hope against hope and to go to any lengths to care for someone who is weak....Dear Nancy and Dickie - God could not have chosen better parents than the two of you for Angel - believe me he must have said to himself: I have got this precious person and I need to make sure that for her 26 days she has the best carers - God chose you....I know that God chose well.....
To her family she brought hope and joy tinged of course with pain and worry....they longed to see her well - they prayed and hoped that she would soon be among them, that they would be able to hug and kiss her, to play with her.....they wept when the crises in her health came...I say crises because in her 26 days Angel went through several crises and each time she came through...
To many others she came with the message that prayer is always wonderful - prayer is asking, hoping and then accepting what God has in store....some of us ask "Hey God don't you care that we prayed - why did you let us down?" And Angel came with the message that "God knows best - let Him control things - they will work out well and for our good! See how much I am now enjoying peace and serenity after all my pain and suffering!"
Each of us will now have to mull over the message Angel brought us - take it to heart - live it out and then say "Thanks Angel" "Thank you God our Loving Father"
I want to end with what Jaden her doting brother - who always wanted to play with her and see her - told his aunt yesterday after they made a visit to "pray to the Infant Jesus" in Nashik Road....He said: "God says Angel will be proper!" Of course we interpreted it as meaning that she would get well - but we know in faith that Angel is now "proper" without tubes, without trasfusions, without medicine, without respirator and glucose monitors, without heart and pulse controls, without an antiseptic environment - where she can now be hugged and kissed as so many of her family longed to do....God is doing it today and will do it for eternity....and all of us will be able to do it when we reach Heaven....
Till then we reflect on the message that God has for us and that he sent us through Angel...Peace...
(Baby Angel Viola Baptista, daughter of Nancy and Dickie Baptista, sister of Jaden Baptista was born 15 May 2008. Born premature with serious health complications she never left the hospital living 26 days. The above is the text of the homily that was to be given at her mass of resurrection. Of coursre it was never given because the preacher kept breaking down during the mass. It is published here as a tribute to the joy and hope that Angel brought to people in her short life.)
