|
Funeral of Jean-Marie Chuvi Adubangho
Manila, May 24, 2014
Homily, by Fr. Bernard Holzer, A.A.
Provincial’s delegate for the Philippines and the Superior General’s delegate for Asia
Fr. Jean-Marie Chuvi: Brother, Friend, Missionary, Pastor, True Assumptionist
Romans 14: 7-9, 10b-12
John 12: 23-28
Lord, why?
Why the loss of this religious and priest in the prime of his life?
Why this loss that cripples a young and fragile mission?
Brothers and sisters,
Let us revisit the Scriptures at that moment when Jesus was walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, after his death on the Cross.
On the day Fr. Jean-Marie Chuvi died, this past May 20, we read in the Acts of the Apostles: « Paul and Barnabas put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith, saying, 'We must all experience many hardships before we enter the kingdom of God’. »
During this Easter season, this same book of the Acts of the Apostles constantly reminds us that the Holy Spirit is guiding the community of believers. Today we do not understand our loss. Let us accept that we don’t understand and let us put ourselves in God’s hands. Tomorrow we will understand…
However, already today the gospel we read gives us a key: «Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.»
Jean-Marie Chuvi was a wonderful gift from God for all of us : a brother, a missionary, a priest and a pastor, an Assumptionist.
A brother and a friend
Chuvi was a man who loved community, a man of peace, communion, and harmony, easy to live with. To my knowledge, he never hurt anyone. For him, who was always smiling and roaring with laughter, there was no problem that was insurmountable. «The first time I met him », Fr. Duy from Vietnam told us, «I thought I was in the presence of a smiling Buddha». «He presented the joyful face of life in community», writes Fr. Miguel Diaz (Provincial).
He was a friend in the Augustinian tradition, a friend living with other friends seeking God together.
One of the first religious to join the Assumptionists in the Congo who was not from the Nande tribe, he was loved by all in Butembo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), in Nairobi (Kenya), in Arusha (Tanzania) and in the Philippines.
Here he was a friend and a brother for all of his brothers and sisters from Africa. Six months ago he was elected president of the Association of Congolese of the Philippines. Many of them are here this morning having spent the whole night in vigil, in the African tradition, caressing him with their music and their chants.
Monday evening at the hospital, as I was leaving him, I prayed him rest a little and have a good night. His answer came clearly through his breathing mask: «You too need to rest… » Always thinking of others. These were his last words….
A missionary
Chuvi was a missionary at heart.
He was gifted for languages. In addition to Alur, his mother tongue, he learned Lingala, the language of his province (Province Orientale), French, and then Swahili. He understood Kinande. Later he would learn English when it came time to do his theology in Nairobi, at Hekima College… and finally Tagalog.
After his ordination he was named to the Assumptionist parish of Kijenge in Arusha (Tanzania). He was pastor there for six years. He was greatly responsible for the implantation of the Assumption in Tanzania and East Africa in general.
Chuvi became one of the five founders of the Filipino mission. He was the first to arrive here ….. and he is the first to die here…
Wherever he went, he adapted, with ease. In Tanzania, when it came time to leave for the Philippines, the Masai gave him a chief’s staff. He was at home everywhere.
His mission in the Philippines is a love story.
He came here, at first, for a three-year term, secretly hoping in his heart that he would be able to do studies.
The three years passed by and it came time for a new contract : this time three years to study and three years afterward for various ministries.
In March 2011, he received his master’s degree at Regina Carmeli University in Malolos, writing a dissertation entitled : «The Religious Understanding, Beliefs, and Practices of Believers in Daan Tubo. In view of a Catechetical Journey» (Daan Tubo is a poor neighborhood of our parish).
During this time Chuvi fell in love with these people and with this Church. This country became his country.
Already ill in Nairobi, before returning to Manila after two months of vacation with his family, thinking that he was suffering from a recurrence of dengue fever (which he had already contracted twice before), he said to his brothers there: «I have to go back home to my brothers. They’ll know how to take care of me» … but he was suffering in fact from cerebral malaria… that he could have had treated effectively in Nairobi.
« I have to go back home… »
A priest and a pastor
Chuvi was at ease everywhere, welcoming everyone, especially the poor….those from Marikina, Marytown, Daan Tubo, Escopa. These past few days I was deeply touched to see young people from poor neighborhoods and the young blind crying hard by his coffin. Chuvi in the midst of the forgotten and the neglected, like Jesus his model.
He was always ready to go say a Mass, to hear confessions, to comfort the sick, to give a retreat. He knew how to tell stories … and with such humor. And always with a smile and laughter. How many times did I not hear the last few days: «He was such a good priest»! Last Monday, the only day he was conscious, he kept saying to us: «I have to get up to say Mass at Escopa… »
Chuvi, a man of the Eucharist and the sacraments to the end.
A true Assumptionist
Chuvi was a « a man of faith, a man of communion, in solidarity with the poor and the least among us», as the last general chapter defined a true Assumptionist. He knew how to forge bonds: just look at this congregation this morning --- an image of the universal Church, lay-people, men and women religious, priests…from every continent! He was a member of the Peace and Justice Committee of the Augustinian Family with whom he went twice to Tacloban to set up projects to help families there, victims of typhoon ‘Yolanda’.
Chuvi was generous and selfless. He loved the Assumption which became his second family. During his latest vacation, he visited as many of the communities as he could to share with them his life, what he had discovered in the Philippines, and his passion for the mission.
«Yesterday I broke down in tears,» wrote Fr. Protais Kabila, the provincial of Africa. «Chuvi was a man of peace and of joy, a brother who always maintained the authenticity of his religious commitment. The Assumption was his real family. He was loved by all. He especially worked in East Africa, as pastor of the Kijenge parish in Arusha. But he returned to his new home so as to die a true missionary.»
His roots and his commitment
Jean-Marie Chuvi will soon be buried at Loyola Memorial Park, in Marikina. He will be the first of ours to be buried here in the Philippines.
«We now have the first Assumptionist to die in the Philippines, » wrote Fr. Benoît Grière, our superior general. «May he become one who intercedes before the Father to watch over and protect our small family.»
Just as Fr. Paul Dong, the young master of novices, who died tragically three years ago in a motorcycle accident in Vietnam… and just as Fr. Charles Razafimanantsoa, a young Malagasy priest, who recently died in Madagascar, having just returned home.
Jean-Marie Chuvi’s family could not come to accompany him to his last resting place. In the African tradition, the dead are buried the day they die because it is not easy travel --- it can be long and often subject to all kinds of unforeseen circumstances. People generally gather at a later time to recall their loved one and to pray for him.
But his African brothers and sisters here are many. They provided him company all night long with their music and their chants, as tradition would have it. «Chuvi is not alone,» wrote Fr. Ngoa (who had just returned from a meeting of novice-masters in Rome) to his brothers and sisters in Africa. «He is surrounded by lots of friends.»
Many thanks to the family of Jean-Marie Chuvi Adubangho for having so generously given us your son, your brother. And thanks to all of you, especially those here this morning, for being with us since the announcement of his death
Chuvi, pray for us, protect us, protect your brother and sister missionaries.
May you intercede for peace in the Congo.
« Chuvi, we miss you. »« Maraming, maraming salamat, Chuvi. Mahal ka namin. » (Thank you. We all love you.)
|
