THE RECEPTION OF THE MORTAL REMAINS OF REV. FR. DR. JAMES ESSIET TO SAINT JOSEPH MAJOR SEMINARY
THE FUNERAL MASS PROPER AT SAINT ANNE’S CATHEDRAL, CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF IKOT EKPENE. PRECIDED BY MOST REV. DR. CARMILUS UMOH
PRESENT AT MASS IS THE PROVINCIAL Joseph JOSEPH EFIONG EKUWEM AND SOME BISHOPSMOF THE PROBINCE.
THE HOMILY BY THE VERY. REV. FR. DR. PATRICK ABEM. THE RECTOR MAGNIFICUS OF THE PROVINCIAL SEMINARY- SAAINTS
“YOU, TOO, MUST STAND READY!” Preamble: Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we gather today in this Church with sadness in our hearts, with tearful eyes but with immense joy and gratitude to the risen Lord as we soon bury and bid an eternal farewell to our three vibrant young priests, sons, friends and brothers, who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. They are a blessing to our diocese, families and communities. We will commit their remains to the mother earth as seeds of immortality. Therefore, we pray that the souls of Fr. James Fabian Essiet, Fr. Hilary John Essien and Fr Dennis Emmanuel Ekanem may through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace! Amen. As priests, our brothers were bridges, connecting individuals and families to the heart of God, offering succour, guidance, celebrating the sacraments and making present the body of Christ for their flocks. Their priestly ministry touched countless lives, bringing hope and healing, reconciling broken relationships and forming future priests for the Church. They were shepherds, leading their flocks with love, simplicity, attention and compassion, as true servants of the Lord. Today, as we gather to pay our last respects, we offer prayers not only for their souls, but for the continued strength and grace of their families, the Bishop, their parish communities, and our entire diocese as a family.
We cannot forget their dedication, their impactful lives, and the joy they brought to our lives. Let us also celebrate their faith, their unwavering belief in the promise of eternal life. They lived a life of devotion, guided by the teachings of Christ and nourished by the sacraments. Now, they enter into the fullness of that eternal life, a life of joy and peace that surpasses our understanding, the life they hoped for in all their Christian struggles. My Lord Bishop and Chief mourner, brother Priests, families of our brothers and the Lay Faithful of Ikot Ekpene diocese, it is obviously a difficult time losing three priests in one week and burying all in one day. The Octave of Easter this year 2025 will remain a week of weeks, a week of profound grief and lamentation. On Easter Monday, news of the passing of Pope Francis was received. In that confusion, news of the fatal accident involving four Priests spread, two of whom the Lord called to himself and another Fr. James, as if it was God’s design that they may accompany the Supreme Pontiff to heaven. As we pray for their repose, we also pray for the perfect bodily and psychological healing of the two survivors of the accident. The devastating situation can be likened to the experience of the Biblical Job and the darkness that fell on the land when Jesus died on the Cross at noon (Cf. Matt. 27:45).
However, as Job concluded, so we too must…, “The lord gave and the lord has taken, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Again, the light of his resurrection illumined the darkness that was experienced at the death of Jesus on the Cross. May our faith in Christ’s resurrection illumine the darkness of grief and anguish in our hearts as we mourn our brothers! Amen. Although, saddened by their passing, we take comfort in the promise of eternal life, where God’s love transforms and brings to fulfillment our deepest yearnings. Like servants ready and waiting for their master to return from a wedding feast, these our brothers devoted their lives to Christ as they answered the Call to the Priesthood by becoming his friends and Stewards of his mysteries. They did not only make Christ available in sacramental forms to the flock entrusted to them, but they also shared in the Eucharist as the sign of their unity with Christ and source of strength for their Christian life and priestly ministry. Their ministry was characterized by friendship, compassion, love, joy, hope and sacrifice. Based on human calculations, their time on earth may be considered brief, but the legacy of their life and ministry will remain with us for years to come.Dear brothers and sisters, we have lost three gentlemen, compassionate, devoted and generous priests.
As we mourn, let us be thankful that they ever existed, and we are beneficiaries of their lives and ministery. Their death presents great challenges for us as a diocese. However, their good lives and legacies will remain our consolation. Yet, they have left us with the legacies of honesty, fairness, solidarity, humility and faithfulness. Their life will remain an inspiration for us and their death a story for our meditation. They were people of deep sense of solidarity and friendship. Fr. Hillary and Dennis, had strong connection to our Seminary community because of their friendship with Fr. Patrick Ukpe. It was always a blessing to have them come around to our seminary. Each time they came around, they would create an atmosphere of laughter, peace and joy. Fr. James, had an amazing community spirit, punctual to common functions, always available for service, peaceful and accommodating. Our seminary community will miss him. In fact, anyone who has ever encountered them can testify that it is almost impossible to meet any of them and not remember their kindly and friendly disposition.In the first reading of today’s Liturgy of the Word, taken from Wisdom 4, 7-11, we hear the consoling words that the righteous may die early but shall find rest and that an honorable life is not measured by years but by the quality of life lived. If there is anything to console us in the face of our current circumstances, it is that our three brothers as Christians and Priests have lived and exercised their ministry in uprightness of life to the end. In doing so, they have immersed themselves in the God of righteousness who has made their lives treasures of righteousness. Their leaving us may be painful but they have their resting place in the God of righteousness.
The circumstances of their death have nothing to do with their rest in eternity. As someone has noted: “The distance to eternity is the same from anywhere and not affected by the cause of one’s death. One person may die from accident, another by sickness and still others while sleeping. It might happen in a comfortable place in London or on a bad road in Uyo, in the hospital or at the dinning and even inside the Church.” The important question borders on the state of the person’s righteousness rather than where the person dies. In the second reading, St. Paul shares his thoughts on the mystery of death and its defeat by the power of Christ’s Resurrection. As Christians, we believe that death is not the end of life but the beginning of true life, not a wall but a bridge to eternity. We believe that death, because Christ has conquered it, offers us an opportunity to embrace the fullness of life by beholding and participating in the banquet of heaven in the presence of God and his angels.
Our deceased brothers professed this belief and devoted their entire lives to promoting it. The fact of their priestly life is a laudable testimony of their commitment to the reality of the resurrection. Fr. James, for example, as formator and lecturer, when he lost his mother in 2005, visiting from CIWA as a support Staff, in our class, we expressed sympathy to him but he remarked gently: “don’t sympathize with me, congratulate me instead, for I now have an angel in heaven.” For me, this was profound. It shows now that for us who love him, we should not lose faith for he has gone to become our angel in heaven. In the gospel reading, taken from Luke 12:35-40, the gospel concludes, “You too must stand ready.” To be ready is to be prepared, vigilant and faithful. It also requires a good disposition to receive the lord when he comes and knocks, having established a relationship with God in which he could identify and invite for a meal. Our brothers showed their readiness and vigilance when they did not only commit themselves to the Christian life but offered themselves as an oblation in the Priesthood. For Fr. James he exercised his priestly ministry for more than Twenty Five Years. He lived and served as a formator in our Seminary community for nearly two decades leaving a legacy of humble dedication to service and love for the Church. He fought so hard with the illness that now brought him peace. I would like to recount how Fr. James was a blessing to us in the community. First, he had a strong attachement to the Seminary environment to the extent that he resisted staying anywhere else except in the Seminary. He found fulfilment being with the Seminarians, either in the chapel or in the classroom. Even in his frail and challenging health condition he would want to be assigned some courses to teach. Among the formators, especially in the refectory where we crack jokes and laugh, calling him in particular “the King of the Young,” he would respond I am here! For us formators and Seminarians, it was challenging but fulfiling to have the opportunity to live with and care for a onetime vibrant and joyful brother turned weak, inactive and dependent. His condition was a lesson to us that nothing is permanent. He was an example for us to expound on the ontological character of the priesthood which sometimes has been replaced by the utilitarian ethic of life. His presence with us helped in the formation of Seminarians on recognizing the value of the priesthood not only in the young vibrant priest but also in the one who is unable to officiate at Mass or to sit at the confessional. Again, he gave us the opportunity to think more deeply on the need to develop a robust program for hospital chaplaincy in our dioceses in Nigeria. Our Student infirmarians and those assigned to Fr James must have been enriched by the privilege they had to share in his cross.
The cross carried in union with Christ’s is always salvific. We can recall the beautiful expressions in the Fifth and Sixth Stations of the Cross on Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus to Carry his Cross and on Veronica wiping the face of Jesus. In the Words of Our Lord, it says: (5th Station): “I am physically weak: I can no longer bear the Cross alone. So, they compelled Simon to help me… and indeed he helps me. Why not you too lift the burden from another’s back? Each time you do that, you lift the Cross’ awful weight that crushes me.” On the (6th Station): “Can you be brave enough to wipe my bloody face?“Where is your face, you may ask and I will answer,” “My face is everywhere; at home whenever eyes fill up with tears, at work when tensions rise, in the hospital, …., wherever suffering exists. My face is there and I look for you to wipe away my blood and tears.” Brothers and sisters, to care for the sick or suffering person is one most difficult task but quite enriching and fulfiling especially when seen as an apostolate and not merely as a duty for its sake. And for Fr. Hilary and Fr. Dennis, it was nearly Two Years of priestly service with much impact. The joy, friendship, devotion and availability with which our deceased brothers lived and exercised their priestly ministry have reflected in the grief people have expressed at their death. We are challenged to think now not of the darkness of their death but of the memory of their blessings and the hope of meeting them in glory. CONCLUSIONWe can take the last lesson from the death of our brothers. Death is certain for everyone, and every death is sudden. Our deceased brothers have died young. What could have prevented them from dying if it was their time? I encountered a man who was worried that Pope Francis whom they loved so much had to die. He questioned God for not sparing his life. The man seemed to lose sight of the reality of life on earth and the mystery of life and death. Pope Francis’ death can be a reminder to us that once it is time for anyone to die no one can stop it. The Pope had millions of people, Catholics and Non-Catholics offering prayers for his recovery. He had at his disposal the best medical team and facilities.
All the efforts worked. Nevertheless, when it was his time, he died peacefully. We, too, must be ready in ways that are devoid of bitterness, wickedness, dishonesty but total commitment to faith, love and hope. May the souls of our brothers and priests through the mercy of God rest in peace! Amen.
