The priest word for
Paola Sayegh

Dear Ghassan, Rayya, Ranah, and all of you, Paola’s mother, sisters, parents in law,  brother and sisters in law, friends and relatives,

We are living  a very intense moment in our life. The human language about death seems, and is hard, harder more violent than any other thing. It comes  whenever it wants, without respect, without justice. It finds us always unprepared, we fight, and we fight over and over, but, at the end, it wins, having on us, leaving us overwhelmed and lost, weak and discouraged. Nothing seems to be possible or have any sense.

We have tried to face, like a duel, Paola’s death. With time, all the friends came together, with their precious testimonies of love and friendship. Who couldn’t be present physically, was present with his prayers, with his thoughts; brothers and sisters got together. All allied with Ghassan and his family. But Death came at the end.

The disease won over all the hopes.

With this sufferance  we came to You, Father of heaven and earth, of life and death, bringing to You the body of Paola which has been a temple for Your Spirit, bringing to You the sufferance of this family. It’s only You who can alleviate our sorrow and renew our hopes, It’s only You who can renew our faith in life and trace new roads for the future ways of this family and of their friends.

We celebrate and sing o Lord Your victory over death. You are alive and working among us because You won the battle against death for ever. Death has no more power. It is not true that Paola has died. Her life has been only transformed because You, Lord, came to welcome her in Your arms. You gained her giving her Your life, You fed her with Your bread of immortality, You loved her and covered her with Your care. For this we do know and testify that, even now, You did not leave her. Where we could not act, You did.

Together, other friends are joining us to celebrate you victory over death, specially in the Church of S.Antonio of Padova in Beirut: They can’t join us physically, but we feel ourselves present in front of You, all united together, in one heart and one soul.

This certainty, oh Lord, does not relieve our pain. And we do need Your help. Paola will tell You about us, because, just like You, she will never forget her daughters, her husband, her mother, her sisters and her friends. Of all the things that she will ask you, according to us, the most important is that You guard our spiritual and interior life; this life that lasts for ever, this life that makes the little, big; this makes the poor, rich. This life that makes us precious before your eyes, and those of our brothers. This spiritual and interior life that can keep us united to Paola in spite of the appearances. Some of us is more dead than Paola, because he does not see You, does not feel You, because he does not welcome Your spirit.

 But our words and our prayers, oh Father are maybe not suitable; most of the times we do not know what to ask you, neither how to ask it. For that we beseech you to send your Spirit over this assembly, to have you son Jesus really present. To Him we consign Paola. Please listen to your son Jesus to whom You gave all the power. We entrust you Paola with infinite confidence.

 Amen

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