The message was brief, it said "Father Wan is critical in ICU Miri GH. Please pray now". It was 4pm last Tuesday, 18 August. I was alone at home, under strict orders to have bed rest after a bad back sprain. Daphne, who took leave to mind me since dadi was away in KL, had gone to pick up Cris from the airport. I immediately prayed the Divine Mercy, pled with God to spare his life, told God that He needs a shepherd for His flock, so heal him, please Lord. Whilst praying my cell phone went ting tong ting tong, signalling the arrival of new messages. Prayer done, I read new messages to say that he had passed away and another to say that that was a false alarm, his heart stopped (or, as Daphne said, went asystole) for 15 minutes but they managed to revive him. Then began the calls to pray for him, to pray for God's mercy to preserve his life.
Wednesday came and the report from Miri was bad. He was on machines to keep him going. I called Pat and we decided to pray for God's will to be done. If it is Your will Lord that Fr Wan should survive, let it be done, Lord. But if it is Your will that he should go, let Your will be done too, Lord.
This morning Daphne smsed to inform that he could go anytime, he was in real bad shape: acute renal failure, suffered heart attack, high acidosis, eyes were dilated, not responsive to light. Stephen, the head of our Visiting the Sick ministry smsed, asked everyone to pray the divine mercy during mercy hour. So it was at 3pm today, in unison, from our respective locations, at home and offices, we surrendered Fr Wan to the Lord's mercy and prayed for his peaceful death. At 8.45pm tonight, the long suffering servant of the Lord breathed his last. Dadi and I prayed the rosary for his soul. I turned to Job in my grief, trying to find comfort from Scriptures. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21). "We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil? (Job 2:10). I recalled the thanksgiving mass and dinner held for him last month, to mark his 32nd anniversary as a priest. He came to our table, invited us to visit him in Long San, said its a beautiful place, said we got rooms with nice view, asked us to contact someone to arrange for transportation and said na huh, the road is fanstastic, don't worry.....little did we know then that that was to be our last supper with him. We will miss you terribly Father.
O Lord, have mercy on the soul of Father Anthony Wan. He died in hope and may he share the glory of Your resurrection. Let perpetual light shine upon him O Lord, and may he rest in peace, Amen.
Wednesday came and the report from Miri was bad. He was on machines to keep him going. I called Pat and we decided to pray for God's will to be done. If it is Your will Lord that Fr Wan should survive, let it be done, Lord. But if it is Your will that he should go, let Your will be done too, Lord.
This morning Daphne smsed to inform that he could go anytime, he was in real bad shape: acute renal failure, suffered heart attack, high acidosis, eyes were dilated, not responsive to light. Stephen, the head of our Visiting the Sick ministry smsed, asked everyone to pray the divine mercy during mercy hour. So it was at 3pm today, in unison, from our respective locations, at home and offices, we surrendered Fr Wan to the Lord's mercy and prayed for his peaceful death. At 8.45pm tonight, the long suffering servant of the Lord breathed his last. Dadi and I prayed the rosary for his soul. I turned to Job in my grief, trying to find comfort from Scriptures. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21). "We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil? (Job 2:10). I recalled the thanksgiving mass and dinner held for him last month, to mark his 32nd anniversary as a priest. He came to our table, invited us to visit him in Long San, said its a beautiful place, said we got rooms with nice view, asked us to contact someone to arrange for transportation and said na huh, the road is fanstastic, don't worry.....little did we know then that that was to be our last supper with him. We will miss you terribly Father.
O Lord, have mercy on the soul of Father Anthony Wan. He died in hope and may he share the glory of Your resurrection. Let perpetual light shine upon him O Lord, and may he rest in peace, Amen.
3 comments:
RIP Fr.Wan - pu maioh amat bala nyengaie ia. Nyu teringat kelia maia agi mit engau urang ke miri meda seduai ia niang Fr. Simon Sadasivan diciri nyadi priest sama2 meh seduai ia RIP. Amen
May his soul rest in peace. Aku dulu agi ga nerima SMS ari sida Mak & Apak aku ba Bintulu sari nya. Tekenyit ninga tang baka ko nuan aunty, enti bakanya atur Tuhan, manah agi iya diambi pulai peacefully.
Andan,
Ga ia wai, tua apai Maie muti enggau nyenggaie ba seminary ari minggu. Maie baru enggau urang funeral mass. Mayuh urang besembiangka iya, arapka ia bulih ungkup pengidup meruan meh.
Hi endu Flo,
Nya meh, idup mati kitai ba jari Tuhan.may he rests in peace.
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