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If you don’t have a relationship with God, there’s no way you can handle something like this, a US mortician said after preparing numerous bodies for burial after a recent school shooting.
Catholic mortician Andres “June” Ybarra (pictured with his wife), is a Knight of Columbus at his Catholic Church in Texas and is closely involved with his parish.
He and other Knights are helping their town’s traumatised community of 16,000 cope with the shooting deaths of 19 elementary school children and two teachers on May 24.
Eleven of the victims were parishioners of Sacred Heart.
Ybarra and other Knights provided hamburgers for participants at a candlelight vigil held on Thursday night.
During the day, he prays while he’s working. He’s helped prepare the bodies and organise funeral arrangements for 16 of the 21 victims.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever seen, the hardest thing I’ve ever seen,” Ybarra says. “I never ever thought something like this would happen in Uvalde.”
He’s suffered his own loss in this tragedy too. One of the victims he had to prepare for burial was a cousin. He says God’s grace gave him the strength to do his job and “be strong for the families”.
A mortician for 32 years, Ybarra retired years ago, but he felt the urge to come back to work 11 months ago.
“God brought me back for this,” he says.
Parish priest Father Eduardo Morales, who’s had to bury several of the victims, is also drawing on his faith.
“There’s a lot of pain and a lot of hurt,” he says. “But we can’t lose our faith. Faith has to be part of this journey to find comfort.”
Parishioners are aware of the challenge burying so many parishioners will be for Morales.
“I just pray that he has enough energy to be in all the Masses,” one says. “It must be overwhelming. It must be impossible.”
He’s been trying to heal his community while burying their dead. Anger cannot turn into hate, he tells people. The lives of the victims must be celebrated. The parish — and the city — must try to heal as one.
That is a particularly sensitive command in Uvalde, where parents of some victims have expressed outrage at law enforcement officers’ slow response during the shooting. Some of the law enforcement staff are also members of the parish.
The sequence of funerals at Sacred Heart Church began last Tuesday, with the service for a 10-year old girl.
After recalling the young girl’s creativity and her dream of becoming an art teacher, he prepared the congregation for the coming days of funerals by previewing one of his favourite sayings at times of mourning.
“You will hear me say this at every single funeral celebration that we have,” he said.
“We are not in the house of God to celebrate her death. We are here to celebrate her life. We are here to celebrate the life that allows her to continue to be among us.”
Source
- Washington Post
- CNA
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News category: World.
