Onowu Ezeoma: Dear Father, Friend, and Mentor
Born: 12.12.45. Buried 12.12.12
 |
| Chief Azuh Chimezie |
Onowu Ezeoma (Chief Azuh Chimezie, Ichie Onyeokwereomume). I still recall
it all. The hour. The day. Saturday, November 3, 2012. The call. The news. The shock. The tears. The
disbelief. And then. The reality check. The thanksgiving, for your life. The prayer, for your eternal rest. It
all happened in one quick succession.
So quick, it sometimes still feels dreamed-up. But shortly before that telephone call informing me of your transition, you had communicated
your departure. I had experienced this
sudden and unexplainable restlessness that jolted me from my reading desk,
where I had been at work all day.
Standing up from that call, I went straight to the chapel. There, before the Blessed Sacrament and
strengthened by the hope of the Resurrection, I thanked God for your life, and prayed
for the forgiveness of your sins and repose of your soul.
When later that
night my superior invited my Jesuit brothers in the community to the chapel to
pray the Psalms for you, I was consoled as I imagined the choirs of angels
already welcoming you to their sweet and melodious heavenly alleluia. My consolation grew in the following
days as phone calls, emails, text and other messages poured in from Jesuit
companions, friends, and acquaintances from across the world with assurances of
Masses and prayers for you. And
when I informed my school, the London School of Economics, Global Media and Communications Program Director
Professor Terhi Rantanem led a lecture hall filled with international students and professors to
observe a moment of silence in your honor. With all of this, I could only ask God to look kindly on our
prayers for you and grant you eternal rest in his presence.
