Anjonius: The Celebration of Life and the Reality of Death.

By Rev. Msgr. Dr. Theophilus A. Joseph

The book relates the dynamics of the relationships between the healthy and the sick, in this case Anjonius, and follows the progression of his illness until the moment of his death.
Sickness especially a sick child,an only child and only grandchild has devastating effects of thew family. They blame themselves, they blame each other, they blame God and they blame even those who are reaching out to them.
Other stories in the book is about two brothers who were suffering from Sickle Cell anemia. They were aware that that disease would end in death, a daeth they eventually came to accept after fear, anger, depression and bargaining with God.
another story is of a young girl who tried to punish her parents by ingesting a weed killer. She Wanted to live and cried to God for a second chance but she was too late. She died.
The book really brings us face to face with the celebration of life as persons face the reality of daeth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514491669

Rev. Msgr. Dr. Theophilus A. Joseph

Msgr. Theophilus A Joseph is a priest from the Archdiocese of Castries on the Island of St. Lucia in the southern Caribbean. He is a graduate of the Seminaryof St. John MarieVianney and the Martyrs of Uganda in Tunapuna Trinidad and Tobago, the Clinical Education programme at Bellevue hospital and the Pastoral Institute at Iona University in New York, From Glendale University where he completed the Masters degree in Social Psychology and from the Oblate School of Theology where he completed his doctorial studies in theology.Prior to his post secondary academic achievement, Msgr Theo was always interested in helping the sich and dying, and while still at secondary(high) school he became an active member of the St.John's Ambulance Brigade which provided First Aid assistance to those injured. In nfact after leaving secondary school he became a lay instructor in that organization and taught First Aid to many young people both in St. Lucia and at the St. Bede"s Vocational Technical school on Mount St. Benedict in Trinidad The book takes a look at the relationship of Msgr. Theo with a very sick child whom he has called Anjonius, with his parents and his grand parents.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Theophilus Joseph.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016907413

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5144-9168-3

      Softcover      978-1-5144-9167-6

      eBook         978-1-5144-9166-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 07/28/2016

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Contents

Life Before Death

Traveling Over

Preface

Acknowledgments

A Mother’s Grief

Chapter 1 A Mother Calls

Chapter 2 The Priest Responds

Chapter 3 Anjonius in Pain

Chapter 4 There Is Always Hope

Chapter 5 Meeting Hophan

Chapter 6 Where There Is Life, There Is Hope

Chapter 7 A Mother’s Faith

Chapter 8 Can We Understand the Mind of God?

Chapter 9 So Long, Farewell

Chapter 10 Learning from Death

Chapter 11 The Secret Is Love

Chapter 12 Life Goes On

Postscript

I Reflections of God’s Children from St. Ephrem’s Catholic School 2013

II Reflections from Fr. Michael Maginn (theologian and poet) of Ireland

Dockside

Lessons

Final Prayer

I dedicate this book to Anjonius, a young child who gave me the inspiration to share the story of his short life and eventual death.

I dedicate this book to James (T. James) and Lucius Augustin, two brothers who suffered from sickle-cell anemia and who allowed me the privilege of sharing in their lives, in their suffering, and in their death. They were the first who willingly shared the celebration of life and the reality of Christian death with me. They were the first ones who, although they feared death, came to realize and made me realize that we are all a dying people even though many of us refuse to accept this. Death comes sometime within the dying process. They taught me that I must not be afraid of death but must learn to make death a friend since it is an inevitable road that leads to resurrection and new life.

I dedicate this book to my godmother, Mary Mita Alexander, who taught me to pray daily for the souls of the faithful departed and to pray for a happy death. She has gone to meet the Lord and promised to intercede for me when she gets to heaven. I still pray the prayer I began praying from the age of three years.

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Msgr. Dr. Theophilus Anthony Joseph, JP, LPM

The Lord has been so good to me. All my life, in good times and in bad times, God has never left me or forsaken me. Truly I am carried in the palm of God’s hand. God brought me to Anjonius and Anjonius to me to help me find myself and discover the purpose of suffering.

As you read this book, may you too believe that suffering brings joy.

Life Before Death

(For strugglers)

Is there life after death?

I believe so—

where we come from,

where we go,

many things I do not know.

Life before death?

Lord, bless those struggling to hold on a little longer,

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Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

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May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

Poem: Traveling Over by Michael Maginn

Traveling Over

(For the family that ministered to me tonight)

Looking older than his sixty years,

His adult children shedding tears,

Their father harboring fears

of dying.

His fifteen children ’round the bed,

Their mother mops her husband’s head,

Waiting with patient dread,

the doctor’s word.

Their life of traveling free and hard,

Now they play their final card,

Huddled in this midnight ward,

with grieving hearts.

Lord,

the traveling people have much we can learn

about the strength of family ties and the bonds of kinship.

Preface

After writing My Glorious Journey and while reflecting on Anjonius, I began to realize that my call to the Ministry of Inner Healing and my response to that call have brought me close to many a person who lived, who died, and who will live again.

My own struggle with cancer brought home the reality of the shortness of life and made me identify much with the anxieties, the fears, the doubts, the bargaining with God, and finally the acceptance of death and the fundamental peace that death brings.

As I was writing Anjonius, I began to ask myself, Am I afraid of death, or am I afraid of dying? Is there a difference? There is. Dying is a process that begins with life, and death is the conclusion of that process. I suppose I am afraid of dying. Yet to die, one must first be dying.

Anjonius, although he was dying, wanted to live. Although he was not fully aware of the meaning of life, he understood the finality of death and tried to cling to life.

The other examples I gave, short though I made them, reveal the emotions that are coupled with our love of life and our fear of death. We believe in life, and we therefore must accept death.

I discovered in Anjonius that dying is a phenomenon. It involves the family of the dying, possibly a medical team who is involved in the dying process, and the spiritual team, which offers support