The Homily By Bishop Sabino Ocan Odoki, Bishop of Arua Diocese.

" The good example of Bishop Taban should inspire us. Very humble, very approachable and could talk to anybody and could give good advice. A quality which is not very common, but the Lord empowered him to be a great father, so I would like to express my word of condolence first to the Bishop of Torit Diocese, Bishop Emmanuel and to all the clergy, the religious and the lay faithful of your Diocese. And know that we stand with you and journey with you because Bishop Taban has united us. So we stand together and work together. Allow me to also say a word of condolence to the family of the late Bishop, where he was born, there is a big gap to the family too, dear family members of Bishop Taban, may the Lord also strengthen you in this moment of sorrow. Bishop Taban was well known in southern Sudan and all of Sudan especially for issues of peace in Southern Sudan. May his going not be in vain, but what he desires for South Sudan be granted by God. The struggle for peace still continues even if he is now with the lord.

I say this because in my diocese of Arua, I am hosting over one million refugees from South Sudan. We do not call them refugees. We call them our brothers and sisters from South Sudan. Their presence among us is a clear call that we must pray for peace, the peace that the people of South Sudan struggle for, the peace that Bishop Taban risked his life for. May the Lord grant us that peace so that the people of South Sudan return home and live together happily.

We know, the passing on of the late Bishop is a very big loss to us. When somebody dies, and goes to the next life, their absence that we feel is so hard, that is why we come to the Lord to pray for the one who has died so that the Lord may receive his soul. And to pray also for ourselves that we may continue with our lives, continuing to do the things the late has been doing.We know the late Bishop is with God, and resting in peace. He has finished his journey. We feel sorry that we shall miss him physically. But let's now go to the next level of relating with him spiritually. Relating with him by recalling the good works he did and now that he cannot do the good works physically, let's try to pick one or two of the good works he has been doing , in that way we shall be relating with him and fight for a good course. So we celebrate his victory. The Lord gave him time to fight a good fight, and so we are here to celebrate his achievements. Indeed they are very many.

I, who is speaking, started to know the late Bishop when he was a Priest working in Palotaka. Sometime back in 1983-84. He was a priest, and he used to come via Palotaka to Kitgum in Uganda, and he would stop to greet us there. He would come in a very simple way and you could see that he is truly a man of God. He would buy books for prayer, books for songs, because the area where he was serving had Luo speaking people. So he could buy them to take to his people. So as a priest he was really doing his work. The work of a priest is to bring God to the people and to bring the people to God. By buying these Holy books, prayer books, song books, he was helping the people to know about God, to celebrate liturgy and enter into communion with God. So I started seeing him like that. And little did I know that God had a great plan for him to become a bishop. And I still remember one day he found me stranded on the road, as a young priest. I had not yet learnt how to travel well with the vehicle. So my vehicle got spoiled. A witness to that is, Fr.Julius Ida. They were together, they found me, a young priest stranded. I had lost two tires, the roads were bad, so what did they do? They lent me their own tires so that I could continue with the journey. And I also realized that I didn't have only one spare tire. They were well prepared, so they managed to give me theirs. Fr.Julius Ida is here, he was witness to that, thank you very much Fr.Julius.

So you and the late Bishop inspired me and later on I started doing like them. I carried two spare tires when-am traveling on a bad road. Then later on I got to know the Bishop more when he was already a Bishop. In our province of Gulu. We started with the help of our Archbishop John Baptist Odama, what we call peace weak. The first one took place in Adjumani, in the parish. And the main animator was Bishop Taban, the man who had struggled for peace for a long time. He came to mentor us. That was when I got closer to him. In The Evening, we could sit together and he could share a lot of wisdom with us. He could share with us also his struggle, his suffering and so we learnt never to give up. He taught us never to give up. We felt that what we were struggling for compared to what was going on in South Sudan was almost nothing. And here was the Bishop who was so committed that only God can grant us what he struggled for.

And soon after that i also became Auxiliary Bishop of Gulu in 2006. And my relation with Bishop Taban continued to grow and when i became Bishop of Arua in 2009. Bishop used to visit me, he would come to Uganda and celebrate with us. When he was in good health , he never missed the celebration of profession of the sacred heart Sisters. Am sure the sisters are here with us. We shall miss him very much , because i was never alone at that celebration. Every January, he would come. and he used to bring to us the people he was working with at that time, The Toposa, without Bishop Taban, i would have never seen a Toposa. They came in style dressed in their cultural costumes, and Bishop was also there dancing with them. And this days am also dancing with my people. I learnt it from Bishop Taban. We have to be close to the people we shepherd. When Pope Francis said a shepherd must smell like a sheep. I think Bishop Taban was already doing it. He was with his sheep. He would come with them in the same car. So this is the person we are saying farewell to. He has taught us a lot. I heard of him so much in some parts of Uganda, in Kampala, in Katulikire, in Gulu and so many places, I could hear that he was supporting several people. Even Bweyeyale in Uganda. You will Bishop Taban has got some people here he is helping. To make it short my one experience with Bishop Taban was last year 2022 in May. I had gone to Nairobi, for the University council meeting at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and during my free time i visited the Apostol of Jesus and there i met, some priest from Torrit. They told me , 'ooh we are around because Bishop Taban is not so well. He under went an operation and they had to do it again.' I said where is he. So i got some free time and i went to visit him, and when i met him, the joy that we had together was a good one. He e was very happy. That was my last memory of him and i want to keep that memory of a happy man. He forgot about his treatment at that time. He had a hip operation which was to be redone. But when i greeted him he was full of energy. And we spent our time together sharing. And this is the person we are giving farewell to.

I would like to describe him as a man with a very big heart, full of love. This is how i have experienced him. To be a man full of love. He never denied any body to be part of him to share life with him. How many of us look at life as a gift from God to be shared. He understood his life as one to be shared. This is what i wish us to learn from late Bishop to be able to share our lives, to give time to one another, to give support to one another. To put aside his suffering. Sometimes people think to able to share first you must have no problem. Bishop Taban had so many problems , and he put all those aside so that he can share with others. He did not put his problem others, Or between him and others , And that enabled him to share his life generously with others. Sometimes just one small thing , could be even a big problem and we find ourselves locked. Our potentials are locked. We become like a bird with the wings clipped. That's what we do to our selves if we don't reach out to others. Let us leave our wings free, and fly and be able to share with others. It is a big lesson. Think of your relation with God and with others. Relation of love. Relation of sharing.

The Gospel today taken from Mathew helps us to understand this. That on the last day, what the lord will look at is how much you have shared with others. So when the master separated the people , some to the left and some to the right. Those to the right were the right ones. Who shared their lives with others and Jesus tells us that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we do to God. He demonstrated this clearly by telling his disciples, when i was hungry you gave me food, when i was thirsty you gave me water, when i was a stranger you welcome me, these are the little things that take us to heaven. Don�t wait for those dramatic moments when your good deed will be paraded. Those little things you do are the things the Lord appreciate. And Bishop Taban did a lot of these things you cant even list them. He touched the lives of so many. That is why we are many here. This gospel inspired him to do a lot of great things. Can we clap to thank the Bishop for the great works he has done. And from the book of Revelation we can also learn one other thing that inspired the Bishop. The conviction and believe he has in God. We see in the book of Revelation, John say, now i know, my redeemer lives. Bishop believed strongly that his redeemer is alive. When we have this conviction everything changes in our life. But when we dont have it , we wont have anything to motivate us, Jesus motivates to do a lot of things. In Jesus we see the kind of love we must have, in Jesus we see the kind of care we must give one another , in Jesus we see that we must persevere. The book of revelation is a testimony given by John that i know my redeemer lives. This is the same conviction that Job also had. As we heard from the first reading taken from the book of Job. Job we know from the story was a rich man, and when Satan put in to a test, he never lost trust in God. Even his friends persecuted him that his God was useless but Job never accepted and at the end , God blessed him. So when we are undergoing trial, let us remain steadfast like Job, let us remain stead fast like Bishop Taban. Sometimes we say enough is enough, those are words of Satan. Satan comes with very convincing words. Let us be steadfast. Let us not only love but forgive.When we forgive we become free to do good. When we donn't forgive , we are carrying a burden that sucks you down. Find away to over come the negative forces and put on the positive forces to help you . Job did the same, Jesus did the same, the apostles did the same, so it is our turn to always stand strong to continue with life.So my dear brothers and sisters and in a special way , Bishop of Torit, Bishop Emmanuel, you are very blessed, though young to have such a person who has walked before you. The example of Bishop Taban is good for you to persevere in this ministry, and all of us Bishops, the example of our brother should inspire all of us to be close to our flock and to journey with them in God times and bad times. Even to the clergy. I told you i knew Bishop when he was still a priest, how he could do a lot for his people. So his example should also inspire us, Am not talking only to men, even women. Am sure women also have got many challenges-and lots of responsibilities. May the example of Late Bishop Taban inspire you. From What i have shared or what you have heard from other sources pick at least one and you will see your life transformed." Bishop Sabino.

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