Funeral Service

On behalf of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II who always prays for his children who passes away, we offer our condolences to the family of Mrs. Marie Bassili Ghobrial and her sons Mr. Adel Assaad, Mr. Hany Assaad, Mr. Ragui Assaad, and the late Mrs. Laila Assaad. We offer condolences to the family on behalf of His Holiness Pope Tawadros. We will listen to a comforting word of condolences from His Grace Bishop Moussa, Bishop of the Youth, May the lord console you all.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Marie Assaad… whom we never addressed her by "Doctor" as a title, and I have never heard anyone addressing her by the title "Doctor", Although she had a great PhD degree,  every one addressed her by "Marie". She was loving and loved by everyone, she was joyful and smiling, and the fathers said that a smiling person is in origin a humble person, for a humble person, the smile never leave his face. Marie was a very modest lady, for having this global position in development, and upholding of women, and in resisting the poor habits not only in the Arab world but in the whole world as well. Regarding women, she raised the status of women, the community development, and the human's value. She used this international prestigious position for human and women's advancement, and for development. Marie Assaad’s house was open as well as her heart. By the fact that I served with Bishop Athanasious as a son to him, and she was in close contact with Bishop Athanasious, the Archbishop of Bani-Suif , and Bishop Samuel the Bishop of the  general services, and with all the leaders of development whether Mr. Youhanna El-Raheb, Mr. Labib El-Raheb, or Mr. Shawki Tawfik. All the development's pioneers considered her their older sister, the kind heart, and the sincere hand that has always been extended to all people. In spite of the fact that her family was living in a certain social level, she went in searching for garbage men in (Zabaleen), She went out searching for the needy and the poor everywhere, and she lived all her life this way. She never made any difference between herself and them, they all loved her as one of them, and she never made them feel that she was coming from a different social level. In front of God we are all the same, In front of God the smallest one maybe the greatest. Because of this we always regarded her as an icon. Truly Marie Assaad was an icon. An icon in serving humanity, an icon in Christian services, an icon in the Coptic Orthodox Church, and an icon in all the lives of the families she interacted and dealt with. As for humanitarian work she was one of the important pioneers in development for the whole humanity since she was reporting to the secretary-general of the world council of churches, and the world council of churches is spread worldwide. Of course we visited her in the council in (Geneva) and in her house, as she visited us in ours, she was close to the hearts of all. Marie Assaad had a global role through the world council of churches, the promotion of development, and advancement of women all over the world, but she also had a Christian role because she was very attached to Jesus Christ that she became an image of Christ herself, an image who crosses homes and hearts, entering them with joy and love to serve them and offer them divine tenderness. Marie…, no one can ever say that Marie dealt in arrogance with him, we never heard it, and never will. Even now that she is in heaven, her love, her modesty, and her care for us increased, and her prayers for us increased as well. Truly she was an Icon…. Worldwide, at the level of Christianity, at the level of development, at the level of the Coptic Orthodox church, and at the level of the families she dealt with. Indeed we have never felt that her home was for herself alone, it was for us all, all people would visit, enter the house and consider themselves home. Of course I will never forget the bond of love and respect that bonded her with His Grace Bishop Athanasious And Bishop Samuel – which the three of them, their names are great in development of the Coptic church, they are the pioneers of development- she supported them with all her strength because of her status and her role in the world Council of Churches, which as we mentioned previously spread all over the world. Marie… who took her name from Virgin Marie, and I believe that she linked herself to the name that she looked deep in the eyes of the Virgin Marie and saw her gentleness, her modesty, her love for the people that she kept telling Jesus to see the need of the people, in which she the faithful advocate for all mankind, she is in heaven interceding and praying on our behalf Also, her last name (Assaad), of course come from Happiness – in the Arabic language- and she spread an atmosphere of happiness indeed… I am talking from a personal experience, familial, domestic experience, how many times we had visited her, and ate with her and Bishop Athanasious, and Bishop Samuel, and she always had her house and heart welcoming everyone. Marie is an Icon… A true Icon, so if we have icons at home to remember their history to emulate from it, then we can make this icon in our hearts, and in our homes let it be a picture of Marie Assaad as a pioneer of the Humanitarian  and development work. His Holiness Pope Tawadros has sent a word of condolences through his Grace Bishop Maximus who knows her well, and know her great Humanitarian role in the World Council of Churches, and in development and because of this he sent his consolation to the whole family. Of course we have here the leaders of development services, we have here with us Mrs. Yousria Louza, her partner in development, and they worked together for the needy and poor.  Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us that he who serve the poor, serves God, He said that he who gives the poor lends to the lord, which means that when you do something to the poor, you will be rewarded in heaven. Serving the poor is a favor, anyone can stay at home in comfort, but she never did so, she went deep down to the least human being and offered him love with purity, sincerity, and generosity. Marie you resembles Virgin Marie, Marie you have entered the eternal Bliss with the angels and saints… Blessed are you...blessed is the person who devotes his whole life to God that heaven will devote eternity for him. Hope we learn from her to serve as she served as much as we could. It is not easy to do as she did. For as Christ came down from heaven became flesh and dwelt in us, Marie ignored her status and riches and went to the Zabalin searching for them and serving them. Marie you are now among saints, you are now happy with eternity… Lucky you, pray for us. And because we are living with the prayers of these saints who pleased the Lord with their lives, the Lord will please them in a blissful eternity. To God be the glory forever, AmenIn the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God Amen, His Grace, His Mercy and His Blessing will be upon us from now and forever. Amen.  Farewell to my merciful mother. In 1996 His Eminence Bishop Sarapion left the Bishopric of service to the Los Angeles diocese and I was assigned by His Holiness to become the bishop of general services and there was a certain drop in the service and Mrs. Marie lived with us for two years, during these two years I used to call her “My Mother". I learned from her a lot, I learned from her wisdom, the wisdom of speech and silence. And I learned from her praying. There were always serious problems with other organizations, she used to say that we will first pray, and then we will do anything. I learned from her to be compassion with the poor, I learned from her praying and learned from her mercy and learned the wisdom of speech and silence. Farewell my merciful mother. The book of proverbs chapter 11 tells us "the merciful man does good for his own soul" and you with your own merci has done good for your soul. His Grace Bishop Moussa told us what is written in proverbs 19 " he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and he will be paid back what he has given". You worked hard for many years, you were rewarded on earth and you will be greatly rewarded in heaven. Let us read my beloved from the book of Tobit that great Tobit was a very merciful man, and on his death bed he said to his son " therefore, look upon what mercy has done for us" The Great Tobias on his death bed, God opened the eyes of his heart and made him see the special place for the merciful. I imagine that God had opened Mrs. Marie eyes too on her death bed to see this special status of the merciful as great Tobit did. Imagine my beloved that God is telling her: well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. Come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. In this manner my merciful mother had lived. I will end my little speech with how much I am honored and joyful to attend this celebration, the celebration of her entrance to Paradise. Our teacher St. Paul the apostle says in Romans 9:23 "and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory". My merciful mother was a vessel of mercy. A vessel made of mercy, and because of this God had prepared her beforehand for glory. We pay our farewells to her. By that we ask our Lord to give us to live in the fear of God the rest of our lives, and learn from her life. Our lives are mortal my beloved. We are leaving this earth but the clever one among us is the one who leaves earth with a heavenly treasure like Mrs. Marie. We are leaving this earth but blessed are those who are looking at eternity. In the two years that we came close to her she always used to say " look up to the Lord, he will do everything" Farewell my merciful mother, may god rest her soul in paradise. Our condolences to the blessed family, and to all her beloved. May Our Lord give us to live in his fear for the rest of our days. Glory be to God forever and ever, Amen.Dear beloved, We thank God very much for giving us this opportunity to live in the era of this beautiful lady Dr. Marie Asaad who had a great share in the political and social life as well as church aspects, God gave her to perform her mission to the fullest and we ask our Lord to rest her soul in peace. We ask him also to give us to make us worthy to fulfill his mission. We thank His Holiness Pope Tawadaros II, who attended on his behalf, His Grace Bishop Maximus, Bishop of the City of EL Salam and Craftsmen. We also thank His Grace Bishop Moussa the Bishop of the youth. We thank Bishop Daniel, General Bishop and Secretary of the Holy Synod. His Eminence Bishop Raphael, Bishop General of the Churches of Central Cairo, His Eminence, Bishop Youanis, Bishop of Assiut. We also thank His Eminence Bishop Mounir Hanna, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Middle East and North Africa. We give thanks to our beloved father, our father John, the patron of the Church of the Virgin Garden City. We thank everyone who attended with us today, Christians and Muslims. The family notes that the condolences will be held on Monday in the hall next to the church in the first floor from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Glory be to our God forever and ever Amen.Amin Al-Lilwiya