God is such an artist. He has an ability to transform tragedies into sources of wonderful graces. Quinton Peters was a South African, born and bred in Cape Town, that was studying to become a priest in the Netherlands but who died tragically in a car accident in the year 2007. He was 38 years old.
He came
from a difficult family background but his sufferings brought him on the path
of the Neocatechumenal Way, which he joined in 1986 when he was seventeen years
old. Here he discovered his calling to the priesthood that led him eventually
to the Diocesan Missionary Seminary Redemptoris Mater of
Haarlem-Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
"To
move to the Netherlands was a life-changing experience for Quinton",
recalls his Rector Fr. Luc Georges, "demanding a profound interior
transformation." Still, this time of Seminary led him on a path of
full reconciliation with his family and his own history.
On the day
of the accident, just two days before Christmas, he was traveling with another
seminarian when their car slid on the icy road and they found themselves beneath
the frosty water. "The death of Quinton, together with the other Deacon
Juan Torres, has been a moment of great suffering for our Seminary. The
Rector Father Luc explained. But it
has also been a moment in which we all were helped to raise our eyes to heaven
and to strengthen our faith in the resurrection of Christ. During the funeral,
Juanita, the mother of Deacon Juan, testified that, even if she had lost her
husband some months before because of a cancer, and now her son, she was in
pain but with joy, because of the certainty that they were both in heaven.
These words gave to our faith a great strength."
The earthly
end of this seminarian has an amazing twist. This seed, sown in the cold Dutch winter, bore
many fruits in the mission of the Neocatechumenal Way in South Africa. "At
first the family and the community couldn't see this tragic death as something that
divine providence could have permitted for a good", says Dino
Furgione, the responsible of the Neo-catechumenal Way for South Africa. "The
feelings were of disappointment and failure, as if this death was a denial of
hope for the future. But since the very first years after Quinton's death,
things started to change and we have seen a new spirit coming. Many families of
the Way started to give their availability to the mission. The Way has
experienced a sort of rebirth, after many years of difficulties and
disillusion. In a few years, the Way opened in four other dioceses, with many
communities, and since 2012 the Archdiocese of Cape Town opened its own
Diocesan Missionary Seminary Redemptoris Mater. All of this, just ten years
ago, would have been unthinkable. And Quinton has a part in all of this, with
his intercession by God".
The birth
of the Seminary is mysteriously linked with Quinton. "On the day that
we visited Bishop Brislin, - it was the 19th of August of 2012 - and for the first time he told us of his
resolution to erect a Redemptoris Mater Seminary, we went to the tomb of Quinton,
to pray. Would you believe that the 19th of August is Quinton's birthday? This
is why we consider this Seminary as a fruit of his intercession.”
In the
eyes of faith, everything has a meaning.
Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?
ReplyDeletethank you.
ReplyDeleteMichelle capetown
thank you for the memory.
ReplyDeletemichelle
what a beautiful experience! Quinton, continue to intercede for the communities and the church
ReplyDelete