In Memoriam Fernand Leclezio.

We have come here to praise Fernand and not to bury him!

All the good he did could never be interred with his bones!

He was a loving Father.

He has done so very much for so very many throughout his life.

Our father’s motto: “Do what you feel is best! Never expect a thank you. Thus you will always be happy to have done your best and you will avoid disappointments”.

Like a visionary admiral of the fleet, our father has guided many a ship of faith to safe harbor.

His memory is our rudder whenever and wherever we pull up anchor.

Thanks to our father and forefathers we have been well equipped to sail on through calm or stormy seas, across blue or dark grey skies.

Whenever our human nature causes us to wonder if we are wandering, we must look back as far as we can so we can see the furthest ahead.

When we look back, we see the solid granite monuments left behind to anchor us into our Catholic faith and our family traditions.

BORN IN 1771 Great, great, great Grand pa, Francois. The first Leclezio's Tomb in Mauritius

The crosses above the granite sepulchers of six generations of Leclezios are our frames of reference. Those crosses we learn to carry, symbol of our family’s faith, unite us all on earth and in heaven.

PHOTO LECLEZIO Cemetery Camp
5 Generations of Leclezios are under those solid granite crosses

Pope John Paul II spoke of the importance of visiting our dead ones spiritually daily. The Pope suggested that if we could not go physically to the various cemeteries where our loved ones lie, we must spiritually do so while visualizing them and/or their grave sites.

I have often visited our dead ones at their grave site physically whenever I could. I cherish the photos above. Nowadays, I love to pray over all those tombs that I can only visit spiritually from Rodrigues.

Fortunately, I believe that in heaven people neither have the time nor the inclination to formalize themselves with form, proximity and location.

Otherwise, there could be very odd contrasts between the land that is dear to a person on earth and in what land his/her dead body lands after death.

Where our father and mother’s remains lie, speaks very loudly to that.

Our father had prepared his family’s eternal home in the land of his forefathers by his parents’ side. After having a sepulcher built in the family’s traditional style, our father made a special trip to proudly show to his most trusted collaborator, Philip Scott his final home for ever.

PHOTO GDPA TOMB

Gdpa Louis & his son Fernand’s tombs side by side

Yet, in the end, our father’s ashes were buried in State College, Pennsylvania. There, our father and mother lie physically far from their ancestors and far from most of their children.

This teaches us that the river of emotions born out of death is an inescapable reality of life. That river often carries us to unmapped shores.

Regardless of where our bodies land after death, we are free. Free to share as one body, united in Christ’s love, the unifying meal of peace and ultimate joy God has prepared for us all to savor at the eternal table of plenty. That table is in a land void of any worldly landmarks.

At that table of plenty we are strictly fed by the spirit of God and not according to any recipes of man.

From that table, generations of past ancestors have fed us, the recipes that have made us who we are today.

Since my return to Mauritius, I have reacquainted myself with the immense debt of gratitude we owe to our father and ancestors. In Mauritius, in their life time, our earthly forefathers and father prepared room for us all to reside at the end of our lives on earth. How grateful we should be to them to have so meaningfully planned for our future residence, in their past.

Thus, in the present, it is most meaningful for Eve, Godda and I to honor the past love and wisdom of our ancestors for the benefit of future generations.

Our traditions testify to our love and respect of our family character and signature. I hope and pray future generations learn much from this letter and their visits to Mauritius.

Eternal love and gratitude are the hallmarks of true members of the Leclezio family.

In heaven, that kind of love blossoms not by our human will but by the will of God. How wonderful it would be if it could be likewise on earth!

Then, and only then God’s Will, would be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Until then, that Leclezio blood, wherever it is, cold or warm, dried out or still flowing, screams out to me not to let go of such rich family traditions. A tradition deeply rooted in the love and respect of the past, the present and the future. That Leclezio blood summons me to pray, for family continuity, even through distance and diversity, for eternity. I gladly do so with the spirits of all the family saints whose bones, in whatever state, are entombed within those many known granite sepulchers of generations of Leclezios. I find it particularly easy to do so within that venerated Leclezio sanctuary in the St. Pierre es Liens cemetery. But it is also important to pray for the entire community of the unknown all over the world by the foot of the cross that unites us all.

Uniting Cross - Pray for the unknown - The Cross, hand carved out of one granite block is a beacon over Francois' tomb! A unique piece of art!

That tradition is to be preserved on earth till the end of times when we are all united in heaven through God’s love.

I cannot ignore the cry and the respectful wisdom, our ancestors addressed to past and future generations through the erection of such lasting memorials. Nor should we ever depart from our century’s old, family heritage. Their love, their wisdom and their foresight has ensured that over two hundred years later, they are still dearly recognized, remembered and highly revered by some of the members of their progeny.

We can export those family traditions to ‘new worlds’ but for our family values to last and to remain healthy; we are duty bound to religiously honor, fertilize and meticulously water with prayer showers, our family roots where they are buried most deeply in our native soil.

Indeed, profound respect for and love of the traditions our ancestors established in Mauritius, make me commit to preserve the spiritual and material values of the symbolic monuments our ancestors have left behind for us to pray by and pay tribute to.

I am moved to do so spiritually through prayer and communion with past and future generations. I commit to do so materially by attending to the maintenance of those monuments of the past. Our family cared enough to live behind for our benefit. We should care enough to maintain them. I pray and hope that the generations that follow will go on doing so.

For, when God and our ancestors call to us, their children, grand children, great grand children etc. from the grave and from heaven, to honor their memory, we should never ask: “Why me?” We should feel privileged and prayerfully, humbly, graciously and joyfully answer the call!

I repeat, those tabernacles of the Leclezio blood, bones, dust and spirit are the rudders of our future.

I recognize that there is a world of difference, indeed, an abyss, between a transient culture caring little about roots and a society steeped in tradition. We are fortunate to possess and absolutely must cling to such a heritage wherever we are in today’s world.

Those rock solid crosses are testimony to our religion founded on rock, to our belief in the power of the cross, to our belief in the ever lasting life and the resurrection. We must be good stewards of those beliefs that lead to the only one true and everlasting wealth.

As good stewards, we must pray that God and our ancestors allow us to read, understand and accept their agenda throughout our lives.

As I have already mentioned above, our father’s closest collaborator, who he loved like a son, Philip Scott from F.U.E.L., had told me a few times how our father had one day driven from Moka to F.U.E.L. to pick him up. On their way from Flacq towards Moka/St. Pierre, our father told Philip: “I want to show you the house that I have built.” Philip automatically thought that our father had built a new house in Eureka. He told our dad: “I did not know that you were building a home.”

To Philip’s great surprise, when they arrived in St. Pierre, a few miles from Eureka, Moka, our father headed for the St. Pierre cemetery. Once there, our father asked Philip to follow him in the cemetery. A short distance from the entrance, our father stopped, pointed to an imposing sepulcher to his left and proudly declared: “That is my residence for eternity.”

The Bible also tells us that our heavenly Father has prepared a home in heaven with lots of room for us all. History and tradition tell us that, likewise, our earthly fathers have cared to prepare a home with lots of room for us on earth.

It is up to us to decide whether we want to follow tradition and gratefully move into the homes prepared for us on earth and in heaven by our Fathers.

It is worth noting that Grandfather Louis’ tomb houses three generations of Leclezios. God has already written in His agenda how many generations will reside in our own father’s tomb over the years.

Our life belongs to God. He provides for us from His table with the help of all our departed loved ones.

The Godly meal, we share closely with our ancestors without even realizing it, is the food that keeps our family’s religious traditions alive on earth. Some day, like a butler, I wish to dish out that food from the eternal table of heaven to family around earthly tables. Thus, I would ensure that our progeny can eat and drink from the generous Godly cornucopia and fountain of life and family traditions. That is the only cornucopia and fountain that is sure to strengthen us and to quench our thirst as we cross some of the earthly deserts that lead to heavenly eternity.

One dies a little upon leaving a place. One resurrects much upon returning.

I am thankful to God to have granted me the time and the discernment needed to evaluate, comprehend the lessons taught by our fathers and reach the conclusions I am happy to share with you today.

As I wander across time and across the earth through all the green pastures God has blessed me to visit, I pray that God grants me the years and the means to be God’s guide to lead you to discover more ‘new/old worlds’ on earth until the day we can all be united for ever in the City of God.

St. Augustin said that the world is like a book and those who have not traveled across various worlds have only read one page.

After much traveling on earth, I realize that in that blessed paradise of heavenly bliss, spirits share a bond of such absolute love that it transcends all human notions. Thus I believe that in heaven, through our union with the God of pure love, we are united to each other and to all alike without any humanly feelings of selfishness, possessiveness, vanity or jealousy.

Indeed, the God that created us all with infinite love can transcend human emotions, matter, time and space to unite us all in perfect love.

I am most thankful that God’s agenda provided for me to be in Mauritius just before All Saints and All Souls Day in 2010. During my time in Mauritius, I am glad to have been guided to respectfully honor my Great, great grand father Eugene and Grand Pa’s sepulchers by having them cleaned after decades of pitiful and shameful neglect.

Born in 1805,My great great grdpa, Eugene's tomb after clean up

P.S. As you know, for many years now, it has been and it still is very important for me to pray over the pictures of the tombs of all our dear ones. It has assured a means of communication and a source of inspiration in the present, with our past spiritual and corporal DNA in heaven.

For those of you who wish to follow the recommendations of Pope John Paul II and my example, I suggest that whenever you feel called to share a special moment with our dear ones in the everlasting ‘ultimate new world harboring the eternal City of God’ you can refer to what those pictures represent to act as a rudder to guide you to our loved ones wherever they lie.

Note that the majestic cross that rests above the ‘Famille Leclezio’ sepulcher was carved by hand out of solid rock over 150 years ago. I consider it to be a priceless and irreplaceable work of art. That cross speaks to the importance, Francois, our first pioneering ancestor to land in Mauritius in 1792 attached to creating a long lasting beacon of traditions and family values in his ‘new world’ on earth prior to reaching his new world in heaven. It was obviously most important for him to leave his mark on future generations. I am deeply grateful for his example and that rich heritage he has left behind for us to follow.

As you well know, walking in the foot prints of pioneering Francois, in the US, I dug in our resources to commission and erect, with the help of God, the memorial at the Holyrood Cemetery.

PHOTO OF Leclezio Memorial in a 'new' world at HOLYROOD

As we journey through life, we all find, carry and leave crosses at the various stations we visit.

During our lifetime, to the extent we trustfully submit to the Will of God, we find the necessary strength to accept our crosses graciously. After we die, we lie under the weight of our crosses. In life, as in death, we must proclaim our faith in the power of the cross over us.

I believe that the higher we elevate our crosses, the higher our crosses will elevate us and guide those who follow us.

The crosses we lie under after death reflect our acceptance of the way of the cross that led us to eternal life. Therefore, may our progeny, in turn, carry their individual crosses while cherishing and protecting the faith of our fathers along their ways of the cross across their stations in life.

May all of the above testify to what I hope and pray will be the long surviving heritage our forefathers left behind.

Then, those who follow after us will also joyfully proclaim this one Roman Catholic faith in the resurrection. By the power of the cross, that faith has led many family generations through the eye of the needle. May that faith continue to guide many more generations through ages to come.

May those monuments to our faith be beacons of light that beckon family, friends and strangers alike, walking through any cemetery, in any world, to stop by and pray for all those who there under lie until the ultimate ‘Resurrection Day’ when we can all shed worldly forlornness to experience the fullness of eternal life!

With much love, for our father on this 5th day of December 2010 that marks the 20th anniversary of his death!

With much gratitude, we thank you our Fathers and forefathers, in heaven and on earth, for all you have taught us and your continued guidance.