My remarks at Mass of Thanksgiving for my survival on May 1, 2010 - on the 20th anniversary of my bombing

Remarks by Fr Michael Lapsley,SSM

Dear Friends

Thank you to each of you for being here today. from so many different countries and walks of life.- beloved friends and representatives of different organisations Thank you Archbishop Thabo. Thank you Archbishop Tutu. I am honoured by the presence of Former First Lady Mrs Zanele Mbeki and my old friend Tito Mboweni. We invited people from all over the world. The only ones I expected to come were some of you who live in Cape Town. Imagine my delight when Steve Karakashian said he was coming from the United States and Sven Erik Fjellstrom from Sweden and Fr Chris Chivers from the UK. I am happy to see so many members of the consular corps. I greatly appreciate that High Commisioner Geoff Randall from my birth place of Aotearoa New Zealand and Mr. Eddy Machado, Counsellor of the Cuban Embassy in Pretoria is here. Thank you to leaders of political parties who are here. I appreciate the support of my two brothers, Fr Tanki Mofana and Fr Mosia Sello from Lesotho and my brother priests from Cape Town together with members of the Cathedral congregation. Thank you to each of you who participated in the service in whatever way especially the Pro cantu choir, their director Leon Starker and the organist David Orr, not forgetting our servers, Greg Coetsee and Luke Wildschut.. I have promised our Precentor Fr Bruce Jenneker caviar every day for a year for his many hours of work preparing this service. Also many thanks to my PA, Eleanor Kuhn for all the behind the scenes work and the support and assistance of my colleagues at the Institute and our extended IHOM family... Thank you to Fatima Swartz and my comrades from the Friends of Cuba Society for their part in the catering of the reception we are about to enjoy.

It is not accidental that we began with an Islamic and a Buddhist.prayer.. I have long believed that the future of humanity is an interfaith future in which we need to reverence and learn from each other's faith traditions including traditional beliefs but I also have the deepest respect for my atheist, agnostic, and communist friends.

When I was in Australia a few weeks ago, some friends asked me what I was going to do to mark the anniversary of the attempt on my life 20 years ago.

I decided to begin by asking my two favourite archbishops, Desmond Tutu and Thabo Makgoba if they were available. When both said, yes, today's Mass was on

In the last while, I have thought a great deal about these last twenty years, as well as the events of that fateful night of April 28, 1990 and the years preceding it.

During my years in the liberation struggle and as a chaplain of the ANC, I had become used to death. Time and again I was asked to lead and speak at funerals and memorial services of fallen comrades. As years passed, I also thought about the possibility of my own death. What I had not imagined was permanent major physical disability.

Some of you who have heard me tell my story before, will know that a key element in the bombing was my own sense that God was with me. I also felt that Mary who watched her son being crucified
understood what I was going through.

Shortly, after the bombing, I apologised to a friend that I had survived unlike her son who had been assassinated.

When I was bombed, it was the prayers and love and support of people across the globe, some of whom are here today and others who are with us in spirit, that enabled me to make my bombing redemptive – to bring life out of death, good out of evil,

It was the paintings done by many children especially those from Canada Australia and the UK, on the walls of my hospital room, that helped me through my darkest moments.

Despite the fact that I had nearly driven him mad when he was Bishop of Lesotho, it was Desmond Tutu who, as Archbishop of Cape Town, invited me to come and work here in Cape Town.

In 1993 I started to work at the Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture. Whilst there, some of us created a workshop model called the healing of memories. In 1998, the Institute for healing of memories was created – seeking to contribute to the healing journey of individuals, communities and nations. With my colleagues and many volunteers, healing of memories has provided a vehicle to accompany many, many people on their journey of healing just as I was accompanied on my own journey.

Whilst it is true that I will always grieve for the hands that I have lost, I am not sorry that I have received many more hugs than I would if I still had hands. . There are a few people who to my surprise, insist on shaking my metal hooks At the same time, I know that I have much to be thankful for. More, I know that I have gained immeasurably through the journey I have travelled.

Travelling the world has taught me that we are one human family capable of the most horrendous deeds. Just a few days ago I visited the genocide site in Srebenica in Bosnia. At the same time we are all capable and called to tenderness, kindness, generosity and compassion.

Often through the years I have asked myself why I survived a bomb that was supposed to kill me when so many others died, who also deserved to live. I guess that some of us had to survive to be living reminders of what we in this country did to each other. But a thousand time more importantly, I hope I can be a small sign that stronger than evil, and hatred and death, is goodness, compassion, love and life – indeed of God

Dear friends, thank you for joining me today in thanking God for my survival and for praying for all victims of violence and torture.

In the life that is left to me, I hope that I will help make the world a better place.

I pray that we will all leave this Mass with new strength and courage to care more resolutely for Mother earth and play our part in making South Africa, Africa and this world a home for all people.