Fr Geoffrey Attard writes:
As the Church liturgy commemorated Easter Monday, 73-year-old Filomena Attard of Victoria, known by all and sundry simply as Fiela ta’ Rizzu, was called to the house of the Father.
I had known her since I was a little child and I remember her sitting in her shop full of antiques and other interesting objects at the very top of De Soldanis Street, in the very heart of Gozo’s town.
As soon as a customer would enter her shop, she would stand, holding a prayer book in her left hand while putting away her glasses and holding him in her right hand.
If I stopped to talk to her, I would already be certain that, before leaving her, the subject being discussed would be a religious one, so much for God who was at the very centre of her life.
She had a soft spot for priests but love and care were the main characteristics of her entire personality.
Always with a smile able to ease the harshest of pains, Fiela had a word of consolation and encouragement for everyone. She used to take Holy Communion to the sick in their homes, wash the holy vestments and altar-dressings of her native parish church of St George’s and a couple of other churches and chapels in town as well as visit the elderly and housebound on a regular basis.
Besides, if she knew of anybody who was either in need of money or going through hard times she would be the first one to seek help and assist him/her.
I feel I would not be exaggerating if I were to state that, as far as I know, never such a gentle woman did walk the streets of Victoria.
Her funeral at St George’s was attended by a vast congregation consisting mainly of her brothers and sisters in the Neo-Catechumenal Way of which she was a fervent member during the last two decades of her life.
In the funeral homily, delivered by Fr Roberto Gauci, the preacher outlined in the clearest of manners the various beautiful qualities that endowed her before recommending her to the Risen Christ, whose liturgical solemnity she quietly celebrated from her deathbed on the day before being called to eternal rest.
Dear Fiela, you will be sorely missed. May you now receive your well-earned eternal reward!