Mass offers balm of healing

HUNTINGTON — The Rev. Oscar Martinez spoke in English, pausing often to translate into Spanish:

"At this point, the big question ... why? God, why is this happening to them? ... We are not here to explain that. We cannot understand that now. ... It takes time to understand."

The Catholic priest from St. Joseph's Church, Ogden, spoke Thursday evening at the memorial Mass for Jose Luis Hernandez and Carlos Payan Villa, two of the six miners trapped in the initial collapse of the Crandall Canyon Mine on Aug. 6. Both were born in 1984 in Sinaloa, Mexico, but lived in Huntington.

An interdenominational service for all nine miners lost in the two cave-ins will be held in Huntington on Sunday, and a celebration of their lives is scheduled for the following Saturday.

The Mass in the small Mission San Rafael, two miles south of Huntington, drew about 150 friends and relatives of the men, nearly all of whom were Hispanic. Prayers and hymns were in Spanish, with some English translations.

The Rev. Martinez noted that at this time, what is more important than understanding why the disasters happened is that people were united, praying together and supporting each other.

"It is OK to ask God why," he continued. When on the cross, Jesus asked God why he had forsaken him, he said.

The Rev. Donald Hope, the main celebrant at the Mass and pastor of the Mission San Rafael, led prayers not only for Villa and Hernandez but for their four companions who were victims of the Aug. 6 mine collapse, and for the three who died Aug. 16 while attempting to rescue them. The others caught in the initial collapse were Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez, and the rescuers were Brandon Kimber, Dale Black and Gary L. Jensen.

"It's a bitter time because it's a time of saying goodbye," the Rev. Hope said. Yet it is a time of sweet prayers, he added.

It is a time of "remembering all of the ways Luis, Carlos and their companions loved all of you," he said. It's a time of asking God to take "our brothers to himself."

The Rev. Hope quoted something he heard when the first collapse occurred — that when deaths happen, they are hard on all left behind. But, he quoted, think of the other side: "Think of the tears of joy as Jesus welcomes our brothers and sisters into his house."

With this service, he said, people might begin to heal from their pain.