• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
A person touches a casket holding the remains of a member of the Guara family during a funeral Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Surfside, Fla., July 6, 2021. Marcus "Marc" Guara, his wife, Anaely "Ana" Rodriguez, and their daughters Lucia, 11, and Emma, 4, perished in the June 24 collapse of a Surfside condominium building not far from the Catholic church. Marcus Guara's body was found June 26 and the bodies of his wife and daughters were found June 30. (CNS photo/Shannon Stapleton, Reuters)

Guaras truly lived ‘bond of love’ that is family life, says Florida pastor

July 8, 2021
By Catholic News Service
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

SURFSIDE, Fla. (CNS) — Father Juan Sosa, pastor of the Catholic church that is close to the now-demolished condominium building in Surfside, held up a photo of 11-year-old Lucia Guara’s first Communion in 2019.

He placed it on the casket holding her and her sister, Emma, 4, during the funeral Mass July 6 for the girls and their parents.

“I would like to place it on her casket as a symbol of her union with Christ,” the pastor of St. Joseph Church said of the photo. A couple of minutes earlier he pointed to the church’s baptismal font where Emma was baptized four years ago.

“You can see that the girls were brought (here) by their parents but now Christ has encountered them at a different stage, at a different phase, in a different moment, because Christ never leaves us abandoned,” Father Sosa said.

Friends and relatives touch the casket with the remains of a member of the Guara family after attending a funeral Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Surfside, Fla., July 6, 2021. Marcus “Marc” Guara, his wife, Anaely “Ana” Rodriguez, and their daughters Lucia, 11, and Emma, 4, perished in the June 24 collapse of a Surfside condominium building not far from the Catholic church. Marcus Guara’s body was found June 26 and the bodies of his wife and daughters were found June 30. (CNS photo/Shannon Stapleton, Reuters)

“Death cannot define our lives. For those who believe, death is a transformation. That comes from knowing Jesus, from loving Jesus, a companion for Christians in our daily lives from baptism to natural or tragic death,” he added.

Marcus “Marc” Guara, 52, along with his wife, Anaely “Ana” Rodriguez, 42, and the couple’s two daughters, perished in the June 24 collapse of the condo building. Marcus’ body was pulled from the rubble June 26, and the bodies of his wife and daughters were found June 30.

As of late July 8, the death toll had risen to 60, and the search and rescue operation officially shifted to a recovery mission. Officials said 80 people were still unaccounted for.

Lucia and Emma were laid to rest in the same white casket, which was adorned with pink and purple ribbons. Inside the church, their casket was placed between the caskets holding the bodies of their mother and father.

“In (today’s) Gospel, we hear that Jesus doesn’t want to leave anyone alone or anyone lost. … He’s praying to the Father about that, he’s praying about his own disciples but he’s also praying about you and me. Death does not define us,” Father Sosa said in his homily, alternating between English and Spanish.

Addressing the Guaras’ relatives and friends in the congregation, the priest said: “God gifted them with many gifts that you can identify better than I can because you knew them every well. God continues to bring us gifts. Let us not refuse them.”

He said one lesson the Guaras and others who have lost their lives in the tragic building collapse can impart is “that family life is worth more than anything we hold dear to us.”

“Family life is the bond of love that we cherish,” he continued, “the bond that helps us grow even when we fight with each other, which is normal in family life — even when we get angry at one another, which is normal in family life.”

Members of the search and rescue team in Surfside, Fla., stand during a moment of silence July 7, 2021, and pray in front of the rubble of the collapsed Champlain Towers South building. (CNS photo/Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via Reuters)

“God is dear to us and he knows us in our humanity,” Father Sosa said, “but at the same time he transforms us by the power of the Spirit to become better each day, to grow out of our own weakness and to be enriched by his own presence.”

Gesturing toward the caskets, he added, “They now inspire us to lead family life in that context more than ever before. They and all the ones they haven’t found yet — (15) members of our parish who are still missing.”

“Marcus, Anaely, Lucia and Emma, may the Lord grant you peace always and from the communion of saints may you intercede for us to continue our long journey to the heavenly kingdom,” Father Sosa said.

Throughout the funeral Mass, Guara family members and friends wiped away tears and clung to each other, “during the singing of ‘Amazing Grace’ as the caskets were being carried out of the church at the end,” The Associated Press reported.

As the search and rescue effort changed to a recovery operation,  the search teams paused their work around 1:20 a.m. July 8, and standing at the edge of the rubble, they bowed their heads in silence to honor the victims, said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

She told reporters the recovery effort was “proceeding just as rapidly with just as many people on the (rubble) pile,” and authorities were “taking as much care as ever” to find victims.

“We are working around the clock to recover victims and to bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can,” she said.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said local officials still hoped for the best. “We are still praying for a miracle. We haven’t given up all hope.”

Also See

Poll: Record-high percentage of U.S. adults say immigration good for country

Patriarchs support Christian communities attacked by Israeli settlers in solidarity visit

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

1 officer dead, 3 seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary

Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race

80 years after ‘Trinity,’ Catholic-hosted gathering calls to abolish nuclear weapons

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Catholic News Service

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

| Latest Local News |

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

| Latest World News |

Poll: Record-high percentage of U.S. adults say immigration good for country

Patriarchs support Christian communities attacked by Israeli settlers in solidarity visit

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

1 officer dead, 3 seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary

Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Poll: Record-high percentage of U.S. adults say immigration good for country
  • Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 
  • Patriarchs support Christian communities attacked by Israeli settlers in solidarity visit
  • Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break
  • 1 officer dead, 3 seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary
  • Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race
  • Remember common decency in immigration enforcement
  • Sponsors – for life
  • Listen for God this summer

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en