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| Funeral Homily for Fr. Rudy, SJ |
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 Fr. Rudy will finally be laid to rest today. He will join his brethren at the Catholic Cemetery of Davao on the hill overlooking the city. He will overlook the city that he has been overlooking for his many years here in Davao. Over these past several days of his wake here in the Ateneo, we have heard of this “overlooking,” his overseeing the many families of Davao who are members of the Marriage Encounter (ME) movement of which he was the chaplain. We have heard of his “overlooking” the nieces and nephews who consider him a second father. We have heard of his “overlooking” the alms distribution to many of the poor of Davao. And we have heard of his work for the poor through the organizations he has worked with. In all this “overlooking,” Fr. Rudy has been the beloved heart and soul at the core of these ministries. It is his presence that will be missed. Of all this, I know very little. Having been only assigned to the Jesuit Community of Davao two years ago, I had not the privilege of involvement in these many works of Fr. Rudy nor had I met his family members until his sickness. But I think I know Fr. Rudy Malasmas,S.J. Fr. Rudy was first and foremost a Jesuit priest. He knew his priorities because he knew Who had called him. It was this call and this Caller that formed all the other activities of his life. In the renovation of the Davao Loyola House Jesuit Residence some years ago, a house chapel was built two doors down from Fr. Rudy’s room on the first floor. He used to speak of the House Guest who resided there with awe and wonder. When a few weeks ago our community meeting brought up the topic of Jesuit involvement in the school, Fr. Rudy expressed his concern that such involvement was not at the level which he felt was needed. Later in private, he voiced the sentiment that while the Ateneos all over the country have produced many outstanding alumni and alumnae, has their Jesuit education given them “a deep personal love of Jesus Christ”? Here we hear the heart of the man speaking. This was the motive behind the always ready service rendered in hearing confessions, celebrating the Eucharist, helping the Marriage Encounter groups, hearing the confessions of the contemplative Sisters, listening to the poor, and the years spent in school administration. Always the query: Does Jesuit education help the students to find Jesus Christ, to know Him and to love Him? It is of course nothing else but the words of St. Paul: [To know] Him who has loved me and given Himself up for me (Gal. 2: 21). This is the Jesus Christ Fr. Rudy always sought to know better and so serve better. This Christ was not an idea. He was a living reality living, as it were, just down the corridor from his room in the chapel and met in the persons He sent into Fr. Rudy’s life. As Rudy once said, commenting on the life of St. Ignatius, he believed it was not the French who aimed that famous cannonball but Christ. We see this again in his ministry to the ME groups. On the day of his fatal heart attack, there was a newspaper clipping in this pocket. It was an article from the Sun Star Davao dated Friday, 12 February 2010. The author entitled his piece “This mysterious thing called LOVE.” Fr. Rudy had underlined certain sentences, and I will read a few: “For God loved so much human beings that He sent His Only Son to die in their behalf so that they will join Him in heaven forever.” Later in the article, Rudy marked the following lines: “Have you ever been in love?”asked Rose Walker. “Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up...” Fr. Rudy notes in the margin: Love is Selfless. In another part of the article, Rudy wrote the word “Sacrificial” near a passage that goes: In reality, in love there is a permanent suffering which joy neutralizes, renders virtual, delays...” Then at the end of the article, he underlined a quote from William Shakespeare: “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep;the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” This is the man, the Jesuit priest named Rodolfo but in spirit very much the Peter of the Gospel today. Wherever His Lord has called him to be in this life, he has gone. Today he answers the call yet again as he leaves us bodily but with a heart filled with the love he has learned here. As Fr. Rudy leaves us today I feel he does so with the exhortation of St. Paul on his lips: “Put on love which binds [all the virtues] together and makes them perfect. Christ's peace must reign in your hearts, since as members of the one body you have been called to that peace.” - Dan McNamara, SJ 15 July 2010 |
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The more than 300 men of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus serve in five universities, numerous schools for basic education, two diocesan major seminaries, three urban and five rural parishes... (READ MORE)
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