a talk given on the booklaunching of Fr. Renato (Ning) Puentevella ,SJ

ON Father NING PUENTEVELLA, SJ’s
BOOK-LAUNCHING, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 84TH BIRTHDAY
BACOLOD CITY, 0CT. 23, 2008



SA BALAY NAMON, ANG HAYO KO ‘JUNI’..
SA MANAPLA AKO NATAWO.
KAG MASKIN DIDTO SA MANAPLA … WALA AKO KAPASAR

TI GINSAYLO NILA AKO SA BACOLOD.
.SA BACOLOD WEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
KAG DIDTO… NALUOY SILA SA AKON,
KAG NAHILOTHILOTAN SANG PARYENTE KO ANG AVERAGE KO KAG NAKABATON AKO SANG GRADO NGA 75%...75%.
KAG NAKAPASAR AKO SA GRADE ONE … SA DASON NGA TUIG DAKO KAAYO ANG IMPROBMENT KO ... KAG ANG AVERAGE KO SA GRADE 2 NAKAABUT NAKAABUT 79 ... 79!.

75% … KAG 79% … NANO PA NATINGALA GID AKO SANG PAGLIGAD NGA BULAN…PAGTELEFONO SA AKON NI FATHER NING PUENTEVELLA...

“JUNI.” SILING NIYA, “JUNI, SA OCTOBER 23 BIRTHDAY KO. OCHENTA Y CUATRO NA AKO. TI, MAY BOOK-LAUNCHING AKO SA BACOLOD....GINAIMBITAR TA KA...KAG MAHATAG KA SPEECH, HA?’ SI FATHER NING... SIGURO WALA NA GID SIYA IBAN MAKUHA..WALA NA GID SIYA IBAN MAKUHA.. NANO PA AKO NA LANG ANG GIN-IMBITAR YA. .AKO.. ..SI JUNI JESENA, ANG KALULUOY NGA DROPOUT HALIN SA MANAPLA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.


LADIES...AND ..GENTLEMEN... I REALLY CONSIDER IT A GREAT HONOUR TO SHARE WITH YOU SOME THOUGHTS
ABOUT FR. RENATO LOCSIN PUENTEVELLA, S.J.

Fr. NING WAS BORN IN SILAY ON OCTOBER 23, 1924. IN 1941, HE GRADUATED SALUTATORIAN AT THE ATENEO DE MANILA… THEN, DURING WORLD WAR II, HE WENT UP THE NEGROS HILLS AND JOINED OUR GUERILLAS AGAINST THE JAPANESE INVADERS OF OUR COUNTRY.

FR. NING WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF MR. NICK LEDESMA. AND SISTER SOLEDAD HILADO. TI GIN PAMANGKOT KO SISTER SOLEDAD, ‘SISTER, TI, SANG TEENAGER PA KAMO, MAY NADUMDUMAN KA NG MGA DALAGA, MAY NADUMDUMAN KA NGA MGA DALAGA…NGA NAG PANGALUYAG KAY NING PUENTEVELLA?” SILING NI SISTER, ‘TI, DAW WALA GID KO MAY NADUMDUMAN!’ SISTER SOL IS A VERY HOLY AND VERY LOYAL FRIEND OF FR. NING. WALA GID SIYA YA MAY GINBULGAR NGA SEKRETO NI FR. NING.

AFTER THE WAR, NING PUENTEVELLA FINALLY JOINED THE JESUITS IN NOVALICHES, AND TOOK HIS HUMBLE AND PROMINENT PLACE AMONG THE OTHER ILONGGO JESUITS…FR. CESAR MARAVILLA, FR. MANNY REGALADO, FR. ERNESTO JAVIER, FR. GEORGE HOFILENIA, FR. MARIANO VARELA, ARCHBISHOP TONY LEDESMA, FR. ARCHIE INTENGAN, FR. RENE JAVELLANA, FR. MANNY PEREZ, FR. ELI LUMBO, FR. ROBBIE SIAN, KAG -- AKO, SI FATHER JUNI JESENA.

FR. PUENTEVELLA, AFTER FINISHING THE JESUIT NOVITIATE, THE JUNIORATE, AND PHILOSOPHY, WAS ASSIGNED TO THE ATENEO DE CAGAYAN, TAUGHT LATIN, ENGLISH AND RELIGION, AND COACHED THE VARSITY BASKETBALL TEAM.

THEN AFTER HIS REGENCY, STUDIED THEOLOGY IN WOODSTOCK COLLEGE, MARYLAND, USA. AND THERE IN THE UNITED STATES, HE WAS ORDAINED ON JUNE 20,1959. AFTER TERTIANSHIP IN ST. BUENO’S, WALES, THE UNITED KINGDOM.

FATHER NING TOOK HIS POSTGRADUATE STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE IN FORDHAM UNIVERSITY IN NEW YORK.
FR. ALBERT AMPIL, SJ, WHO STUDIED WITH HIM IN NEW YORK, REMEMBERS THE TIME WHEN FATHER NING WOULD MINISTER TO THE BUMS AND DERELICTS IN TIMES SQUARE, A FEW BLOCKS FROM THE PARISH CHURCH WHERE THEY WERE STAYING IN NEW YORK CITY …

AFTER HIS POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, FR. NING RETURNED TO THE PHILIPPINES AND WORKED FOR MANY YEARS IN VARIOUS JESUIT SCHOOLS.. AS DIRECTOR, AS DEAN OF STUDIES, AND PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND THEOLOGY, AS CHAPLAIN, AND AS BASKETBALL COACH.

OUR FR. NING HAD SEVERAL LOVES IN HIS LIFE THAT I KNOW OF. KUN MAY IBAN PA YA…WALA LANG TA KA BALO.. ANG NABAL-AN TA LANG ... HE WAS PASSIONATELY IN LOVE WITH…
BASKETBALL…THE MOVIES….ENGLISH LITERATURE….THE LOVABLE HEARTS OF CHILDREN…HONESTY AND HUMILITY, …FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS…FAMILY, RELATIVES AND FRIENDS…THE JESUITS AND IGNATIAN IDEALS…THE SALVATION OF SOULS……THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD.

HIS EXCELLENCY, THAT FAMOUS AND BRILLIANT BISHOP CHITO TAGLE OF IMUS, STATES: ’I REALLY LIKE ATTENDING JESUIT FUNERALS….THAT IS THE ONLY PLACE THEY SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT EACH OTHER….I REALLY LIKE ATTENDING JESUIT FUNERALS…THAT IS THE ONLY PLACE THEY SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT EACH OTHER.”

BUT MY FRIENDS… IS IT REALLY NECESSARY –IS IT STILL – EVEN HELPFUL TO ME... TO WAIT UNTIL I DIE, BEFORE YOU DARE SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY ABOUT ME??..
ANHON PA ANG KUMPAY, KUN PATAY NA ANG KABAYO?

LET ME TAKE THIS OCCASION THEN, TO PUBLICLY AND PERSONALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATE MY OLDER BROTHER, MY FELLOW-JESUIT AND FRIEND, FR. NING PUENTEVELLA.


I AM MUCH YOUNGER THAN FATHER NING, AND FOR A LONG TIME, KNEW HIM ONLY FROM A DISTANCE, AS A BRILLIANT BASKETBALL COACH AND A WONDERFUL PROFESSOR AND A MASTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE …SO I FIRST NEEDED TO ELICIT SOME SERIOUS DATA FROM THE OTHER JESUITS.

I wanted to ask FR. JOSEPH GALDON SJ, A FRIEND OF FR. NING, AND ANOTHER FAMOUS MASTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. But FR. GALDON already has ALZHEIMER.
I also wanted to ask Ning’s teacher, FR.WALTER HYLAND, SJ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF STUDIES OF MANY JESUIT SCHOOLS, AND REGENT OF THE ATENEO DE MANILA LAW SCHOOL…BUT FR.WALTER HYLAND HAS ALREADY BEEN DEAD FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY!

FORTUNATELY, I did find OTHERS WHO KNOW FR. NING SILA ABI KANDAY Fr. RECTOR BILL KREUTZ, Fr. JIM O’DONNELL, FR. C.G. AREVALO, AND VERY REV. FR. PROVINCIAL, JOJO MAGADIA.

LET US BEGIN WITH FR. NING’S VOCATION…HIS VOCATION AS A JESUIT AND A PRIEST.
NAG PAMANGKUT KAMI … TI NGAA, NGAA GID GINBAYAAN NI FATHER NING ANG SILAY KAG ANG IYA PAMILYA KAG MGA ABYAN,.. ANG IYA NGA KASADYA KAG IYA KALIBUTAN DIRI?

AKO IYA, NGA UPOD NIYA SA ATENEO DE DAVAO, I NOTICED NGA KADA GID, KADA GID LAKAT NI FATHER NING, SA LA-IN NGA LUNGSOD, PAG PAULI NIYA, MAY DALA GID INA SIYA NGA DAMO NGA PINUTOS..MGA PASTRIES KAG DELICACIES, MGA BRING HOME—PASALUBONG’ PARA SA AMON, ANG IYA NGA JESUIT FAMILY. I NOTICED THIS, AND I REALLY APPRECIATED IT. GAMAY LANG NGA BUTANG, PERO PRUEBA NGA GINAPENSAR KAG GINAHIGUGMA NIYA GID KAMI PIRME.

KAG SIGURADO MAN NGA PALANGGA GID NI FATHER NING ANG IYA PAMILYA, ANG MGA LOCSIN KAG MGA PUENTEVELLA … GA SHOPPING GID NA SIYA SA ALJALILAH MOSLEM SOUVENIR SHOP SA ALDEVINCO, DAVAO ... KADA PASYAR NIYA DIRI SA INYO…

PERO NGAA NGA SANG 1941, SANG 1941, GIN BAYAAN NIYA KAMO, ANG IYA MGA PALANGGA?
NGAA NAG SULOD SIYA SA SEMINARYO SANG MGA HESWITA?

NGAA? Sang gamay pa kita, siguro samtang gina patulog pa ta sang aton yaya, siguro na bati-an naton ang kanta,
ELEE ELEE TULOG ANAY WALA DIRI IMO NANAY. ELEE ELEE TULOG ANAY WALA DIRI IMO NANAY ADTO TIENDA BAKAL PAPAY, ELE ELEE TULOG ANAY.

AND SOON AFTER THAT BEAUTIFUL LULLABY, THAT TENDER MELODY TO MAKE US SLEEP, OUR YAYA WOULD PERHAPS HUM…ANOTHER SONG ..MAYBE
AY AY KALISUD, KALISUD SINING BINAYAAN…. AY AY KALISUD OR PERHAPS OUR DEAR YAYA’S SONG MAY BE LUMABAY LABAY NGA DAW ASO, ASO PA LAMANG. LUMABAYLABAY NGA NGA DAW ASO, ASO PA LAMANG…ANG TANAN TANAN NGA BUTANG SA KALIBUTAN…ANG MGA MATAM-IS AHAY, NAGA PA-IT MAN AHAY.

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, EVERYONE OF US..OUR DEEPEST NEED IS LOVE…AND HOME, AND ULTIMATELY, GOD. WE KNOW ONLY TOO WELL HOW INCOMPLETE, HOW IMPERMANENT ARE THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD, BECAUSE THEY ARE KULANG, THEY ARE KULANG, AND THEY LAST ONLY FOR A SHORT TIME. LUMABAYLABAY NGA DAW ASO..ANG TANAN TANAN NGA BUTANG SA KALIBUTAN.

All the material things of the world outside, they all fade away,
AND OUR OWN DEEPEST, NATURAL INSTINCT AND TENDENCY IS TO REACH OUT FOR, AND BE ONE WITH GOD…WITH GOD.

AND ASIDE FROM THE NATURAL LONGING OF OUR SOUL FOR GOD, WE ARE ALSO EMBRACED AND INEBRIATED BY THE SOFT, GENTLE WHISPER OF OUR INFINITE, PERFECT LOVER GOD, AND THAT WHISPER SAYS, “COME, COME AND WORK WITH ME,..COME, AND BE WITH ME.”

AND ANSWERING THAT DIVINE CALL OF LOVE, WE LEAVE EVERYTHING – TO WORK WITH GOD, TO BE WITH GOD….

HOW DID YOU FEEL, FR. NING, WHEN YOU LEFT YOUR HOME AND SILAY, AND BECAME A PARTICIPANT IN THE LONELY AND TRANSCENDENT LIFE OF THE JESUITS?
YOU DID NOT KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN THAT ADVENTURE, THAT IMMENSE LEAP OF FAITH. THAT JOURNEY ,THAT LIFELONG WAR BY THE SIDE OF YOUR FRIEND AND BROTHER, JESUS CHRIST. YOU ONLY KNEW THAT GOD CALLED YOU, AND WAS FOREVER CALLING YOU…

AND THAT IS WHY YOU LEFT EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, TO ANSWER THAT CALL.

TI FR. NING, 62 YEARS KA NA NGA JESUIT…. 62 YEARS! AND THAT EPIC, THAT SAGA, THAT LONG PILGRIMAGE, A HOLY SECRET, FULLY KNOWN ONLY TO GOD AND … YOU…ALL THE REST OF US CAN ONLY STEP BACK WITH REVERENCE, AND
AND FROM A DISTANCE, WITNESS YOUR BEAUTIFUL, SILENT LOVE STORY, FATHER NING, YOUR LOVE STORY…YOU AND GOD … GOD, AND YOU.

BUT TODAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008…YOUR 84TH BIRTHDAY, WE YOUR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS FOCUS THE SPOTLIGHT ON YOU AND ACKNOWLEDGE AND HONOR YOU … AS A GREAT WRITER, A MASTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

FR. NING.. for a long time you have been acknowledged even by the harshest of critics, the terrible Jesuits, as one of the very best AMONG ALL JESUIT WRITERS IN THE PHILIPPINES…

FR.NING…you have bave long been DESERVEDLY ENSHRINED in the same SUBLIME LITERARY OLYMPUS as FR.HORACIO DE LA COSTA and FR. MIGUEL ANSELMO BERNAD and FR. JAMES DONELAN and FR. CATALINO AREVALO and FR. JOSEPH GALDON and FR. JAMES REUTER, AND FR. ALBERT AMPIL… AND YOU ARE, IN SOME RESPECTS, EVEN BETTER THAN SOME OF THEM.

THAT IS WHAT THE JESUITS THINK.
THAT IS WHAT THE JESUITS HAVE TOLD ME.

AND WE ACKNOWLEDGE YOU AND WE HONOR YOU. I HAVE WITH ME RIGHT NOW LETTERS OF TRIBUTE HONORING YOU, FATHER NING—LETTERS FROM FATHERS JESUIT PROVINCIAL JOJO MAGADIA, FATHER RECTOR WILLIAM KREUTZ, AND FATHER THEOLOGY PROFEESSOR EMERITUS, CATALINO AREVALO.

BUT OF COURSE FR. NING, IN YOUR PROFOUND AND GENUINE HUMILITY YOUR NEITHER REALIZE NOR ACKNOWLEDGE THIS.
BUT THIS, YOUR PROFOUND HUMILITY AND SELF-EFFACEMENT IS PERHAPS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY THE OTHER JESUITS HOLD YOU IN SUCH HIGH ESTEEM.

BUT PLEASE TELL US, FATHER NING, WHAT IS THE WORLD OF THE WRITER, WHAT ARE YOU REALLY LIKE--THE MAN WHO WROTE THE BOOKS, ‘MEMORIES AND REMINISCENCES’ and ‘TONGUE-IN-CHEEK”…WHO THOUGHT EVERY WORD, AND ABOVE ALL, FELT EVERY WORD?... THE MAN WHO DAILY LIVED IN A VERY SECRET PLACE OF SILENCE AND EVEN LONELINESS AND PAIN AND ECSTACY…. WHO WAITED AND WAITED IN THAT HOLY SILENCE AND HOLY WAITING, AND AT LAST, FINALLY HEARD AND FELT THE WHISPER THE TOUCH AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD ... GOD HIMSELF.

THEN GOD, THE DIVINE LOVER, MUST HAVE WHISPERED AGAIN WHAT WE ALL ETERNALLY KNOW...."NING, NING, YOUR SOUL IS RESTLESS, UNTIL IT RESTS IN ME…..SEARCH FOR ME…AND FIND ME…IN THE HEART OF EVERY WOMAN AND EVERY MAN AND IN EVERY THING..…FOR I AM ALWAYS THERE…WAITING FOR YOU…LOVING YOU.”

FR. NING, YOU ARE A GREAT WRITER….
AND A GREAT WRITER IS GREAT, BECAUSE HE HIMSELF HAS FIRST, PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED THE INCOMPLETENESS,THE PAIN, THE DESPERATION, THE SENSE OF ABANDONMENT… OF BEING HUMAN. AND IN HIS HELPLESSNESS, HE ULTIMATELY, DESPERATELY, FINDS ENOUGH LOVE TO HOPE IN JESUS THE CHRIST, THE CRUCIFIED, THE GOD OF MERCY AND COMPASSION, THE FATHER AND MOTHER OF INFINITE LOVE.

TI, DEAR FATHER NING, TIGULANG NA KITA NGA DUHA …MADAMO SANG ATON MGA PARYENTE KAG MGA AMIGO NAG TALIWAN NA, NA-UNA NA SILA SA ATON.. SIGURO, MASKIN KITA ATON … DALI NA LANG …MAPAHUWAY NA TA.

PERO ANO AYHAN ANG HERENCIA, ANG PANUBLI-ON, ANG MANGGAD, ANO ANG MGA BRILLIANTE KAG BULAWAN KAG MGA PROPRIEDADES ANG MAPAMILIN KAG MAPANGHATAG NATON?

TI ….DAW WALA GID. TI DAW WALA GID.. IS THEN…OUR WHOLE LIFE WASTED? . KANUGON… KANUGON?


INDI, INDI !!! BUT YOUR LIFE IS NEVER, NEVER WASTED!


FIRST, THERE WAS YOUR LIFE OF PRAYER, AND UNION WITH GOD.. THOSE UNNOTICED, UNRECORDED, UNAPPRECIATED, YET, INFINITELY PRECIOUS MOMENTS…ENDLESS DAYS AND ENDLESS HOURS WHEN YOU JUST SAT AND WAITED THERE… AT THE FEET OF GOD, PRECIOUS MOMENTS WHEN YOU JUST REMAINED THERE… JUST YOU AND GOD, JUST GOD..AND YOU.

AND THEN, FATHER NING, DO YOU REMEMBER? I HOPE YOU DO REMEMBER.. YOU LIVED AN ENTIRE LIFETIME AS A JESUIT AND A PRIEST..OF SERVICE, TO GOD’S OWN PEOPLE…YOUR MANY MANY YEARS OF SACRAMENTAL, APOSTOLIC WORK..TO SAVE IMMORTAL SOULS..YES,. ALL THOSE MASSES AND SERMONS AND RETREATS AND COUNSELLING SESSIONS..

THERE WERE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS YOU TAUGHT, AND COUNTLESS PEOPLE YOU HELPED, THE MEN AND WOMEN YOU SERVED AND EDIFIED … PEOPLE WOUNDED AND IN PAIN WHOM YOU TOUCHED AND HELPED AND HEALED.



YOU KNOW, FATHER NING, AFTER YOU HAD LEFT OUR ILOILO STA MARIA PARISH TO WORK IN MINDANAO, ONE DAY, WHILE VISITING THERE,…I MET A KAHALADLOK NGA ARO-ON DIDTO, AND HE WAS LOOKING FOR YOU, HE WAS LOOKING FOR FR. NING PUENTEVELLA…FOR Y O U .. BUT YOU WERE LONGER THERE.

YES … HE WAS LOOKING FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOU WERE HIS FRIEND. WHILE HE —HE WAS JUST A POOR, REJECTED LEPER -- ISA KA ARO-ON . HE WAS WAS NO LONGER ATTRACTIVE, NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE, NO LONGER COMPLETE.. ..HIS SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-CONFIDENCE, AND DIGNITY, LIKE HIS FINGERS HIS FINGERS..ONCE BEAUTIFUL AND STRONG, HAD, BECAUSE OF HIS DREADFUL LEPROSY, LONG AGO FALLEN OFF.

KULULBA-AN SIYA..HAHALADLOK …BUT YOU FATHER NING, WERE HIS FRIEND…FOR ONCE UPON A TIME YOU MET HIM, AND YOU DID NOT REJECT HIM. AND INSTEAD YOU WELCOMED HIM, RESPECTED HIM, AS A FELLOW HUMAN BEING, AND A FRIEND.
IN THE EYES OF GOD, IN THE EYES OF GOD, IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT OTHER PEOPLE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT YOUR GOODNESS TO THIS POOR LEPER…AND ALL THE OTHER REJECTS LIKE HIM, ALL THE OTHER OUTCASTS WHOM YOU HAD SILENTLY INVITED INTO THE WARM AND LOVING EMBRACE OF YOUR CHRISTLIKE HEART.

AND AT THIS ETERNAL MOMENT, FR. NING, GOD NOW DECLARES TO YOU, ‘WHATEVER YOU DID FOR THE LEAST OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, YOU DID FOR ME” (MT. 25/40).



DEAR FATHER NING … Deep down in our heart we know.. we know that DEATH..DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING. AND THE ONLY HAPPINESS .. THE ONLY HAPPINESS IS TO PLEASE GOD.

FATHER NING PUENTEVELLA…YOU ARE A GREAT MAN, AND WE ALL HONOR YOU… AND WE LOVE YOU.

And FROM GOD, FROM GOD, THESE BEAUTIFUL, ETERNAL WORDS –

‘YOU ARE MY BELOVED SON, IN YOU I AM WELL-PLEASED…YOU…ARE MY BELOVED SON … IN YOU ... IN YOU, I AM WELL-PLEASED. “ (Mk. 1/11)





Juni Jesena SJ Ateneo de Manila 10/23/08