"He loved to sing. He loved to talk. He loved to laugh. Towards the end of his life, he could no longer sing. He could no longer talk. But he still laughed."
In the Society of Jesus there are certain people who appear and disappear in your life – depending on the vagaries of the assignments you receive. You begin to take it for granted that they will always be near. They are like fixed stars that are so present that you do not notice them. When they suddenly pass away you realize that you have lost a friend.
The early Jesuits referred to themselves as a company of friends in the Lord. In his quiet loyal way, Father Eddie was – is a friend in the Lord to all of us. Memories of Father Eddie are now flooding my mind and I will share a few of them.
Father Eddie, Father Jess Diaz and I took our first year theology in St. Mary’s, Kansas. There was a steep slope in the Theologate golf course. Eddie was one of the few brave souls that learned to ski on that slope. I remember seeing him coming in, his face red from the cold raw air. I admired his courage but was unable to imitate it.
Years later we were in Baguio for a province retreat. I had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. Eddie accompanied me. Before I was wheeled in the operating room, I asked him to hear my confession. Across the years, I remember his words of consolation and I am grateful for them.
St. Augustine says that to sing is to pray twice. Eddie has filled our churches with people who pray twice. They love to pray singing melodies composed by Fr. Eddie. Eddie’s music is in the style of Ilonggo folk music. He loved the music. He loved the people who created the music. He learned from their music and spread their style throughout the world.
Eddie loved to talk, he loved to sing, and he loved to laugh. In the last years of his life he could not sing, he could not talk. All he could pronounce were a few words, but he could still laugh.
And he lived life with zest. He communicated animatedly using the few words he could pronounce and gestures. He composed music using a computer, and he laughed. He so alive and cheerful that we sometimes failed to notice, the courage with which he embraced life. He was cheerful. He spread his cheerfulness to the people he lived with. That is the word I will use to describe Eddie: Courage.
He spent time everyday praying before the Blessed Sacrament, that was the source of his courage. He loved to live life with joy at a time when physical energy to him was in diminishment and inspired courage in others.
We thank God for giving us Eddie as brother and friend.
Fr. Roque Ferriols, SJ
Oratory of St. Ignatius, Loyola House of Studies
January 15, 2008
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