Fr. Galdon and the Laughing Christ

He spoke of love. His heart was full of it. He gave it freely. Tirelessly, he enriched their lives with his own special brand of love and laughter, wisdom and prayer. To these young ladies also known as Jesuitas, Fr. Joseph Galdon, SJ is a well-loved teacher, preacher, mentor and spiritual director.

To preserve the nuggets of wisdom they have learned from Fr. Galdon, these women came up with a tome titled Laughing Christ: Collected Reflections of Joseph Galdon, SJ.

“More than four decades ago, there began a special love affair between Fr. Galdon and his women Jesuits or Jesuitas as he fondly referred to them,” my friend Toots Magsino, a Jesuita, wrote in the introduction of Laughing Christ, whose cover design was made by her. “At the urging of some of his women students, he took on the challenge of leading a weekend retreat that was meant to help in their spiritual quest. It was called Prayer Days for Coeds (PDC) and was held at the Ateneo de Manila University grounds. Since then, he has touched hundreds of coeds and gifted them with enough precious lessons to last a lifetime.”

Fr. Galdon taught them the important concept behind “love in the open hand,” urged them to remove their mask and celebrate their individuality and helped them embrace the idea of letting go and letting God. He always reminded his Jesuitas that they are all terrific and that there is no such thing as bad girls, only scared ones.

I spoke with some of the Jesuitas who were involved in the making of the book and they shared with me their beautiful memories and lessons learned from Fr. Galdon. Here goes...

Toots Magsino

“I consider myself very privileged to be called a Jesuita. Attending my first PDC weekend had such a great impact on me that I came back several times after to assist other women experience this life-changing event. Those weekend retreats formed intimate bonds between Father G. and the women who attended them. Through that shared experience, our lives were forever changed and transformed.

“My painting of the Laughing Christ (which became the cover of the book) was inspired by memories of those special Ateneo PDC Retreats. One of the main events during our ‘days of prayer’ was the evening confession, where each participant was assigned to a father confessor, for a special one-on-one encounter. After confession, we congregated in a darkened room for some quiet time and reflection. Amidst the darkness, a single candle illuminated the picture of the Laughing Christ by Ralph Kozak. I had never seen that image of Jesus before. It was a beautiful portrayal of His humanity and I loved it. I felt the urge to interpret that wonderful image. I painted my own version of the Laughing Christ in 1996 and dedicated it to Father G. during his 50th year as a Jesuit priest.”

Cynthia Melocoton

“What I fondly remember about Fr. Galdon was how he erased my fear of confession. He had made this sacrament a very personal experience of the Lord’s love and mercy. I don’t think that people in general look forward to confession because it is embarrassing confessing your sins to a complete stranger. But Father G always understood us. He made confession a very positive experience. He made us feel that nothing can ever come between Jesus and a contrite heart.

He taught us to ‘love with an open hand.’ We have all been broken and hurt at one time or another, and those moments often scar us for life. During our PDC weekends, Fr. G always reminded us to love with an open hand despite the scars. He encouraged us to always look to our Blessed Mother as our model. He points to Mama Mary with her palms outstretched before us — her open hands symbolizing her choice to love, to forgive, to give, to surrender... again and again and again.”

Yvonne Romualdez

“It was Father G who taught me to kneel down at the end of every single day and complete the four steps of prayer by saying, ‘I love you. Thank you. I praise you. Alleluia.’ And if ever I forget, my seven-year-old daughter Carin and three-year-old son Cito, who have picked up this daily habit, are there to remind me. It’s so amazing that Fr. Galdon’s priceless lessons have now been passed on to the third generation.”

Leah Sanchez

“During our growing up years, Fr. Galdon’s presence in my life was very crucial. Whenever I talked to him of my hurts, he would simply give the advice to LOVE, LOVE and LOVE. And so I realized that is why he always assigned me to lead the love talk during my college days. Fr. G reminded us that Christ demanded so little of us and yet he also taught us to give greatly. He taught us to kneel down every night before we go to sleep and recall the good and positive things we encountered during the day. And if we fall asleep praying that way, it would be a very strong form of prayer.”

Tina Puno

“I will always remember Fr. G for the poem Love in the Open Hand by Edna St. Vincent Millay. This is the poem he read at the start of the weekend. It taught us to open ourselves to the weekend and to love unselfishly. As the sonnet goes ‘love in the open hand, no thing but that, ungemmed, unhidden, wishing not to hurt...’ He always quoted, ‘You’re beautiful! You’re terrific’!”

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I asked the Jesuitas why they came up with the Laughing Christ, a project that, according to them, took 12 years to make.

Tina said: “We were casually talking to Father G about printing another book since he had already published several namely Mustard Seed (the most popular one), Chain of Love, Jubilee and more Mustard Seed — aside from writing a weekly Sunday column.

From the Jesuitas, I learned that the book was initially spearheaded by Toots Magsino. When Toots left for New York to pursue her art studies, the work was taken over by Tina Puno, Jackie Uysiusend Reyes, Cres Rodriguez Yulo and her sister Det Valdez (who took care of the re-typing from the original manuscript that Fr. Galdon passed on to Toots), Lizette Yulo (who took care of the funds), Myette Dizon Hizon, Aimee Cruz Agregado, Yvonne Dayrit-Romualdez and Cynthia Melocoton. With the assistance of Fr. Stein and the Jesuit Communications Foundation, the book was finally printed and launched.

At the recent launch, Fr. Jose Mario Francisco, SJ shared: “Though Fr. Galdon can no longer be with us due to infirmity and old age — he’s afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease — we are consoled that we now have his words in the Laughing Christ. With this book we can recapture our experiences of listening to his voice. With it, others who never met him could still draw from his wellspring and learn from him. This is more than we who love him so dearly can ever ask for.”

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I thank Tina Puno for gifting me with a copy of the book. As I browsed through the pages I was touched by “Be Kind” on page 276. Here, Fr. Galdon wrote: 

“One of the most important things of the spirit is kindness. During a class on Anglo Saxon literature at Columbia University, I learned that the word kindness is related to “kin” and “kindred” and comes from the old English word for “family.” It is so true that we learn kindness in the family — how to help those who are in need, how to think about others and not to think only about ourselves. I think we have learned over time that the greatest and happiest people in the world are kind people. They may not be rich. They may not be successful, but they are happy. The road to happiness always passes through the gate of kindness.”

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More than being just a good, deep read, this is one book you will find yourself reading over and over again. It will touch your heart, feed your soul and nurture your spirit.

(For more information on Laughing Christ, please call 426-5971 to 72 loc. 113 or e-mail tanging.yaman@jescom.ph)

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