Sail on. . . . . . .Joe!

Doctor Bob Aquino has produced a beautiful compact disc called: "Sail On!" Nineteen songs, by top flight performers: Cocoy Laurel, Jose Mari Chan, The Madrigal Singers, Hajji Alejandro and Cris Villonco, Isay Alvarez and Robert Seña, Dexter, Joaquin Garcia, Vernie Varga, Jolina Magdangal, Denise Laurel, Paolo Santos, Earl Tayag, JM, Ariel Rivera, and Isabel Granada.

They really sing! Effortlessly, smoothly, with a full, rich tone. It is a joy to listen to them. This album is unique. So many of our popular performers do not sing – they howl!

The arrangement, and the orchestral background, is superb. Great variety. The music carries the singers on wings. It does not drown them. There are no pounding drums. The whole effect is deep, natural peace.

And every song is crystal clear. You can understand every word. The sound technicians, on this one, did a magnificent job. And the voice coach must have worked the artists on articulation. They sound absolutely natural, and their message is as clear as a bell.

The lyrics come out in many languages – English, Tagalog, French, Italian – but the singers break into a foreign language as if they were born in it.

This sounds like a rave review. And it is. Because every song is a prayer! They are simple prayers. No complex theology. Every one could be understood by a destitute squatter, born under a bridge, who never went to school.

But the way they sing! It is so reverent! You get the impression that the singer is really reaching out to God, with all his heart. Talking to God, alone. It is genuine. They are not trying to sell themselves. They are not trying to sell anything! It is prayer.

Early on, in this album, Hajji Alejandro and Cris Villonco sing Medallion, backed by a children’s choir. It is deeply emotional, but they are not singing a love song to each other. They are pouring out their hearts to God. With that song I realized: "This album is different!"

A little later, Isay Alvarez and Robert Seña sing the "Crusader’s Hymn". The harmony is excellent. But they are not pledging themselves to each other. It is two souls, united in a common prayer.

The great Greek orator, Demosthenes, said that the secret of oratory is "the appearance of sincerity." Oratory is communication, a bridge between soul and soul. Every song is communication, a bridge between soul and soul. It is oratory set to music. On the sheer sound of sincerity, I would give the singers in this album 100%.

On this score – sincerity, building a bridge between mind and mind, between heart and heart – the best is Cocoy Laurel. When he sings, you feel that he is kneeling in a tiny chapel, all alone, pouring out his soul to God.

The high point of the album, to me, was Jose Mari Chan, singing: "Stay With Me." When he sings, you think that he is close beside you, talking to you alone. Confiding in you. Saying simply what he feels. He has contact. Empathy. Here are the first three verses of that song:

"It is night. . . . .It is dark.

And great fear has gripped my heart.

Come my friends, come and pray.

I beg you stay with me.

It is the hour. . . . .It is the cup.

It is the cry I hear inside

I am crushed. . . . . I am sad.

I beg you stay with me.

So could you still watch with me for an hour?

The pain is growing. . . .I can no longer bear it.

So could you still watch with me for an hour?

Remain with me, and stay with me, and pray."

When I listened to this, for the first time, my good friend Father Joe Blanco was dying, right there in our house. I was thinking that the words could have come from him. . . . .from anyone who knew that he was going home to God.

The last verse was:

"Father, if it is possible

Let this bitter cup pass from me.

But if. . . .if this is what you want. . . .

Then let it be. . . .Oh, let it be!"

Then I knew that the song was a portrayal of the mind and heart of God, in the Garden of Gethsemane. But - at the same time - the words could be spoken by anyone, dying. For the first time I realized how Christ Our Lord wanted to be like us, in all things, even in the agonizing fear of death.

"Sail On!" comes strongly recommended by His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, by President Cory Aquino, by Ambassador Tita de Villa, and by a host of others. But don’t take their word for it. Listen to it, yourself, when you are alone, and quiet. For me, it was a moment of deep peace.

* * *

Father Jose Blanco, S.J. died in Xavier House, in Santa Ana, at one in the afternoon of Saturday, August 19. The wake was held in Xavier House. The funeral Mass was said in Loyola House of Studies, on the Ateneo campus. He was buried in the Jesuit cemetery at Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches.

He had courage – as a boy, as a priest, and even in his last illness.

His first contact with the Jesuits came in 1940, in Baguio, where he was captain of the basketball team in the High School of Saint Louis University. The Belgian Fathers, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, came to the Jesuits and asked if we could supply a coach for their team. The Jesuit Superior, Father Hank McCullough, gave them Rogelio la O as a coach. He sent me along as trainor. Both Rogelio la O and I were Scholastics, at that time, studying Philosophy.

Joe was a natural leader. A team player. And really a great athlete. He was never afraid of anybody. No matter how big and strong the opposition was, his spirit carried the team. He had mastered the eye feint. Light and fast, he would come into the enemy territory, go up in the air to shoot, look at a forward as if he was going to pass to him, the guards would close in on that forward; and Joe would snap the ball, without looking, to the other forward, who was usually freed by the feint. Not many players could do that.

We won the championship of Northern Luzon, against

Bayombong. Joe had a great admiration for Rogelio la O. After the championship game, in Baguio, he came to the Jesuit house and talked to Rogelio for two hours. . . . He graduated from high school in March of 1941, and entered the Society of Jesus in June.

As a young priest, he was deeply involved in Social Work. During Martial Law he was with a group of boys, and the military fired on them, killing two young students. Joe fought the regime from then on.

He wrote articles against the administration. For this he won, in the Catholic Mass Media Awards. And for this he went to jail. He was one of the few priests who were imprisoned. He could have escaped this if he agreed to keep quiet, but he said: "In conscience, I can not do that!"

After Martial Law, he plunged into the work for the poor, for the unemployed, for all those who were suffering from unjust social structures. At first his movement was called "Passive Resistance". But Joe was never passive - not one day in his life. He changed the name to "Active Non Violence."

It was not easy to continue fighting for justice, when those in power would not listen. But he never gave up. He was leading a campaign against selfishness, against greed, against corruption in business, against corruption in government – David against Goliath.

Even in his last illness, he never complained of his own sufferings. He got into trouble, fighting for everybody else, never for himself. He was really a man for others. I have no fear for Joe, at the Judgment. Our Lord will say to him: "So long as you have done it for the least of these, my little ones, you have done it to Me!"

He was a man!