I came along and we entered the room to sing at Father Jim Reuter’s bedside.
Father Reuter lay in a fetal position like a baby in the womb, his head totally bald, his face with the look of innocence, his easy smile cherubic. He raised his feeble hand to give us the thumbs-up.
This Jesuit friend of mine, whose charisma lies in his mastery of the arts and his generosity in administering the sacraments, attracted many young people to pursue acting careers on stage, film and television—Noel Trinidad, Subas Herrero, Celeste Legazpi, June Keithley, Cecile Guidote, Vic Diaz, Vic Silayan and many others. He is the idol of talented people because he himself is talented in the fields of theatre, arts, literature, sports and mass communications.
I’ve known Father Reuter since my college years at the Ateneo in the early ’50s. My image of him was macho. His hunky frame reminded me of Marlon Brando in the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire.” During rehearsals for his stage plays, Father Reuter’s routine get-up was white pants and white T-shirt hugging his well-built body.
It was the same get-up he’d wear during basketball practice, when he was athletic moderator of the Blue Eagle basketball champion team. He drove the players crazy by leading them on long, hard hours of running a rugged cross-country route from the vast field of Loyola Heights, all the way to UP.
These daily runs gave the Ateneo team a fast and furious edge during NCAA games. His rehearsals for stage plays were famous for hard work all through the night.
Now on his 96th birthday, he is old and infirm but hey, he’s got the pristine look of holiness, ready to be claimed by His Father in heaven.
Four years ago, I wrote the Catholic stand on the RH Bill, but couldn’t secure the space. I ran to Father Reuter, who wrote a weekly column in the Philippine Star. Happily, he gave way to my article in his column.
I confided to him my disenchantment with Ateneo philosophy professors who published their position papers arguing for the use of contraceptives in the government’s proposed law on birth control.
[Ateneo] Ain’t the same
In a sad voice, Father Reuter said, “Minyong, it ain’t the same anymore. Ateneo today is different from the Ateneo in your time.”
As priest friend, he was fatherly and highly spiritual. I felt his profound and personal kindness inside the confessional box. His homilies during Mass were not only literary sounding, but eloquently and succinctly doctrinal. He was a terrific retreat master. His anecdotal meditation on sin, death and hell was guaranteed to keep you wide awake even in the sleepy hours of mid-afternoon.
His sermon on Jesuit blind obedience (or “What it Means to be a Jesuit”) is classic. He delivered it on the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola in July 1953 in front of many of his fellow Jesuits.
At 96, Father Reuter completes the full cycle of his holy vocation, from the fetal position in the womb of his biological mother to the fetal position in the womb of the Holy Mother—the Church.
Let us grant this saintly priest the request he always makes after he gives us absolution in the confessional box: “Please pray for me.” Yes, Father! We always will.
Thanks for helping us discover the best in us, not only on the theatre stage, but in all the sacred stages of our lives. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)