by Michael Acenas
This year, Most Rev Antonio Javellana Ledesma SJ DD, Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, celebrates his 40th year as a Priest and 50th year as a Jesuit.
My encounters with the Archbishop are less extraordinary. These are occasions that involve organizational meetings, lunch at his residence, and some text exchanges. For the past four years, I have been a church leader as a ministry coordinator in the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro Campus Ministry Association (ACCMA). My function as coordinator has brought me to an “up close and personal” encounter with someone whom I consider an “icon of the holy.”
Antonio Javellana Ledesma was born on March 28, 1943 in Iloilo City. He finished all his grade school, high school and tertiary education at the Ateneo de Manila, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
On May 30, 1963, he entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 20. He was ordained to priesthood on April 16, 1973 by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin DD. He then took up his MA in Political Science at the University of the Philippines and PhD in Development at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.
Before he was ordained Bishop of the Prelature of Ipil in 1996, he held various positions (eg professor, confessor, program director and college dean) at Xavier University for 14 years (1982-1996). On May 30, 2006, he was installed Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro.
I am humbled yet privileged to write about a respected leader who has surpassed the odds of his personal and vocational life. Quite often, we measure the greatness of a man by his wealth, honor and power. No doubt about it, Archbishop Ledesma has it all. But, as I reflect, his greatness does not conform to the standards of the world. What make him great are his characteristics, which I find most ideal: simplicity, availability and humor.
SIMPLICITY. When you listen to him and see the way he manages the affairs of the local church, it seems like he is just an ordinary man. Unless you ask him, he will never talk about himself, his connections, his backgrounds, his travels and, more importantly, his position. Before he became the Archbishop of Cagayan De Oro, I would sometimes see him at the XU campus walking alone unassumingly; he would cross Corrales Avenue like any other man. He still drives himself around the Archdiocese. He is still the same unassuming and quite ordinary person I first encountered during his days at XU.
His simplicity is expressed in equanimity: the calmness or quietness, the sense of balance in his total person. He is a person of authority who seems so attached to a lot of things and yet detached from them. He is attached to the affairs of the church and yet detached from its attributes.
I’ve heard many good things about his family background and upbringing, and this was confirmed when we went to the Trappist Monastery in Guimaras Island. The monks in the monastery have so much to be thankful for with the Ledesma family as their great benefactor. When I told the Archbishop about our Guimaras experience, he just smiled at my adoration, as if not wanting to talk about it.
AVAILABILITY. The Archbishop is now 70 years old but his energy is unparalleled in organizational meetings. There is a joke among church leaders that what energizes the Archbishop is his “meetings,” that when he has no meetings, he gets sick. This is very much true in my experience. He wants to be around in the planning and evaluation of ministries as much as he is available. I cannot forget one instance when we had our year-end evaluation and planning in one ministry. The Archbishop came in the middle of the meeting. After sitting down for some minutes, he dozed off. We continued with our meeting while the Archbishop slept. Before the meeting ended, he woke up and we asked his opinion. Interestingly, it seemed like he knew what we were all talking about. Later that day, we learned that he had just come from the airport before heading straight to our meeting.
HUMOR. There are spontaneous punch lines of the Archbishop that I find amusing. In the recent 1st Archdiocesan Synod, when the Archdiocesan Liturgical Committee asked the Archbishop to “police” those not following the rubrics of liturgy, he disagreed, saying kindly, “I am not a policeman but a pastor.” Later that day, Msgr Boy Salvador, the Liturgist in the Archdiocese, asked the Archbishop to give the final blessing. Before the blessing, he asked the people “Is this liturgical”? Laughter broke the silence. For me, this humor comes from the joy of his heart within.
The exemplar character of Archbishop Ledesma has inspired many church leaders like me. Individuals imbued with simplicity, availability and humor must be anchored in deep spirituality. One cannot be simple, available and joyful unless he/she is “indifferent.” In Ignatian Spirituality, “indifference” comes from an interior experience of freedom from within. The position of Archbishop is not simple, perhaps even a lonely one. Yet the joy that the Archbishop holds in his heart means he is free from within.
Long time ago in a retreat, I caught Fr Danny Huang SJ speaking. He said, “When we get tired of everyday routines, when nothing pushes us within to become more, one best thing we can do is to stand near the people who inspire us the most.” Standing near them rekindles our depleted energy because their presence reminds us of who we are (identity) and who we are to be (mission). They ignite our hopes and dreams. And so I tried standing near the Archbishop several times. Very true, these were life-giving moments with the holy.