This homily was delivered at the Funeral Mass of Fr. Emerito Salustiano (“Salty”) de la Rama, SJ on 9 May 2021 at the Church of the Gesu, Ateneo de Manila University.
I first met Fr. Salty over thirty years ago when we found ourselves in Cebu to attend a newly ordained Jesuit’s Thanksgiving Mass. We were all getting ready to enter the Jesuit novitiate that summer, and I was feeling a little nervous because I didn’t know any of my soon-to-be fellow novices, with whom I would spend two of my initial–and I’m told—crucial years in the Society.
