A Man Who was After God’s Heart

FR. ROBERT MANANSALA, OFM

Inurnment homily for APOLONIO “PONS” TANJANGCO

Our beloved Tito Pons died at 92 on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus last June 7. The following day, after he died, was the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Yesterday, a day before the inurnment of his remains today, on this Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, was the Feast of the Chaste Heart of Joseph. The motif of the Hearts of the Holy Family – a sacred heart, an immaculate heart, and a chaste heart, and the heart of St. Anthony of Padua that was so aligned with the hearts of the Holy Family pervades the atmosphere that has accompanied the passing on of Tito Pons from this life on earth to life eternal. I believe this motif gives us clear assurances of the way Tito Pons tried to live a holy life, of how he died a blessed and peaceful death, and of the state of his soul now in the eternal presence of God in heaven.  

Tito Pons, a member of the Men of the Sacred Heart of the Parish, had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In his life, I believe Tito Pons experienced some pertinent promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as revealed to St. Margaret Marie Alacoque. These include the following: “I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life; I will establish peace in their homes; I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death; They shall not die in disgrace, not without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.” Did not Tito Pons experience these promises when he was alive, on the day, and at the hour of his death on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

I understand his wife, Tita Marite, prayed very hard for Tito Pons to die if that was already the will of God for him, on the Solemnity of the Heart of Jesus. And this happened by the mercy of God, a great confirmation of the Sacred Heart promises being fulfilled with Tito Pons. Tita Marite shared the news about the passing of Tito Pons on our Bible Study Viber Group Chat: “Praise God! Pons has reached his final destination today, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and First Friday. Thank you for being part of his spiritual journey to heaven. God bless!”

The Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph also give us added assurances of the kind of life and death that Tito Pons had. Our Blessed Mother promises salvation to those who embrace devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and their souls will be loved by God, like flowers placed by me to adorn his throne.

We all know also the great devotion of Tito Pons to the Blessed Virgin by praying faithfully the Holy Rosary. Those who are devoted to the Rosary are given the following promises, among others:  “Those who faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces; I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary; The recitation of the Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish; Those who have a true devotion to the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church; At the moment of death, they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise; I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.” What consoling promises from our Blessed Virgin Mary to those devoted to the Rosary like Tito Pons!

The Chaste Heart of St. Joseph, patron of a holy death, among others, is about a pure heart set aflame with the love of God and in pursuit of God’s will, qualities that we have also witnessed in the life of Tito Pons. Tito Pons was a good husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, and great-grandfather after the heart of St. Joseph and God the Father himself. It was revealed to a certain Edson Glauber in Brazil in private revelations in the 1990s that he would help those devoted to St. Joseph to grow every day in holiness according to God’s design and living a life of love for God and others, St. Joseph would petition for them during the time of their death and they would be placed resting in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph. 

The Jesuit David L. Fleming states that the image of the “heart” does not just refer to emotions but more to “our inner orientation, the core of our being,” the fundamental choice of the totality of our being.” Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Tito Pons knew that his greatest treasure was God, so his heart was entirely in the heart of God and was aligned with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph. And because his heart was in the right place, he knew his priorities and tried to live accordingly: God, family, Church, parish, others. Grounded in the loving heart of God and aligned with the hearts of the Holy Family, he brought his family and many other families, together with Tita Marite as leaders of their family and of the Couples for Christ, to a greater love of God. 

We inurn today the remains of Tito Pons on the Solemnity of St. Anthony of Padua, patron of our parish, to whom Tito Pons was also devoted and whose community here in the parish he served lovingly, humbly, and selflessly. St. Anthony was asked one time, “What must one do to please God?” He replied: “Pay attention to what I tell you. Whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes. Whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Wherever you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these precepts, and you will be saved.”  With a heart in the right place in the heart of God and guided by the Sacred Scriptures, especially the Gospel, Tito Pons’ eyes had God before him in everything that he was and in everything that he did. During our cremation Mass in Heritage, I shared with his family that Tito Pons always went to me for Confessions.  “Minsan wala naman talaga kasalanan.” (Sometimes, he did not have a sin to confess.) He was trying to overcome himself and his weaknesses because he genuinely wanted to be always pleasing in the sight of God. 

St. Anthony died on June 13, 1231. After receiving the Sacramental last rites, he intoned his favorite hymn, “O gloriosa Domina…” (O glorious Lady). Then he uttered his last words, “It is the Lord.”  Before he died, Tito Pons also received the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Anointing, Eucharist, and the Apostolic Pardon, as lovingly requested by Tita Marite. And so on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, like St. Anthony, he must have also said, “It is the Lord.” It was the Lord coming to fetch him to bring him to the house of the heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus, whom he loved tenderly, served faithfully, and shared passionately with others, starting with his family – just like St. Anthony of Padua. 

Tito Pons, the third child of 6 children of Dr. Jose and Mrs. Anita Tanjangco, was not only a knowledgeable person, graduating Valedictorian in Law School Batch ’55 from Ateneo and with an MBA from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  “Kaya pag nagtatanong siya kahit” sa Bible study “namin, talagang mag-iisip ka.” (That’s why whenever he asked questions, we needed to think more deeply.)

But Tito Pons was not only intelligent; he was a man of wisdom who desired to live well according to God’s designs, as the first reading from the Book of Wisdom for our Solemnity tells us. But above all, Tito Pons was a man of God, a man of the Church, and a man of the Family. Tito Pons and Tita Marite were an ideal couple, and they were grounded in God. They are members of the Couples for Christ and served the said Charismatic movement as leaders, bringing so many families closer to God for 42 years, both in the Philippines and other countries. They followed the command of Jesus in the Gospel to proclaim the good tidings of love to all, especially to married couples and families, starting with their loving and God-fearing big family. They placed their gifts and blessings given by God for the good of others, as St. Paul tells us through his letter to the Ephesians. 

Rest now in eternal peace, Tito Pons! You brought a very good family into this world, and they will surely take care of each other, especially Tita Marite, according to your example.   

INURNMENT MASS, June 13, 2024