Homily for the Mass of Christian Burial for Reverend Cruz Manuel Holguin Ogaz

September 25, 2025
St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church
White Settlement, Texas

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Psalm 23
Philippians 3:7-14
John 17:1-11

Bishop’s homily in English begins at paragraph 5.

Yo no tengo las palabras de quitar su tristeza sobre la muerte del Padre Manuel. Si las tuviera, las proclamaría. Pero tantas palabras no existen. En lugar de estas, tenemos las palabras del evangelio y de la esperanza en la resurrección de Cristo. Las que proclaman que nuestro hogar verdadero es en el cielo.  

Tantos de nosotros estamos aquí porque el entusiasmo del Padre Manuel era contagioso y nos llevó a gustar algo de la alegría de Dios. Y, de hecho, eso fue lo que él dio testimonio en su vida, como cristiano y como sacerdote. Ya fuera a través de sus interacciones y relaciones con las personas en la vida y en el ministerio, en su encuentro con la belleza de la creación, o en su sincera y franciscana apreciación y amor por los animales (a veces muchos de ellos), todo esto apuntaba a la incesante búsqueda del Padre Manuel por encontrar y conocer la alegría del amor de Dios, algo que San Pablo, en su primera carta a los Corintios — nuestra primera lectura de esta Misa de exéquias cristianas — dice que en esta vida presente “vemos como en un espejo, indistintamente.” Pero eso no lo detuvo en su intento de ver a Dios “cara a cara.” 

Es esa búsqueda incansable de ver a Dios cara a cara la que fue purificada, como el oro en el crisol, y madurada por la realidad del sufrimiento en su vida: físico, psicológico y espiritual, durante los últimos años mientras soportaba la enfermedad del cáncer. Y también como san Pablo, en su carta a los Filipenses — nuestra segunda lectura de hoy — el Padre Manuel se encontró con la realidad de la Cruz. San Pablo escribe: “Pero cuanto era para mí ganancia, lo consideré pérdida a causa de Cristo.” Y así, su gran deseo de ver a Dios cara a cara fue forjado en el crisol del sufrimiento, para que el Padre Manuel, como también escribe San Pablo, pudiera “conocer a Cristo, y el poder de Su resurrección, y la participación en Sus padecimientos, conformándome a Su muerte, para ver si alcanzo también la resurrección de entre los muertos.” 

Que el Padre Manuel Holguín conozca plenamente el amor de Dios en la vida eterna, como fue conocido y amado por Dios en su vida, ministerio, sufrimiento y muerte en esta vida. Que él, y nosotros que lo conocimos y amamos, un día con él, alcancemos también la resurrección de entre los muertos.

I would like to extend to you my condolences and promise of prayers, those expressed by the priests of the Diocese of Fort Worth, the Diocese for which Manuel was ordained in 2012 by my predecessor, Bishop Kevin Vann. We come here this morning to pray for the repose of the soul of Father Manuel and for the consolation of all of us his family and friends who remain persevering on the road to eternal life. 

Father Manuel was enthusiastic about life. His life was too short by human estimates. He took great delight in priestly ministry and spending time with his parishioners, no matter what their background or standing in society. He took great delight in serving people and in seeking Christ in their presence. Father Manuel sought the presence of God everywhere. He sought God’s presence in silence. He sought God’s presence in song. He sought God’s presence in his friends especially in shared laughter.  

He especially sought to appreciate God’s presence in nature and in his pets. Every time one went to visit Father Manuel, one would encounter another dog, another cat, more fish in a larger aquarium, another bird, and each of these animals had a name and a story. So much so, that when I visited him in the rectory, I would try to peak into the backyard curious to see if he had acquired any livestock. I can never think of a time when leaving after a visit with Father Manuel that I did not feel encouraged and consoled about the goodness of God in the gift of His Son and the glory of His creation. 

As he began hospice care, Father Manuel selected the readings with me for this liturgy. He chose two readings from the writings of Saint Paul that meant a lot to him and encouraged him in his life. In the first reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes about the greatness and preeminence of God’s love manifested fully in Christ. He speaks about how this love surpasses every other of God’s gifts. He speaks about his own maturation in the faith over time, “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.” Father Manuel took childlike delight in caring for God’s people and in spending time with them showing them God’s gift of love. 

Yet, he was challenged and struggled when his ministry involved matters of accompaniment that were not delightful nor pleasant. He struggled when encountering unhappy people who refused to see what he desired to see so clearly in his life: the simple beauty and goodness of God. This frequently befuddled him and was matter for his prayer. He was only sustained in his doubts and fears amidst his desire to see God by the insight of Saint Paul expressed in today’s first reading, “At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” 

As much as Father Manuel delighted in time spent and ministry offered among his parishioners and brother priests, it was the suffering he underwent in his final illness that brought him more deeply into the mystery of God’s love as offered uniquely in the ministerial priesthood instituted by Christ. Saint Paul writes to the Philippians in the second reading, “For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things, and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and [the] sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”  

When Father Manuel was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, he was sacramentally configured to Christ as head and shepherd of the Church. He was given a particular share in Christ’s priesthood to offer the unbloody sacrifice of Christ on the altar. Yet, this configuration came to maturity in his life over his experience of being configured to Christ in his suffering — Christ who is both priest and victim of the only redeeming sacrifice on the altar of His Cross. 

We must remember to pray for Father Manuel as we thank God for the gift of his life and ministry, because even though we admire the goodness of his life, there remains an enormous difference between even the best of human beings, and the blinding ineffable goodness of God, and we need His mercy and grace to enter His presence. We have the confidence born of hope that Father Manuel has arrived at the “pursuit of his goal, the prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus.” We have confident hope that he no longer sees God indistinctly as in a mirror but face to face.  

While we continue our pursuit toward our goal of God’s upward calling in this valley of tears, we pray for the repose of the soul of Father Manuel Holguin today and for the solace of his brothers and sister, his nephews, nieces and cousins, his many friends and brother priests; the Mass reminds all of us that life on earth is short, and in the end the only thing that matters is not how others see us here, but how God sees us, and how each of us, like Father Manuel, have faced the joyful yet serious responsibilities of Christian discipleship. What sort of life will we offer to God when we die? May it be a life lived in faith, hope, and charity, in generous fulfillment of our obligations to God and our neighbor, to our families, to His Church, to our country, and to the poor and persecuted.