“Despite saying goodbye to those we have loved and to those who loved us, Jesus promises that we will see them again” –Spiritual Autobiography of Rev. Jacky Merilan, C.Ss.R.

Jacky would often recount how our friendship began. During our first year of philosophy studies at St. John’s University, Jacky and I had a common free-hour, and we would walk around and get lost on the campus, which really wasn’t that big. Yet it was in those aimless walks that two strangers walking together became two friends on a journey. No surprise there. After all, Jacky understood life as a journey, one that is rarely linear, and often filled with surprises and challenges.

His passing from earthly life into eternal life on July 19, 2021, is one of those more difficult challenges that has caught us all off guard. At age 39, he was far too young. As a classmate, friend, and Redemptorist confrere, I have been asked to reflect on Jacky’s life, and I will try to do so, respecting his wishes that it not be sad or soppy. He wouldn’t want that. This is not to say Jacky wasn’t passionate. On the contrary, he was very passionate.

Never has anyone ironed every article of clothing so meticulously every single day. His classmates can attest to many a late arrival to school because of this habit. His passion ran deeper around soccer. Barcelona never had a greater fan. And when he played soccer, it was more than a game, it was life itself.

But in my years of knowing him, his real passion was around his relationships. Wherever we went, it never failed that Jacky would inevitably run into a Missionary of Charity, the order of sisters established by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Jacky had a deep affection for them given the years he spent under their care. And of course, family was always at the heart of who Jacky was. His mother Marguerite and his siblings were his pride and joy. I witnessed as the earthquake in 2010 devastated Port-au-Prince, and the days that followed as he waited on edge for their call every day. Though Jacky’s mother and family lived in Haiti, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Jacky had adopted many other mothers and families.

Wherever he went on his journey, he became son, brother, and friend. And that leads me to another group of people to whom Jacky dedicated his life. In August of 2010, surrounded by the very people he would one day serve on the island of Dominica, he professed his first vows with the Redemptorists. For nearly 11 years he served the people of God, tirelessly.

Jacky, himself, followed after the saints of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer: in the tradition of St. Alphonsus who vowed never to waste a minute, in imitation of St. Clement Hofbauer who preached the Gospel ever anew, in the footsteps of St. John Neumann who was a tireless shepherd for his sheep, in the light of Blessed Francis Seelos who was a cheerful ascetic—there was Jacky, finding new and creative ways to reach out to people by radio, social media, preaching, and through simple presence.

For the many, many people who have been touched by his life – from the Islands of Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, to the cities of New York, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, to his beloved home of Haiti – I would remind all of us that Jacky would urge us to live in joy.

In his final words of his spiritual autobiography, Jacky reminds us life is a journey. And he reminds us that in this life and in the next, he has been journeying with Jesus. There is then no better way to honor this our son, brother, and friend than to joyfully walk with Jesus on that journey as well.