QUEZON CITY, Philippines (UCAN) — Former students of the late Jesuit Father Thomas H. Green and people who have experienced spiritual direction under him say he has left a rich legacy in their lives.

The American priest, who is well-known for acclaimed books on spirituality such as “Weeds Among the Wheat,” “When the Well Runs Dry” and “Darkness in the Marketplace,” died on March 13 of cardiac failure. He passed away at the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary for Philippine diocesan priests in Quezon City, which had been his home for the past 40 years.

Religious, laypeople and his spiritual directees of various nationalities attended his funeral Mass on March 19, his 77th birthday. The Mass was held in the church in the Ateneo de Manila University campus northeast of Manila.

Jesuit Father Victor de Jesus in his homily praised his former teacher’s “outstanding clarity and excellence” in teaching and writing. He noted that “possibly thousands” of seminarians and laypeople had benefited from his spiritual direction for over four decades.

His directees included non-Catholics as well. “His was an international apostolate” that “touched many lives” here and overseas, Father de Jesus shared.

Some people he directed spoke with UCA News. “He simplified complicated theological principles, pushing laypeople through windows previously closed to them,” recalled Ken Noecker.

The American member of Servants of the Word, a missionary brotherhood of single men from various Christian traditions, recalled Father Green’s zeal to train him and other laypeople as spiritual directors and retreat masters.

Toronto-based Jeanne Gaisano Chua said Father Green gave her spiritual direction via email when she was a Baptist. Chua said being a Baptist was “never an issue” with the priest, and that she eventually became a Catholic.

Another nun, 42 year-old Sri Lankan Sister Gones of the Little Sisters of Jesus said she went to Father Green for spiritual direction for 13 years. The priest “set things in perspective” then left her free to decide on her own course of action, she recalled.

Father Green had coined the term “co-discerner” to stress the spiritual director’s guiding role in the spiritual discernment process, saying that the directee alone can discern God’s will.

Father De Jesus in his homily, said Father Green was a “great spiritual director because he was a good listener” and a “learned man” who practiced the prayer life he preached. He added that while serving as San Jose Seminary rector he benefited from his late vice-rector’s “wisdom and prudence” and “balanced judgment” of candidates to the priesthood.

“His example of joy in the priesthood in his old age” is another legacy he leaves to aspiring priests, Father de Jesus said.

Father Green was born in Rochester, New York. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1949 and was sent to the Philippines in 1956. He was ordained a priest in 1963 in Quezon City and later taught philosophy and spirituality at Ateneo de Manila and Loyola School of Theology (LST).

He was buried in his society’s Sacred Heart Novitiate cemetery in Quezon City.