Monthly Archives: March 2008

The Sixth Paragraph

31 Monday Mar 2008

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Wear one garment and speak one language: charity. Charity is the sign that you are a disciple of the Lord (cf. Jn. 13:35). It is the least expensive brand-name, but the hardest to find. Charity is the principle “language.” Saint Paul considered it more precious than “speaking the languages of men and angels” (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1). It will be the only language in heaven. (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

To quote St. Francis, “In all things proclaim Christ … even use words if you have to.” Charity is the sign, the language and the garment of the disciple. As charity becomes more and more our first and primary language; so is hope born in our hearts and also in the hearts of those we encounter.

The Fifth Paragraph

30 Sunday Mar 2008

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Believe in one strength: the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the Lord that will give you life. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (Jn. 10:10). As manna nourished the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land, so the Eucharist will nourish you on your road of hope (cf. Jn. 6:50). (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

In today’s Office of Readings, the excerpt from the Jerusalem Catecheses (4th Century) instructs us that when we receive the Body and Blood of the Lord, “we become bearers of Christ and sharers, as Saint Peter says, in the divine nature…

… Do not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine: they are in fact he body and blood of the Lord, as he himself has declared. Whatever your senses may tell you, be strong in faith.

You have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ. You know also how David referred to this long ago when he sang: ‘Bread gives strength to man’s heart and makes his face shine with the oil of gladness.’ Strengthen your heart, then, by receiving this bread as spiritual bread, and bring joy to the face of your soul.”

The Fourth Paragraph

29 Saturday Mar 2008

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Shout one message: “All one,” that is, unity among Catholics, unity among Christians, and unity among nations. “As the Father and the Son are one” (Jn. 17:22-23). (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

This call to be one, to unity, is not a naive and sentimental wish along the lines of, “Can’t we all just get along … wouldn’t that be nice.” The call is in fact an awareness that all reality is grounded in the very unity of the Father and the Son.

“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (Jn. 17:20-21).

We are caught up in this very prayer of the Son to the Father; a prayer which the Spirit will bring to completion. We must be agents of unity.

The Third Paragraph

28 Friday Mar 2008

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Stay faithful to the ideal of the apostle: “Give your life for your brothers and sisters.” In fact, “No one has greater love than this” (Jn. 15:13). Spend all your energies without rest, and be ready to give yourself to “conquer” your neighbor for God. (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

There is a saying which states, “No one will care how much you know until they know how much you care.” “Be ready to give yourself” are, I believe, the operative words in this paragraph. To care means fundamentally to give of ones very self and not just out of our surplus or the time and scant attention we believe we might be able to afford people before we rush off to our next favorite thing. To give of our very self now – this is the ideal of the apostle.

It sounds like a very tall order and left to our own devices it would be (in fact, it would be impossible) but the reality is that we are not left to our own devices. God is with us and God’s Spirit has been given to us. When we do not believe that we can give anymore maybe it is time to give a little more and by so doing discover a wealth of reserves in ourselves of which we had little to no idea.

The Second Paragraph

27 Thursday Mar 2008

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Commit yourself to one campaign, the goal of which is to make everyone happy. Sacrifice yourself continually, with Jesus, so as to bring peace to hearts and souls, and development and prosperity to all peoples. This will be your spirituality, discrete and concrete at the same time. (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

The willingness to serve is a sure and certain way to cultivate hope in ones heart. In the action of serving another person a fundamental inner shift occurs. The shift is this: we stop thinking about ourselves, even if just for a few moments. When service occurs in truth and charity the focus turns from “I” to the “other”. For a little bit of time we forget ourselves, we set ourselves aside, in favor of the other person.

And here is the paradoxical rub – its when we forget ourselves in service that we gain our true selves. To borrow from Thomas Merton’s analogy; it is when we sacrifice ourselves for the other with Jesus that the false self fades in light of the approach of the true self . Hope will not keep company with illusion; only as the false self lessens and the true self is gained will hope be cultivated in ones heart.

This is the spirituality of the washing of the feet; it is both discrete and concrete in the same moment and also thoroughly sublime.

The First Paragraph

26 Wednesday Mar 2008

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You want one revolution: to renew the world. You will be able to fulfill this precious and noble mission that God has entrusted to you only “with the power of the Holy Spirit.” Every day, where you live, prepare a new Pentecost. (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

Present in these words are two radical realizations and one responsibility. The first realization is that not only does God seek relationship with us, with me, but also that God has given us his very Spirit of which to partake. We are not alone, even into the very depths of our soul. The second realization is that God has entrusted to each one of us a precious and noble mission, a purpose to our lives. The uniqueness which we realize with God’s Spirit dwelling within us is a uniqueness which we, in turn, are to carry out into the world but only with the power of the Holy Spirit can we carry it out, only with the power of the Holy Spirit can we fulfill the mission God has entrusted to us. True uniqueness is realized and fulfilled not separate from God but in relationship with God.

The responsibility then is not to go forth and conquer the world, “renewing” it according to our terms and conditions and in our image, but every day and in every concrete situation in which we find ourselves to prepare a new Pentecost. Put concretely it means; in this situation in which I find myself today I need to let go of self in order to give God enough room to work. This is how I make of every day and even every situation and encounter of the day the possibility of a new Pentecost.

Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan

25 Tuesday Mar 2008

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Biographical Sketch of Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (as taken from The Road of Hope)

  • Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was born on April 17, 1928, in Hue, Vietnam. As a boy, Van Thuan participated in the various activities of the Catholic movement, Eucharistic Crusade, and discovered a priestly vocation. He entered the seminary in Hue and was ordained a priest in June 1953.

  • From 1956 to 1959, Van Thuan studied in Rome, receiving his doctorate in canon law from what is now the Pontifical University Urbaniana. Upon returning to Vietnam, he was asked to teach at the seminary and later became its Rector and Vicar General.

  • In 1967, Pope Paul VI named Van Thuan bishop of Nha Trang, a position he held for eight years. During this time, Van Thuan focused his attention on priestly vocations and the theological formation of both clergy and laity. He served as chairman to the Vietnamese Episcopal Conference for social communications and development and collaborated in founding Radio Veritas, Asia’s Catholic broadcast network. In 1971, he joined the Pontifical Council of the Laity, and at the request of Paul VI traveled widely to solicit aid for the reconstruction of Vietnam.

  • On April 23, 1975, Van Thuan was named Titular Archbishop of Vadesi and Coadjutor Archbishop of Saigon in South Vietnam. But only three months later Bishop Van Thuan was taken into custody and held in the parish church of a small village where he was placed in solitary confinement on March 18, 1976.

  • On December 1, 1976, the Archbishop and 1,500 other prisoners were sent to North Vietnam where Van Thuan was held in a number of “re-education camps.” Nine years of his imprisonment were spent in various isolation cells.

  • On November 21, 1988, the Archbishop was formally released from prison, but kept under house arrest in Hanoi for three years, thus preventing him from any pastoral activity.

  • In December 1991, Van Thuan was expelled from Vietnam and went to Rome.

  • On November 24, 1994, Archbishop Van Thuan was named Vice President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. On June 24, 1998, he became its President.

  • In 2001, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was named a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II.

  • On September 16, 2002, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan died in the peace of Christ.

Regarding the twenty-four paragraphs, Cardinal Van Thuan wrote in Five Loaves and Two Fish,

“I have shared with you some of my experiences following Jesus so as to find him, to live beside him, and thus to carry his message to everyone.

Perhaps you might ask: How can one practice complete union with Jesus in a life tossed about by so many changes? I have not hidden the answer from you, but for clarity I will rewrite it, my secret!

… They are very practical points. If we live the twenty-four hours of our day radically for Jesus, we will be saints. They are twenty-four stars that light up our road of hope.

I will not explain these thoughts to you; instead I invite you to meditate on them calmly, as if Jesus were speaking sweetly, intimately to your hearts. Do not be afraid to listen to him, to speak with him. Do not hesitate… You will find that grace will shine forth, transforming your lives.”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

17 Monday Mar 2008

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Yes, I know it is Holy Week and we are supposed to downplay this day devoted to Ireland’s most famous saint … but my middle name is Emmet afterall. The icon is close to being done – still have the halo to do and the trim work and varnish but I had to get something out for the day! God’s blessings to you and yours!