May 23, 2021

To all my beloved Vietnamese Youth, who went or will go to WYD, To our dear young friends and parents,

The official WYD website is now live! You can visit it at www.lisboa2023.org/en for information regarding the international celebration in , , in 2023.

For my part, I will try my best to email you on the 23rd of each month until August 2023, to help us prepare for the 2023.

Today is the feast of Pentecost – The Descending of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Disciples, celebrated as the birthday of the Church.

Happy birthday to us all as Church!

1- May I invite you to pause for a moment, relax, and listen to the hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus” (Come Creator Spirit) in the attachment and gaze into the Divine with your eyes of faith! Or in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3T8V-IM4Xk, from 16:18 to 18:48.

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46: 11).

Then prayerfully read these verses from Acts chapter 1, verses 4, 5, 8:

4While meeting with the disciples, Jesus enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; 5for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout

Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

May this 2023 WYD be a manifestation and commission of the Holy Spirit

to you as it has been to millions of youth at WYDs.

2- For this June, a month dedicated to the of Jesus, to his Love, may the Holy Spirit – Master of prayer, teach you, train you in the skill of gazing into the Divine Love.

The following reflection is based on ’s teaching on 5.5.2021.

Everything comes from this: from a heart that feels that it is looked on with love. Then reality is contemplated with

different eyes.

Jesus was a master of this gaze. His life never lacked the time, space, silence, the loving communion that allows one’s existence not to be devastated by the inevitable trials, but to maintain beauty intact. His secret was his relationship with his heavenly Father.

“I look at him and he looks at me,” said a certain peasant of Ars to Saint John Vianney while praying in front of the Eucharist. The light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light

of his truth and his compassion.

This act of love in silent dialogue with Jesus: “I look at him and he looks at me” will do so much good for you, your family, our WYD group, and the Church.

May the contemplative Mary help each of us in this art of gazing at the Beloved Jesus.