Photo CNS An Apostle ofHope not admit anything of the kind.” not admitanything ofthekind.” Nguyen Van Thuan, answered quietly and directly, “No. I will But the newly appointed archbishop of Saigon, lackey!” Imperialist an than more nothing You’re plot! can Vati- a of part “You’re priest, the to shouted he it!” “Admit T Francis XavierNguyen Van Thuan he Communist interrogator couldn’t stand it any longer. by BobFrench April 2005 |51 Thuan was placed under immedi- During these formative years, ate arrest. The date was August 15, Thuan grappled with the reality of 1975, the Feast of the Assumption. suffering and death on more than For the next thirteen years, he would one occasion. In 1945, while he was Do Unto Others be imprisoned and would undergo still in the seminary, the Commu- terrible suffering in body, mind, and nists executed his uncle Khoi and Your teaching is so simple, spirit. But God would use that ordeal Khoi’s son. Soon after his ordina- Lord, and yet so profound! I to transform Thuan into an apostle of tion in 1953, Thuan himself came must love others “as myself”! hope, a man whose life proclaimed close to death when he contracted What depth! How can I avoid the triumph of the gospel of Christ tuberculosis; his parents prayed for living the fullness of your law over the despair and confusion of him constantly, and he was miracu- of love? atheism and materialism. lously cured. Then in 1963, after the Communists had taken Only when I am one with my Preparing for Suffering. Clearly, from the French, Thuan was struck a brother or sister, when I carry God had been preparing Thuan for much harder blow when his mater- in my own flesh and heart this calling. Growing up in the Viet- nal uncles Diem and Can were both the destiny of someone who namese city of Hue in the 1930s, he assassinated by the Viet Cong. is suffering in body and soul, learned the value of sacrifice from It was a great struggle for Thuan will I truly love that person his . All were devout Catholics to forgive his uncles’ killers. What as myself. If someone strikes my who had persevered in their faith helped him, he later said, was the I have often thought that if I did brother or sister, my own flesh is despite intense persecution. They example of his mother, whose coura- unto others what I would like oth- bruised and wounded. also believed that serving their coun- geous faith gave her the strength to ers to do to me (Luke 6:31), then try was a duty. Many of the men accept these tragedies. Before Diem’s I would have reached the perfec- Can anyone really love like this? were prominent leaders who would assassination, she told Thuan, “It is tion of . Then, satisfied that You answered this question a long play an important role in the future in God’s hands. We should pray for I had accomplished all that was time ago when you said: “There is of Vietnam—including his mentor, his safety, but we must also be ready necessary, I could rest from my no greater love than to give one’s Uncle Diem, who became the coun- to accept God’s will.” Her tranquility efforts. But that is not your unit of life . . . for one’s friends (John try’s first prime minister. was a tremendous witness. measure, Lord. 15:13). For his part, Thuan decided to Thuan was also deeply devoted to serve others by becoming a priest. another mother—the Mary. To visit someone, to distribute Lord, help me to remember the He entered the seminary when he While studying in in 1957, he help, and to bring consolation are example of St. was only thirteen and was deeply took a trip to Lourdes, . There not merely good acts to be tallied who offered to die in the place of inspired by the holiness of the he reflected on Mary’s words to St. up. It is not enough to do for oth- a fellow prisoner! priests who taught him there. Bernadette: “I do not promise you ers—I must courageously experi- Reading the lives of like Thérèse joys and consolations on this earth, ence their sufferings, their wounds, This excerpt is taken from Francis of Lisieux, John Vianney, and Francis but rather trials and sufferings.” their deepest aspirations, humilia- Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan’s book, Xavier also fueled his growing desire Thuan sensed that these words were tions, misery, and despair in my Prayers of Hope, Words of Courage to become like Christ. continuted on p. 54. own heart. This is the Gospel. (Pauline Books & Media, 2002), p. 8.

52 | The Word Among Us April 2005 | 53 meant for him. He replied with a When his captors got wise to this, prayer: “For your son’s name and they put Thuan in solitary confine- yours, Mary, I accept trials and suf- ment in a narrow, poorly lit, and Photo CNS ferings.” windowless cell. It was so hard to And so, when he was arrested on breathe in there that he sometimes the Feast of the Assumption, 1975, had to put his nose near the bottom Thuan knew that he was in God’s of the cell door in order to get any hands. air. After a few months, Thuan felt completely useless and even thought Decision to Love. Nevertheless, he was losing his mind. At times, he Cardinal Francis Xavier Thuan was very distressed. “My could not remember so much as a Nguyen Van Thuan heart is torn to pieces for having “Hail Mary.” been taken away from my people,” receives the eucharistic he wrote the next day. He had served A New Way of Thinking. One gifts at a Mass in Rome them for more than two decades. For day, however, Thuan had a life- on October 14, 2001. the last eight years, as bishop of Nha changing insight. He understood Trang province, he had labored to that Jesus, too had appeared “use- network of village spies was ruined, strengthen parishes and ministries, less” as he hung on the cross. But Vietnamese mountains, Thuan said all because of Thuan’s witness of build new seminaries, and ordain it was when he appeared the most Mass with wine he got for a “stom- Christian charity. Near the end of his new priests. He had headed a huge powerless that he achieved his most ach ailment” and bread smuggled stay there, he was celebrating Mass relief effort for four million refugees “useful” accomplishment: He saved in a flashlight. He distributed Com- for hundreds of villagers, and two of displaced by over a quarter century the whole human race. Thuan heard munion to fellow Catholics under the most die-hard informers ended of war. Now it seemed that his pasto- the Lord say to him: “It is me you are their mosquito netting. up asking him for confession. ral work had come to an end. supposed to be following, not my Thuan’s infectious joy and What could the authorities do in Soon after being taken into cus- work! If I will it, you will finish the increasing popularity among the the face of such committed faith? tody, however, Thuan determined to work entrusted to you.” This real- prisoners did not sit well with his They tried putting Thuan in solitary persevere. He vowed to himself: “I ization “brought me a new strength captors. They moved him to a dif- again and rotated his guards so they am not going to wait. I will live each that completely changed my way of ferent prison and ordered his would not catch his “infection.” The present moment, filling it to the brim thinking,” Thuan later explained. cellmate to spy on him. Though guards wouldn’t even talk to him, with love.” He realized that he could Transformed by this experience, the man obeyed, he also became yet he was determined to love them. continue to shepherd his people by Thuan found the grace to bring hope Thuan’s friend and told Thuan he He would simply smile at them and adopting St. Paul’s strategy of writ- into hopeless situations. When he would pray for him, an unusual tell them about his life. Soon they ing pastoral letters from prison. He was put on a ship to North Viet- promise coming from a Communist! were asking him to teach them for- wrote a series of inspirational mes- nam with other prisoners, he saw The same thing happened when eign languages, and even some spiri- sages on the backs of calendar pages it as a chance for ministry, and was Thuan was moved to the village of tual songs. One guard learned the that were smuggled out and eventu- able to stop a man from commit- Giang Xa. The villagers soon became hymn to the Holy Spirit—the Veni ally published as a book, The Road ting suicide. In his next home, Vinh his allies, and his guard was won over Creator—and began singing it on his of Hope. Quang prison camp in the North by his kindness. The Communists’ way to exercises every morning!

54 | The Word Among Us April 2005 | 55 1988—the feast of the Presentation communion of believers: “Here is of Mary, and also his parents’ sixty- the novelty: the other person is not third wedding anniversary. an obstacle to holiness but is the way to holiness.” Ambassador of Peace. In The By the time Thuan was named Road of Hope, Thuan wrote, “God a cardinal, in 2001, he had already uses trials and sufferings to teach us been diagnosed with cancer. After to better understand and be more almost two years of illness, he died patient with the sufferings of oth- peacefully on September 16, 2002. ers.” He could hardly have foreseen Through the witness of his life how many opportunities he would and his writings, Thuan continues have to live this truth: He would his ministry as an apostle of hope. John Paul II spend the rest of his life blessing The triumphant prayer he composed bestows a blessing on others with what he learned through years ago in the gloom of a prison Cardinal Van Thuan his ordeal. cell marks out a path that each one telephone ringing over and over After the Communists forced him of us can follow as we put our faith during the consistory again. He had a feeling the call was to leave Vietnam, Thuan moved to in Christ: Photo CNS ceremony on February about him and prayed to Our Lady: the Vatican. One of his first official I sing of your mercy in the 21, 2001, in St. Peter’s “Mother, if I am of use to the church activities was to visit Vietnamese darkness, in my weakness, in Square. in this prison, give me the grace and communities around the world, my annihilation. I accept my honor to die here. But if you think speaking to them about his life and cross, and I plant it, with my I can still serve the church in some encouraging them with his lively own two hands, in my heart. other way, grant me the grace to be faith. He became a very popular If you were to permit me to “What Do You Want?” Thuan freed.” speaker and wrote several more choose, I would change noth- had no idea whether he would ever Thuan’s prayer was answered in books that have become religious ing, because you are with me! be a free man again. His chances a remarkable way. That morning, he bestsellers. I am no longer afraid, I have did not look good. In 1985, after was taken to the minister of police, Pope John Paul II valued Thuan’s understood. I am following his cardinal petitioned the Vatican who told him that the Communists faith and experience and appointed you in your passion and in to beatify 117 Vietnamese , were no longer hostile to his family. him to the Pontifical Council for your resurrection. n Thuan was told he could never be The official asked him if he had any Justice and Peace. He eventually released. The Vatican’s action had special wish. became its president, working on Bob French lives in Alexandria, Vir- created too much tension for the “I would like to be freed,” Thuan behalf of oppressed and marginal- ginia. Material from this article was Communist government. Thuan replied. ized people everywhere. In 1999, taken from the following works by didn’t care. He was overjoyed when A little startled, the official asked, the pope asked Thuan to preach at Cardinal Thuan: The Road of Hope, John Paul II performed the beatifi- “When do you want to be freed?” the annual Lenten retreat for Vatican Five Loaves and Two Fish, Testimony cation ceremony in June 1988. “Today.” cardinals. Thuan spoke on the theme of Hope, and also from his biogra- With the same resignation, Thuan And so it was. Thuan was released of hope, reminding his listeners that phy, The Miracle of Hope, by André awoke a few months later to hear a that very day. It was November 21, part of the Church’s hope is in the Nguyen Van Chau.

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