Cardinal Francis Nguyen Van Thuan
Pentecost Sunday
May 23, 2010
Cardinal Francis Nguyen Van Thuan was appointed as the co-adjutor Archbishop of Saigon Vietnam in 1975. That year should sound familiar. It was in 1975 that the US army pulled out of South Vietnam and Saigon fell to the communist Viet Cong. Cardinal Van Thuan was arrested and taken to a prison where he spent 13 years, 9 of which were in solitary confinement.
In solitary confinement, he was in a windowless cell, plunged into total darkness for weeks at a time. But to keep him disoriented the guards would then place a single electric light in his cell burning for weeks. He had trouble sleeping. He thought at times he would suffocate to death. He would lie down near a small drain hole in the floor designed to let water out of the cell and try to suck in fresh air. The cell was damp and dank and tiny mushroom like plants grew from his sleeping mat on the floor.
In the midst of this living hell, one night he heard the voice of God in the depths of his being inviting him to surrender, to entrust his life into God’s hands with confidence. The peace of the Holy Spirit flooded him and stayed with him for the next 13 years of his imprisonment.
His Cathedral became the concentration camp. His altar became the palm of his hand. He would celebrate Mass with just a few drops of wine on his hand and a morsel of bread.
He felt the love of God in his heart: the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son. And he felt compelled to share that love with the prison guards.
He began by simply smiling and saying friendly things to the guards. At first they were suspicious, but little by little they began to change. They began to ask him questions about the Catholic faith and the Cardinal began giving them instructions. One guard asked the Cardinal to teach him Latin.
The Cardinal would also sing hymns in Latin and a guard asked him, “Teach me one of those songs you sing.” “Which one?” the Cardinal asked. The guard said, “You sing and I’ll choose which one I want to learn.” Can you guess which one he chose? Veni Sancte Spiritus – Come Holy Spirit! The guard not knowing what he was singing would walk around the camp singing, “Come Holy Spirit.” Cardinal Van Thuan later recalled, “I can’t tell you how moving it was . . . to hear the young Communist police officer singing the hymn that pleads for the Holy Spirit to come!”
Today is the feast of Pentecost, the feast of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The story of Cardinal Van Thuan illustrates the way in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
First, the Holy Spirit is called the Consoler. In the midst of darkness and suffering, it the Holy Spirit that gives us hope,reassurance, and inner peace. The evil one wants to sew doubt, discouragement, desolation, and ultimately despair. What’s the key? In times of darkness we have to invite the Holy Spirit into our lives. We sang in the sequence: Holy Spirit be my welcomed guest.
Faced with the cross we have really one of two choices: we can grow bitter or we can grow better. Faced with difficulty we can grow bitter. We can brood over our lot in life. We can focus on our misery. Or we can surrender – and say – OK, God you are allowing this for a reason, I don’t understand, but come be my comforter. I surrender. On that night in solitary confinement, Cardinal Van Thuan chose to grow better. He gave his life completely over to God rather than just brooding over his plight in life.
In addition to being our consoler, the Holy Spirit ignites us on fire! The Holy Spirit is pure love – the love between the Father and the Son. When one is filled with the burning love of the Holy Spirit it cannot be contained. It has to be shared. What happened when the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles? They began boldly proclaiming the gospel. The Holy Spirit always drives us out on mission.
By virtue of our baptism all of us are called to be evangelists. I want to make two points about evangelization: (1) We are called to evangelize by both action and word. Think of Cardinal Van Thuan. Hebegan by simply smiling at the guards. Evangelization begins by forming a relationship and trust. He radiated joy in the midst of suffering. Imagine those guards wondering - how can this man in solitary confinement be so joyful!? Then they began to ask questions and he began to teach them and share his faith.
We too are called to share our faith by action and word. Parents it’s not enough to just bring our kids to church, we must become comfortable witnessing to our faith to our children.
Secondly, can I ask us all to do one thing? Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to direct our lives. If you’re like me, you often fall into this notion that, “My life is my own! I have my plans for my day.” Let’s be intentional about asking the Holy Spirit to direct our lives. Mother Teresa used to say, “I want to be a pencil in the hand of God.” Holy Spirit you guide me. Use me as your instrument.
We can ask the Holy Spirit to arrange divine appointments. I was at a CRHP gathering the other night and one of the ladies shared that one day she was traveling and she just said a little prayer to the Holy Spirit: Holy Spirit you arrange who I will sit next to on the plane. She ended up having a great conversation with the person she sat next to.
This Pentecost, I want to announce also that we are kicking off a summer door-to-door evangelization effort. Going door to door is not just for Mormons. Evangelization is part of our Catholic Christian heritage! If this sounds exciting to you, two of our staff members Luke Doyle & Kevin Bailey are going to host a class this Thursday at 7 pm on how to do door –to-door evangelization. They will go over the basic dos and don’ts. In a nutshell, we are going to knock on doors, invite people to share prayer intentions they might have, and then we are going to hand them a post card inviting them to a couple evenings at Paddy O’Quigleys where we will be hosting discussions on the faith.
Who knows what divine appointments the Holy Spirit will make for us this summer?
Veni Sancte Spiritus – Come Holy Spirit – the communist guard didn’t know it, but he was inviting the Holy Spirit into that communist camp. We too pray today and each day – come Holy Spirit. Come Divine Consoler. Bring us peace, bring us interior joy, and set our hearts on fire with your love.