Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn’s Pastoral Letter for Lent 2004
February 18, 2004
To: Priests and Faithful in the Archdiocese of Saigon
My dearest brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ:
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent with an appeal and invitation message “to stay away from sin and to believe in the Gospel” that Jesus has made to each of us not only during the Ash Wednesday alone but also throughout the Lenten season.
1. The Lent season for this year 2004 has a special meaning as the Church in Vietnam dedicates this year as a Year of Holy Evangelization, A Year to start a New Journey and A Year to Sail into the Deep Sea (Duc in Altum). We all must stay away from sin and believe in the Gospel prior committing ourselves to the Announcement and Proclamation task for our country and our peoples.
The Gospel of Ash Wednesday extracted from St. Matthews 6:1-6, 6-18, it reminds us of doing three particular and usual tasks such as fasting, praying and sharing as the center focus of Christians during this Lenten season. By fasting, we come back to our own selves; by praying, we open our hearts and minds to receive God; and by sharing, we start out a new journey to welcome strangers and to receive them with our heartfelt spirit and positive attitude.
2. Coming back to our own selves by fasting. We fast not because we have to abide by the Church’s law on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but coming back to our own selves to see and recognize our shortcomings, our natural desires in order to overcome and not let it controlling our lives. Fasting physically makes us stay fit, healthy and happier so that we are always ready to open our own hearts and minds to welcome God and our fellow people. When fasting, we accept the hungriness of our physical body in order to experience and explore our spiritual hungriness for God. In fact, fasting can not only be considered as a way to cut our expenditures and stop drinking or eating, but helping us to achieve and overcome our shortcomings which usually lead us to selfishness and immoral lives so we can follow God’s footsteps to do great things toward others.
3. Opening wide our hearts and minds to welcome God by praying. Praying is the second point of emphasis during this Lenten season. Praying is a way to refresh and renew our close relationship with a lovely God. We are now living in a hurried and busy world with heavy load and pressure from our daily jobs. We easily got stressed out and lost our good conscience. Lent is the time, which we can dedicate more of our time into prayers because prayer gives us more strength and energy to continue on the long road ahead. Jesus invites us to the desert place where we can relax a bit (Mark Gospel 6, 31). He wants us to relax, to sit down and to listen to His words as Maria did before (Luke Gospel 10, 38-42) instead of getting much involved to our daily jobs. Jesus himself fasts and prays before He starts His mission proclaiming the Good News to the disciples. We cannot effectively fulfill our mission without prayer like Jesus does. I expect all our of you, my faithful, to dedicate more time for your spiritual health by actively involving into retreats, receiving the Sacrament of Penance and read the Gospel in your family. The more time you dedicate into God’s work, the stronger and better you will become in serving others.
4. Finally, starting out a new journey and helping others by sharing what you have. Live in harmony with others is the third importance of this Lenten season. Opening wide our doors to God requires us to reach out to our own brothers and sisters, especially the sick, poor and those who are abandoned by society. We can not lead a rich and unmerciful life while neglecting and closing our doors to others (Luke Gospel 16, 19-21) or like those who plan to build a new and large warehouse to store food and other assets for their own future (Luke Gospel 19, 16-20). But God wants us to imitate Zachkel when receiving God’s love and forgiveness (Luke Gospel 19, 1-10) by sharing half of his own assets to the poor.
5. Thus, during this lent season of the Year of Holy Evangelization, we fast, pray and share what we have, to establish new relationships with our own selves, our fellow brothers and sisters, our relatives and with God. And this is the most reliable way to spread God’s words to peoples in the Asian continent where several religions dominate. In the encylicum “Ecclesia in Asia” (EA)(the Church in Asia), Pope John Paul II reminded us “Prayer, abstinence and self-constraints in different ways are respectable. Humble, self-sacrifice, simplicity and quietness are considered as great values by many religions.” (EA No.23) We cannot make Jesus known in Asia if we do not respect and live up to those values.
My dearest faithful, said the Cardinal:
6. This Holy Evangelization Year is also the favorable moment and time for us to remember our benefactors who had proclaimed the God’s work into our land. According to “Royal Vietnamese Annals”, during 1532 to 1533 under King Le Trang Ton, a person named Ineku crossed the sea and brought the Gospel to the Northern part. This was the benchmark for a new and strong wave of proclamation period in the early 17th century. Even though the Gospel was brought into our nation by Western missionaries, we should not even forget that Jesus is also an Asian like us. His life and words richly contains great spirit of this continent.
7. We also remember our martyrs who had bravely risked their own lives to spread the faith to us from our first martyr Blessed Andre Phu Yen to different classes in our society. All valued and honored Jesus more than anything else. We also show our appreciation to our own ancestors which include bishops, priests, clergies, and laity-those who scarified and died to build the Church in Vietnam in general, and our own diocese in particular by their exemplary and faithful lives. With such deep appreciation, we must continue the mission to spread the Gospel in the world, which values sex, money, power as its own purpose and objectives.
8. However, to become a witness of faith, we must enhance and strengthen our faith via learning on a continuous basis. Catechism classes for both children and adult, Bible and Theological studies for the faithful, daily homilies at mass are the most resourceful and effective way for us to learn and know God better, so that “we are always ready to respond those who challenge our faith and so on.” (Personal Letter 3, 15). But it is still not enough. Faith must also be interacted and transmitted via constant prayer and learning process as well as via Gospel sharing and receipt of the Church’s Sacraments.
Moreover, our faith must be expressed through solidarity and love within the family, and via social works and unity not only in our own parish but also in the diocese-wide. “People these days believe more in good people than teachers, in experience more than books, life and action more than theory” (EA No. 42). During the Lenten season of this Holy Evangelization Year, I insisted and called upon each of you to bravely share your faith to others in a respectable attitude. “Sharing your faith is sharing the greatest gift that you have received, it is the greatest love of Our Redeemer” (EA No.10)
9. However, in order to educate and train those who serve for the sake of the Gospel and share their faith to others, we need to have facilities and other resources. With the return of Small Seminary from the government and according to the suggestion of the Vietnamese Catholic Bishop Conference, I think we should need to build a Faith Center to provide foundations and support for our lifelong mission in spreading the Gospel not only in Vietnam but also throughout the Asian continent. This Center will have three main functions: it is a place to enhance, provide additional pastoral trainings for priests, clergies and laity. Secondly, it will be the pilgrim place for faithful to come, to pray and to strengthen their faith. And lastly, it will be the place where faithful can come to look for books, documents, religious materials, and so on for their studies and quests for faith. To have this Center, we need the generous support and contribution from every faithful around the globe. I hope you will generously support and contribute to this lifelong mission.
“My dearest brothers and sisters,” called by the Cardinal
10. Please hands in hands, and together we start out a New Journey. Please be together to sail out. The place where we will be assigned maybe the place where we work, live and especially in our own family. Please together we all bring Peace and Hope to every people; bring Love, Forgiveness and Sympathy to those we serve. On top of that, we have to bring people closer to God, the only and abundant source of Love, Life and eternal Happiness. Wishing you a meaningful Lent in the name of your family’s life and happiness, in each Community in this Archdiocese, and to everybody in this country.
(Translated by Anthony Lê Tuấn Anh)
February 18, 2004
To: Priests and Faithful in the Archdiocese of Saigon
My dearest brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ:
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent with an appeal and invitation message “to stay away from sin and to believe in the Gospel” that Jesus has made to each of us not only during the Ash Wednesday alone but also throughout the Lenten season.
1. The Lent season for this year 2004 has a special meaning as the Church in Vietnam dedicates this year as a Year of Holy Evangelization, A Year to start a New Journey and A Year to Sail into the Deep Sea (Duc in Altum). We all must stay away from sin and believe in the Gospel prior committing ourselves to the Announcement and Proclamation task for our country and our peoples.
The Gospel of Ash Wednesday extracted from St. Matthews 6:1-6, 6-18, it reminds us of doing three particular and usual tasks such as fasting, praying and sharing as the center focus of Christians during this Lenten season. By fasting, we come back to our own selves; by praying, we open our hearts and minds to receive God; and by sharing, we start out a new journey to welcome strangers and to receive them with our heartfelt spirit and positive attitude.
2. Coming back to our own selves by fasting. We fast not because we have to abide by the Church’s law on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but coming back to our own selves to see and recognize our shortcomings, our natural desires in order to overcome and not let it controlling our lives. Fasting physically makes us stay fit, healthy and happier so that we are always ready to open our own hearts and minds to welcome God and our fellow people. When fasting, we accept the hungriness of our physical body in order to experience and explore our spiritual hungriness for God. In fact, fasting can not only be considered as a way to cut our expenditures and stop drinking or eating, but helping us to achieve and overcome our shortcomings which usually lead us to selfishness and immoral lives so we can follow God’s footsteps to do great things toward others.
3. Opening wide our hearts and minds to welcome God by praying. Praying is the second point of emphasis during this Lenten season. Praying is a way to refresh and renew our close relationship with a lovely God. We are now living in a hurried and busy world with heavy load and pressure from our daily jobs. We easily got stressed out and lost our good conscience. Lent is the time, which we can dedicate more of our time into prayers because prayer gives us more strength and energy to continue on the long road ahead. Jesus invites us to the desert place where we can relax a bit (Mark Gospel 6, 31). He wants us to relax, to sit down and to listen to His words as Maria did before (Luke Gospel 10, 38-42) instead of getting much involved to our daily jobs. Jesus himself fasts and prays before He starts His mission proclaiming the Good News to the disciples. We cannot effectively fulfill our mission without prayer like Jesus does. I expect all our of you, my faithful, to dedicate more time for your spiritual health by actively involving into retreats, receiving the Sacrament of Penance and read the Gospel in your family. The more time you dedicate into God’s work, the stronger and better you will become in serving others.
4. Finally, starting out a new journey and helping others by sharing what you have. Live in harmony with others is the third importance of this Lenten season. Opening wide our doors to God requires us to reach out to our own brothers and sisters, especially the sick, poor and those who are abandoned by society. We can not lead a rich and unmerciful life while neglecting and closing our doors to others (Luke Gospel 16, 19-21) or like those who plan to build a new and large warehouse to store food and other assets for their own future (Luke Gospel 19, 16-20). But God wants us to imitate Zachkel when receiving God’s love and forgiveness (Luke Gospel 19, 1-10) by sharing half of his own assets to the poor.
5. Thus, during this lent season of the Year of Holy Evangelization, we fast, pray and share what we have, to establish new relationships with our own selves, our fellow brothers and sisters, our relatives and with God. And this is the most reliable way to spread God’s words to peoples in the Asian continent where several religions dominate. In the encylicum “Ecclesia in Asia” (EA)(the Church in Asia), Pope John Paul II reminded us “Prayer, abstinence and self-constraints in different ways are respectable. Humble, self-sacrifice, simplicity and quietness are considered as great values by many religions.” (EA No.23) We cannot make Jesus known in Asia if we do not respect and live up to those values.
My dearest faithful, said the Cardinal:
6. This Holy Evangelization Year is also the favorable moment and time for us to remember our benefactors who had proclaimed the God’s work into our land. According to “Royal Vietnamese Annals”, during 1532 to 1533 under King Le Trang Ton, a person named Ineku crossed the sea and brought the Gospel to the Northern part. This was the benchmark for a new and strong wave of proclamation period in the early 17th century. Even though the Gospel was brought into our nation by Western missionaries, we should not even forget that Jesus is also an Asian like us. His life and words richly contains great spirit of this continent.
7. We also remember our martyrs who had bravely risked their own lives to spread the faith to us from our first martyr Blessed Andre Phu Yen to different classes in our society. All valued and honored Jesus more than anything else. We also show our appreciation to our own ancestors which include bishops, priests, clergies, and laity-those who scarified and died to build the Church in Vietnam in general, and our own diocese in particular by their exemplary and faithful lives. With such deep appreciation, we must continue the mission to spread the Gospel in the world, which values sex, money, power as its own purpose and objectives.
8. However, to become a witness of faith, we must enhance and strengthen our faith via learning on a continuous basis. Catechism classes for both children and adult, Bible and Theological studies for the faithful, daily homilies at mass are the most resourceful and effective way for us to learn and know God better, so that “we are always ready to respond those who challenge our faith and so on.” (Personal Letter 3, 15). But it is still not enough. Faith must also be interacted and transmitted via constant prayer and learning process as well as via Gospel sharing and receipt of the Church’s Sacraments.
Moreover, our faith must be expressed through solidarity and love within the family, and via social works and unity not only in our own parish but also in the diocese-wide. “People these days believe more in good people than teachers, in experience more than books, life and action more than theory” (EA No. 42). During the Lenten season of this Holy Evangelization Year, I insisted and called upon each of you to bravely share your faith to others in a respectable attitude. “Sharing your faith is sharing the greatest gift that you have received, it is the greatest love of Our Redeemer” (EA No.10)
9. However, in order to educate and train those who serve for the sake of the Gospel and share their faith to others, we need to have facilities and other resources. With the return of Small Seminary from the government and according to the suggestion of the Vietnamese Catholic Bishop Conference, I think we should need to build a Faith Center to provide foundations and support for our lifelong mission in spreading the Gospel not only in Vietnam but also throughout the Asian continent. This Center will have three main functions: it is a place to enhance, provide additional pastoral trainings for priests, clergies and laity. Secondly, it will be the pilgrim place for faithful to come, to pray and to strengthen their faith. And lastly, it will be the place where faithful can come to look for books, documents, religious materials, and so on for their studies and quests for faith. To have this Center, we need the generous support and contribution from every faithful around the globe. I hope you will generously support and contribute to this lifelong mission.
“My dearest brothers and sisters,” called by the Cardinal
10. Please hands in hands, and together we start out a New Journey. Please be together to sail out. The place where we will be assigned maybe the place where we work, live and especially in our own family. Please together we all bring Peace and Hope to every people; bring Love, Forgiveness and Sympathy to those we serve. On top of that, we have to bring people closer to God, the only and abundant source of Love, Life and eternal Happiness. Wishing you a meaningful Lent in the name of your family’s life and happiness, in each Community in this Archdiocese, and to everybody in this country.
(Translated by Anthony Lê Tuấn Anh)