Ten Rules of Life of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan

I will live the present moment to the fullest.
I will discern between God and God’s works.
I will hold firmly to one secret: prayer.
I will see in the Holy Eucharist my only power.
I will have only one wisdom: the science of the Cross.
I will remain faithful to my mission in the Church and for the Church as a witness of Jesus Christ.
I will seek the peace the world cannot give.
I will carry out a revolution by renewal in the Holy Spirit.
I will speak one language and wear one uniform: Charity.
I will have one very special love: The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Amazing things are happening in Church in Vietnam. Like in Poland in recent history and many other places throughout time, the life of one holy person can make a huge difference.

Carry Me in your heart

Too often I am drawn by curiosity and pride to know and understand. I want to know every argument and convince everyone of the truth. Yet, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw men's hearts to Him. Hearts cannot be driven as cattle to the Ark of protection, the Church. God must call, which He is but the called must listen and respond. This is not in my power, but God help me to be ready to give a reason for the Faith. In humility and gratitude let me serve and not drive.

Help me head the words of Thomas a'Kempis:

Book 3 Chapter 4

Some men walk before Me without sincerity. Led on by a certain curiosity and arrogance, they wish to know My secrets and to understand the high things of God, to the neglect of themselves and their own salvation. Through their own pride and curiosity, and because I am against them, such men often fall into great temptations and sins.

Fear the judgments of God! Dread the wrath of the Almighty! Do not discuss the works of the Most High, but examine your sins -- in what serious things you have offended and how many good things you have neglected.

Some carry their devotion only in books, some in pictures, some in outward signs and figures. Some have Me on their lips when there is little of Me in their hearts.

(from Imitation of Christ, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1999 by Biblesoft)

My Wife on NFP -- good stuff!

Here is my wife's response to a couple of questions from some young people about NFP.
1. What are the implications/consequences to NFP?
2. How does this exactly provide a more fulfilling marriage?

You had very good questions. The consequences of practicing NFP are many!

I think the most important is that you build a stronger marriage.

One of the most important skills in marriage (and eventually being a parent) is learning to make sacrifices for the sake of others. This is done out of love, of course, and helps us to live out our call to be Images of God. It helps us to love as God loves. The life of Jesus was all about making sacrifices out of his love for us (his passion and Crucifixion of course being the most powerful examples).



Practicing NFP helps married people to make sacrifices for the good of their spouse (i.e. abstaining from sexual intercourse during the fertile times if my spouse is not ready to have a child). It helps couples to learn to express their love in non-sexual ways. This helps the woman, particularly, to not feel like she is being used simply for her ability to provide physical pleasure to her husband. It helps the man to learn to communicate his love in different ways and assure his wife that she is not a sexual object to him, but a person to be loved.



Another aspect of building a strong marriage is in the area of communication. Those who use contraception usually do not talk often about the right time to have children. With NFP, the couple must decide each cycle/month together "Are we ready to have a child?", "Does God want us to have a baby?". The couple is more motivated to pray for God's guidance, to see how their spouse is doing and to work together to live out their vocation of marriage.



Because of the season of Lent you are familiar with the benefits of fasting; making a sacrifice in order to grow in holiness and increasing the power of our prayers. Whether we give up some food, habit or activity, the benefits are the same: we must rely more on God's grace and help and so we learn how well God helps us! We also realize that it is not the food or activity that brings us fulfillment in our lives, but our relationship with the Lord. It is the same with abstinence from marital relations. When the time of abstinence is used to pray, then the couple grows in their dependence on God. Prayer is a very good marriage-building habit to get into!



There is a good reason the Church calls using contraception [a grave matter]. It is an offense to His own image and character. The marriage is meant to be a picture to the world of the unity of the Godhead. The sexual relationship is a symbol of the oneness of God. It is truly sacred!! The Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son" and is the "Giver of Life " (Nicene Creed). So also, the spirit and reality of life comes from the physical union between spouses. When husband and wife come together, life (spiritual and/or physical) is meant to proceed from them just as the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Their oneness brings life (sometimes a human life!).



Also, contraception damages a life-giving healthy part of the person (fertility) and does not allow for life to flow out of the marital union. Pope John Paul II, in his Theology of the Body, taught that love has 5 characteristics: freely chosen, based on knowledge, a self-gift, permanent and life-giving. Take one of those elements of love out and we are really just using a person, not loving them. There is a lot I could say about this but that is another conversation! I do have a book called Theology of the Body for Beginners that you would be welcome to borrow if you want to learn more about this great teaching of JPII.

Clear boundaries

All sexual intimacy outside the protective boundaries of holy matrimony is sin.

I must have repeated this statement 4-6 times to my Confirmation class of about 30 students 14 years old. I don't think many of them liked it. When they ask what is going too far, I say you shouldn't do anything with another person that you wouldn't want your wife or husband to do with another person. Some didn't like that either.

I was thinking last night that all sexual intimacy outside the protective boundaries of holy matrimony is:

physically - unhealthy
intellectually - unwise
emotionally - devastating
socially - destructive
spiritually - immoral.

I don't think they would have known what I was talking about.

My wife on Liturgy

I heard all my life how the repetitive, empty traditions (of man!) were meaningless and dead and that liturgy (and Latin liturgy could only be worse) could only mean stone cold religion with no possibilities for connecting meaningfully with God. Three years in the Church has helped me understand through truth and experience that this is a very sad misconception that pollutes the minds of so many Protestants/Evangelicals and even more sadly, so many poorly taught former Catholics. I suppose I never tried to understand the Liturgy before becoming Catholic so I'm quite certain I had the same impression of liturgy myself. In fact, the thought of being in heaven and worshiping God night and day for the rest of eternity seemed a little boring to me.

John writes about the saints in heaven... Revelation 7:15-17 "For this reason they stand before God's throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

And there lies the difference between what we lived in the Baptist church (which was good!) and what we live in the Catholic Church (which is better!) The center of worship in the Baptist church was the Word of God, that is the Bible and the truth that God was speaking through it. Certainly the thought of knowing God better through Biblical truth was the path to a deep and meaningful relationship with God, right?! Yes! The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says..."He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the church." God is present in the Scriptures in a very powerful way (Jesus said "I am the Truth...") and that is why we could get to know Christ so well in the Baptist Church. But there is more!

The center of worship in the Catholic Church is Jesus HIMSELF, in the Eucharist. Jesus is present in the actual church building (yes, it is sacred!) in the form of bread and wine (of course a good reading of John 6 is always helpful in refreshing us on how biblical transubstantiation really is). His body and blood bring the salvation of the cross to us personally and physically. This is so powerful. The Salvation we receive from Jesus is present, present tense, "Now is the day of salvation" (that was in today's liturgy for Ash Wednesday!) kind of present in the Mass. The liturgy is only how Christ communicates this presence to us.

This liturgy also brings Jesus to us in another familiar way. The CCC writes, "Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised 'where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them'." Our prayers and songs, those of his bride, are integral to the participation, the self-offering, we make to God. It is not just me and Jesus (yes, it is the two of us but it is more), it is all the Church, with one voice, reciting the Our Father, The Nicene Creed, the Kyries (Have Mercy), the Glorias, the Alleluias. The Latin only ties linguistically, the whole church together from country to country, transcending the racial, cultural, social, showing the universality of Christ's body. We all speak the same worship and speak it as one. (By the way I have yet to attend a Latin Mass but it is something that I have been longing to do!)

I was listening to The Donut Man's testimony this week [On Journey Home] and he said of his conversion to the Catholic Church, "We had the Groom (Jesus) but we were missing the Bride!" The CCC says "...In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the Sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who gathers the children of God into the one Body of Christ."

Another thing about the liturgy is that it is entering into the activity (worship, of course) of Heaven! It is not just about understanding words, it is about BEING PRESENT with JESUS! This is where the 'boring' departs (repeating words, true as they may be - of course, for my husband NOTHING could be boring about truth :*)) and the joy and fulfillment comes. We are one with Christ our Savior. Michael Card has a song, "Present Reality" in which he nearly groans out to God, "Lord, I long to see, your presence in reality. But I don't know how. Let me know you in the now!" This is the liturgy, the Mass, the Eucharist. It is for seeing, touching and being with our Lord. Now, certainly, Jesus' presence is veiled under the appearance of bread and wine but His presence is real and a beautiful taste (Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!) of our face-to-face communion that is yet to come.

"To accomplish so great a work" - the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation - "Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations." CCC.

This is what God did for his people. The ones who could not read, even if they could get a copy of the Bible, had Jesus. Before the Canon was even put together, the Church was the "pillar and foundation of the truth" (I Timothy 3:15). She preserved the Scriptures, read the Scriptures in her daily liturgy and taught the Scriptures. Yet she always offered Jesus, 'The Word' himself, as her primary gift.

Sometimes my hubby and I have a good chuckle about how we have an "altar call" (there really is an altar - as in a place to offer a sacrifice) at every Mass and all who are in communion with the Church come forward to 'receive Jesus'. We receive Jesus himself. WOW! Our salvation is not just that moment of conversion in the past (were saved), it is now (being saved) and we always look forward to how we 'will be saved' by Jesus' life, help and love in our lives in the future. He is giving us all these things in a new and sacramental way through the Catholic Church.

B16 vs Luther

B16 mentions Luther in his latest Encyclical "Spe Salvi" while discussing Heb. 11 and the definition of faith in relation to hope. I think that I will side with the authoritative interpretation rather than one man's personal interpretation, especially since Scripture tells us "there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation" (2 Pet. 1:20). Read the section below.

7. We must return once more to the New Testament. In the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews (v. 1) we find a kind of definition of faith which closely links this virtue with hope. Ever since the Reformation there has been a dispute among exegetes over the central word of this phrase, but today a way towards a common interpretation seems to be opening up once more. For the time being I shall leave this central word untranslated. The sentence therefore reads as follows: “Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for; the proof of things not seen”. For the Fathers and for the theologians of the Middle Ages, it was clear that the Greek word hypostasis was to be rendered in Latin with the term substantia. The Latin translation of the text produced at the time of the early Church therefore reads: Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium—faith is the “substance” of things hoped for; the proof of things not seen. Saint Thomas Aquinas[4], using the terminology of the philosophical tradition to which he belonged, explains it as follows: faith is a habitus, that is, a stable disposition of the spirit, through which eternal life takes root in us and reason is led to consent to what it does not see. The concept of “substance” is therefore modified in the sense that through faith, in a tentative way, or as we might say “in embryo”—and thus according to the “substance”—there are already present in us the things that are hoped for: the whole, true life. And precisely because the thing itself is already present, this presence of what is to come also creates certainty: this “thing” which must come is not yet visible in the external world (it does not “appear”), but because of the fact that, as an initial and dynamic reality, we carry it within us, a certain perception of it has even now come into existence. To Luther, who was not particularly fond of the Letter to the Hebrews, the concept of “substance”, in the context of his view of faith, meant nothing. For this reason he understood the term hypostasis/substance not in the objective sense (of a reality present within us), but in the subjective sense, as an expression of an interior attitude, and so, naturally, he also had to understand the term argumentum as a disposition of the subject. In the twentieth century this interpretation became prevalent—at least in Germany—in Catholic exegesis too, so that the ecumenical translation into German of the New Testament, approved by the Bishops, reads as follows: Glaube aber ist: Feststehen in dem, was man erhofft, Überzeugtsein von dem, was man nicht sieht (faith is: standing firm in what one hopes, being convinced of what one does not see). This in itself is not incorrect, but it is not the meaning of the text, because the Greek term used (elenchos) does not have the subjective sense of “conviction” but the objective sense of “proof”. Rightly, therefore, recent Protestant exegesis has arrived at a different interpretation: “Yet there can be no question but that this classical Protestant understanding is untenable”[5]. Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a “proof” of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a “not yet”. The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future.

St. Hilary of Poitier

I've watched a bit more football this year than the last 10 or 12 years or so. It has been fun. I've seen some of todays "heros", if we can even call them that. I guess people dress up in their number and colors, pay loads of money to watch them, and seem to live for their next performance. Perhaps in 1500 years we will have Favre Mountain instead of St. Helens, Barry Bonds Bay instead of St. Lawrence Bay, or major cities like Michael Jorden instead of St. Louis, St. Paul (Paulo), St Francisco (Francis), St. Antonio (Anthony) etc, etc, etc.

Obviously, you all get my point, but I simply say that to explain why I am not ashamed to mention some of my heros from time to time to those I love. I am nearly everyday awakening to more and more amazing heros of the Faith as I learn and study about the designated saints.

Today we celebrate the Baptism of our LORD on the liturgical calender, but it is also the feast day of St. Hilary of Poitier. He has been designated as a Saint and Doctor of the Church by Catholics, but every Christian owes him as so many others a tremendous debt of gratitude.

The Arian heresy was so wide spread that it surpassed in numbers orthodoxy in the 3rd and 4th Centurys. Godly men like St. Hilary did more by God's grace in their obedience and service to God to preserve the truths of our Faith than we can ever fully appreciate. Today, most Christians take for granted that everyone believed in the Trinity as we all do and it simply isn't so.

Some of his writings have been preserved. Here is a link to his writings on the Trinity. Below I included a little bit of his life if you are interested. I think about him when I hear the word Hilary and not that forgettable other person popular today.

St. Hilary of Poitiers

"They didn't know who they were." This is how Hilary summed up the problem with the Arian heretics of the fourth century.

Hilary, on the other hand, knew very well who he was -- a child of a loving God who had inherited eternal life through belief in the Son of God. He hadn't been raised as a Christian but he had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that gift. He first discarded the approach of many people who around him, who believed the purpose of life was only to satisfy desires. He knew he wasn't a beast grazing in a pasture. The philosophers agreed with him. Human beings should rise above desires and live a life of virtue, they said. But Hilary could see in his own heart that humans were meant for even more than living a good life.

If he didn't lead a virtuous life, he would suffer from guilt and be unhappy. His soul seemed to cry out that wasn't enough to justify the enormous gift of life. So Hilary went looking for the giftgiver. He was told many things about the divine -- many that we still hear today: that there were many Gods, that God didn't exist but all creation was the result of random acts of nature, that God existed but didn't really care for his creation, that God was in creatures or images. One look in his own soul told him these images of the divine were wrong. God had to be one because no creation could be as great as God. God had to be concerned with God's creation -- otherwise why create it?

At that point, Hilary tells us, he "chanced upon" the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. When he read the verse where God tells Moses "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14), Hilary said, "I was frankly amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence." In the Psalms and the Prophets he found descriptions of God's power, concern, and beauty. For example in Psalm 139, "Where shall I go from your spirit?", he found confirmation that God was everywhere and omnipotent.

But still he was troubled. He knew the giftgiver now, but what was he, the recipient of the gift? Was he just created for the moment to disappear at death? It only made sense to him that God's purpose in creation should be "that what did not exist began to exist, not that what had begun to exist would cease to exist." Then he found the Gospels and read John's words including "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God..." (John 1:1-2). From John he learned of the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring eternal life to those who believed. Finally his soul was at rest. "No longer did it look upon the life of this body as troublesome or wearisome, but believed it to be what the alphabet is to children... namely, as the patient endurance of the present trials of life in order to gain a blissful eternity." He had found who he was in discovering God and God's Son Jesus Christ.

After becoming a Christian, he was elected bishop of Poitiers in what is now France by the laity and clergy. He was already married with one daughter named Apra.

Not everyone at that time had the same idea of who they were. The Arians did not believe in the divinity of Christ and the Arians had a lot of power including the support of the emperor Constantius. This resulted in many persecutions. When Hilary refused to support their condemnation of Saint Athanasius he was exiled from Poitiers to the East in 356. The Arians couldn't have had a worse plan -- for themselves.

Hilary really had known very little of the whole Arian controversy before he was banished. Perhaps he supported Athanasius simply because he didn't like their methods. But being exiled from his home and his duties gave him plenty of time to study and write. He learned everything he could about what the Arians said and what the orthodox Christians answered and then he began to write. "Although in exile we shall speak through these books, and the word of God, which cannot be bound, shall move about in freedom." The writings of his that still exist include On the Trinity, a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, and a commentary on the Psalms. He tells us about the Trinity, "For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used: -- to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding."

After three years the emperor kicked him back to Poitiers, because, we are told by Sulpicius Severus, the emperor was tired of having to deal with the troublemaker, "a sower of discord an a disturber of the Orient." But no one told Hilary he had to go straight back to his home and so he took a leisurely route through Greece and Italy, preaching against the Arians as he went.

In the East he had also heard the hymns used by Arians and orthodox Christians as propaganda. These hymns were not based on Scripture as Western hymns but full of beliefs about God. Back at home, Hilary started writing hymns of propaganda himself to spread the faith. His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer.

Some of use may wonder at all the trouble over what may seem only words to us now. But Hilary wasn't not fighting a war of words, but a battle for the eternal life of the souls who might hear the Arians and stop believing in the Son of God, their hope of salvation.

The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians. Hilary died in 367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851. The Church of Puy claims supposed possession of his relics, but according to one tradition his body was borne to the church of St-Denys near Paris, while according to another it was taken from the church of St-Hilaire at Poitiers and burned by the Protestants in 1572