John Paul II Spiritual Retreat

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SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF THE HOLY FATHER
Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân, Preacher

Published by ZENIT - March 20-26, 2000

Interview with Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân, Preacher of Exercises

1. HOPE IS GREAT CHALLENGE TO MODERN WORLD
2. GOD IS OUR ONLY CERTAINTY
3. SECRET OF SANCTITY: LIVE EVERY DAY AS THOUGH IT IS THE LAST
4. "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
5. THE EUCHARIST
6. STRENGTH OF CHRISTIANS IN WEAKNESS
7. THE SECRET OF HOPE -- "TO RETURN TO JERUSALEM"

Pope's Comment
Unexpected impact of Papal Spiritual Exercises

ARCHBISHOP NGUYÊN VAN THUÂN ON FAITH, HOPE AND CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS
Preacher of Papal Spiritual Exercises

VATICAN CITY, MAR 12 (ZENIT.org).- His family's persecution began in 1698, when, after being baptized, an ancestor, who was the King's ambassador in China, was expelled from the realm and his property confiscated. This is the family history of Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In 1975, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, but the communist government labeled his appointment a conspiracy and three months later imprisoned him. He was in Vietnamese jails for 13 years, 9 of which were spent in solitary confinement. When he was released, he was forced to leave Vietnam, where he has not been allowed to return, not even to visit his elderly mother. In spite of so many sufferings, or perhaps because of them, Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân is an incomparable witness of faith, hope and Christian forgiveness.

Witness of Hope
Beginning today, and until next Saturday, Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân is preaching Spiritual Exercises to John Paul II and his collaborators in the Roman Curia. The topic of the meditations is Hope: "Hope in God," "Hope against Hope," "Adventure and Joy of Hope," "Renewal and the People of Hope," are some of the meditation titles he has prepared for the Holy Father. It is no coincidence that the Archbishop's book, which has been translated into 11 languages and distributed worldwide, is entitled "The Way of Hope."

Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân never lost hope, not even on August 16, 1975, when he was arrested and transported by night 280 miles from Ho Chih Minh City, in the most absolute isolation. His only companion was the Rosary. At that time, when everything seemed lost, he abandoned himself into the hands of Providence. To his non-Catholic fellow-prisoners, who were curious to know how he could maintain his hope, he answered: "I have left everything to follow Jesus, because I love Jesus' defects."

Jesus' "defects," indeed, will be one of the issues that the Pope's preacher will address during the Spiritual Exercises.

Jesus Has no Memory
"During his agony on the cross, when the thief asked him to remember him when he arrived in his Kingdom, had it been me I would have replied: 'I will not forget you, but you must expiate your crimes in Purgatory.' However, Jesus replied: 'Today you shall be with me in Paradise.' He had forgotten that man's sins. The same happened with Mary Magdalene, and with the Prodigal Son. Jesus does not have a memory, he forgives the whole world," the Archbishop said.

Jesus Is Ignorant of Mathematics and Philosophy
"Jesus does not know mathematics. This is demonstrated in the parable of the Good Shepherd. He had 100 sheep, one is lost and without hesitating he went to look for it, leaving the other 99 in the sheepfold. For Jesus, one is as valuable as 99, or even more so," commented the Archbishop.

"Moreover, Jesus is not a good philosopher. A woman with 10 drachmas, lost one and lit a candle to find it. When she finds it she calls her neighbors and says: 'Rejoice with me, because I found the drachma I had lost.' Is it logical to bother one's friends over just one drachma and then organize a party for having found it?" he mused. "Moreover, when inviting her friends to the feast, she spent more money than the value of the drachma. So it is that Jesus explains the rejoicing of God over the conversion of just one sinner."

Jesus Is a Risk-taker with no Idea of Economics
"Jesus is risk-taker. Those who want to win people's approval do so with many promises, while Jesus promises his followers prosecutions and persecutions and yet, for 2000 years we see that there are risk-takers who continue to follow Jesus," explained Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân.

"Jesus has no idea of finance or economics," he continued. "In the parable of the vineyard laborers, the master pays the same salary to the one who works from the early hours of the morning, and to the one who begins work late. Did he make a mistake in rendering these accounts? Did he commit an error? No, he does it on purpose, because Jesus does not love us for our merits, his love is free and surpasses us infinitely. Jesus has 'defects' because he loves. Real love does not reason, or calculate; it places no barriers or conditions, it does not build frontiers, and does not remember offenses."

Love Enemies

-- ZENIT: To love your enemies is another topic you have chosen for the Papal Spiritual Exercises.

-- Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân: A particular characteristic of Christian love is love for our enemies, often incomprehensible for the non-believer. One day, one of the prison guards asked me: "Do you love us?"

I answered: "Yes, I love you."

"We have kept you shut in for so many years and you love us? I don't believe it..."

I then reminded him: "I have spent many years with you. You have seen it and know it is true..."

The guard asked me: "When you are freed, will you send your faithful to burn our homes and kill our relatives?"

"No, although you might want to kill me, I love you."

"Why?" he insisted.

"Because Jesus has taught me to love everyone, even my enemies. If I don't do this, I am not worthy to bear the name Christian. Jesus said: 'love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.' "

"This is very beautiful, but hard to understand," the guard replied.

-- ZENIT: The same thing happens with forgiveness: many invoke it but few practice it...

-- Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân: The Scribes and Pharisees were scandalized because Jesus forgave sins. Only God can forgive sins. Merciful love resurrects the dead, physically and spiritually. Jesus always forgave everyone. He forgave every sin, no matter how serious it was. With his forgiveness he gave new life to many persons to the point that they became instruments of his merciful love. He made Peter, who denied him three times, his first Vicar on earth; and Paul, persecutor of Christians, he made Apostle to the Gentiles, messenger of his mercy, for, as he said, "where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more."

-- ZENIT: Paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr., what are the "dreams" of a man as full of hope as Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân?

-- Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân: I have a dream of a Church that is a Holy Door, which embraces everyone, which is full of compassion and understanding for all the sufferings of humanity. I have a dream of a Church that is bread, Eucharist, that wishes to be a gift and allows itself to be consumed by all, so that the world will have life in abundance. I have a dream of a Church that carries in its heart the fire of the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is liberty, sincere dialogue with the world, discernment of the signs of our times. The social doctrine of the Church, instrument of evangelization, helps us to make this discernment in today's social changes.
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HOPE IS GREAT CHALLENGE TO MODERN WORLD
First Reflections of Papal Spiritual Exercises

VATICAN CITY, MAR 12 (ZENIT.org).- This afternoon, John Paul II began Spiritual Exercises, a week especially dedicated to prayer during which he will suspend his public meetings. The traditional Wednesday general audience, will not be held. Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân, preacher of the Exercises, who spent 13 years in Vietnamese prisons, dedicated the first meditation to the topic, "Before the Mystery of God."

Love Is the Only Certainty
"These days of Exercises are a propitious time to sing our gratitude to the Lord, because 'his mercy is everlasting.' 'He lifts the indigent from the dust and the poor from the dung heap so that he may sit among the princes of his people.' We have not been chosen because of our merits, but only by his mercy. 'I have loved you with an everlasting love, says the Lord.' This is our security. This is our pride: awareness of being called and chosen for love," Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân said.

Sinners and Prostitutes among Christ's Ancestors
In addressing the complex problem of sin and grace, Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân explained that "If we consider the names of the kings present in the book of the genealogy of Jesus, we can see that only two of them were faithful to God: Hezekiah and Jeroboam. The rest were idolaters, immoral, murderers... In David, the most famous king of the Messiah's ancestors, sanctity and sin were mixed: with bitter tears he confessed his sins of adultery and murder in the psalms, especially Psalm 51 (50), which is now a penitential prayer repeated in the Liturgy of the Church. The women Matthew mentions at the beginning of the Gospel, as mothers who transmit life and God's blessing in their womb, also cause commotion. All were in an irregular situation: Tamar is a sinner, Rahab a prostitute, Ruth a foreigner, the fourth woman he does not dare to mention by name. He only says that she had been the 'wife of Uriah' -- it was Bathsheba."

Sin Exalts the Mercy of God
"And yet, the river of history, full of sins and crimes, becomes a source of pure water to the degree we get closer to the fullness of time: In Mary, the Mother, and Jesus, the Messiah, all generations are saved. This list of sinful men and women that Matthew discloses in Jesus' genealogy does not scandalize us. It exalts the mystery of the mercy of God. Moreover, in the New Testament, Jesus chose Peter, who denied him, and Paul, who persecuted him. Nonetheless, they are now the pillars of the Church. When a people writes their official history, they speak of victories, heroes, and greatness. It is marvelous to see a people, whose official history, does not hide the sins of its ancestors," as is the case of the Chosen People, continued the points for meditation.

Hope Today
Awareness of the fragility of man and, above all, of God's love are two important guarantees of hope. Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân acknowledged that "the whole of the Old Testament is directed toward hope: God is coming to restore his Kingdom, God is coming to re-establish the Covenant. God is coming to construct a new people, to build a new Jerusalem, to erect a new temple, to recreate the world. With the incarnation, this Kingdom arrived. But Jesus tells us that this Kingdom grows slowly, in a hidden way, like the mustard seed... Between the fullness of time and the end of times, the Church is on the road as the people of hope."

"Today, hope is perhaps the greatest challenge. Charles Peguy used to say: 'The faith I most like is hope.' Yes, because in hope, faith that operates through charity opens new paths in the heart of men, it tends to the realization of the new world, of the civilization love, that is nothing other than to lead the world to the divine life of the Trinity, in its way of being and operating, exactly as manifested in Christ and transmitted in the Gospel. This is our vocation. Today, as in the times of the Old and New Testament, he acts in the poor of spirit, in the humble, in sinners who convert to him with all their heart."

After the Archbishop gave these points of meditation, the Pope and members of the Curia participating in the exercises had time for private prayer over the themes presented. Each day for the next week, the Pope will have four such meditations.
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GOD IS OUR ONLY CERTAINTY
Christians Must Give World This Hope

VATICAN CITY, MAR 13 (ZENIT.org).- On the second day of the spiritual exercises for John Paul II and his collaborators in the Roman Curia, the meditations focused on "Hope in God." In a world of living contradiction between progress and barbarism, Vietnamese Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân, the preacher, emphasized that life can only find real meaning and hope in God.

Windowless Cell
"During my long tribulation of 9 years of isolation in a windowless cell, at times illuminated by electric light for entire days, or in the dark for weeks, I felt I was suffocating because of the heat and humidity. I was on the verge of madness. I was then a young bishop with 8 years of pastoral experience. I couldn't sleep. I was tormented by the thought of having to forsake the diocese, to let all the work I had done for God be lost. I felt a kind of revolt inside me," the Vietnamese Archbishop said.

Only God
"One night, in the depth of my heart, I heard a voice that said to me: 'Why do you torment yourself this way? You must discern between God and God's works. All that you did and would like to continue to do: pastoral visits, formation of seminarians, men and women religious, laity, youth, construction of schools, missions for evangelization of non-Christians..., all this is excellent work, but these are God's works, not God. If God wants you to leave all these works and entrust yourself into his hands, do it immediately and have confidence in Him. He will give your work to others, who are much more competent than you. You have chosen God, not his works,' " related the Vietnamese Archbishop.

"This light gave me new strength, which has completely changed my way of thinking, and it has helped me overcome moments that physically seemed unbearable. Since that time, a new peace filled my heart and stayed with me during 13 years of imprisonment. I felt human weakness, but I would renew my decision in face of difficult situations, and I never lacked peace. To choose God, and not God's works. This is the foundation of Christian life, at all times," Archbishop Nguyën Van Thuän explained.

Thus, the preacher continued to say, "I understand that, at all times, my life is a series of decisions between God and the works of God. An always new decision that becomes a conversion. The temptation of the people of God always consisted in not fully trusting God, in trying to find support and security in another place. This is the experience suffered by figures as glorious as Moses, David, Solomon...".

The Bible does not mince matters. According to Archbishop Nguyën Van Thuän, "this was the experience of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and first Christians, referred to in chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews, in which the expression 'by faith' appears 18 times and the expression 'with faith' once." This is also the key to reading the lives of so many men and women who over 2000 years of Christianity, have given their life even to the point of martyrdom. Among all these examples, the Archbishop highlighted Mary, the woman "who chose God, forgetting her plans, without fully understanding the mystery that was taking place in her body and her destiny."

Response to Today's World
"To choose God and not God's works: this is the most genuine response to today's world, the road for God's plan to be fulfilled in us, in the Church, in today's humanity," concluded Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân. "It is possible that those who choose God will have to go through tribulations, but they joyfully accept to lose their goods, because they know they have greater goods, that no one will be able to take from them."
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SECRET OF SANCTITY: LIVE EVERY DAY AS THOUGH IT IS THE LAST
The Importance of "the Present Moment"

VATICAN CITY, MAR 14 (ZENIT.org).- Today, continuing with his preaching of the Spiritual Exercises to John Paul II and his collaborators in the Roman Curia, Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân spoke about "The Adventure of Hope."

As he has done during the first two days of the retreat, the Archbishop continued to base his reflections on his experience of 13 years of incarceration by the communist regime. "After they arrested me in August of 1975, two policemen took me by night from Saigon to Nhatrang, a 280-mile trip. So began my life as a prisoner, without timetables, without nights or days. In our country there is a motto, which says: 'A day in prison is worth a thousand autumns of freedom.' I myself experienced this. While in prison, everyone waits for freedom, every day, every minute. My mind was full of confused feelings: sadness, fear, tension. My heart felt lacerated by the remoteness of my people. In the darkness of the night, in the midst of that ocean of anxiety, of nightmare, little by little I began to awaken: 'I must face reality. I am in prison. Isn't this, perhaps, the best time to do something great? How many times in my life will I have such an opportunity again? The only sure thing in life is death. Therefore, I must take advantage of the occasions that come my way each day to carry out ordinary actions in an extraordinary way.' "

"During the long nights of pressure, I convinced myself that to live the present moment is the simplest and surest way to reach sanctity. This conviction inspired a prayer: 'Jesus, I will not wait, I want to live this present moment filling it with love. The straight line is made up of millions of little points joined to one another. My life is also made up of millions of seconds and minutes joined among themselves. If I live each second the line will be straight. If I live each minute perfectly, life will be saintly. The road of hope is paved with many small moments of hope. The life of hope is made up of brief minutes of hope. As you, Jesus, who have always done what pleases your Father. In each minute I want to say to you: Jesus, I love you, my truth is always a new and eternal alliance with you. Every minute I want to sing with the whole Church: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit..." the Vietnamese Archbishop prayed.

Messages Written on Calendar
"During the subsequent months, when I was locked up in the town of Cay Vong, day and night, under the constant control of the police, I had one thought that obsessed me: 'The people I so love, my people, have remained like a flock without a shepherd! How can I contact my people, precisely at this time, when they are in such great need of a shepherd?' " recalled the Archbishop. "The Catholic bookstores had been confiscated; the schools closed; the teachers, men and women religious, scattered; some had been sent to work in the rice paddies, others were in 'regions of the new economy' in the villages. The separation was a 'shock' that was destroying my heart."

The Archbishop continued his story, "'I am not going to wait,' I said to myself. 'I will live in the present moment, filling it with love. But how?' One night I understood: 'François, it is very simple, do what St. Paul did when he was in prison: write letters to the communities.' The next day, it was October of 1975, with a gesture I was able to call a 5-year old boy named Quang, who was a Christian. 'Tell your mother to buy me old calendars.' That same day, at night, in the dark, Quang brought me the calendars and every night in October and November of 1975, I wrote my people my message from captivity. Every morning, the child came to collect the pages and took them home. His brothers and sisters copied the messages. This was how the book 'The Way of Hope' was written, which has now been published in 11 languages."

Although Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân did not mention it, his reflections were passed around by hand among the Vietnamese people; these pieces of paper left the country with the "Boat People" fleeing from the communist dictatorship.

Road to Sanctity
"When I came out, I received a letter from Mother Teresa of Calcutta with these words: 'What counts is not the amount of our actions but the intensity of love with which we do each one.' That experience reinforced in my interior the idea that we must live each day, each minute of our life as though it is the last; leave behind everything that is accessory; be concentrated only on the essential. Every word, every gesture, every phone call, every decision must be the most beautiful moment of our life. We must love everyone, we must smile at everyone without losing a single second," concluded the Archbishop.
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"MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân Contemplates Mystery of the Cross

VATICAN CITY, MAR 15 (ZENIT.org).- "The first time I had to defend myself in court no one was by my side. Everyone abandoned me. But the Lord was with me and he strengthened me, so that even on that occasion I was able to proclaim his message." With these words from St. Paul, Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân began the fourth day of the Papal spiritual exercises. Today the Vietnamese Archbishop contemplated Christ on the Cross, hearing in the depths of his heart the anguished cry of Christ: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

The Archbishop explained that the abandonment St. Paul felt, he, himself, also experienced during his 13 years of incarceration in Vietnamese prisons. "On several occasions I felt abandoned, especially on the night of December 1, 1975, when I was chained to another person and we were taken on foot, along with other prisoners, from the prison to the ship in which later they would take us to the north of Vietnam, some 1,100 miles from my diocese. I felt great pastoral suffering, but I can assure you that the Father did not abandon me, and he gave me the strength."

"Perhaps all of us, on different occasions, have lived or are living similar moments of abandonment," he continued. "We feel abandoned when we are engulfed by loneliness and a sense of failure; when we feel the weight of our humanity and our sins. We feel abandoned when misunderstandings and infidelities disturb our fraternal relations; when we think the situation of confusion and despair in which some find themselves has no way out; when we are in touch with the Church's sufferings and that of whole peoples"

"These are small or great 'nights of the soul' that darken the presence of God in us. Nevertheless, he is near and gives meaning to our whole life. In such moments even joy and love seem extinguished." According to Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân, it is precisely at these times when we can best understand the "mystery of the cross."

"The saints also experienced nights of despair, moments in which they felt abandoned by everything and everyone. However, as real experts in the love of God, they never hesitated to walk the way of the cross to the end, allowing themselves to be illumined and forged by it, even when this implied their own death," stated the Vietnamese Archbishop. "This is the law of the Gospel: 'If the seed fallen on the ground does not die, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much fruit.' This is also Jesus' own law: his death was real, but far more real is the superabundant life that flows from that death."

In the letter to the Philippians, St. Paul presents Christ "at the moment he strips himself of his divine form, to take on 'the form of slave,' the 'likeness of men.' This is the image of a God who 'annihilates' himself, 'empties' himself in order to give himself, to give his own life unconditionally, to the point of the cross, where he takes upon himself all the guilt of the world, to the point that He, the 'innocent,' the 'just' comes to resemble sinful man," explained Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân. This is the wondrous exchange between God and man, which St. Augustine described as the "commerce of love," and Leo the Great as the "commerce of salvation."

Christ carries the sins of man to the point that from the cross he cries out to the Father: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" "He had been betrayed by men," the Archbishop continued, "his own were not with him, and now God, whom he called 'Papa' ('Abba'), was silent. The Son feels the void of his absence, he loses the joy of his presence. The unqualified certainty of never being alone, of always being heard by the Father, of being an instrument of his will, gave way to this sorrowful supplication."

The Vietnamese Archbishop concluded by saying: "It was the most desolating sensible abandonment he experienced in his lie, as John of the Cross states. Thus Christ was annihilated and reduced virtually to nothing. And, yet, St. John of the Cross continues to explain, precisely when he was oppressed, he accomplished the most wondrous work of all those he carried out during his existence on earth, which was full of miracles and prodigies of all kinds. With his death he reconciled and united God with mankind. In this amazing dynamic of the love of God, all our sufferings are taken up and transformed, every void is filled, every sin redeemed. Our abandonment, our distance from God is filled to overflowing."
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FIFTH DAY OF PAPAL RETREAT: THE EUCHARIST
Meditation Given by Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16 (ZENIT.org).- John Paul II's Spiritual Exercises continued today with a consideration of the Eucharist. As on other days, Vietnamese Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân illustrated the points of the retreat with stories from his life, particularly drawing from his 13 years of imprisonment at the hands of the communists.

He recalled, "When they imprisoned me in 1975, an anguished question came to my mind: 'Will I be able to celebrate Mass?'"

The Archbishop explained that that when he was arrested, he was not permitted to take his personal belongings; the following day he was allowed to write his family to request essentials like clothes, toothpaste, etc. "Please send me some wine, as medication for my stomach ache," he wrote. The faithful understood immediately what he wanted and sent him a small bottle labeled "Medicine for Stomach Ache." They also concealed some hosts among his clothes.

The police asked him: "Do you have a stomach ache?"

"Yes," the Archbishop of Saigon replied.

"Here is your medicine."

"I shall never be able to express my joy: every day I celebrated Mass with three drops of wine and one of water in the palm of my hand. Every day I was able to kneel before the Cross with Jesus, drink with him his most bitter chalice. Every day, when reciting the consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and with all my soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me, through his Blood mixed with mine. They were the most beautiful Masses of my life," stated Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân.

Later, when the Archbishop was sent in a re-education camp, he joined a group of 50 prisoners. They slept in a common bunk. Each one had the right to 50 centimeters of space. "We arranged it so that five Catholics were next to me. Lights went out at 21:30 and everyone had to sleep. In bed, I celebrated Mass by heart, and distributed Communion by passing my hand under the mosquito net. We made envelopes with cigar paper to conserve the Most Blessed Sacrament. I always carried the Eucharistic Christ in the pocket of my shirt."

Since there was an indoctrination session every week in which all the groups of 50 persons who made up the re-education camp participated, the Archbishop took advantage of pauses, and with the help of his Catholic companions passed the Eucharist to the other four groups of prisoners. "They all knew Jesus was among them, and he cures all physical and mental sufferings. At night, the prisoners took turns at Adoration. The Eucharistic Christ helps in an unimaginable way with his silent presence: many Catholics began to believe again enthusiastically. Their testimony of service and love made an ever greater impact on the other prisoners, even some Buddhists and non-Christians embraced the faith. Jesus' force is irresistible. The darkness of the prison became a paschal light."

For the preacher of the Papal Spiritual Exercises, "Jesus began a revolution on the cross. The revolution of the civilization of love must begin in the Eucharist, and from here it must derive its force."

"I will end with a dream; in it, the Roman Curia is like a large host, in the heart of the Church, which is like a great Cenacle," the Archbishop told the gathered members of the Curia. "All of us are like grains of wheat that allow themselves to be ground by the exigencies of communion to form only one body, in full solidarity and full dedication, as bread of life for the world, as a sign of hope for humanity. Only one bread and only one body."
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STRENGTH OF CHRISTIANS IN WEAKNESS
Meditation of Vietnamese Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân

VATICAN CITY, MAR 17 (ZENIT.org).- Today Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân focused the attention of the Pope and members of the Curia on the Catholic Church's condition as a "minority." The week of spritual exercises will end tomorrow with a final meditation.

Reality of Being a Minority
Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân pointed out that the Church's minority condition was emphasized by European bishops during their recent Synod. At the time, they expressed that "the Church in traditionally Christian lands finds itself in a minority situation."

The data cited by the Synod could be described as disheartening: "a decrease in religious and priestly vocations; in religious practice; relegation of religion to realm of private life, with the related difficulty to contribute the Christian message to customs and institutions, and to transmit the faith to new generations."

Because of this, Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân began his reflection by stating: "A characteristic of the Church in today's world is to be a minority."

In order to illustrate his point, the Archbishop spoke about his daily experience in his trips around the world using a Vatican passport, as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. "I often have difficulties with the police at airports. In general, the Italians don't cause any problems. In Germany, it is more difficult: 'What is the Holy See?' they ask. In Malaysia, it is much more complicated: 'Where is the Holy See?' they ask me. I reply, 'In Italy, in Rome.' Then they take me to a big globe in which obviously the Vatican does not appear. Then they make me wait half an hour with the illegal immigrants."

"To live as a minority calls for an effort in discernment of the new situation in order to understand God's plan for the Church in the today of history and, consequently, to know how we must behave. Then we won't feel inferiority complexes but, on the contrary, we will live in great hope," explained the Archbishop.

In order to explain this concept of a "quantitative minority," Archbishop Van Thuan recalled the story of Gideon, a "judge" of Israel in the 12th century before Christ. Gideon defeated his enemies with only 300 men whose weapons were only horns. He also recalled David's confrontation with Goliath, stating that "Goliath represents evil, in other words, ideologies and values that are against the Gospel. Goliath is hostile, threatening and provoking. This is true for the Church today. Faced with evil, it must confront Goliath, a terrifying giant who seems invincible."

In the beginning, David made the wrong decision. He dressed in armor of power and force, but his movements were hampered. "I cannot walk with all this; I am not used to it," he said, as the Church could say, when referring to the world's arsenal. However, the "Church has her own weapons to face the battle," the Archbishop said. "And they are the only weapons that really count."

David said: "Goliath, you oppose me with the sword, the lance and the arrow. I will present myself in the name of the Lord of the armies." For David, a sling and five stones were enough to defeat Goliath.

"Every giant has his weak spot. Suffice it to pay attention. A well placed stone defeated a giant and his sword was used to cut off his head," recounted Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân.

God's Strength
"David is the figure of the Church today. In many situations, we are in a minority as regards numbers, strength, possibilities, and means. But, just like David, we go forward in the name of God. Throughout history, both in its universal as well as its local dimension, the Church was a minority in face of the Roman Empire and the Barbarian invasions. It was weakened by divisions and the French Revolution in the modern period. During the century that is ending, she it suffered the abuses of Nazism, communism, and now consumerism. But in face of the Goliaths of all times, the Lord has sent many defenseless Davids: saints, Popes, and martyrs."

In order to bring his words up-to-date, the Archbishop used John Paul II's first expression at the beginning of his pontificate: "Do not be afraid!" The Holy Father's emblem has been the Cross, our "only hope," and Mary, "our life, our sweetness and our hope." John Paul II once said: "Communism is only a parenthesis in history."

The Vietnamese Archbishop recalled that "Many ridiculed him; they thought he wasn't realistic. They said the globe was already red in color. But communism in Eastern Europe fell and the Church is crossing the threshold of the third millennium."

Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân concluded with an exhortation: "Therefore, brothers, 'Do not be afraid!' Let us go forward in the name of God and the walls of the new Jerico will fall down!"
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THE SECRET OF HOPE -- "TO RETURN TO JERUSALEM"
Pope Prepares for Pilgrimage to Holy Land in Silence of Prayer

VATICAN CITY, MAR 19 (ZENIT.org).- John Paul II could not have prepared better for his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which begins tomorrow. Yesterday morning, he ended the Spiritual Exercises that he began a week ago, in silence and meditation on the preaching of Vietnamese Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân, who on Saturday cast his gaze on Jerusalem and the places were Jesus preached 2000 years ago. During the meditation, the Archbishop described with striking force the presence of Christ in a Church "that on occasions is tired, sad and disillusioned" in face of today's world, as were the disciples of Emmaus but which, like them, is capable of returning to the Holy City, recognizing the "ineffable certainty" of Jesus' presence by their side.

The story that took place in those 11 kilometers that separate Jerusalem from Emmaus is the image of the interior road to which every believer is called: from sadness to joy, the "great joy of the art of loving," which united the Church, thanks to Jesus' presence among his own.

Thus Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân explained how Christians can maintain peace of heart including in the most difficult times: "Every time Jesus appears after the resurrection, he always greets with these words: 'Peace be with you.' Jesus is our peace, our hope. This real peace, which is a joy the world cannot give and which no one can take away from us, is only reached on the penitential road, by a real change of life, as we are asked to do during the Jubilee. To change the human so that it will become divine. This requires a 'metanoia,' a change. As that progressive and later decisive change of the disciples of Emmaus, converted by the Word and by Christ's presence among them, they changed their direction. They were fleeing from Jerusalem, the city of the scandal of their Master's death in whom they had placed their hope. But now, fearless, they return to Jerusalem, the city of the death and resurrection of their Lord."

"The peace Jesus announces to his disciples is also love. The heart reconciles in love, it is unified, and it reaches that peace for which we have been created and which is our end," the retreat Master said.

"The incident of Emmaus reminds all of us of a joyful reality of the Christian experience: the perennial presence of the resurrected Christ in the Church," he continued. "It is a living and real presence in the Word, in the sacraments, in the Mass. But also in persons and among persons, in the Church's ministers, in the poor and in each brother."

"For the last 2000 years the Church has lived from this presence. And, looking toward the future, it has the hope of his promise: 'I will be with you always until the end of the world.' We must be witnesses of this presence and this hope." Therefore, Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân invited John Paul II and his collaborators of the Roman Curia to "return to the origins of the Gospel. Let us constantly return to Jerusalem, as the Holy Father is now preparing to do: a return to the sources, to the Church's center, where Jesus taught, suffered his passion, died and was buried. It seemed to be the end. Pilate sent soldiers to guard Jesus' tomb; the Jews saw to it that the stone was rolled and sealed. They wanted to be done with him forever. To erase him from everyone's memory, including their own. But Jesus resurrected in Jerusalem and appeared to many persons. The Church exults with joy because Jesus said: 'Have confidence: I have overcome the world.'

POPE´S COMMENT

At the end of the Spiritual Exercises, John Paul II addressed Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân very familiarly, to thank him for the meditations. "These have been days of intense and prolonged listening to the Spirit who spoke to our hearts in the silence and the attentive meditation of the Word of God."

In commenting on the meditations of the Archbishop, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Pontiff acknowledged that "he has guided us in deepening our vocation as witnesses of evangelical hope at the beginning of the third millennium. A witness of the Cross, during the long years of imprisonment he lived in Vietnam, he has often told us about events and incidents of his harsh captivity, thus reinforcing us in the consoling certainty that, when everything collapses around us, even in our interior, Christ continues indefatigably to be our support. We thank Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân for his testimony, which is especially significant in this Jubilee year."

The Holy Father explained that the "crucified and risen Christ is our only real hope. Fortified by his help, his disciples became men and women of hope. But not of fleeting hopes, which would leave them tired and which disappoint the human heart, but of real hope, a gift of God that, supported from on high, tends to obtain the highest Good and is sure of reaching it. Today's world has urgent need of this hope. The Great Jubilee we are celebrating takes us step by step to go profoundly into the reasons for our Christian hope, which demands and fosters increasing trust in God and an ever more generous opening to brothers."

In his book, "The Road of Hope," Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân writes about his experiences and reflections following 13 years of imprisonment in Vietnam.

The book is available at:
Federation of Vietnamese Catholics in the U.S.A.
4827 N. Kenmore Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60640
USA

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UNEXPECTED IMPACT OF PAPAL SPIRITUAL EXERCISES
Pope Asks Archbishop to Prepare Book

VATICAN CITY, MAR 21 (ZENIT).- This year was the first time an Asian had preached the Spiritual Exercises to the Pope and his collaborators of the Roman Curia. John Paul II's decision to ask Archbishop François Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân to direct the meditations absolutely hit the mark. The Lenten meditations never inspired so much interest, as this year's, from a man who spent 13 years of his life in Vietnamese prisons.

Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân's words not only helped the Pope in his reflections, but they have gone across the world. ZENIT's editorial board received congratulatory letters for the Archbishop, thanking him for his depth and simplicity, as early as the second day of the retreat.

Requests for the re-publication of the meditations have arrived from the most unexpected places. One such place is Oslo. General information secular newspapers in Latin America, the Philippines, and Spain published some of the meditations. No less interesting have been the reactions of the people who heard the Archbishop in person, the majority of whom were Cardinals, Bishops, and collaborators of the Roman Curia, who followed the 22 meditations with utmost concentration. The meditations were especially liked because they were "simple but very profound," combining in a balanced way "the Biblical dimension, with personal testimony and theology," communicating "not only with words, but also with the heart."

"It was an evangelically simple talk," one of the Cardinals who took part in the retreat said. "Clearly, we must continue on that road."

The Archbishop interspersed his preaching with notes of good humor, an element which helped his listeners to "get into" the reflections. In response to one of the Papal collaborators, who acknowledged the originality of the presentation, Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân said: "The content is always the same. But the way of cooking it is Asian. Because of this, in the year 2000, instead of eating with a fork, we ate with chopsticks."

Pope Requests Book
At the end of the Spiritual Exercises, the Holy Father asked the Vietnamese Archbishop to publish a book with these reflections, as they could be "very helpful to many persons." Moreover, before leaving for the Holy Land, the Pontiff sent Archbishop Nguyên Van Thuân a letter, in which he said: "I hoped that during the Great Jubilee special time would be given to the testimony of persons who have suffered because of the faith, paying with courage interminable years in prison and other privations of every kind. You have shared this testimony with us with warmth and feeling, showing that in the life of every man, the merciful love that surpasses all human logic is measureless, especially at times of great anguish. You have associated us with all those who in different parts of the world continue to pay a heavy price because of their faith in Christ."

"By basing yourself on Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, as well as on your personal experience, especially during the years you were in prison for Christ and his Church, you have manifested the power of the Word of God which, for disciples, is firmness in faith, food for the soul, and a pure and perennial springtime of the spiritual life," the Holy Father wrote.
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