Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Wisdom 9:13-18b
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33

Xin Chao các anh ch? em.

Greetings from Vietnam. I’m Father Jeff, a Passionist missionary, born in Australia and living in communist Vietnam, and I’d like to share with you my mission story from Vietnam and offer you the opportunity to join with me in solidarity with the people of that devastated land.

As a young priest I lived alone for ten years with Stone Age tribes in the jungles of New Guinea in huts made of sticks and leaves, and I was the first to bring them the name of Jesus. Much later I worked in Rome, and one day I said to my superior, “Padre Ottaviano, come mai…? How come? How come the Passionists are not in Vietnam? Passionists sit at the foot of the cross every day, we share the sorrow of Jesus and Mary his dear mother. You are always telling me our job is to listen to those in pain and bring them the joy that Jesus gives from the cross. In Vietnam they have been on the cross for hundreds of years. We should be with them.” Father Ottaviano is a wise man. He looked at me and said, “Away you go.” Me and my big mouth! In my old age I started a new life in Vietnam five years ago, and I love it.

Minh asked to join the Passionists; he was 27. A big foreign company offered to double his money, but he said, “No, I want to be with Fr Jeff.” I taught him English for three years. It was so difficult for him, and he worked so hard to learn. He picked up the word ‘century’, and said, “It will take centuries to learn English.” I asked him, “Minh, why do you struggle so hard to become a Passionist?” He gave me his biggest smile, “Because I want to be with suffering people.” This is Minh. He runs off to the dreadful hospitals we have in Vietnam, to visit the sick, talk to them, pray with them. He contacts relatives, negotiates, arranges things, helps out. Practical charity. People come to him as a spiritual father, even though he is still a seminarian.

I am 77 years old, 52 years a priest, but I have a long memory. I remember Pearl Harbour, and after Pearl Harbour the bombs that kept falling on Australia. My mother’s tears. Our country’s darkest hour. The United States of America came to our aid. Thank you. Thank you, America. Australia and America have stood together since then, in peace, and sadly, also in war, in Korea, in Vietnam, in Iraq. Today our young men are dying side by side in Afghanistan. Vietnam was a terrible war. More bombs on their heads than Germany and Japan combined, millions dead, so much suffering! The people of Vietnam have been told that America is the great enemy. But, guess what? The Vietnamese people don’t believe what they are told. You are not their enemy; they love you. They love America. They know your heart.

I live in Saigon with two missionaries, from India and Argentina. We live the simple life, it is part of our message; so I have started cooking. Maybe you shouldn’t come on the day I am cook – I am still learning. Bishops and priests welcome our help in church renewal. I teach seminarians, I teach priests, I teach young people. In fact my identity in Vietnam is teacher. I am not allowed to say I am a priest, or say Mass in the local church. Of course everyone can see the good we do. Even the local policeman sees no harm. He is a good man and he leaves us alone. To him I am Mr Jeff the English teacher. Fortunately he is not bothered by the fact that the people call our place, “The house where they make priests”. Yes, we make priests, and there are 30 young men in our program. Every Wednesday I go out and teach young blind people. They are great students. I love them. I was so happy when one of my blind students read the lesson in the Cathedral on Christmas day. She stood there with her eyes closed feeling the book with her sensitive fingers, the Braille text. But then I realized with a pang that if only I had a spare twenty bucks I could buy her a new Braille textbook.

Phat is asking to join us too. He’s 24. He studies graphic art at university. He thought about the Passionist logo that we all wear. This shows a heart with the cross. Inside the heart is a little prayer, “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.” But he said, “Where are the suffering people so dear to Jesus?” He wanted them inside the heart too, so he drew the map of his beloved Vietnam. Jesus’ suffering, yes, – and all the heartache of his whole country with Jesus, inside the one heart. Creative imagination! As I was leaving for America a priest I taught English gave me the vestment I wear with Phat’s design. I love wearing it. May the passion of Jesus be in our hearts, and may we be the first to dry the tears of those around us.

We give thanks as Jesus did and we remember him. Do this in memory of me. Do this. Just do it! Jesus set the world on fire by his exuberant goodness, and so can we. We are partners here. It’s in our hands to complete God’s great work.

God bless you and thank you.

Fr. Jeff Foale, CP, is presently a “teacher” in Vietnam.

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