What strikes me when I listen to some news on TV (and I still can’t believe what I hear; simple nonsense and discredit) is that some lobbyists and groups falsely and impertinently accuse people of various types of discrimination.  If you say the truth, they call it discrimination!  Saying the truth becomes controversial.  The worst is that they not only say it, but want to force all the people of the world to act immorally and in error.  Immoral acts, in their eyes, become moral; errors, in their eyes, become the truth.  The truth does not become false only because some people think and believe it to be so.  Many people become silent and do nothing, which makes the others, like the lobbyists and other groups, think and believe that they are right.  Who is discriminating against whom?  Pope Emeritus Benedict VI reminds us that finding authentic love requires a compass of objective Truth.

We the people of this country trust in God.  This is our motto.  We live faith, and we are a witness for our age.

“How long, O Lord?  I cry for help but you do not listen!  I cry out to you,  ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene.” (Hb 1:2-3)

I encourage you to read, if you haven’t already done so, Credo for Today: What Christians Believe.  In the book, Benedict XVI says that God gives Himself abundantly out of love, even to the point of suffering with us in order to redeem us and make us realize that the mystery of relationships can never be defeated, even in the midst of suffering.  In the reality of the cross, what is evil is taken by God and given back as love redoubled.

God is not a spectator at the tragedy.  In the mystery of suffering, we are not to see the absence of God, for God Himself is present in the very depths of suffering.

Christians are called to embrace the cross, to embrace suffering.  Given the horrors of our times, people are asking, “Where is God in all of this?”  The cross is a reminder that our God is a God who suffers with us.  Hell means total absence of relationship with God.  What does it mean that Jesus descended into hell?  It means that even in that place where God is not supposed to be, God reaches us.  There’s no place where God is forsaken or absent.  If someone experiences the most radical atheism, she/he still experiences the presence of God

Fr. Rafal Duda
Parochial Vicar

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to invite you to meditate on today’s Gospel about the rich man and poor Lazarus. What spiritual lessons can we learn from this parable?

Look at each main character in the parable: On the one hand, the rich man had everything that a man could desire on this earth and he set his heart on this wealth, to such a degree that he excluded all thought of God or of what followed after death.  It was not that he was ignorant of God or of a future – he admits that he had Moses and the prophets – but he paid no heed to them.  He was too busy trying to squeeze the last ounce of pleasure out of his few years on earth.  On the other hand, we have a beggar, a man not only in dire destitution, but suffering bodily pains as well.  He bore his lot patiently.  He was quite content to get the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.  He must have been disappointed that this rich man never thought of giving him a helping hand, but there is no mention of his ever criticizing or blaming him.  He left these things to God.

Both men eventually die.  The beggar goes straight to heaven to a state of endless happiness.  His bodily sufferings have ended forever, and he will never be in want again.  The rich man fares very differently.  His enjoyments are over forever.  He is now in torment and is told that he can expect no relief.  They will have no end.  Abraham tells him why he is in his present state: he abused his time on earth.  He sees the truth of this.  He knows that he has no one to blame but himself, which must add greatly to his torments.  It is also a cause of additional grief to him that his bad example might lead his brothers to a similar fate.

Thus, the ultimate lesson that we should learn is the lesson of doing charity.  We must acknowledge what we have in this life and give God thanks and praise for it.  Then we should learn how to share whatever we have with the needy and the poor.  The biggest sins are not the sins that we have committed but rather the good that we fail to do for others.  It seems that the rich man did not commit any sins except the sin of ignoring poor Lazarus at his own gate.

We should commit ourselves to listen to Jesus and His word.  Our responsibility is to share and to give because whatever we give away now, we will gain later – not only a hundred fold but most importantly in eternal life.  May God teach us how to put our faith into action.

With love,

Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You and I are experiencing a lot of injustice in our world.  The more our scientific society advances, the less safety and more poverty we seem to be witnessing toward many people.  The needy are being trampled on, the poor and the voiceless are destroyed.  Millions of aborted babies, millions of starving people and millions of refugees are only some of the injustices nowadays.

How can we as Catholics respond to this?  Perhaps we could do it in two ways: by faith and prayer.  First, only by faith can we remove those mountains.  And we must express our faith by our works or actions.  Like the manager in today’s Gospel reading, Catholics should be “enterprising” and take the initiative, in politics, economics, communications, education, etc…  For instance, we must raise our voice about “unjust war” in case of Syria or Middle East!

Second, we must pray like St. Paul’s advises: “First of all, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be offered for all men, especially for kings and those in authority.  Prayer of this kind is good, and God our Savior is pleased with it, for He wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth.”

My friends, we should ask ourselves: “Did we pray as we could?”  Do I give one hour a day to God and the things of God, helping the needy, learning more about my religion, giving a hand in parochial affairs, advising those in difficulties – spiritual or temporal – praying for my own and my neighbor’s needs?

In conclusion, you and I should make two resolutions this week: Have total faith in God – never let our earthly goods take up all our time.  We have a far more serious purpose in life.  Please give it a little more thought and effort.  And secondly, we should be very grateful to God for what He has given us in this life.  We might like to have a lot more, but God knows best.  Work honestly and be generous with what you have.  We are serving God, not money or possessions.  By doing that, we are depositing treasures in heaven.

With love,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

All the parables in today’s Gospel – that perhaps were made up by Jesus himself – contain a clear lesson of hope and confidence in the infinite mercy of God in His dealings with us as human beings.  We are all sinners in one way or another.  We have all gone astray, gotten lost like the sheep and the coin in those stories sometime or other.  What is worse, we are all capable of going astray from God again at any moment.  If we had only the justice of God to deal with, we might well despair.  Our chances of reaching heaven would be slight indeed.

However, in looking closely at the first reading, we definitely see the mercy of God.  Even His people betrayed Him by worshipping a golden cow.  God forgave them and called them back to His salvation.  As St. Paul proclaims, God is our Father, full of mercy and compassion – God comes to save, not to destroy.  God comes to call sinners, not the righteous.  God comes to show mercy, not punishment.  God comes to love, not to condemn.  But we all have to show our repentance, conversion and forgiveness.

We are living in the world, where it is difficult to find the power of forgiveness nowadays.  Needless to say, unforgiveness usually results in our quitting something the Lord wants us to continue, while forgiveness keeps it going on.  If a husband or wife refuses to forgive their spouse, they may quit their marriage or at least quit trying in their marriage.  If parents quit forgiving their children, they might easily quit parenting them.  At best, they will just go through the motions.

In our society, unforgiveness is the main cause of divorce, abuse, dysfunction and neglect.  When we quit forgiving 70 times seven, we quit giving, loving and trying.  Eventually, we quit life and eternal life.  If we quit forgiving one person, we quit our relationship with the Lord, because we pray in the Our Father that He forgive us as we forgive others.  We must forgive as the father of the prodigal son did, or we will be like his older unforgiving son.  Forgive — or risk quitting life, love, and God.  Turn to God today with a truly contrite heart.  God will do the rest.

With love,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen

My Dear Brothers and Sisters:

I would like to welcome all of you back from summer vacation.  I hope you had a wonderful, rested and peaceful one.  Now, the first week of September means the end of the summer holidays and the beginning of another fruitful school year.  For many working parents, it means returning to their regular routine and less worries about finding responsible babysitters.  I pray that by the grace of the Heavenly Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, that all of you, children and parents, may successfully achieve your short-term and long-term goals in the coming months for the joy and peace of Christ to reign in your families.

When I meditate on today’s readings, there is only one word that comes to mind: “Humility.”  The first reading from the Book of Sirach teaches us that if we perform our tasks with humility, we will be loved by those whom God accepts.  The greater we are, the more we must humble ourselves, so we will find favor in the sight of the Lord.  In the Gospel reading, we hear Jesus talking about where the guests should sit at the table when invited.  As a general rule in a fixed system, the most distinguished guest sits at the right hand of the host, where he receives the highest honor.  The second most important guest sits at the left side of the host, and so on.  While Jesus was aware of this fixed system, he was not presenting a lesson in social etiquette.  He used this example of good manners at the table to draw attention to how honor is accredited in the Kingdom of God.  When Jesus pointed out that it is up to the host to invite the guest to come and move to a higher position at the table, He was saying something else.  The attendance of the guest at the table depends on an invitation from God.  And the reward lies in the growing likeness of God Himself, who tells the least worthy to come up higher.

Therefore, the spiritual lesson that we should learn this week is: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”  We are encouraged to persevere in our living faith.  We are encouraged to persevere in humility so we may be humble as Jesus was humble.  So this week, let us reflect upon these words and ask ourselves if we are humble as we should be.  Let us pray for each other, asking God to grant us true humility so we may find favor in His sight.

With love,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

This is not only the invitation from the Lord Jesus, but also the demand from our Heavenly Father: “Be holy like your Heavenly Father is holy.”  Like today’s first reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah: “I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory.”  But how many people truly heed this invitation from God?

Perhaps there are not many in our society nowadays.  We are, in fact, living in the world which is full of temptations and actions of devils.  Many people are addicted to social media: they allow bad images to enter their souls through their own eyes.  They easily open their senses for their own troubles.  And they are living in the untrue illusions offered by Satan.  Many people are already headed toward abandoning values and letting relativism and secularism guide them.  They don’t consider sins anymore; everything they do they judge according to their own conscience rather than the conscience of God under the light of the Church’s Magisterium.  Above all, it is very dangerous that devils with their cunning always whisper into each human’s ear that there is plenty of time in their lives for them to turn to God.  Just wait for tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow – Hasta Manana!

Too many times, you and I think: “I am a good person. I treat people right. I am not worried about getting into heaven.”  We should be attentive to this week’s Gospel: “Many, I tell you, will try to enter and be unable.”  Therefore, how can we enter the Kingdom of Heaven or how can we be saved?  As we know the Kingdom is extended to everyone.  Jesus also said that the way is narrow and demands more than a casual interest.  Indeed, Jesus demands love.  Jesus demands more than being merely good.  He demands holiness.

God doesn’t want anyone to be lost.  God doesn’t want any of His children to be left outside.  But God cannot force us to walk through the door.  He leaves the choice to enter the door up to us.  What is your choice?  Enter or not enter???

With love,

Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we recalled three weeks ago, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray and taught us to ask and told us that we shall receive. Then last week, Jesus assured us that faithful servants will be rewarded.

Today, however, everything changes.  Today we learn the kindly Jesus has come to unexpectedly and very surprisingly upset the status quo.  We are told that Jesus is not about bringing a peaceful life.  His message instead will cause division.

Jesus asks us to choose and make the really difficult decisions: As Jeremiah’s prophecy pointed out that Judah had a choice to make.  Choose to follow God and forget glory, or fight for glory and be destroyed forever.  Thus, we too must choose either God and God’s way, or our way and what we think best.  And the Gospel of Luke puts Jesus in the same context.  There is a spiritual war, and Jesus is telling us to make a choice.  We must choose what God wants or what we want.

Therefore there is no wonder that we sometimes don’t have peace and harmony within a family.  Some parents may expect to keep traditions and religions, while their children may want to make revolution.  Parents may want to keep God’s commandments, but their children may want to be free.  Parents and children can have very different points of view on many things, even their way of life …  This division that will, of course, come is not because Jesus created division.  The division is because many of us still choose ourselves and what we want over what God wants for us.

Thus, what should we do?  The best way or the only way is to choose God, because choosing God might bring division, but choosing God also brings salvation.  We who have been Catholics for many years, should confirm our faith in Jesus again – that Jesus is our way, our life and our truth.

May God bless and keep us as an apple of His eyes.

With love,

Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In last Sunday’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus told us to avoid attachments to possessions and to target our lives on the Kingdom.  Our passage today follows.  Jesus was not literally urging His disciples to sell all their belongings and then give all the money to the poor, but we should keep the amount we need, not hoarding what could be used by someone else!

A recent study among 1,500 children under ten years of age asked them what were their goals in life and what did they want to achieve when they grow up.  Surprisingly enough, the largest response was: “Being a celebrity.”  The second-most-common response was: “Being good looking.”  The third was: “Being rich.”  And last and least among all the responses from the children to the question of what was the very best thing in the world was: “Being with God.”

How about us?  What do we look for when pondering the “after-life?”  

In our everyday experience, whatever we plan to do, we have to prepare in advance.  If we plan to go on a trip, we have to make plans and reservations.  Most of us – even if we are not very old – plan and save for retirement.  However, the most important plans we have to make sooner or later are for our spiritual future: eternal life in the Kingdom of God!

In fact, Jesus calls us in today’s Gospel to charity and generosity.  It helps us prepare spiritually by concentrating on the most important things!  Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus said it is most important to remember what we save for, to focus our lives on that most important goal: “Preparing to live with God.”

My dearest friends, if we live our lives for God, preparing ourselves to spend our eternity with God, we fill our money bags with the heavenly treasures that do not wear out.  Our future lives with God are definitely worth preparing for.  May God help us to do so.

With love,
Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor

My Dear Friends,

The more we live, the more we are experiencing about vanities.  We soon find out that

human beings have a short life.  We were born, then we are getting old quickly.  When we are advanced in age, we get sicker and sicker.  Each day of our life that passes, we are coming to the process of dying.  When we die sooner or later, we have to leave everything behind or transfer it to somebody else.  This is life – “C’est la vie!”

No wonder King Solomon, who was one of the richest people in history, is credited with writing the book of Ecclesiastes.  He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.  He could get anything he wanted any time he wanted.  Many people today are trying hard to become more like Solomon.  They want to be able to relax “for years to come,” to “eat heartily, drink well,” and enjoy themselves.  But remember: they are fools, for “all things are vanity!”

With this in mind, we should have the courage to stand firm in our faith and seek “what is above; think of what is above, not what is on earth.  And put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire.”

Scripture says: “What profit does he show who gains the whole world and destroys himself in the process?”  You are not to spend what remains of your earthly life on human desires but on the will of God.  Therefore, “set your heart on what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God’s right hand.  Just try to build up and store treasure in the Kingdom of God.

How can we make a “deposit” in heaven?  You and I know the core of our belief: “Love your God with all your mind, your heart, your whole being and love neighbors as yourselves.”  Go and practice it!

Lord, send out your Spirit and help us to grasp reality so that we might always work for the Kingdom despite any price or any sacrifice even death for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.