24 October 2025 Cardinal Van Thuan, The Road of Hope

Opening Prayer

Prayer for Hope

Eternal God, where war has

Destroyed and divided, kindle

The flame of hope;

Where poverty has diminished

And demoralised, kindle the

Flame of hope;

Where confidence has been

Drained and damaged, kindle

The flame of hope.

In Jesus’ name. Amen

Reflections

Today’s reflection will be about Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan and his story of hope in the light of the harsh imprisonment, torture and solitary confinement he suffered in Vietnam.

Background

First I will start with some background on Cardinal Van Thuan. He was ordained a Bishop in 1967, but after the fall of Saigon in 1975 he was arrested and imprisoned in a Communist re-education camp for 13 years – 9 of which he was held in solitary confinement. He was released in 1988 but remained in Hanoi under house arrest. He was however allowed to visit Rome and he never returned to Vietnam. Whilst in Rome he served Pope John Paul II and became a Cardinal in 2001. Here he worked on social justice for the Vatican and lived a poor humble life. He passed away in 2002. Cardinal Van Thuan was made ‘Venerable’ in 2017 by Pope Francis and the process for his beatification and canonisation is ongoing

During his Imprisonment

How he acted during his imprisonment is truly remarkable. I have found his story inspirational and I hope you find this too. We can also perhaps relate his story to our lives – our own times of darkness

Cardinal Van Thuan remained faithful for the entirety of his imprisonment and felt no resentment towards his guards, only expressing his concern and love for them. Soon, these guards were questioning communist ideals and were seen singing liturgy. They were often replaced but never in time for them to have been affected by the Christian love shown by Cardinal Van Thuan.

He adopted 10 rules of life with his third rule involved prayer. He wrote:

“I will hold firmly to one secret: prayer. I prayed with the word of God, the Psalms. I said the prayers I had recited in the family chapel every evening when I was a child. The liturgical songs came back to me. I often sang the Veni Creator, the hymns of the martyrs, the Sanctorum Meritis, the Credo… To truly appreciate those beautiful prayers, it is necessary to have experienced the darkness of incarceration, conscious of the fact that your suffering is offered for faithfulness to the Church.”

Amazingly Cardinal Van Thuan managed to communicate to the outside world. Recorded in his biography Five Loaves and Two Fishes, he says he heard the voice of God saying

‘Francis it is very simple. Imitate what St Paul did when he was in prison. Write letters to the

church communities. I want you to be like St Paul’

So he used his prison calendar – he wrote messages on scraps of paper from the calendar and these were smuggled out by sympathetic guards and children playing outside. These scraps of paper got to his Catholic friends and they were then re-copied and circulated. These notes form the book ‘The Road to Hope: A Gospel from Prison.’

Mass

Amazingly, during the time he was not in solitary confinement, Cardinal Van Thuan found a way to celebrate mass. He was able to obtain small amounts of bread and wine through the help of Catholics outside the prison and also guards who were sympathetic to him - many of whom eventually came to faith. He states:

‘I wrote home saying ‘Send me some wine as medication for stomach pains’. On the outside, the faithful understood what I meant. They sent me a little bottle of Mass wine, with a label reading ‘medication for stomach pains,’ as well as some hosts broken into small pieces. The police asked me: ‘Do you have pains in your stomach?’ ‘Yes’ ‘Here is some medicine for you!’

He continues ‘‘I will never be able to express my immense joy every day. With three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of my hand I celebrated my mass. In the re-education camp we slept on common beds and everyone had the right to fifty centimetres of space. We arranged it so that there were five Catholics sleeping near me. At 9:30 in the evening I curled up on the bed to celebrate Mass by heart and I distributed Communion under the mosquito nets covering us. We reserved the Blessed Sacrament in small containers from cigarette packets. Jesus in the Eucharist was always with me in my shirt pocket. At night the prisoners took turns for adoration. Jesus was among us to heal all our physical and mental suffering’

With no altar, his hands became the chalice for the wine and paten for the bread. Cardinal Van Thuan’s prison cell became a Cathedral and the darkness of the prison was turned into light.

Finally, a couple of quotes from Cardinal Van Thuan:

‘The hardest thing above all else was that I began to feel helpless. my plans my efforts and my activities were all for nothing. This practical helplessness describes my condition for 13 years. I wanted to do so many things to serve my people but I could not. Then I came to think about Jesus on the cross that he was immobilized. He could neither preach nor administer any sacraments - He too was helpless. Nevertheless it was from there that he performed his greatest deed. He redeemed us sinners. Thanks to his help I have never regretted my destiny’

‘I will live the present moment filling it to the brim with love. if you were to permit me to choose I would change nothing because you are with me, I am no longer afraid. I have understood. I am following you in your passion and in your resurrection.’

Adapted from Ven. Francis-Xavier Van Thuan | The Year of Prayer By Joey Belleza, PhD (Cantab.) https://christianheritagecentre.com/media/nguyen-van-thuan/

Fr Stephen Wang, Hope in isolation: the amazing example of Cardinal Van Thuan, https://www.youtube.com/live/tZ85yVw4Aho?si=NbNHW8SP2r8mIGo7 accessed 16 July 2025

Books - Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, ‘The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison’

Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, ‘Five Loaves and Two fish’

Never Alone: God and his Angels – Reflection by Rev Judy

During the summer, as I was beginning to recover from major surgery (gently and slowly, as the doctors had instructed, Karen kindly sent me a link to the video of one of  Fr Stephen Wang’s YouTube reflections  It was in that reflection that I first heard about Cardinal Van Thuan – and his book ‘The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison’  As I listened, and read some passages, slowly, and then slowly once again – I felt that, although in very different circumstances, Cardinal Van Thuan’s experiences of being alone, and his relationship with God, seemed to resonate with some of what I had felt during those many weeks in hospital following my surgery. 

Imprisonment – yes – but one I was thankful for, in the life saving surgery, and the care which I received from so many staff, both medical and domestic. And, of course, my wonderful, devoted, and very loyal family – who visited every day. They helped make sense of the medical world – sometime challenging decisions when information hadn’t been passed on.  They were, and still are, all angels of today.

As I listened to the words shared in the YouTube reflection about Cardinal Van Thuan, I felt linked to that same closeness of God, no matter what!  On one visit, a clergy friend asked if I would like anointing. “You don’t have to say yes,” he said. I politely – and lovingly, I hope – declined, explaining that I knew without any doubt that God was with me, and had been with me every minute of suffering, tests, surgery, and the beginning of recovery.

The sense of peacefulness I mostly experienced in the hospital was amazing – almost unexpected … even amid the hustle and bustle of a busy ward.  A day on a hospital ward can be very busy, with nurses, carers, doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, catering staff and cleaners. Yet I give thanks that on most days, I was able to have a conversation, albeit brief in some cases, with almost everyone who came to check on my well-being in some form or another. 

And then there were all the lovely nurses and carers in both hospital and rehab who were almost queuing up to braid my hair!  Many of them shared stories of their own lives with me as they did so. What an amazing blessing and privilege that was.  I feel that my hospital experiences, rather like Cardinal Van Thuan’s in prison in Vietnam (although in very different circumstances, and – thank God – for a much shorter time)  was not defined by suffering alone, but by a deep sense of God’s presence.

Rev Judy Greenfield August 2025

Question – where is your cathedral when you are not in church?

Question – have you ever turned darkness into light? How can we go about it?

Question – do we treat the liturgy we hear each week as seriously as we should?

Introduction to Silence

Blessing

HOPE BLESSING

When the storm has passed

and the roads are tamed,

and we are the survivors

of a collective shipwreck.

With tearful heart

and our blessed destiny

we will feel joy

simply for being alive.

And we’ll give a hug

to the first stranger

and praise our good luck

that we kept a friend.

And then we'll remember

all that we lost

And finally learn

everything we never learned. And we’ll envy no one

because all of us have suffered

And we’ll not be idle

but more compassionate.

We’ll value more what belongs to all

than what was earned

We’ll be more generous

and much more committed.

We’ll understand how fragile

it is to be alive.

We’ll sweat empathy

for those still with us and those who are gone.

We’ll miss the old man

who asked for a buck in the market

whose name we never knew

who was always at your side.

And maybe the poor old man

was your God in disguise.

But you never asked his name

because you never had the time.

And all will become a miracle

And all will become a legacy.

And we’ll respect the life,

the life we have gained.

When the storm passes

I ask you Lord, in shame

that you return us better

as you once dreamed us. Amen

Written by Alexis Valdez and printed in a book by Pope Francis, which he wrote during the pandemic

Thoughts to ponder:

Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two fish

“Above all I suffered long tribulation of nine years in solitary confinement and seeing only two guards every day. Enduring mental torture with no work to do, having to walk back and forth in my small cell from morning to night. I was on the brink of insanity. One night a voice

encouraged me from the depths of my heart - ‘why do you torment yourself, so you

must learn to distinguish between God and the works of God. Everything you have done pastoral activities, projects, are God's work, but they are not God’”

‘When the Communists threw me into the hold of the ship hi Fung with another

1,500 starving and desperate prisoners to be transported to the north, I thought

Lord here is my Cathedral. Here are my people Lord. You sent me here to be loved among

my brothers. Yes I am your missionary here. From that moment onwards a new

peace flooded my heart and remained with me for 13 years’

Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, ‘The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison’

‘The workman will become a saint in the workplace

The soldier will become a saint in the army

The patient will become a saint in the hospital

The student will become a saint through his studies

The farmer will become a saint on the farm

The politician will become a saint in government office

And the priest will become a saint by faithfully fulfilling his priestly ministry

Every step of progress along the road to sanctity is a step of sacrifice in the performance of one's duty’

‘In order to become a saint you need only to fulfil your duty in the present moment. The revelation and discovery of this simple fact should give your soul peace and courage’

‘Prayer is of prime importance in our lives second is sacrifice and only in third place is activity’

‘Each day you must decrease in self-centeredness and increase in love of neighbour

Each day decrease in self-reliance and instead increase your trust in God’

“Every day the press emphasizes sensational events and political upheavals. You should be aware of these events in order to share in humanity’s anxieties. These should have a positive effect. They should urge you to build a new world in which the press will not find such events to report on. You have to build the kingdom of God right now in this world with all the means at your disposal.”

“Love is not blind. Love sees the weakness of the beloved and tries to shoulder his or her burdens. Likewise love sees the abilities of the beloved and subtly encourages his or her potential.”

“Looking at the past to lament it is useless. Looking at the past to be proud of results is dangerous. Looking at the past to learn from it is wise.”

Hope is the thing with Feathers by Emily Dickenson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul.

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard

and sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea,

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickenson

A Prayer for our Troubled World

Lord, we join our hearts to you, for it’s you who goes before us, amongst the troubles, with the grief and brokenness of conflict.

We join our hearts to you, for its you who walks besides the widow, the orphan, the poor and hopeless.

We join our hearts to you, for it’s you who is beneath us, carrying the wounded, the homeless, the outcasts and the dying.

We join our hearts to you, for it’s you who reigns above, who sees the earth filled with love and beauty, yet a world shrouded in darkness.

We join our hearts to you, for our prayers are yours, prayers for this land to be clothed in the saving grace which flows from Calvary.

We join our hearts to you, for we long to be your hands, your feet, your voice and your love to the world. Amen

Look for the Helpers

Expand your gaze to take in all the people who are rushing in from all sides to offer their care, assistance, and support. Amidst the hard times let yourself see the wave of compassion that arises around the suffering—the human heart that cannot be stopped.

Jack Kornfield

“Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.”

Richard Bach