Thuan

“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’” (Matthew 17:5).

Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận

I recently read a story about a Bishop in Vietnam, who was imprisoned in solitary confinement for almost a decade during the Communist regime…

The Bishop’s name was Van Thuan (he later became a cardinal).  He was arrested suddenly and taken to prison.  He was unable to take anything with him and was placed into solitary confinement.  He spent nine years this way.  He did manage to ask his friends to bring him clothes and toothpaste and “medicine”.  The medicine was altar wine that was smuggled into his cell in the form of medicine.  For the next almost decade he would preserve a few crumbs of bread from his evening meal and three drops of wine from his “medicine” and each night he would preserve these for Holy Mass.  He later wrote, “I never will be able to express my great joy.  Every day for many years I had the joy of celebrating Mass with three drops of wine and one of water in my palm. This was my altar, my cathedral. For me it was the true medicine of body and soul...  Each day in reciting the words of Consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me through His Blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my life!”The Bishop’s name was Van Thuan.  He was arrested suddenly and taken to prison.  He was unable to take anything with him and was placed into solitary confinement.  He spent nine years this way.  He did manage to ask his friends to bring him clothes and toothpaste and “medicine”.  The medicine was altar wine that was smuggled into his cell in the form of medicine.  For the next almost decade he would preserve a few crumbs of bread from his evening meal and three drops of wine from his “medicine” and each night he would preserve these for Holy Mass.  He later wrote, “I never will be able to express my great joy.  Every day for many years I had the joy of celebrating Mass with three drops of wine and one of water in my palm. This was my altar, my cathedral. For me it was the true medicine of body and soul...  Each day in reciting the words of Consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me through His Blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my life!”

And I have been thinking about this today as I have been thinking about the Blessed Eucharist…

“So they said to him, ‘Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you?...  Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness...’ Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:30-35).

The truly great Saints love the Eucharist.  Saint Josemaria taught, “When you approach the Tabernacle remember that he has been awaiting you for twenty centuries.”  There is a reason why non-Catholics are not permitted to receive the Blessed Eucharist and why the proper reception of the Sacraments must come first.  And this is because the Eucharist is at the CENTRE of our Catholic Faith.

When God said, “This is my Body…  This is my Blood…”  He was speaking not only to the apostles some twenty centuries ago – He was speaking to me.  When He sits inside that darkened Tabernacle inside the darkened Church, He is waiting for me to enter, and He is silent for my sake.

And for that, I am truly grateful.  For there is a beauty in the Eucharist that I could never even imagine…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.