The Eucharist : a revolution begins there

The venerable François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (1928 to 2002) died, this day, 24 years ago.  His case for beatification was opened in 2007.   The Vietnamese cardinal spent 13 years in prison, from 1975 to 1988, including nine years in solitary confinement as part of the communist government's repression of Church leaders after reunification. It was a time in which he shared in the suffering of Christ as in his abandonment on the cross.

During his captivity he silently celebrated Mass with tiny amounts of bread and wine:

Every day, with three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of my hand, I celebrated my Mass.

He also wrote:

Every time I offer Mass I have the opportunity to extend my hands and nail myself to the cross with Jesus, to drink with him the bitter cup.

Every day, praying and hearing the words of the consecration, I confirm with all my heart and with all my soul a new covenant, an eternal covenant between me and Jesus, through his Blood mixed with mine (cf. 1 Co 11:23-25).

Jesus began a revolution from the cross. Your revolution must begin from the Eucharistic table and has to be carried forward from there. In this way you will be able to renew humanity.

According to accounts of his prison years, he kept the Blessed Sacrament close to him whenever possible and regarded Christ's Eucharistic presence as the source of hope that sustained him through isolation and suffering. His sister later summarised his spirituality by saying that his life was ‘firmly rooted in an extraordinary union with the Living God through the Eucharist, his only strength’.

In the 20th century, the Catholic community endured the trauma of French colonisation, partition in 1954 and a prolonged and bloody War. After reunification in 1975 under the Communist regime, Catholics faced significant restrictions, expropriations and state controls.  Buddhists also faced periods of discrimination and government intervention. Today, Catholics can generally worship openly, but religious life remains subject to fairly tight oversight and regulation.

A recurring theme in Nguyễn Văn Thuận's teaching was that the Eucharist is not merely a devotion but a living encounter with Christ that gives believers the strength to persevere, love others, and remain hopeful even in the darkest circumstances. In the words of the saintly cardinal:

The Eucharist is the most beautiful prayer; it is the culmination of the life of Jesus.