Subject: Introduction to the Old Testament

Professor: Fr. Manuel Montesclaros, S.J.

Student: Anthony Le Duc Tho, CMF

A theological - spiritual reflection on: “Deepening one’s faith and Discernment of God’s will”

Living in the material and instant world, we as human beings often have tendency to do

and pursue whatever that make us more comfortable, flexible and free. This trend really affects a

lot of Vietnamese youth whether they are Catholics or not. One of the problems that the Catholic

Church in Vietnam is facing severely today is abortion. In this reflection, I would like to focus

on my own experiences about protecting life during when I was still a student in Vietnam and

connect it with what I have learned now in my Theological studies. I was so inspired from our

last class and theme which runs in this way: “Deepening of personal faith and Discernment of

God’s will.”

Nowadays, Vietnam, if we search on the internet, is one of the countries after India and

China which has the high rate of abortions. Why is it there are many cases of abortions that are

happening in Vietnam? It is because Vietnam is a newly opened country that integrated to Global

Family, where many young people wanted to follow the new trend of living. Despite of it,

Vietnamese youth still follows a culture of valuing high reputation of their tradition, e.g. if ever

one committed a big mistake, they tried their best to keep it to themselves and from their families

just to avoid embarrassment to happen in public.

Regarding to this matter, the Catholic Church in Vietnam is doing some steps that

hopefully can help to reduce the high rate of abortion. Our Catholic Church in Vietnam is

building centers for those young girls who had unwanted pregnancies in the big cities, centers for

training and education on reproductive health. They also founded groups that present in 26

dioceses with the aim of protecting life and helping women and children to overcome their own

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mistake. When I was a student, I joined that group and helped those misguided youth

recognizing the gift of carrying life and the gift of being a mother in my diocese.

During that time, I was a full-timed student so it was a little bit difficult for me to manage

my time in order to be an active member. I had experienced working in the National Hospital of

Obstetrics and Gynecology as a volunteer. I felt the work was very challenging. In Vietnam, if a

young man enters with a young woman in a hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology or clinic for

pregnancy, it means you have to do something unusual namely to abort the unwanted baby. With

the help of the priest in-charged and other members, I had overcome my limitations and

weaknesses as a good adviser in giving some pieces of advice to those people involved in order

to stop their action and as a collector of the dead fetus.

I have done it for almost 3 years before I joined the Claretian Missionary in Vietnam.

During those 3 years, I had gained a lot of good and bad experiences. I was very happy for the

first time I was successful in stopping an act of abortion of a high school girl who was not a

Catholic. One time, I had to steal five dead fetuses because the nurse did not want to give us as

she was going to throw those fetuses in the garbage trash without the knowledge of others.

Another time, the fetuses really played with me when I did not ask permission from them to

bring them to the cemetery. I could not start my motorbike and it seemed someone is unceasingly

tickling me. It was only the moment when I asked permission from them to get and bring them to

the cemetery so I could do it. From that day on, my faith became very strong in the idea that

human being has body and soul.

Even though I was successful in some cases, I also had failures. Until now I still

remember those cases. The first case was when I did not follow a woman closely in giving her

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good pieces of advice. That young woman went to the city with purpose to remove the 4-month

fetus in her womb. My mistake was that I didn’t get her cell-phone number and I didn’t inform

the other members to follow up her case. Then, when I came to the hospital again to do my work,

I met her and she told me that she just removed the fetus from her womb. The second case was

so terrible. One lady from my village went to the hospital to take care of her daughter who just

gave birth and when she saw me talking to a girl inside the hospital, she mistakenly thought and

said that I came there with that girl as my girl-friend in order for us to resolve the unwanted

pregnancy. I was in big trouble for me around 1 week because she informed my parents so they

called me to go back home in order to explain clearly to them. I did not know what to say to

them so I asked the priest in charged for help. During that time, I really wanted to quit from that

work. The last case was when I gave wrong advice to a young non-Catholic woman. I applied the

Catholic Church teachings to her and she was scolded harshly and went away.

Being involved in that kind of work, I realized many times that my faith is put in the test

because there were many difficult cases that I could not approach easily and it is very difficult to

accept that work in Vietnam society. Many times, I also asked myself why I did that work and

“Did I receive any good from it?” However, these questions led me to the surprising answers,

that is, I found inner happiness, compassion and sympathy and I am proud of being a Catholic

who can do a meaningful work and a disciple of Jesus Christ who dares to go against what the

atheistic society of Vietnam calls it as nonsense work, a work that always brings trouble and

discrimination to myself. I also realized that many times I failed to have good dialogue with

others. I applied wrong method of encounters with those who are non-Catholics; especially I

didn’t make friends with them in order to journey with them and not put myself in the situation

of a person who did a big mistake and needed someone else to understand him/her.

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 Having time to see again my past experiences and to connect what I have learned from

the subject, I know that the work is very challenging to those who really love to protect life from

the very beginning of a fetus. That challenges for me run in this way: first, how can I strengthen

my Catholic faith and apply what I have learned from the Church’s teachings, classes and others’

sharing experiences to the very reality of our daily life if one day I continue that work again.

Next is how can I discern God’s will inside myself and others? Because sometimes I just foist

my will on God’s will so that I can do easily. Catholic Religion is a minority group in Vietnam

society. The challenges for us as Catholics are on how do we see others’ belief as just like our

Catholic faith? How can we approach and dialogue with those who are non-Catholics? How can

we be friends with them? How can we discern God’s will in our activity to protect life when

others say that I don’t know God?

To sum up my reflection, I know that many challenges are waiting for those who

willingly commit themselves to join a group to protect life from the beginning in the womb in

Vietnam society and I also realize God’s invitation is very strong and urgent for each Catholic in

Vietnam to follow his footsteps to do the best for others and to accept discrimination such as

people belong to protecting life group because Jesus said: “Everyone will hate you because of

me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Mt 10: 22) Lord, Jesus Christ, please

gives me the grace of wisdom, strength, gentleness, braveness and strong faith in order to be a

good disciple of yours to go out into deep water of the world to be witnessed for your Good

News, to value the human life from the beginning, and to be friend with those who are in need

such as those who must go to the hospital to do what they don’t like. Amen.