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July 2006 marked
exactly two years Dong-Hanh CLC (previously known as Vietnamese
Companions of Christ) became integrated into World CLC through CLC-USA.
It is, therefore, fitting for us as we celebrate the Jubilee year of
St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, Blessed Peter Faber to give thanks
to God for our Ignatian root that gave rise to the CLC way of life—a
vocation that brings us to solidarity with all communities in the
world, as well as with the universal Church.
At the Ignatian
Conference in Seattle, Washington, Fr. Paul Coutinho, SJ, opened the
conference with the question, “How Big Is Your God?” This question
invited me to contemplate not only the lives of Ignatius, Francis and
Peter but also my own, and that of CLC. How big is God in my life and
my family? How big is God in my local Dong-Hanh community? How big
is God in CLC and the whole Church? I recognized that this is the
same question we ask ourselves in the Principle and Foundation. Is
God big enough to be first in our life so that all other created
things are secondary? Is God the purpose of our life? The
expansiveness of the question takes me deeper into the Weeks of the
Exercises and to contemplate the life of Jesus and who he is for me
and the world. I was quite surprised that the original question of
“How Big Is Your God?” took me deeper into the gaze of the Trinity as
they contemplate the world. This gaze transcends through time and
space, through all generations from the past to the present. This
gaze now rests on me, my family, my CLC community, and on the world.
It poses a different question, “How big am I to God?” or rather how
precious am I /or are we in God’s eyes that He would choose to be with
us and love us so faithfully through all the ages, that He would send
His only Son to be with us, in order for us to be with Him? Somehow,
as I ponder on these questions, I felt a certain sense of solidarity
with Ignatius, Francis, and Peter. Their hearts and souls were set
ablaze with fire for evangelization. They were indeed companions on
mission, bearing the heart and mind of Jesus Christ for the world.
For us CLC and
particularly for Dong-Hanh, walking in the footsteps of these three
saints, we are also companions on mission. As I contemplate on the
three dimensions of CLC way of life, Vocation, Community and Mission,
I see one unifying thread; it is a call toward BEING WITH. In
vocation, we are called to be with God, and let God be with us; it is
our relationship with God. In community, we are called to BE WITH our
companions, to grow in friendship and intimacy, to find God incarnate
in flesh and blood; it is our relationship with members of our
particular community. In mission, we are called to BE WITH the poor
or those who are in need of God in their life (our family, neighbor,
parish, work place, the abandoned...). For CLC-USA, how are we with
God as his beloved and chosen? How are we being with each other in
our different ethnic and spiritual realities? In what way are we
moving toward becoming one apostolic community in Christ?
For Dong-Hanh,
the lives of the three saints helped us appreciate our Ignatian
heritage. Concretely, we feel more energized toward being with the
Vietnamese youth/young adults as they search for God, with the
families as they struggle with family issues, with the local parishes
and their complex needs, etc.... Above all, we are in a stance of
listening to the Spirit “where It blows.” We pray that our readiness
will open new horizons to infinite possibilities.
The Trinity never
stops gazing and contemplating the world. Christ is being continually
sent out over and over to BE WITH us in the Eucharist and through the
Church. Ignatius, Francis and Peter were blessed to enter into that
loving gaze and they were never the same. We, too, are blessed to be
invited into that awesome gaze. How big is our God? As big as we
allow His gaze to take us to places we can never imagine.
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