I wasn't crazy about this work, but it is a good one. It is very accessible and easy to read. And Cardinal Van Thuan was a most impressive person: shortly after becoming archbishop of Saigon, he was imprisoned by the Vietnamese government for 13 years, most of which were spent in solitary confinement. He endured these years with a spirituality rooted in the virtue of hope. At SJV we also believe him to have been an instrumental intercessor for our seminarian Huy while he was sick.
Some of the points I particularly liked included:
*We resist God's love because we tune him out with things to distract us, and because we don't want to hear him calling us to give up the habits we have which are bad for us.
*The discipline of charity, of real love, is always in the present moment. Each moment gives us choices, and those choices turn (convert) our heart, towards or away from God.
*You must follow God, not the works of God. It is too easy for many of us, especially men, and especially Americans, to put our effort into being successful at doing God's work. Rather, we need to set ourselves at following him for his own sake. Be ready to give up success at his works, to follow in whatever he may call you to do. Without first following the Lord, you won't know what his work is; you're idea of God's work will be something you imagined. It's too easy for us to have inordinate attachements to God's works. My love for the liturgy may be somewhere in that direction...
*Christians' apostolate is to "reveal to every person, without discrimination, that God is close to them and loves them infinitely." S**t. I don't think about this anywhere near often enough. It sounds so simple to do this, but I just don't keep it at the front of my mind. And how exactly do I do it anyway?
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