Reflecting on first Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Mass

A couple of months ago, Fr. Charlie approached Theresa and me and expressed his desire to have a celebration in honor of our Vietnamese parishioners. We decided on the memorial of the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs, and Theresa and I went to work to prepare for the Mass.

I put together the Order of the Mass with the help of the Vietnamese-English missalettes that I received from Fr. Vincent Pham. Theresa and her dad translated the Prayers of the Faithful to Vietnamese. We are also grateful that Kimi said "yes" to doing the first reading and responsorial for us in Vietnamese. (She and her husband, Michael, went through Called to be One Marriage Class at Saint Albert the Great with us and he was right there with her.) George graciously agreed to run the PowerPoint slides for us, and Eriko was there to take these beautiful pictures. Also, thank you to Jill for being the Sacristan and setting up for Mass (and for helping me calm my nerves before Mass.)

The Vigil Mass, the first-ever at Saint Albert the Great Catholic Church, was well attended and we had many Vietnamese parishioners in the pews. Fr. Charlie did a fantastic job with the sign of the cross and blessing in Vietnamese! Many of Vietnamese parishioners in attendance came up to me and Fr. Charlie after Mass and greeted us in Vietnamese. It was a wonderful experience and I am blessed to be a part of it. (I am glad I had enough burst of energy to serve at the Mass after being struck by a stomach bug Monday night.)

I am so grateful to Fr. Charlie for his pastoral heart. He gave a beautiful homily on redemptive suffering because the physical suffering that these martyrs went through was unfathomable, but they gave it all up for the greater glory of God and entered into their heavenly rewards. I am also grateful to Fr. Charlie and my wife for giving me the courage to be vulnerable and step out of my comfort zone because speaking in Vietnamese in public is for sure outside of my wheelhouse. We look forward to expanding on the celebration next year so please keep us in your prayers.

I invite you to listen to Fr. Charlie's homily on the podcast: https://saintalbert.podbean.com/e/father-charlie-garza-630-pm-mass-homily-english-1669259118/

Saint Andrew Dũng-Lạc, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs, pray for us.