Sunday, November 16, 2025

Dear brother and sisters,

True parental love goes far beyond comfort and protection. It is not about spoiling children or giving them everything they desire. Nor is it about shielding them from every pain, avoiding every challenge, or clearing every obstacle to make life smooth and easy. Instead, loving parents walk alongside their children, not to carry them through life, but to guide them as they journey through it. They offer a supportive presence, but allow their children to experience discomfort, face adversity, and grow in maturity through difficulties. They teach their children to become independent, to navigate real world, to endure hardship, and to embrace failure as a stepping stone toward real growth. They do not prevent every fall or keep their children forever under their wings. Rather, they stand behind their children and become ready to lift them up, encourage them forward, and help them rise again stronger, wiser, and more resilient than before.

Education is not merely about attending classes or listening to lectures. Nor is it simply about achieving short-term results, earning passing grades, or obtaining a degree. It is about true formation in which students must learn to think critically, develop personal discipline, and nurture the skills that will empower them to succeed independently. They need to be prepared not just for academic milestones, but for the challenges of life be-yond the classroom. Real success is not handed to them, but built through effort, resilience, and growth. Therefore, good teachers are not answer-givers, but skill-builders. They equip their students with the tools to face exams, solve problems, and pursue knowledge with confidence and perseverance. They let their students to face difficulty or failure so their students can learn to study harder, reflect more deeply, and strive more earnestly. They keep the goal of education as not just information, but transformation for their students.

In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to see God as both a loving parent and a wise teacher, one who teaches us that love is not about protection, but about preparation. In His love, God gives us freedom to live, to choose, and to grow in the natural course of life. Yet, we are never left alone. Our God offers grace, strength, and wisdom, not to shield us from life’s realities, but to empower us to live fully and faithfully. He does not remove every burden, but walks with us through them. He does not allow trials to break us, but to shape us into who we are meant to be. We are equipped to face all things through the blessing of God the Fa-ther, the teaching of God the Son, and the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.

Sincerely yours in Jesus Christ and Our Lady of La Vang!

Reverend Kiet Anh Ta.