Pastor’s Corner

Sunday Oct 24, 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Yesterday, Saturday Oct 23, at Christ Cathedral, Bishop Kevin W. Vann ordained 13 men for the service of Perma-nent Deaconate for our Diocese of Orange. Today our parish offers the Mass of Thanksgiving for our newly or-dained Deacon David Tao Duc Phan. Together with Father Joseph Thai and the entire parish, we would like to congratulate our New Deacon David Tao Duc Phan. May the Lord through the intercession of Our Lady of La Vang and St. Joseph’s grant you wisdom, peace love and joy as you begin your deaconate ministry here at Our La-dy of La Vang. We would like to congratulate and express our appreciation to Deacon Tao’s wife, Dianne Cao and three children for their love, prayer, and support given Deacon Tao during his Deaconate Formation. You have been a great inspiration for Deacon Tao for that we are grateful. Please continue to keep Deacon Tao in your daily mass and prayers that he will be able to fulfill his zealous service, talents, and gifts for the glory of God and for our parish. Please continue to support our new building project and the shrine of Our Lady of La Vang. May the Lord continue to bestow His abundance blessings upon all of you and your family? Congratulations to Our New Deacon David Tao Duc Phan and family.

Today is also World Mission Sunday! Our Holy Father Francis invites all the faithful to pray for and support our mission throughout the world. Our Holy Father had said, “The central ideal of mission is Jesus Christ.” Before Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus commanded his disciples, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Good News, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and know that I will remain with you until the end of the world.” Our planet has 7 billion people, and 5 billion people do not know Jesus Christ. As baptized Catholics, we are called to be evangelizers and to share the Good News of Jesus by our lives of humble service. Today, let us also help our missionaries throughout the world. They are really in need of financial support as they face many difficulties and sacrifice much to train Catechists, teachers, and other volunteers to help spread the Good News.

The message for us to reflect on this week is that instead of remaining in spiritual blindness, let us pray for spiritu-al sight. Each one of us suffers from spiritual blindness. We need the light of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us. Anger, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, evil habits, etc., make us spiritually blind, and they prevent us from seeing the goodness in our neighbors and God’s presence in them. We are also blinded by greed when we are not satisfied with what we have and incur debts to buy luxury items. Hence, let us pray to have a clear vision of Christian val-ues and priorities in our lives, and to acknowledge the presence of God dwelling in ourselves and in our neighbors. A clear spiritual vision enables us to see the goodness in others, to express our appreciation for all that they have been doing for us, and to refrain from criticizing their performance.

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

Reverend Joseph Luan Nguyen,

Pastor.