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Dear Friends in Christ,

In 1988, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II canonized 117 Vietnamese martyrs, but they represent only a portion of the thousands of Vietnamese men and women and children, who have given their lives for believing in Jesus Christ, and for belonging to His Holy Church.

In the almost five hundred years that the Christian Faith has existed in Viet Nam, hardly a decade has gone by, without persecution of the Faithful. In early times, the missionaries worked tirelessly to plant the Faith - they were opposed by Buddhist clerics, by family chieftains, by kings and emperors, by the socialists and communists. Yet since the Word first came to Viet Nam, against all odds, the Faithful have gathered to celebrate Mass, to listen to the Gospel, and to dedicate their families and their lives to living the example given us by Jesus Christ.

For this, they have been challenged by violence of the worst kind - but never have they met violence with any answer but the answer of Jesus Christ - peaceful acceptance of suffering. Few nations can equal the record of Viet Nam for Christian witness - few peoples have shown such a superlative degree of courage.

We ask ourselves, how can they have been as brave and as strong as the stories tell us? How could people who were having their flesh torn and burned, their limbs severed, their heads cut off - how could they have smiled in the face of such death? - how could they continue to sing of their love for Jesus, and their love for those who were tormenting them?

Only one answer suffices: they were given the grace of heavenly courage. Their suffering, though immense, was overshadowed by the victory they knew would be theirs - the victory of keeping the faith, and winning Heaven.

Many of the martyrs, in the moments of their suffering, must have called on Mary, the Blessed Virgin, to help them in their pain and woe. Anyone who receives the Faith knows that Mary herself, felt a pain and suffering that matches any pain and suffering in human history. For it was her burden to watch her Son, tortured, abused, and cruelly put to death on the Cross. "And a sword will pierce your own soul," the prophet Simeon told Mary, "so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed." Surely, from her throne in Heaven, the Mother of God felt all the pain of the holy martyrs of Viet Nam - but surely too, she heard the thoughts hidden under the pain, and granted the martyrs a part of her own courage - the courage that kept her at the side of Jesus, when He was dying on the Cross - the courage that made her the mother of our Church, when He had risen from the dead, and sent His Holy Spirit into the hearts of all the Faithful.

The martyrs died for Jesus, with the courage of Mary - but they also died for us, to give us courage. Not perhaps courage to endure torture and death for the Faith, although we can never know. But courage to fight the battles of life - to be good parents, to be obedient children, to be patient in our old age - to withstand sickness, ill fortune and frustration - and courage to share what we have, to bend down, like the Good Samaritan, and lift up our neighbor when he is in distress, even though we might have to pay the cost, and suffer a little for his sake. If the martyrs had the courage to face what they had to face, then certainly, thinking about them, we know we must have the courage to do what we must do.

The martyrs died for us in another way as well. For they have taught us, by their willingness to suffer horrible deaths, that in our extremity, in our greatest need, God will be there for us. What could have brought to their faces such smiles, what could have inspired them to accept death happily, except God speaking to them, saying to them, "Don't worry…at the end of your suffering, I am waiting, to bring you into Heaven, and to give you eternal life and joy.

Dear friends, in this month of October, this month of our Lady, and of the beautiful prayer which is her Holy Rosary, let us turn to her often in prayer - and let us ask her Divine Son, who is our Lord, to give us just a little, just a portion, of what He gave those holy martyrs of the homeland. Then, may we too, be victorious over the powers that oppose our Faith - then may we too, win here on earth, for ourselves and our children, a part of the great promise Jesus has made to us, and that He has already given those who died for His sake.

And may God bless forever, the people of Viet Nam - in their homeland, in the United States, and all over the world - and reward them generously, for the blessings He has given all of us, through their great faith.

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