Dear brothers and sisters in the Assumption family:
Vietnamese bishop Van Thuan Nguyen was imprisoned for thirteen years due to his faith. One day, Van Thuan was thinking about what he could do during his imprisonment. He was good at writing and it was easy for him to find a pencil. But how to get paper? He remembered his uncle telling him, “When we were poor, I rarely wrote on paper. I learned to write Chinese characters on banana leaves and in the dirt.” While glancing at the wall, Van Thuan noticed a calendar. It came to him the idea of using a block calendar with a cardboard backing and daily sheets to write his reflections. The next morning, with the help of a young boy, he obtained what he needed.
From that day, he started to compose messages of hope and courage which were smuggled out to the people of God. Writing helped Van Thuan refresh his mind, get in touch with the faithful in order to encourage them to stay strong in their faith, and keep him active until the day of his liberation. Far from giving in to despair and self-pity, Van Thuan became a source of inspiration through his words of encouragement: “Do not lose hope just because you may think you lack the means for some undertaking. I have always remembered the words of a cardinal who said, ‘Use the same means as the apostles. They have no machines or equipment: They simply preached and wrote letters. And still they conquered the world.’ If you cannot believe this, I am afraid that your outlook has become too scientific and less apostolic.” (The Road of Hope: a gospel from prison, North Palm Beach, Florida: Wellspring, 2013, p. 246-247)
In the same book, Van Thuan wrote, “Technologically, the human race has progressed more during the past several decades that it did in all the preceding centuries. It seems an obvious conclusion to many that we now have everything at our disposal; nothing more is lacking. We have begun to think we can do anything. But amid all this, we have lost contact with the meaning of life, the direction where we are going, and what the future holds for us. So humanity in modern times finds itself in a crisis of hope.” (The Road of Hope, p. 242)
We, too, tend to think that we have everything. But in reality, we are lacking in something essential in our life: peace. Just look at our world. War, violence, conflicts are everywhere. We, too, think that we can do anything. But in reality, we do many things without thinking. AI enters into our life and changes our way of thinking forever. It provides us with information without helping us to understand the meaning behind it. It gives us the means of communication without helping us to build a culture of encounter or to create spaces for fruitful and respectful discussions.
It gives to some people new opportunities while depriving others of employment. It shows us what is possible without telling us what is humanly and ethically good. It offers us spectacles that are deprived of transcendent dimensions. It takes away the necessity of the act of writing which is very formative for thought processes and sources of pleasure.
In his address to representatives of the media on May 12, Pope Leo XIV, newly elected, said, “Today, one of the most important challenges is to promote communication that can bring us out of the “Tower of Babel” in which we sometimes find ourselves, out of the confusion of loveless languages that are often ideological or partisan. Therefore, your service, with the words you use and the style you adopt, is crucial. As you know, communication is not only the transmission of information, but it is also the creation of a culture, of human and digital environments that become spaces for dialogue and discussion. In looking at how technology is developing, this mission becomes ever more necessary. I am thinking in particular of artificial intelligence, with its immense potential, which nevertheless requires responsibility and discernment in order to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity. This responsibility concerns everyone in proportion to his or her age and role in society.”
While celebrating the patronal feast of our Congregation, let us think about the meaning of our life and our destiny. At Pope Leo’s suggestion, let us not “seek to compete with secular media on its own terms, but rather to offer an alternative in the way proper to the Christian message, and the Person of Christ Himself. That is, not ‘spectacle,’ but ‘mystery.’” (Matthew Bunson. Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope. Irondale, Alabama: EWTN Publishing, 2025, p. 98) Let us replace our desire for something spectacular with our deep sense of devotion to mystery. Let us write our story with God, not with the help of AI, but with the words of the Bible and with the
lived experiences of men and women of all time. Let us allow the Blessed Virgin Mary to take us by the hand through the beauty of today’s liturgy in order to lead us to the One who is beauty in himself. She is our model in hope and ultimately our hope. Where she is we also will be with her. Like every mother, she wants the best for her children and prepares each of us in our hopeful pilgrimage. She shows us how to live a meaningful life by saying “yes” to the Word of God and by deepening our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She shows us that our ultimate destiny is in God, a God of all relationships. Only in him can we have everything and do everything!
Happy feast day to all of you!
Chi Ai Nguyen, A.A.
Provincial of the North American Province
