Peter's Pickles #3: Love Thy Neighbor

Welcome friends,

For those of you that follow the news (or don’t live under a rock), it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t really the best year for humanity. In the past few months alone: Nice, Orlando, Turkey, Baghdad, Dallas… The list goes on, and on— another event being added with every couple of days. It’s bleak and certainly not easy to accept, but this seems to be the direction that the world is moving.

But, anyway, why bring up such a depressing topic? What does any of that have to do with us, as high schoolers, as college students, as human beings, as future HT, as current HT? How do these moments change the way we see ourselves, and the world around us?

Well, the truth is… it sometimes doesn’t.

For most of us, we turn on the TV or browse Facebook in wake of these tragedies, and our natural responses range between fear, anger, and sadness. Typically, our hearts reach out to the families of those affected; we might think of saying a few prayers; some of us actually end up saying them...  Then we talk about it for a few days:

• “Did you hear about the 49 dead and 53 wounded at that gay nightclub in Orlando?”
• “Did you hear about that guy shot dead by the police? Another unarmed black man.”

However, our grief is short-lived. It’s difficult to admit, sure. But, we eventually move on with our lives, whether that be a conscious choice or by chance, and forget that these things ever happened in the first place.

I find the words of Jon Stewart, former host of the Daily Show, to be especially insightful. He says:

“By acknowledging it, by staring into that and seeing it for what it is, we still won’t do jackshit. Yeah, that’s us. That’s the part that blows my mind.”

All the news coverage in the world can’t change the fact that we, as human beings, are becoming increasingly apathetic, we care less and less. Social injustice occurs even in our own country, the first world— injustice that preys upon the poor, the gays, the minorities— but we won’t do a thing to stop it. What does that say about who we are as Christians?

The Bible teaches that all human beings have the potential to do good, but at the same time we are not necessarily born righteous. Listening to Jesus’ vision for us doesn’t come naturally, it’s hard, I know. Think back to the Gospel from a few weeks ago. Jesus says:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:30-35).

We all have the capacity for love, but we are selective with who we love. We find difficulty loving the homeless man that asks us for money outside the 7-11 in the same way that we love our families. Although we might not see the presence of God in his eyes, He is there. They are all our  neighbors.

Jesus did not tell us to “love thy neighbor...unless they’re black, gay, or disgusting”. He uses the absolute statement without exception, with faults included. Prejudice, racism and homophobia are what we have created out of hate for each other, not love.

Love must be unconditional.

If we were able to live by that instruction, would these tragic moments still occur? If we were able to love each other as neighbors, as shared inhabitants of this beautiful world that God gave us?

Would we intentionally hurt the man/woman we love?

Would we kill a child, if they were our own?

Would we steal money from the poor, if they were our parents?

Love every human being like they are you(rs).

I’m not saying that all of us have to go travel the world, preaching love and kumbaya...

Instead, we should learn and teach this love by our good work. Let tragedy remind you of this.

When you find one of the kids annoying or weird, love them anyway.

When your colleagues don’t appreciate you, love them anyway.

Someday, they will return that love to others, if not to you.

And, with this I will leave you with a beautiful quote from Kurt Vonnegut:

"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” –God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Sincerely, Anh Peter

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Peter's Pickles #2: A Faith We Did Not Choose

There’s this question that I love asking my Giao Ly students on the first day of class every year. It goes something like: “Why are you here? What’s your motivation for being in this class? Why do you go to Mass?”

Since it’s the first day, and they’re all trying to make a good impression, it’s not uncommon to hear answers like, “I’m excited to learn more about God”, or “I want to learn how to be a better Catholic”.

These are good answers, but they’re not the ones I’m looking for, so I keep fishing. I’m patiently waiting for that one really honest kid in the class to raise their hand, and answer plainly:

“My parents made me!” Bingo.

It’s hard to admit, but most of the kids that go to TNF can sympathize with that answer. It’s important to realize that few of us chose to be Catholic in the first place. We were barely able to talk, much less make the conscious decision to pledge our entire existence to God.

We are Catholics by chance and attend church to satisfy the people we love. Just because we have become Catholics by the rite of Baptism, that does not necessarily make us believers. Perhaps that comes later in life. Perhaps not at all, which is why our current generation is not as attuned with the faith.

I was not a believer when I was Baptized as a child. Or, when I received First Communion as an adolescent. Or, when I was Confirmed as a teenager.

I don’t even know if I can call myself a believer today because, like many others, I am constantly in search of God everyday.

But, I do find it significant that I am still looking.

It is easy to distract ourselves when people are talking about something we don’t want to hear. We probably all do that quite often to the people in our lives. But, out of love, they will never give up hoping that we will eventually listen. God is always speaking to us, we just have to decide if we are willing to hear him. It’s an important choice that others cannot make for us.

If you have ever been to Tinh Huan, our November spiritual retreat with Lien Doan, then you have probably heard before that becoming an HT is like answering a call from God, which I find fitting. Not all of us are meant to be priests or nuns, but that doesn’t mean that God has nothing planned for us.

TNF will die out when its leaders no longer have a spiritual connection or goal. We teach about Mary and the Three Children because that is our way of bringing God to the people. Becoming an HT is not saying “Yes, I will believe”, but rather "I want to believe". You cannot teach what you do not believe in yourself, and you will never get there without trying.

Our kids have plenty of people in their lives that can teach them how to be Catholic, how to go to Mass, how to kneel and stand at the right times. That’s the easy part.

They depend on their role models to help them believe.

If you choose to be here as leader, it needs to be for the right reasons.

And, if you need help finding your way there, I will do my best to guide the way :)

Anh Peter

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Peter's Pickles #1: Spirituality and Beginnings

Hello friends,

So, since this is my first article, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and briefly explain my intentions in writing this series.

My name is Anh Peter and I am a youth leader of Doan Torrance. The intended audience of this blog series is primarily Nganh Nghia and HT. I am here because I am deeply committed to educating young minds. I find no other vocation as important or enjoyable!

When most people hear “education”, they immediately think of things like Algebra or Chemistry. They’re not wrong. However, in the context of TNF, this isn’t the type of education we’re talking about. At TNF, we are in the business of teaching affection— reminding our kids that life is about loving others and being loved in return. I know this sounds a little cheesy, but hopefully someday you will understand.

Like my colleagues, I interact with children of all ages. From eating lunch with the Au boys to playing jump rope with the Au girls... But, my work is mostly focused on the development of Nganh Nghia— our high school/college age group. From a planning perspective, I love working with Nghia because we are able to get creative and challenging with our content.

This year, our curriculum was far more focused on leadership than in the past. We began to devote more time towards personal and professional development, and away from Hoc Hoi and spirituality. These were things that we found lacking in our current leaders and we wanted to develop these skills early in the next generation. The Nghia were more engaged and we were happy with the results. It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress. Or, at least that’s what we thought at first.

Recently, Chi Brenda and I have been working on the plans for HT camp— a retreat meant to develop the skillset of current and future HTs. I don’t want to go too much into detail, but, the long list of skills fall under three major categories: Spiritual, Relational, and Leadership. An ideal HT should maintain a balance between the three categories as a Catholic, a friend, and a leader.

When we began teaching more leadership, we also began teaching less spirituality. This wasn’t because our students were already strongly connected to the faith and God, but by accident. I actually sense that the opposite is true. Even though we are brought together for a religious purpose, the spirituality is beginning to fade away from our work.

This feeling motivates my writing of these blogs. I want to do my best to teach our kids to be strong leaders, but also how to be strong Catholics at the same time. Each entry will discuss a spiritual topic that pertains to the HT experience.

So, please stop by from time to time, and perhaps we can learn something beautiful about ourselves and God, together.

Anh Peter

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Ponder with Pauline #1 - New Blog Content Coming Soon

Hi everyone!

We're starting new segments on the website this summer. If you look at the top menu bar, there is a new tab called "Blog". You can click it to go to the main page for the blog. It also has a drop down menu where you can choose the name of the author whose posts you would like to read. We'll be updating with more content and each author will have their own tag.

New posts will be coming up very soon so please stop by once in a while for some great reads.
Hope you're enjoying your summer, have fun and stay safe!

Chi Pauline

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