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To my dear
Companions whom I love and serve in the miracle of His death and
resurrection, I send my warmest greetings.
Lent is over,
and we join Him in his resurrection. Our hearts are heavy because
of the September 11th tragedy and of the ongoing suffering
throughout the world. I cannot speak of resurrection without
speaking of the cross and suffering. I cannot speak of the cross
and suffering without speaking of resurrection. To be Christian is
to be honest about the struggle of life in a world where tragedy
happens. Similarly, to be Christian is to be hopeful for
transformation and new life. His death has made it possible for us
to live.
Though
conflict, controversy, and suffering are inevitable in life, they
are unnecessary. They are not the will of God. The true will of God
is peace and justice: “what does the Lord require of you but to do
justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God,”
[Micah 6:8]. Our mission as youth crusaders is to create a humane
world, which means confronting-peacefully yet boldly-anything that
dehumanizes and oppresses God’s children. If we do that, we will
experience the cross.
Jesus could
have avoided the cross; he could have avoided going to Jerusalem.
But He did not avoid. My dearest companions, we can also avoid the
cost of following in His way by being complacent, silent, and by
making ourselves victims. But there’s a price to pay for avoiding
the cross-loss of integrity, suffering, and despair.
I want you to
live the resurrection and the life. No matter what burdens we carry
or wrongs we’ve done, we belong to the risen Christ.
As we prepare
to travel to Canada for World Youth Day (WYD), we prepare to mend
some of the suffering throughout the world as we unite with our
brothers and sisters from around the world. To help you prepare for
your journey with Christ, we have created some prayer devotionals.
These are posted on the website www.donghanh.org. You can download
them and use them in during your prayer time. The prayer guideline
will help you understand the meaning of making this journey with
Jesus and others. These prayer devotionals will be available on the
website for March, April, and May. Let us all now begin this
journey with our hearts pure of joy.
An update. We
just completed the registration for Phase I. We are ready to begin
Phase II. For Phase II, please login to http://www.donghanh.org.
From there you will find WYD information at the bottom. Download
two Release forms. Please have every attendee fill out these forms
and send both copies to Cha Long. Please have your passport or any
required ID to enter or exit a foreign country.
Also, make sure
everyone has paid the $200 registration fee for Phase II. The fee
includes admission to all WYD events, accommodations, food, T-shirt,
and snacks. Cha Long must receive the check for each group and two
Release forms per person before April 15. Please don’t be late;
otherwise, we have to cancel your registration. If you think you
may be late, please notify Cha or me early. His address:
Rev. Do Ba
Long, S.S.S.
12, Boul. des Etudiants
Loretteville, P.Q G2A 1N5
Canada
For those of
you who will fly in, please send in your itinerary. The airport at
which you will arrive is the Toronto airport, code YYZ. As for
those driving in, please send me the approximate time and date that
you will arrive.
Last, but not
least, please go to the Dong Hanh website and print out WYD letter,
message for more information.
That’s all
folks!! If you have any questions regarding this matter, please
feel free to call me at (918) 808-9609 or email me jestran@cox.net.
Last Update!
Our Christmas cards fundraiser!! Special thanks to all the regions,
groups, and individuals who helped make this fundraiser a huge
success. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to ca’c
anh chi. em from Nhom New Orleans who helped us with the
distribution. All proceeds from the sale of the cards will go to
Dong Hanh ministries to help offset the costs of WYD and other
activities of the Dong Hanh ministry.
Have a
wonderful “post”-lent season.
Sincerely yours
in Christ,
Thu Huong Tran
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