in preparing for DHNS - notes

Be Deeply Rooted so to be Far Reaching


I'm actually so happy when reading Long's email about some suggested themes for the next DHNS MDN. It is clear there are two themes they want to incorporate, and the reason I'm so happy is because these are the two very essential aspects of the identity of a member of TNTT, or even for any Catholic at all.

1 - Coming back to our root which is the Eucharist
2 - Reaching out to others through service, thus the awareness of the mission work led by cha Thong and cha Chuong

These are the two movements that a person goes through over his/her growing up. There are points in their life, the only way for them to reach the, so called, "spiritual being," or God, is through service: doing good deeds for others. There are also other points when they feel that the only way to reach God is through deep praying and worshiping. There is nothing wrong with either approach, but too much of one while lacking the other only reflects a spiritual life that is not yet wholesome: that person will continue sensing something missing in their life.

Is there a starting point: prayer first or service first? There may be several different points of view on this question, but in my experience, it really depends on the developmental stage of a person or an age group in a social context. For younger people, they may be at the stage when it is harder to grasp the spiritual as something one can communicate through prayer. They need something concrete. They also need to be able to "feel" what they are doing, and feel that what they are doing is really going somewhere. For groups of people who are more experienced in life, especially spiritual life, who are more capable of abstract thinking, and who are more able to reach the conviction that God does exist in the things that human can't touch or feel, they may be more likely to find God's presence through their praying and worshiping.

The important thing to remember is, however, that it doesn't matter where we start, we have to keep moving. The moment we think we have reached your destination in spiritual life, our spiritual life is dead. It has to keep leading us to the deeper and deeper levels. Meeting God through prayer and worship will purify our intention and and strengthen our charity, so we can serve people with a more unconditional love. Serving people with an unconditional love will lead us to a deeper conviction that we and our human family will forever need God who comes to satisfy our hearts' desire through prayer. The cycle keeps on to lead us to the deeper and deeper levels of reality.



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But for a Catholic, is that all: prayer and service? what makes us Catholic unique?

So we understand the role of prayer and worship and service in our spiritual life. What makes us Catholic unique from the rest is: more than prayer which is a human action, we have liturgy which is a divine action through human act.

--> Need to develop more on this thoughts

--> Maybe I can work on sketching or suggesting some applications for a Eucharistic way of life (spirituality)

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The four aspects of youth development = a suggested model for a youth convention


1. Human aspect: all the fun activities such as sports, competitions, games, community buildings, dramas, sight-seeing, youth rally (with the band)

2. The encounter with Jesus:
(a) the personal encounter: private prayer, adoration, praise & worship, faith-sharing sessions, quiet time for meditation, perpetual adoration (expose the Sacrament overnight with someone adoring all the time)
(b) the encounter within the Church: sacraments, liturgy

3. Membership in the Church community --> at this convention, it could be teaching NSs (and HTs) what it means to be a member of the Catholic Church: teachings about the Eucharist, for example ...

4. Mission: sent out to serve others --> raise awareness of cha Thong's and cha Chuong's mission works, I suggest some concrete plans and long term projects so the kids can go home and do it and do it for a long time.


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The Fourth Day: Now that we have fun at the Convention and all, what's next?

- Ongoing formation on the Eucharist:
* Nghia Si
* Huynh Truong (I think more important, since they will in turn lead Nghia Si, but it really depends on the condition of each Doan)

- Mission
Got to work w cha Chuong and cha Thong on this. Can we make a commitment? for how long? what involves?
--> get cha Chuong & cha Thong on board to plan for this before presenting the projects to NS