Fr Anthony Nguyen Cao Thang SJ, Fr Paul Nguyen Thai Son SJ and Fr Andrew Pham Hoa Lac SJ professed their Final Vows on December 4 in a Mass celebrated by Jesuit Superior General Fr Arturo Sosa in the chapel of St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate in Saigon. The Superior General is on his first official visit to the Vietnamese Province this week.
“Today, we thank the Lord that three of our brothers are making Final Vows in the Society of Jesus,” said Fr Sosa.
“When Lac, Thang and Son made First Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience around 20 years ago, each of them also promised: ‘I shall enter that same Society in order to lead my entire life in it.’ (Constitutions, 540). Today, after two decades, they are fulfilling that promise, and as Superior General, it is my joy to welcome them definitively to the Society.”
Reflecting on the day’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Fr Sosa invited the fully professed Jesuit priests to thank the Lord for his goodness, and to continue to trust in his merciful love.
“We cannot forget that powerful declaration from the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus: ‘What is it to be a Jesuit? It is to know that one is a sinner, yet called to be a companion of Jesus, as Ignatius was’ (GC 32, Decree 2, No. 1),” said Fr Sosa. “The knowledge that we are completely dependent on God’s mercy should fill us, not with fear or anxiety, but with thanksgiving and consolation.”
He also reminded Fathers Thang, Son and Lac to “never forget that mission is never simply doing something, but being someone, a companion of Jesus who is ready for any mission, because he has given his life to Christ”.