The Gospel Reading on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was about the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, where they experienced a real encounter of life within them leaping for joy: “the child in my womb leapt for joy.”
For the Asia Pacific Province, the celebration of the Feast of the Assumption this year was an experience of “a child, not only leaping for joy in the womb, but a birth that made everyone leap for joy”. Yes, the genesis of the third community in Tang Nghia, Vietnam, happened in God’s time. Blessed are we “who believed that the promise made by the Lord would be fulfilled.” We can be limited with words to describe this great day of God’s manifestation of continuing presence and journeying with us. Here are some photos, may these images speak words of gratitude, joy, love, communion, hope, and express our Magnificat!
Tang Nghia Parish Community
Mother Marie Eugenie arrived and is present in this place.
The Religious of the Assumption are welcomed
to be part of the life of the people and of the local church.
The Lord has done great things for us, Holy is His Name!
There is a great sign in heaven, there is great joy on earth! (Sr. Maria Francisca)
After 25 years of presence in Viet Nam, the RA opens a third community, which is full of hope and promise; it is God’s dream actualized and made more visible. Responding to the call to go to the peripheries and lower one’s nets, the sisters reach out to the border between Viet Nam and Cambodia to a place and a people where there are diverse religions and the presence of religious women has not been known.
As a Junior Sister, I am so grateful to be sent back and assigned to one of our communities in Viet Nam at this time. I am able to witness the process of preparation for, send-off of the sisters and the eventual celebration of our foundation there. In my first visit to Tan Nghia community, I feel the warm welcome and the joy of the parishioners in having the religious now living and being with and among them. It is a moving experience to see the fire of love and the fire of Spirit ablaze among and with the sisters assigned to this place.
Reflecting on our mission in Tan Nghia, I am grateful for God’s blessing to the Church in Viet Nam and our Congregation, APP Province, and especially the Assumption in Viet Nam. The new foundation, the newly born community is God’s dream, God’s promise and God’s call for each one us, to deepen our vocation and mission, to go out of ourselves and to reach out to others in order to make Jesus known, loved and served as well as make the Spirit and the charism of the Assumption known and alive in our world today.