Morning Star

"Sơ, you ditched us!" Melissa did not even turn around to look at me. "No... I went visiting," I stuttered in surprise. "Sơ, the kids are mad at you!" Phúc informed me frankly. "When you went up there with that other family, I just wanted to grab your rock and put it in our pile!" Melissa continued honestly in an irritated tone. I was suddenly thrown into confusion and sadness. The night before, at the opening activity of the Ephata retreat, these group of kids had spontaneously adopted me to be their "aunt." We were the JB family, aka Justin Bieber or Jesus da Boss. Never say Never. That's what Justin sang. That's what we'll say to God. I did not think they were serious. So, I joined another group for the rock activity. Boy, was I wrong! "You think you'll disown me?" I asked David. "I think we already did," he replied simply. He was the first to give me the invitation. Anger is a sign of love. Tha...

"So, Rachel what did you learn from the rally?" I looked at her from my rear-view mirror. Highway 30 was relatively empty for a Saturday night. The youth knew I would be asking each and every one of them this question. They had given up a Saturday and I wanted to make sure they would carry one piece of wisdom with them for the rest of their life. "Negebah... the Hebrew word for woman... it means open... and that is who we are..." Rachel's voice trailed off softly. They had divided us into two groups, guys and gals, and given us individual talks. "Negebah.... the Hebrew word for woman... even the sound of the word sounds womanly." Stephanie Balser, our girls-only speaker, declared emphatically. "Bà... of course, it's like Vietnamese," I whispered mischievously to my neighbor. "Negebah... it also means a multi-faceted gem... like the one on my hand!" Stephanie continued, flashing her diamond engagement ring proudly. Multi-faceted...

"Nathan, what do you want to be when you grow up?" His mom looked at her youngest son with affection. "I want to be homeless!" the six-year old replied confidently. Jessica was taken aback. She herself was nearing completion of a doctoral thesis and her husband was an accomplished engineer. "Nathan, what do you mean?" she asked soothingly. "Well, Mom every morning I hear you pray for the homeless and so if I'm homeless, I know you will pray for me!" Jessica laughed softly to herself. The innocence of childhood. The truth of Jesus' promise. "And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it." (John 14: 13-14) God did answer her prayers. She prayed for others not to be homeless physically. Who would've guessed God would flip the tables and her little boy knew the greater homelessness is to be without God's presence? ps. True sto...

"Hello! Here's our binder." I gently pushed our paperwork across the counter. "Saint Peter's?" "Yes, and we need to register one more." The receptionist smiled at me briefly and started to flip through the pages. I quickly sent another prayer up. Our iSPY youth was in the lobby's far corner, anxious for their T-shirts and eager to join the hundreds of youth from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area milling in the hallways. The reality was some of these forms were hard to read. The reality was some of us may not make it through the gate because the paperwork was complex. The reality was it was our group's first participation in a diocesan youth-only event and all of us adults were nervous. "Saint Peter's?... Here is your bag with the T-shirts, wristbands for dinner, and you can pay for the extra person down that way." I breathed a sigh of relief. We were in! Seven hours later, none of us could say we didn't know the realit...

The steaming hot bowl of phở was good. Too good. Sr. Gwen Huyền's mom was taking advantage of our Tết visit to serve authentic Vietnamese cuisine. The only problem is she is also a traditional Vietnamese mom. The bowl was overly generous and 20 minutes later, I was still working on it with no end in sight. "Thái! Thái!" "Whish!!!!!!!!!!" The three little cousins chased each other rambunctiously through the house. "He bumped me!" Ellie wailed loudly. The six-year old held her lips painfully and pointed at the "criminal" accusingly. Three-year-old Thái looked bewildered. "He ran into me!" Ellie continued. Stella, her sister, nodded in agreement. The kids waited for judgment. "Thái, say sorry to Ellie," Hằng, his mom, commanded. We didn't know if Thái would do it or not since the kids have been bumping each other boisterously for several minutes without incident. Thái stepped closer to Ellie. "I can't reach...

"Sơ, do you really think donuts are necessary?" Thầy John's voice rang plaintively over the phone. "Yes... you need not worry. Oanh will pick them up and bring it to the station. You know how youth are... they're not going to think about eating a good breakfast. Getting them to wake up at 8am on a Saturday morning is a miracle. And I don't want any of them putting on a face during the rally because they're hungry." "Okay, Sơ..." He didn't sound convinced. Mass started at 10am. The cathedral was filled to overflow by 8:30am. My job was to reserve seats for our youth group and I was met with those who had the same plans. Even the adjacent multi-purpose room only had standing room left. Bishop Kevin had called for 10,000 to come to the Prolife Rally to commemorate the Roe vs. Wade court case. Dallas-Fort Worth citizens took his word to heart. The church was packed. The march was longer than the estimated 35 minutes. The parking...

12.5 inches in 24 hours for Dallas. The highest record. That's interesting to weather forecasters. Four consecutive days of no school. Students are thrilled. Teachers are ecstatic. I know. Both live in my community. That may be interesting to parents. Bone-weary from 4 weeks of student teaching. Strained to breaking from almost a year of full-time social work. That is the scenario for two of my sisters. So, it makes perfect sense why we have 12.5 inches of snow. They need rest. Why would the rest of us refuse this dazzling beauty?

When I was a kid, the only big song in Vietnamese I knew was "Xin Chúa í-a chúc lành..." Then, I got to the "square circle" part... "dưỡng nuôi con bao ngày vuông tròn..." ...nurturing me all these years to be square circle... If you're Vietnamese, you know square circle "vuông tròn" means a healthy pregnancy. If you're Vietnamese, you know it's Tết... Lunar New Year! If you're Vietnamese, you know square circle is the best you can be in life. That's because your parents want your sides to be straight and your corners to be exact. That's because your parents taught you that everything in life comes full circle. That's because your parents showed you that beauty has hidden repetition and all the shapes in the world are really squares and circles. I was always embarrassed that we didn't exchange gifts for Christmas. I was always worried that someone would find out that my siblings and I were faking it sick for Tết be...