After her husband was executed, Bùi Thị Xuân and her daughter was sentenced to death by elephant trampling. Both she and her husband were skilled generals, faithful to the Tây Sơn dynasty, and the rebels waited for this moment to exact their revenge. Before the herd of elephants stampeded her only daughter's 16-year-old body, she turned and cried out to her mother. "I cannot help you in this moment. Die worthy of a general's daughter," Bùi Thị Xuân fearlessly counseled her daughter as she watched her daughter die before her eyes. After Bùi Thị Xuân suffered the same death, the soldiers fought among themselves to eat a piece of her liver. They believed she was "gan lì" which meant unwavering intrepidity and eating her liver, or "gan" would make them just as dauntless. Fr. Châu opened his homily for the Mass of the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs with this heroine story from our history books. He said anyone can die for a dream, an ideal, a vision. Yet,...
First Amaryllis of this May! "What is it?" Dao asked me. "It's an amaryllis," I answered. She gazed doubtfully upon the slender plain stems poking out of the pot. "It's a flower?" she asked slowly. "Yes. I know you don't see any leaves on it and the bud is quite flat, but it's a flower." I reassured her. I had just come home from Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish and my arms were full of gifts. Candy, snacks, fried shrimp, lotion, with knick knacks. And the amaryllis. All from catechists who wanted to spoil me and my community for Christmas. The amaryllis peeked out from the tall gift bag. According to Greek mythology, Amaryllis was a shy shepherdess who fell deeply in love with Alteo, a shepherd with the strength of Hercules and the beauty of Apollo. Her affections were not returned and she hoped to win his heart by giving him what held his attention: flowers. Following the instructions of the oracle of De...
"Anh ơi, em nè." Everyone broke into laughter as Sr. Marie Trang "pleaded" to be recognized. The close group of friends were at Quý Lành's 25th wedding anniversary celebration. The couple were also long-time catechists at Holy Martyrs Church and so our sisters were also invited to be part of the festivities. One of the guests suggested a game. Quý, the husband, would be blindfolded. All the females present would take turns holding Quý's hand. Quý would have to recognize his wife's hands. Quý, a practical jokester himself, quickly got the game started. "Anh ơi, em nè." "Honey, it's me," Sr. Marie Trang repeated in Vietnamese. Yet Sr. Marie's close impersonation of Lành's voice could not persuade Quý. The room vibrated with laughter as Quý turned down Sr. Marie and she left the line with a look of pretended sadness. The two had barely clasped hands when they embraced without a word. Everyone was amazed. And impressed. Th...
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