We Catholics believe that the Eucharist is truly the Body of Christ. That Body is an unbroken circle of God’s love. It connects every living being with our loving Creator and with each other. We are the Body of Christ. We are Eucharist for each other.
Saint Paul tells us that the ‘bread that we break’ – the Eucharist – is a participation in the Body of Christ. He says that ‘because the bread we share is one, we, though many, are one body’. I have been blessed, many times, in my life to experience my place in that one body. One very special experience comes to mind that I’d like to share.
In April of 1975, the city of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Communists and the Viet Cong. Thousands upon thousands of people fled their villages to save their families and themselves from persecution and death. As Viet Nam had been predominantly a Catholic country, many of those fleeing refugees were Catholic Christians.
For several years the nightly news was filled with images of what became known as the ‘boat people’. These were refugees who had sold all their possessions and risked everything to flee Viet Nam on makeshift and overcrowded boats and rafts. Many died at sea due to storms; many were murdered or raped by pirates. A lucky few made it to disease-ridden refugee camps in the Philippines or Indonesia where they languished for years hoping and praying for sanctuary in the West. Catholic Charities was among the international agencies assisting with relocation.
In the summer on 1979, my wife Wanda and I were watching “60 Minutes” as Mike Wallace and his team did a segment on those ‘boat people’ struggling to survive in an Indonesian refugee camp. A Vietnamese woman looked directly into the camera – and into our souls – and pleaded for help. Wanda turned to me and said that we needed to help. The next day she called Catholic Charities in Newark and offered to accept a family into our home. The day before Thanksgiving we received a phone call from Catholic Charities telling us that the Nguyen family had been assigned to us.
We met Nguyet and her husband Hieu, and their two children Minh and Huy at Newark airport the day after Thanksgiving. They literally had rags on their backs and were emaciated and freezing cold. They spoke no English and we did not speak Vietnamese; yet, by the grace of God, we were able to communicate with each other. We brought the Nguyen family to our home here in Tenafly and set up our den as their bedroom. As soon as we arrived, Wanda made hot soup and together with our two children and their two children, we sat down around our dining room table to share their first meal in America.
Nguyet and Hieu were devout Catholics. Before they escaped from Viet Nam, their village priest had given them some consecrated hosts to bring with them and nourish them on their journey. By the time they reached our home, one consecrated host remained. The day after they arrived, Nguyet used gestures and signs to show us the remaining host and invite us to share the Eucharist with them. What a gift of grace, what a powerful experience of the Body of Christ that was for us.
The Nguyen family lived with us for six months. They recovered from some severe illnesses including malaria and intestinal parasites. With the help of a Vietnamese to English dictionary we were able to communicate, share stories and grow close as friends. They attended Mass here at Mount Carmel with us.
Through the kindness and generosity of many parishioners, neighbors and local healthcare professionals, their health improved. Wanda found them an apartment in Teaneck and found work for Hieu at a manufacturing company in Hackensack run by a family of refugees from the Holocaust. A year later they decided to move to San Jose, California for a warmer climate and to be part of a large Vietnamese community. They started a small food-truck business, worked very hard and were successful. When I was in San Francisco in 1984 on business, they met me at the airport and welcomed me to their home.
Years later, when I was ordained a deacon in 1992, Nguyet and her daughter flew to New Jersey and attended the Mass of ordination at the Cathedral in Newark. What a joy to celebrate and once again share the Body of Christ together. We are the body of Christ.
There are many stories like this: you have them, and I have them. Through many individual souls, through the Bread that we share, we are one. From that village priest in Viet Nam, to Nguyet and Hieu, to Wanda and me, to those generous parishioners and healthcare people, to the Vietnamese community in San Jose, to the communicants on ordination day in 1992, to Mass today, there is an endless unbroken circle of God’s love. That circle is the Eucharist. It connects every living being with our loving Creator and with each other.
We are Eucharist for each other!
We are the Body of Christ!
Ferrauiola & Nguyen Families 1979
Ferrauiola & Nguyen Families 2019
With love, Deacon Lex
deaconlex@nullgmail.com