I am reading a book based on the papal retreat that Archbishop Thuan delivered to Saint John Paul II and others in Rome. Archbishop Thuan spend 14 years in a North Vietnamese concentration camp after the end of the Vietnam war. In his book, Testimony of Hope, he speaks about the importance of the Eucharist to himself and other Catholic men in the camp. He was able to celebrate the Mass from memory with wine that was sent to him as medicine for his stomach and communion hosts inside a flashlight given to him. I share with you some of his words.

The Eucharist became for me and for the other Christians a hidden and encouraging presence in the midst of all our difficulties. Jesus was adored secretly by the Christians who lived with me, just as happened so often in other prison camps of the 20^th century.

In the re-education camp, we were divided into groups of fifty people; we slept on a common bed, and everyone had the right to 50 centimeters of space. We managed to make sure that there were five Catholics with me. At 9:30 P.M. we had to turn off the lights and everyone had to go to sleep. It was then that I would bow over the bed to celebrate the Mass by heart and I distributed communion by passing my hand under the mosquito net. We even made little sacks from the paper cigarette packs to preserve the Most Holy Sacrament and bring it to others. The Eucharistic Jesus was always with me in my shirt pocket.

Every week there as an indoctrination session in which the whole camp had to participate. My Catholic companions and I took advantage of the breaks in order to pass the small sack to everyone in the four other groups of prisoners. Everyone knew that Jesus was in their midst. At night, the prisoners would take turns for adoration. With his silent presence, the Eucharistic Jesus helped us in unimaginable ways. Many Christians returned to a fervent faith-life, and their witness of service and love had an ever greater impact on the other prisoners. Even Buddhists and other non-Christians came to faith. The strength of Jesus’ love was irresistible.

In this way, the darkness of the prison became a paschal light, and the seed germinated in the ground during the storm. The prison was transformed into a school of catechesis. Catholics baptized fellow prisoners and became the godparents of their companions.

Earlier in the book, Archbishop Thuan said this about the Eucharist:
When everything was lacking, the Eucharist, the bread of Life, was uppermost in our thoughts. “If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)

How many times I recalled the expression of the fourth century martyrs of Abitina who said, “We cannot live without the Lord’s Supper.”

At all times, and especially in times of persecution, the Eucharist has been the secret of the Christian life, the food of witnesses, and the bread of hope.

Eusebius of Cesarea tells us the Christians did not neglect to celebrate the Eucharist, even in the midst of persecutions: “Every place where we suffered became for us a place to celebrate… whether it was a field, a desert, a ship, an inn, a prison….” The martyrology of the twentieth century is filled with poignant accounts of clandestine celebrations of the Eucharist in concentration camps, because without the Eucharist, we cannot live God’s life!

The Eucharist is all the food that fuels our efforts to work on behalf of Christ. The Church’s nature is that of being missionaries. Eucharist is the essential food for this task. Archbishop Thuan’s love of the Eucharist and the Lord empowered him during his fourteen years while incarcerated to convert many of his captors.
His captors tortured him and tried to have him renounce his faith. Instead he chose to live the gospel and love his enemies and pray for his persecutors. What happened? In the beginning, the guards did not talk to him and he was terribly sad. Archbishop Thuan wanted to be kind and polite with them, but it was impossible. They avoided speaking with him. One night a thought came to him: “Francis, you are still very rich. You have the love of Christ in your heart; love them as Jesus has loved you. The next day I started to love them even more, to love Jesus in them, smiling and exchanging kind words with them. I began to tell them stories of my trips abroad, of how people live in America, in Canada, in Japan, in the Philippines… about economics, about freedom, about technology. This stimulated their curiosity and they began asking me many questions. Little by little we became friends. They wanted to learn foreign languages, French, English… And my guards became my students!

As we “journey” through John 6 during the next few Sundays at Mass where Jesus describes himself as the Bread that gives Life to the world, we might reflect on our love of the Eucharist. The intent of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is to transform us into HIM! Archbishop Thuan had this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to remain in you. You and I will be one: one unique will, one sole heart, one effort, one love. There will no longer be a distinction between what belongs to you what belongs to me. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Eucharist, the experience of heaven on earth!!