14 February 1991
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

My dear Sisters,

During the past few days I have admired here in the sanctuary an arrangement of flowers in the form of a bird, looking towards the altar and tabernacle. The floral arrangement reminded me of a little story about a bird. One day a large horse was walking along the road and he saw a little bird lying on its back, looking up into the sky, with its legs pointing upwards. The large horse asked the little bird what it was doing. "I heard a rumor," said the little bird, "that the sky was going to fall today. So I am going to try to hold it up." The large horse began to laugh and laugh. "How can you," he said, "with your little, tiny legs hold up the sky?" The little bird replied: "I know, but I am going to do the best I can...the best I can."

"The best I can," that is what you, my dear Sisters, have been doing during the past fifteen years. Many times since 1975 you must have thought that the sky was falling on your little Community. Like the little bird on the road you decided as a Province that you were going to do the best you could to hold up the sky. And you have succeeded. The blessing and strength of God have been upon you. The Immaculate Mother of God has been at your side. You have continued to serve the poor and to be united among yourselves, and your Province today is experiencing a new hope and new life.

To each of you, my dear Sisters, I address the words of St. Vincent to Sister Anne Hardemont: "Continue, my Sister, and you will see the glory of God, you will possess your soul by your patience.... It is for charity, it is for God, it is for the poor." (Coste VII, Fr. ed., pp. 382-383).

"If you love the Lord, your God," the first reading of today's Mass reminds us, "and follow His ways.... you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own." (Dt 30:16).

This afternoon Father Lauwerier and I will leave this land into which we entered ten days ago. You have offered us wonderful hospitality and numerous gifts, for which we are most grateful. The greatest gift which you have given us is the witness of your lives, which are clearly and deeply impregnated with the spirit of St. Vincent and St. Louise. For that gift neither of us could adequately express our thanks. We must resign ourselves to being like the little bird on the road and do the best we can in thanking you.