Van Thuan, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen

Following up on my November 14 post, another of Jesus’ “defects” that Cardinal van Thuan mentioned in his spiritual exercises to the papal household was: Jesus doesn’t understand finances or economics. He started his reflection by recalling the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16)–remember? Those who get hired at the last hour get paid the same as those who worked all day. Cardinal van Thuan continued:

If Jesus were named the administrator of a community or the director of a business, the institution would surely fail and go bankrupt. How can anyone pay someone who began working at 5:00 PM the very same wage paid to the person who has been working since early morning? Is this merely an oversight? Is Jesus’ accounting wrong? No! He does it on purpose, as he explains, “Can I not do what I want with what is mine? Or are you jealous because I am generous?” (Mt 20.15) (Testimony of Hope, p. 18)

And then he goes on to answer an important question.

Perhaps we can ask ourselves why Jesus has these defects. Because he is love (cf. 1 John 4.16). Real love does not reason, does not measure, does not create barriers, does not calculate, does not remember offenses, and does not impose conditions.
Jesus always acts out of love. From the home of the Trinity he brought us a great love, infinite, divine, a love that reaches–as the Fathers of the Church used to say–even to the point of folly, throwing our human measurements into crisis. (Testimony of Hope, p. 18)

And this is the same Jesus who has to do with you. “Jesus always acts out of love.”

I know that sounds heretical, but I’m just quoting a cardinal, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan to be exact. If you have never heard of him, go here to find out more about his astounding life. He wrote about the “defects of Jesus” in his book, Testimony of Hope, which is a compilation of the spiritual exercises he gave to John Paul II and the papal household in the year 2o00. The first “defect” he mentions is “Jesus has a terrible memory.

     On the cross, during his agony, Jesus heard the voice of the thief crucified on his right, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23.42). If I had been Jesus, I would have told him, “I certainly will not forget you, but your crimes have to be expiated with at least twenty years of purgatory.” Instead, Jesus tells him, ” Today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). He forgets all the man’s sins.
     He does exactly the same thing with the sinful woman who has anointed his feet with perfume. Jesus does not ask her anything about her scandalous past. He simply says “her many sins have been forgiven because she loved much” (cf. Lk 7.47).
     . . . Jesus does not have a memory like mine. He not only pardons, and pardons every person, he even forgets that he has pardoned. (Testimony of Hope, pp. 14-15)

Category: Van Thuan, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen

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