Hello dear friends,

How is your summer coming along? I hope you’ll find some time for relaxation - for both body and spirit! This month, I thought it’d be appropriate to talk about Independence Day (July 4). Have you ever seriously thought about what Independence Day actually means? Remember the movie "Independence Day"? It’s about the planet Earth suddenly being attacked and almost destroyed by aliens from outer space. Although purely fictional, this movie made me think about the "ordinary" things in life that we usually take for granted. Things like family, relationship, peace, electricity, the sun, the air we breath, the flowers, water, a smile, the house we live in,... and all those other "ordinary", everyday stuffs that we’re so used to having. What if in a blink of an eye, those things will disappear from our life forever... or try to imagine just one thing being taken away from us, something like electricity. Boy, life would be so difficult and burdensome without electricity; yet, we use it everyday without ever putting any thoughts to it.

America is overflowed with so many opportunities for people in many aspects. We have the freedom to think, to speak, to believe, etc... We have the freedom to live our lives the way we want to. Especially in this age of advanced technology, we have so many chances to learn and grow. This is truly a gift, a privilege! The 4^th of July reminds us to think about the struggle and hardship of so many people in the past in order to attain the freedom that we so enjoy right now. We should be grateful not only to the founders of this nation, but also to those who fought and died protecting this freedom. More than that, on a personal level, as Vietnamese refugees, we owe a big debt of gratitude to those who made it possible for us to be here. They might be our parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, sponsors and all those who sacrifice their life, time, energy or money in order for us to have a life here, in "the land of the free".

This brings me to another point - Does living in a free country necessarily means that we are free? I don’t think so! I think freedom, like technology and many other things, is like a two-edged sword. If we abuse or misuse it, it will become the very instrument that enslaves us until it finally destroys us. For example, let’s talk about pornography.

Few weeks ago, I read an interesting article from The Tidings (a weekly Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles). The article’s title "XXX is worse than ILOVEYOU" caught my attention right away. It talks about the "ILOVEYOU" virus that had shaken up computer users around the world in May this year. This so-called "Love Bug" had caused billions of dollars in damage to the computer systems worldwide. As soon as people discovered about this virus, computer experts as well as the government and big corporation leaders acted immediately to warn and find ways of stopping it. The article then compares this computer virus with another kind of virus - a "spiritual virus" called pornography or the ‘Lust Bug’. It said that "although this ‘spiritual virus’ may not damage the computers, it will certainly lead to a meltdown of the user’s soul". The article talks about how pornography, through the Internet is becoming more and more widespread. There are about 60,000 + porn Web sites that send out invitations to computer users through adds and e-mail every day. Even without these invitations, there are many people who are eager to search for it on their own. Researchers at Stanford and Duquesne University estimated that at least 200,000 Americans are hopelessly addicted to e-mail porn. There are many others, though not addicted to pornography, have allowed the "porn virus" to contaminate their thoughts and devalued their view toward human sexuality.

You might ask "So what’s all this got to do with me?" Well, for one thing, I know that most of us, at certain stage in our life, have been curious about sex and sexually related matters. I think the curiosity usually starts at the teenager years when our hormones are running "out-of-control". I was very curious about sex at the age of 14 or 15. Personally, I think it’s a common human tendency to be curious about and interested in sex. It’s part of human nature. The tough part is how to satisfy your curiosity the right way.

As I look back on my teenager years, I wish there was someone whom I could trust and who’s knowledgeable enough to talk and explain things to me in kind and caring manner. This, I think would give me a more healthy outlook on sexuality. I know this is a big challenge for many parents. It’s especially harder for Vietnamese parents to talk to their kids about sex since our culture doesn’t encourage this. So what do most young people do when they’re curious? Of course they’ll go to the easiest source available - the Internet! This is where the danger starts. A person might start viewing pornography out of curiosity at first, but with constant exposure to it, he/she will become addicted and dependent on it... possibly to the point of obsession. This person will think that pornography is the only way to satisfy his/her sexual needs. Gradually, he’ll make pornography the main source of entertainment. Soon enough, he’ll begin to equate pornography with being the source of his happiness. Without porn, he can’t be happy! Ultimately, pornography, like a virus, will eat away the purity of the soul. It degrades our moral values and distorts the way we see the human body.

I can give you dozens of reasons as to why we should not look at pornography, but instead, I’ll just share with you my personal feeling about it. The idea is very similar to the movie "The Lion King" (one of my favorite). Young lion-prince Simba ran away from home since he was very little and was contented to live his life as a "commoner" among his insect-eating friends in the jungle. One day, when he was all grown-up, he was called (by his dead father’s spirit - King Mufasa) to go back to the pride land and reclaim his kingship. Simba at first didn’t want to go back to his roots, he was very comfortable being a "nobody" in the jungle. His father in trying to persuade him, reminded him of his true identity by saying: "...Simba, you’ve forgotten who you are, you’re my son, the one true king, you must go back and reclaim your position in the circle of life..." At this, Simba bent down towards water in the river to look at the himself and from the clear water, he sees in his image, the reflection of his powerful father, the king. This was the motivation he needed to go back to his homeland and reclaim his kingship from his wicked uncle, Scar... and the rest was history!

My point is that each of us is made in God’s image, The One True King. Our body and soul are beautiful and perfect in God’s eyes because He sees His own Beauty & Perfection in us. Somewhere down the road, because of our bad experiences and mistakes, we’re trapped in this ugly web of sins. As long as we continue to live in such degrading condition, we’ll become more and more comfortable with it and totally loose sight of who we really are. In this case, pornography has the same harmful effect for our spirit. The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" calls it "a grave offense" which brings great injury to our dignity as human beings. It distorts the way we see ourselves and how we see others. This attitude "devalues" our own worth as children of God, The Almighty King! If we continue to expose ourselves to pornography, we will only see the human body as merely sex objects, not a sacred temple created with love and in the likeness of God. Imagine how hurt and offended God must feel!

So, what’s the solution? I suggest we first try to "remember who we truly are" - children of God. This means we need to be drawn closer to God every day in order to recognize His beautiful reflection in us. The clearer we see God’s beauty in us, the more we’ll want to live up to our true identity and become like Our Father. The more we want to become like God, the less we‘ll be interested in ugly, rotten things like pornography.

So where do we start? Well, for those who have been participating in any form of pornography, I strongly encourage you to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (go to confession). Let’s go and make peace with Our Father, the One who truly loves us. Through this Sacrament, you’ll not only have forgiveness of sins but you’ll also receive much needed grace to avoid future temptations. Know that God longs for your return. "... Come back to me, with all your heart, don’t let fear keep us apart...long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life". Another thing we should do is to practice praying every day. This is one of the best ways to grow closer to Jesus. We must trust Jesus’ words when He said "remain in me and my love may be with you so that your joy will be complete" (Jn 15:11). Through prayers, God purifies our heart and spirit and we’ll yearn for true happiness. I guarantee you, when we have Jesus’ love in our heart, our joy will be complete (in other words, perfect happiness). Then we’ll be truly free!

Until next time, remain in God’s love always,

Your Friend,

Tess Nguyen

PS: Smile, Jesus had set us free!

$13 billion would provide basic health care and nutrition for the world’s impoverished people. In Europe and the U.S., we spend $17 billion a year on food for our pets.

It would cost $6 billion to provide basic education for 2 billion people worldwide who now have no access to schooling. In the United States alone, we spend $8 billion on cosmetics each year.

One-third of the 4.4 billion people living in developing countries lack safe drinking water. One-fifth are undernourished.

The combined assets of the world’s 3 richest people are greater than the combined gross dosmetic product of the world’s poorest 48 countries.