Inter-Religious Gathering 2012: Living the Mystery of the Cross
In the part of sharing faith to help others overcome suffering on the day of the inter-religious gathering, Ms Vũ Thuỷ, a collaborator of nhipcautamgiao.net, shared her experiences in life–experiences of a blind person. What she shared with the attendants at the Pastoral Center on the twenty-seventh of October, 2012 was in the following.
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“Living the Mystery of the Cross” is the topic I was invited to share today, which is my great joy. Accordingly I can share with you all what I underwent together with the cross of Jesus.
In the beginning of 1982 when I was in grade 11th, my eyes were suddenly dim and I saw no longer. I went to hospital and had my eyes checked; the doctor told me that I had a diabetes in degree one. From that on, I lived and relied on Insulin throughout my life, and also thought I would be blind some day; this obsessed me much. However, my eyes were treated well and thus I can have seen and worked as my friends do until I was completely blind in 1993.
After that, I almost stayed at home for eight consecutive years. If I had to go out, that was, I went to see the doctor since other diseases like diabetes occurred as a flood. I could not sleep for several nights because of pain and stayed on the bed with a big bag of medicine. My right shoulder joint was calcified and thus each move made me so painful that I tended to vomit. Everything that was in a mess surrounded me: I suffered from disorder of digestion and nerve, and degenerative spine. Another thing that made me worried most was the blockage of blood vessels in my legs resulted from diabetes. I had seen those whose legs were cut when they had diabetes. “Having had diabetes for many years is so” doctors said. The more they took medicine the more they vomited. People in my family could do nothing to help me release pain.
Those years were most melancholy in my life: There were no working, friends, health and light. Undergoing sleepless nights made me weak and crying alone. I remembered a verse in the Bible: Come to Me all who labor hard and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” However, sometimes I heard God’s word, “Take my yoke upon you… for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” And thus I deeply contemplated the suffering Jesus underwent on the way to Golgotha and the moment He was crucified. I shuddered to think of nailing nails into His body. I discursively thought of those who incur cancer, leprosy and AIDS, and who are paralytic for many years without leaving from their bed. Accordingly, I realized my suffering was bearable.
One night pain lasting long made me exhausted; tears flowed, and moaning from the throat uttered, “I cannot endure any more, God.” I heard my crying was lost at night, felt I was lonely, and wanted to have someone staying beside to massage my legs so that pain could be relieved; but I did not dare to disturb others who were sleeping. In so doing, I felt lonely and thus my tears flowed. Suddenly, I felt someone touched me, a warm touch moved throughout my body. I realized Jesus was looking at me with sympathy and encouragement, and I therefore slept. On the next morning, I woke up and felt sound and peaceful incredibly. Afterward, I sometimes encountered such a warm touch when pain occurred.
I was sometimes staggered due to the treatments of others living around: They sometimes treated the blind as they (the latter) had neither feeling nor ability. In those moments I remembered the endurance of Jesus on the cross. Learning His behavior, I felt peaceful and serene. Keeping so going, I now fear pain and loneness no longer since I always live and cling to the cross of Jesus.
When I cling to Jesus, some diseases somehow disappear. By living positively and exercising regularly, I easily move my right hand. I can walk and confidently communicate with others as before. I can go and participate in activities of other disable people from different groups. Blindness, for me, is not darkness, but is so normal that nothing hinders. I now can do one thing that I could not do before having been blind. That is poetizing to praise God. I thank Him for what He gives me whether success or failure and for He let me see the light of faith which emits from the cross of Jesus Christ.
Although suffering my diseases, I no longer worry nor fear because my strength and fulcrum is in Jesus His cross. With such experiences, I wrought a poem entitled: “A Gift from God.”
When I toddled into the world,
God loved and gave me
A gift of the Cross
Day by day I grew up along with it
It sometimes had thorns making the heart blooded
I worked for living with much sweat
When I felt,
The Cross stood steadily like an underpinning.
With faith I held on and stood up.
When I smiled,
The Cross also blossomed;
Its each petal showed for life to be happy.
When I cried,
The Cross silently wiped my tears
And I felt my heart was refreshed
Accompanying by the cross I shared
Happiness and suffering
And loneness disappeared
When succeeding and living abundantly,
I forgot a gift given by God
The Cross was heavy on my shoulder
Reminding me a knock on the door calling me
I muttered and carried it immediately
It was on my shoulder and accompanied me
And
We sang a marching song together.
