FRANCE
On April 29, 2019, a group of pilgrims from the Hmong Catholic community of France visited the OMI General House as a part of their pilgrimage to Rome. Fr. Angelo PELIS, OMI, who had been a missionary in Laos in his youth, was their Italian contact person. After returning to France with joyful memories, Paul Yang, the leader of the group wrote a moving letter to Fr. Superior General and the General House community. In his letter, he expressed his gratitude to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate who brought the Good News to them and freed them “from invisible chains, from ancestral fears, and from servitude”.
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Dear Father Superior General, Father Superior of the General House, Fathers and Brothers of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate,
On behalf of the Hmong community of France, I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the welcome you have given us, starting with the announcement of our 2019 pilgrimage.
By coming to the General House of the Oblates here in Rome, we are renewing the history of our Faith. You know our human history, which has been painful, made of exile and withdrawal that our elders still carry within themselves by the reticence and reserve that characterize them so much.
On this day, we want to tell you that the Good News brought by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate has freed us from our invisible chains, from our ancestral fears, and from servitude.
It is a true Grace given to us, a source of light for us who lived in darkness, and a Force that gives us the courage to live and act.
Today, we can look at the world with the same Hope and Joy as all of our Christian brothers and sisters in the world, grow and advance in the “present”, Confident of being part of God’s people, following Christ, and guided by the Holy Spirit.
And most importantly, dear Fathers and Brothers, we can share this feeling of being loved by God because “Yes, only the “Infinite” Love can save us and will save us.”
Paul Cho YANG / Xaiv-Tsom YAJ
Lay Coordinator of the Hmong Catholic Chaplaincy of France
