Five Loaves & Two Fish

Cardinal Francis Xavier Ngyuen Van Thuan In 1975, Cardinal Francis Xavier Ngyuen Van Thuan was arrested by the Communist government of Vietnam and imprisoned for thirteen years, nine of the in solitary confinement, and then finally exiled from Vietnam in 1991. Always reticent about speaking of himself, Cardinal Van Thuan slowly began to realize that his prison experience of suffering and hope could help others in their journey of faith.  The reflections he prepared for the 1997 World Youth Day in Paris became the framework for Five Loaves & Two Fish; the content in his personal Magnificat for the wonders God had worked in and through the small offering of his life - like the fish and loaves in the Gospel, which fed thousands. Five Loaves & Two Fish reflects a great humility, a great joy, and the virtue of hope.  It calls each of us to give to God the little we have with great confidence that he will turn our small gifts into wonders. -From the Foreword