CV NEWS FEED // As part of the Church’s Jubilee Year 2025, Bishop Joseph Trần Văn Toản of Long Xuyen, Vietnam, issued a pastoral letter encouraging Catholics to mark May with renewed Marian and Eucharistic devotion, Licas News reports. 

The message coincided with the 65th anniversary of the diocese and called Catholics to become “a pilgrim people of hope,” guided by the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Bishop Toản drew from Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, which described Mary as the “Woman of the Eucharist.” The bishop reminded the faithful that through the Holy Spirit, Mary gave Jesus His human nature, making her uniquely connected to the Eucharist. 

“Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary gave the Word made flesh His human nature. Thus, the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist are the very Body and Blood born of Mary,” he wrote.

The bishop emphasized that Mary lived the Eucharistic mystery, especially in the events of the Annunciation, Calvary, and Pentecost. He encouraged the faithful to follow her example by living lives centered on the Eucharist, especially during the month traditionally dedicated to Mary.

To guide this devotion, Bishop Toản outlined five spiritual practices for May: saying “yes” to God in daily life, serving others through charity, contemplating Christ in the Eucharist, offering oneself during the celebration of the Mass, and forming Eucharist-centered families that live out the Beatitudes.

He also recommended that the faithful pray one mystery of the Rosary, including ten Hail Marys, before Mass during May and October, to draw a clearer connection between Eucharistic adoration and Marian prayer.

In addition to personal devotion, the bishop called for symbolic offerings to Mary that reflected the Vietnamese region of Mekong Delta’s natural beauty, local traditions, and acts of charity, especially those carried out by young people and marginalized groups. 

“These are the flowers most beloved by Mary, especially when offered by the young,” he wrote.

Planned activities included floral offerings coordinated by the diocese, pilgrimages to local churches with youth participation, and encouragement of charitable work as a form of Marian devotion.

Bishop Toản also pointed to the spiritual connection between Mary’s “fiat” at the Annunciation and the “Amen” Catholics say during Communion. Both, he said, are expressions of faith and trust in God.

He closed the letter with a prayer that Catholics in Long Xuyen would continue their journey of hope, accompanied by Mary and nourished by the Eucharist.