Page 70 - Built For God Handbook (Bible Verses) - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching - The New Evangelization - Pope John Paul II

lxviii

Tragically, Hoang Van and his wife, Nguyen Thi Ty, were
falsely imprisoned by officials who accused them of stealing, likely
because of their wealth and influence. In prison, they endured
harsh treatment, including having buckets of water poured over
their heads until it felt like they were being hit with bricks, leaving
them gasping for air as though they were drowning. When the
officials asked the community if Hoang Van Mao and Nguyen Thi
Ty had stolen from them, the people responded that without them,
they would have either starved or died on the streets. With no
evidence against them, the officials had no choice but to release
them.

Upon returning home, they found everything taken except
for a statue of St. Joseph, which concealed money that Hoang Van
Mao had hidden. He knew it was no longer safe to stay, so the
family fled North Vietnam and sought refuge in the South.
Unfortunately, the stress of the move caused Nguyen Thi Ty to
suffer a mental breakdown, and she could not adjust to life in South
Vietnam. She became severely ill and passed away in 1962 at the
age of 59. Hoang Van Mao lived until 1987, passing away at the
age of 85.

After learning about his family’s history, Keith began to
understand better why his father feared death in the month leading
up to his scheduled kidney transplant in August 2004. While driving
his father home from dialysis, they had a heartfelt conversation in
which his father confessed that he was afraid of dying for the first
time. The thought of facing God’s judgment troubled him, as he
believed he had not fulfilled his purpose as a father, unlike his
father, Hoang Van Mao.