The heart has its own reasons: story of Pere Vincent Lebbe (China).

Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas.

"The heart has reasons of which reason has no knowledge." rings my favourite quote from 17th century Blaise Paschal's, Pensees.I was thinking of these words while reading the life of Pere Vincent Lebbe (1877-1940), a Belgian missionary priest to the Chinese people. Leaving his home, culture, people to learn a completely new way of life defies any reasoning. I was intrigued by his appearance because he looked so much like my Chinese father. Lebbe chose to dress like a poor Chinese laborer even down to the traditional pigtail. He was ridiculed by his fellow missioners for whom such conduct was unbecoming a priest and a European. His response was "St. Paul had become a Greek to the Greeks. If I tried to go on being a European I should be no better than a corpse. We get to know people by becoming one of them; we win them only by giving ourselves." He never fully won the hearts of his compatriots or his superiors; but, he gained the respect and admiration of the Chinese. My great-grand mother actually met this humble priest. Pere Lebbe mastered Mandarin, organized public lectures, preached on street corners working hard to establish friendships with poor and rich alike. He formed the first Catholic press in China, founding schools and various groups. In spite of many criticisms and harassment, he succeeded.
   Years later, he traveled to Rome to recommend 6 suitable Chinese priests to Pope Pius XI who later consecrated them as Chinese bishops. After this event, he returned to China where he founded a community of Chinese priests. When war broke out in the early 1930's with Japan, Pere Lebbe chose to stay with his adopted people refusing to adhere to an attitude of neutrality. "I would rather die," he said, "than go on living as a neutral, not daring to call good and evil by their proper names, not daring to give my last ounce of blood for the oppressed!" His heart, his love for his God and the Chinese show us the futility of non-action and neutrality. I have a great respect for such a man. The Chinese called him, "Lei-Ming-Yuan" ("the thunder that sings in the distance").
   May we who live in far corners of the globe, not be afraid to share our hearts, ourselves! We too may thunder like him whenever we do good.   Don Ronaldo in memoriam my grandfather +Lio SY.