On June 16, parishioners packed the second morning Mass at St. Adalbert to celebrate the priesthood of Father Minh Le, who grew up in the parish in St. Paul and was ordained just eight days prior in Milwaukee.
Following the Mass of thanksgiving, parishioners lined the aisles, waiting patiently to have a moment to pray with and receive a priestly blessing from Father Le.
Born in Lagi, Binh Thuan, Vietnam, the 34-year-old Jesuit priest came to the United States when he was 2 years old as part of a U.S. State Department program that allowed for the resettlement of Vietnamese applicants who had spent three or more years in a re-education center. Le said his faith and ministry can be traced to his family heritage leading back to Vietnam.
In his homily during the Mass, Father Le told the story of his father, Nguyen Le, who had been a South Vietnamese soldier during the Vietnam War. Following the collapse of Saigon, Nguyen Le was held in a Communist re-education camp for seven years.
“Expressions of faith were not allowed,” Father Le said of the conditions in the prison.
A prisoner caught praying would be punished. Despite this, Nguyen prayed every night and said that his faith helped him survive those dark days.
“Having a father who has gone through the experience of the war and to see that his faith sustained him through that difficult time, even after the war, showed me the power of our faith and how it can help us through the most difficult times,” Father Le said. “Seeing the faith in my father and how he treasures his faith had an impact on me. Our faith is precious.”
Father Le credits his call to become a Jesuit priest to a series of experiences that stirred in him a desire to serve the God’s people. In his homily, Father Le mentioned Matthew 13:31. In the Gospel, Jesus states that, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”
“I love that image of the Gospel, the one who sows,” Father Le said in a conversation about his homily after the Mass. “That makes me think about what God has sown in my life. The people who are close to me, the people I’ve met. I think about my father, his time in the Vietnam War.”
Father Le said several other people in his life also helped him discern his vocation and faith, including his older brother, a Redemptorist priest who entered religious life when Father Le was 10 years old.
“Seeing that he wanted to live out his faith as a priest opened me to the possibility that maybe I can respond to God in this way or maybe God is inviting me,” Father Le said.
Father Le laughed as he noted that the feast days for St. Ignatius and St. Alphonsus Liguori — the Jesuit and Redemptorist founders respectively — are just one day apart.
Father Le said the idea of pursuing the priesthood waned over his young adult life. But family, mentors, teachers and Jesuit brothers helped show him the importance of faith, how it gives and sustains life, he said. These experiences led Father Le to join the Society of Jesuits in 2013.
“In sharing their faith with me — I think that’s how the faith is passed on,” Father Le said. “That’s how the faith is lived out. In a way I’m trying to do the same here, now.”
Father Le said his mission is rooted in Christ’s ministry for God’s people. He pointed to the Book of Isaiah in which God brings good tidings to the poor, liberty to captives and healing to the oppressed.
In two months, Father Le will attend San Jose State University in California to study for a master’s degree in fine arts.
“So then again, you see this dimension of being a Jesuit priest, where we also engage different disciplines, finding God in all things,” Father Le said. “Our history is rich in the arts. There are many Jesuits who have contributed to the arts. Many have been artists of high caliber.”
Father Le discussed after Mass how he grew up as an artist, following in the footsteps of his family members, who liked to draw. As a Jesuit, Father Le has gotten into photography. The word photography means “drawing with light,” Father Le said, and “minh” means light in Vietnamese. In many ways, Father Le said he feels his vocation as a priest is interwoven with his vocation as an artist.
“I think that speaks to finding God in all things, which is one part of our spirituality as Jesuits,” Father Le said. “There’s this sense of receiving light, understanding light and how fitting, right? Jesus (said): ‘I am the light of the world.’ In a lot of art, there is this activity of receiving light.”
When asked what it was like to be at the altar of his home parish, Father Le said it felt special to see people who were part of his journey to the priesthood.
“I have fond memories of St. Adalbert,” Father Le said. “To come back to give thanks for the community, for the memories, for the ways that God has worked through this community, it felt fitting.”
Father Le explained that his thanksgiving Mass wasn’t just for him. He said it offered the parishioners of St. Adalbert the opportunity to “rejoice in what God has done” not only for Father Le, but for the community, “so as to be strengthened to go forward and live our faith and pass it on to (the) next generation.”
