A Few Words Being Scattered Along the Journey of Fr.

Martin Philip Bùi Thái Nhân, OP

One day in the late winter in 1973, a pregnant mother went to have check-up at a clinic nearby her house
because of some bleeding. Outside the clinic, she was shattered in pieces because she had just been informed
that she would have miscarriage of a boy. A boy! Her husband and she had been waiting for so long to have a
boy. They already had four girls in the row. Now there was a boy but about being miscarried. How could she talk to her
hubby? In distraught, she ran to St. Martin de Porrès' Shrine nearby her home, and there she knelt and prayed … and prayed
for long time. Calmness came... then serenity... Suddenly she no longer felt bleeding inside her. Such a miracle!
A few months later, on the feast of St. Rosa Lima, a very close friend of St. Martin de Porrès in the same city of Lima, Peru, a
tiny boy with darken-skin was born to the Bùi's Family in city of Biên Hòa, province of Đồng Nai, forty-five minutes of
motor-bike riding from Sài Gòn, in Việt Nam. Henceforth, he was known with a sobriquet "the little charcoal". Thus, his
religious name was named after his patron saint Martin de Porrès, the Apostle of Charity. His official full-name was given by
his father as "Bùi Thái Nhân" in Vietnamese. “Bùi” is his last name. His middle name “Thái” (太) is taken from "Thái Cực"
(☯ 太極), i.e. the original and supreme dynamic state, according to I-Ching (易 經, "Yì Jīng", “Zhouyi”, or "Classic of
Changes"; "Kinh Dịch" in Vietnamese) probably originated by Fú Xì (伏羲, “Phục Hy”) in mid 2800's B.C. According to this
Chinese philosophical system, this ultimate living state was dynamicly evolving within itself with the principle of yin-yang
(陰陽, Âm-Dương) in such a harmonious way, that which resulted in springing forth the whole universe, and also is the
governing fundamental principle for all changes. Now it is commonly known as the harmoniously dynamic principle of the
opposites. The first name “Nhân” (仁), one of five cardinal virtues according to Confucianism, which is the greatest and the
central virtue that is governing all other virtues. It is simply the interior attitude of being humane. Literally, the word means
“all-embracing love”. Therefore, all-embracing love is the fundamental attitude, the greatest and also the most basic virtue,
that which all men must try to acquire. Confucius says: "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others"
(己所不欲，勿施於人), which has thus become the Silver Rule.
子貢問曰、有一言、而可以終身行之者乎。子曰、其恕乎、己所不欲、勿施於人。
Adept Kung asked: "Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?"
The Master replied: "How about 'shu' [reciprocity]: never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself?"

However, the life of this little Martin has been after the spirit of St. Martin de Porrès, who always fixed his eyes upon the
Golden Rule of Jesus Christ, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31) This rule indeed is
the Royal Rule of Love that one can embrace all, surpassing barriers of all types. Jesus himself, who taught this rule and set
the example of himself shedding his blood for all at once and for all eternity. How can one practice this Love without being
infused with this Holy Spirit of Christ, the Savior of all mankind? How could Christ practice this Love himself if he was not
coming from the Father’s bosom of Love, from which all creation sprang forth and redemption was achieved? Indeed, Christ
is the beloved Son of the Heavenly Father, with whom we all are to be united in order to be truly humane. To be truly humane
is to be fully alive, and thus simply gives glory to God, the Creator. St. Irenaeus rightly says, “God’s glory is man fully alive”
(Gloria Dei vivens homo). Let’s us ask God for enough grace on our journey together of striving to be more and more alive
day after day until we become fully alive in the sight of God on the Lord’s Day.
In 1992, he left Việt Nam and arrived in New York, first Syracuse and then New York City. In the Bronx, NYC, he completed
his High School diploma with highly distinguished rank as a Salutatorian, and earned many scholarships to continue higher
education at University of Rochester as a candidate in the Honorary 3-2 (Bachelor-Master) Scholar Program, in Chemical
Engineering and Applied Economics. While his wings of bright future have been swiftly lifting up into the blue sky, he
received the call of God in profound serenity like a whispering voice from countless layers of sky penetrating through space
and time, seemingly from eternity; there seemed to be a call for a mission that never existed in his mind but suddenly uttered
as an abstruse thought pendulously swaying from the immensity and profundity of heaven. After more than a year long of
discerning his vocation, he joined the Vietnamese Dominican Friars in 2000.
In the summer of 2001, he received his Dominican habit and began his one-year Novitiate at St. Gertrude’s Priory, Cincinnati,
Ohio, USA. Subsequently, he professed his temporal vows on the feast of the Assumption 2002, and then solemn vows on the
feast of St. Barnabas 2005 into the Order of Friar Preachers, commonly known as “Dominicans”. During his institutional
formation as a Dominican friar, he spent one year at St. Albert’s in Oakland, California, and then another five years at the
Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC. On the fifth of May in 2007, he was ordained to Deaconate by bishop Martin
Holley of Washington, DC, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. On the twenty-third of May in 2008, he
was ordained to the Order of Priesthood by bishop Chris Cardone, OP of Solomon Islands, at St. Dominic’s Church,
Washington, DC, USA.
After his Ordination to the Priesthood, he received the first mandatum to serve at St. Joseph’s in Vancouver, BC, a parish
consisting of two communities – Vietnamese and English speaking. In the mean time, he was assigned to be webmaster for
the Regional Vicariate of St. Vincent Liêm. Since August in 2009 till the present, he has served as the associate pastor at the
Holy Trinity Parish in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. [CLICK HERE TO VISIT HIS BLOG FOR MORE TO COME]