Catholic prayer books in the public library? That's a minor miracle in itself, right? I know it was a gift from a patron. How? Because in pencil on the top right-hand corner of the blank page facing the inside cover is written carefully the word "gift." The library, see, doesn't have the money to purchase every published book under the sun. Especially not little Catholic prayer books like this one.
So I checked the book out, with the intention of looking over the prayers and devotions later. I was on my break and as I walked back to my office I learned about the First Friday Devotions right there on page 76. I always wondered what that devotion was all about. As someone who pretty regularly attends daily Mass, First Fridays are the same as every Friday, or so I thought. Now I know better.
When I got back to the office, I tossed the book into my book bag and forgot about it. And when I got home that evening, I dropped my bag in its customary resting place. I forgot about it again until I needed to put my lunch into it the next morning. My routine? Grab my lunch, stuff it in the bag, grab my coffee, and out the door. Just another day, so far.
I work downtown and park in a garage that is about a ten minute walk from my office. So I get out of the car, throw my bag over my shoulder, lock the car and start walking. Oh yeah, then I dug into the bag and pulled out St. Anthony's Treasury to read while I walked. Who knows? Maybe I'd learn something new.
The day before, I had checked the contents and skipped to the first devotion that caught my eye. For my walk, however, I started in the foreword, which is where I used to never look. You know, from before, when I was a "know-it-all." I used to never read introductions, prefaces, or forewords, because I just wanted to get right to the action. I learned over the years that this wasn't always a great idea.
So to the foreword it was. Written by a Robert Nash, S.J., he reminds us that St. Anthony is renowned as an "expert in the art of finding lost articles." Does everyone know St. Anthony's Prayer? You have lost something, say, and can't find it anywhere. So you ask St. Anthony of Padua to help you out by calling on him like so,
St. Anthony!, St. Anthony!
Please come down.
Something is lost,
And can't be found.
But, as far as I knew, I hadn't lost anything on this day, so I kept on reading Fr. Nash's foreword which was a lamentation on the huge numbers of people who have lost their faith and don't really seem to care about it. It sounded like he was sulking, really, and I was just going to turn the page when I ran smack dab into these words,
The pagan philosopher Dr. Wu read...this in the Life of St. Thérèse. "What a wonderful girl!" he exclaimed. "If this saying of hers is an expression of the meaning of Catholic faith I see no reason why I should not become a Catholic."
Having done a few posts on a guy named Wu, I was intrigued. The Wu I knew, though, became a Jesuit priest way before Thérèse of Lisieux had been born. As I walked, I resolved to see if I could find any information on this "pagan philosopher" named Wu, because from the quote Fr. Nash used, he sounded like a smart guy to me.
Now, this foreward is in the edition of St. Anthony's Treasury that was published in 1975 by the Anthonian Press out of Dublin Ireland. I had some pretty good clues on this Wu person, and a Google search later, I had discovered that the guy who uttered these words was no pagan. Heck, by 1975, my friend John had been a Catholic for 38 years, and had published numerous books about the Faith. He had been an envoy to the Vatican in the early 1940's, for crying out loud, and this Fr. Nash had no idea!
Something had been lost, alright, but it wasn't my car keys. It was the Catholic legacy of John C.H. Wu that had been lost. Perhaps St. Anthony was pointing me in this direction so that John's legacy can be rediscovered? That's what I believe, anyway. Especially when I realized that most of his books are out of print, and used copies of them are few and far between. And expensive! Which got me thinking too.
Take a look at this map below.
This is the map of the world shaded by percentage of the population that identifies themselves as being Christian. See the big light colored space? Like all the way from Casablanca on the coast of Morocco to the islands of Japan? Less than 10 percent of the people in these areas are Christians. And the most populated country on that map is the Peoples Republic of China, right next to the second most populated country, the Republic of India.
Which leads me to make this appeal to the good folks at Our Sunday Visitor. Would OSV please consider republishing the works of John C.H. Wu if they still own the rights to them? I think the market for John's books is pretty large. Heck, I love what he has written too and I've only read The Science of Love so far. He is the "Chinese" Chesterton after all. Just imagine the souls that could be reached in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Arabic, and other lanquages.
What do you say OSV? Can you bring John's work back to the presses (or to Kindle)? St. Anthony has found him, but we here at YIMCatholic do not have a printing press. Thanks in advance for taking up this cause. If anyone reading this post knows anyone who can help make this happen, I would be much obliged.
