Reading today’s retreat called to mind the story of Nguyễn Văn Thuận, who spent 13 years in prison in Vietnam, nine of them in solitary confinement.

In his moving spiritual exercises written under the direction of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Thuận recounts how he survived that long ordeal by calling to mind the intimacy of Christ at all times.

He reminds us that most things we think we need—and certainly everything we think we want—come from glancing nervously around at others. Aside from food and water, the one needful thing is the grace of God, which is poured out to us in exactly the same amount as we allow God to pour it out to others through ourselves.