Let 2016 begin

I hope 2016 is full of great and welcome surprises for all of us.

This is where it all happened

Feliz navidad!  Bethlehem was the place and I was there in October.  This fading, old fresco from the Franciscan church there portrays St Francis placing the baby Jesus in the crib.  This image originates from St Francis' special devotion to the Child Jesus which led to his being credited with creating the first nativity scene on Christmas Eve in 1223.  His inspiration was his own pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 

Francis' aim in recreating the nativity scene was to recall the birth of Jesus within the midst of the hardships that Jesus' family endured.  He wanted to do more than just present the scene of the birth of a cute baby.  He wanted to go further into the story, beholding the harsh reality within which the baby Jesus was born which prefigured the harsh challenges in his life ahead. 

Bethlehem is right beside modern day Jerusalem.  It has its own beauty but it very much experiences its own harshness as well living under what I would call a system of apartheid created by the Israeli powers.  The Palestinians face hardships in just trying to build and live decent lives.  So the story of Jesus' birth remains a powerful and living story in the very town where Jesus was born.

In the midst of our own harsh realities, in the midst of a world that knows and suffers so much harshness, the Christmas story remains a powerful and living story, giving light and hope to us with the star continuing to shine, ever showing us the way through our own mess and chaos. 

What a great season this is!  Happy Christmas!

The week before Christmas

I just featured pictures from the opening liturgy for the newly renovated Assumption cathedral here in Bangkok. The occasion saw both the rededicating of the cathedral and the opening of the Holy Door for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.  The experience of going into the new look cathedral for the first time was just overwhelming.  What has been created is what I would describe as "a grand cathedral of European proportions".  As I looked around, I was being reminded of German cathedrals with their own sense of style and grandeur.  Actually, German cathedrals would be simpler in style and presentation.  I thought this especially as I looked at the new altar which is that German style of being a solid table made of stone or marble.  Well, here the altar was made of marble to look like the solid table but it was no simple table.  Its size with the statues all round its base made it much more ornate and dare I say, much more expensive.

Here is the point for me.  They have created an amazing cathedral complete with air-con, a space that inspires awe and a sense of the sacred amidst great beauty but at what cost?  As I was being overwhelmed by the experience of standing within this new sacred space, I was having two internal reactions simultaneously.
One was Wow!
The other was wondering what Pope Francis, with his constant call to our being a poor Church for the poor, would make of this.
Fact is that there is nothing simple or poor about this cathedral.  I would stand with Pope Francis and ask where is the poor Christ here?

I will not get into being self-righteous on this but I do ask myself questions and reflect especially as I celebrate mass there every Sunday.  The cathedral is something to behold and I now have a place like no place I could ever imagine in which to celebrate liturgy.  However, I must be careful not to be corrupted by a Church that speaks of wealth and prestige.  This is my personal conclusion and challenge, a conclusion and challenge that I recognize many in the same crowd that night of the opening would never even recognize.  As Pope Francis would also say - "Who am I to judge?"

All this the week before Christmas.

As promised

Sunday 13th December saw the reopening of the newly renovated Assumption Cathedral here in Bangkok.  It was a liturgy of the Roman Church that featured the opening of the Holy Door at the cathedral to begin the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the consecration of the new altar and the reclaiming of the cathedral as the mother church of the diocese.  I desrcibe Assumption Cathedral now as a grand cathedral of European proportions.  I will say no more but just let you for now savour the pictures I share of what was a celebration full of grandeur. 

Time for a break

Just for the sake of my avid weekly readers, this week Thailand is the Land of Holidays.  It is actually a two day working week.  Monday was a holiday for the King's Birthday.  Thursday is Constitution day and Friday is  named a holiday to give a long weekend and allow for the running of the national bike ride in honor of the King.  So I am off to the beach Thursday and will not be here to do my weekly blog but don't fret as I will do an entry on Monday and that makes a lot of sense.

Why, you may ask?  Well, wait and see.  A hint is that on Sunday there will be the opening and re-dedication of the newly renovated Bangkok cathedral.

Popes and kings

Pope Francis has been to lots of places lately meeting Prime Ministers, Presidents, politicians and all sorts of world leaders.  There is one leader in the Philippines, Durterte, the present mayor of Davao, who is standing for President of his country and who has not yet met the Pope.  Still this politician did receive a note from the Pope in the last week. 

You see Durterte spoke out last week on traffic in Manila which is just atrocious.  He named the example of how bad traffic was when the Pope was in town.  In speaking on this example, he used expletive language and in response his audience laughed.  This has caused an uproar in the Philippines where bishops have spoken out decrying the man for speaking in such terms when referring to the Pope.  I do not want to enter into the fray on this.  All I want to do is highlight the Pope's response which was to say that he appreciated a politician being honest and not just bowing to him so as to get more votes.  Just mind blowing!   

This week we see the annual King's birthday celebrations in Thailand.  It is something to experience the people's public show of their love and devotion for their king.  Their beloved king of over 100 years ago - King Chulalongkorn - is also deeply revered here and rightly so for he was a great man as I read history.  One thing he did was to meet the then Pope Leo XIII in Rome.  Getting there must have been an achievement in itself.  Both men in their day were caught up in a world of change and both were concerned for the good of the people under their care within such a world, working to create needed change in such a possibly hostile world.  

They are reminders how our world always needs good and wise leaders.