Life can be a bind

Over 450 years ago, Christianity first arrived in then Siam, with the coming of missionary priests to serve the Portuguese community then resident in Ayutthaya.  It was 100 years later, with the coming of French missionaries, that the Catholic Church began a significant, missionary presence in the Kingdom of Siam.  

In 2022, the church in Thailand remains insignificant numerically, but not so in presence, for it is known as a body that offers care and compassion to people in their need.  Herein lies its bind.  It has a presence within Thai society and culture, that is appreciated and stands the test of time, while it remains misunderstood and unknown within the same parameters.  Locally, it is regarded with a certain level of suspicion, being seen as a tool for exerting foreign influence.  Does this particular bind not reflect our experience of life? 

Life appears on the surface in one way but underneath lies another interpretation.  It is the underneath interpretation, the hidden agenda, that matters the most.   The military in Myanmar offer their people democracy, but illiberal democracy that allows oppression.  

On the surface, it is seen that humanity is hurting, that the world is a violent place, but there is a hidden agenda, often forgotten or unrecognized.  As Pope Francis writes in his Message for Vocations Sunday 2022: "Each man and woman receives with the gift of life a fundamental calling: each of us is a creature willed and loved by God".  It is the hidden agenda that matters.