We do ourselves such a disservice, when driven by our own misconceptions and history of hurts. Do we get that?

Last Sunday's 10am mass at Assumption Cathedral was a special coming together, with its being led by the two, newly ordained priests of Bangkok archdiocese.  I was truly astounded by what these two, young priests shared with us.  One named who we were in one sentence - We are family.  Bravo!  

To be family does not come easily. For this occasion, I was aware of the simple organization that preceded it.  I won't go into it, but the organizing of it highlighted the dysfunctional aspects of belonging to this family.  So what's new?  Yet on the day, all went well and smoothly.  So what's new?    

What made it special was who we are, when we come together.  The goodness of the people, our willingness and openness to be part of something bigger than who we are individually - all played its part to make a Sunday mass, a memorable occasion, that uplifted the spirits of those who partook of the day.  

Yet I know we are so easily overcome by the negative forces in life, the negative experiences of others in our little worlds.  The truth is that we can too easily ruin for ourselves, the simple goodness and enjoyment of life.  There is already enough loss, fear and death in our lives, without our adding to it.    

In this same week, I came across the Henri Nouwen quote, shared here, which gives a needed teaching on approaching life.  Life is too precious to waste.  Along with this Nouwen quote, the same podcast introduced me to a powerful concept for life that comes from Sout Africa.  It is named "ubuntu", meaning " I am because we are".  

So let me not be driven by my narrow world, with its limited understandings and beliefs and its negative preconceptions.  Rather let me be driven bu the unlimited naure of life and its untold possibilities for beauty and goodness.  Ubuntu! 

We're in it together

In response to my last entry, I received one of those very few responses to what I share. It was from a very good friend, telling me how much she loved the entry, for Ruth is an Old Testament  passage she loves, a passage which sums up her feelings on good friendship.

There is a beauty, not just to the words of Ruth, but also to the song surrounding it, composed so much later by the monks of Weston Priory, for they capture the human experience of true and deep, human friendship.  Such friendship is essential to life.  . 

The daily struggles and pleasures of life do mingle into the mix of any one week, making up who we are.  This week has been no different.  I have had great coming togethers with new and old friends. In the midst of such enjoyable experiences of life, I know my human struggle and quest take their toll, while ever urging me forward. 

During this week, I read the brave story of a young, Ukrainian soldier, left as an amputee after suffering in battle.  I meet a young, smart, Myanmar woman, who had to flee her country, after being arrested, tortured and threatend with rape, by the military.  Then I look at my life and think how insignificant is my share of the human struggle.  Still, it is my share and that matters, for we are in this thing, called life, together.  

We are one.  We all have our place in the world.  We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  The truth is that "the clarity and care with which we have loved others will speak with vitality of the great gift of life we have been for each other."  

As I shared this week my spirituality of migration, at a webinar, I named three key points:

1) No one is a stranger.  

2) We are all on a journey, sharing in the one pilgrimage on the way to God.   

3) Love others for who they are in the eyes of God.   

All how true.  We're in it together, this thing called life.   

  

Take Time for the Better Things of Life

Going home and taking in its beauty is one of life's great treasures.  So I discovered in the last six weeks.  Allow that treasure to soothe, to nourish, to replenish the spiirt.  Truth is there is so much more to life than its routine and drudgery, than its hurdles and barriers, than its never ending tasks.  Everyday life is gift, given to us to wallow in, to feast upon and to give it a go as best we can, no matter what.  

As I reflect upon this great gift of life, for some reason, I remember this song from 50 years ago.  It is based on the Book of Ruth, in the Old Testament.  Ruth was a foreigner in a foreign land, where she married a man from the Land of the Israelites.  He had gone to her country with his family, their having fled famine.  He then died in this foreign land, as had his brother and father.  So his mother decided it was time to return home. Ruth, her newly widowed daughter-in-law, was determined, despite all, to go with her mother-in-law to her homeland.  These were her words.   

  

Wherever you go I shall go.  

Wherever you live so shall I live. 

 Your people will be my people, 

 and your God will be my God too. 

I want to say something to all of you 

who have become a part of the fabric of my life. 

The color and texture which you have brought into my being 

have become a song, and I want to sing it forever. 

There is an energy in us which makes things happen 

when the paths of other persons touch ours and we have to be there and let it happen. 

When the time of our particular sunset comes our thing, 

our accomplishment, won’t really matter a great deal. 

But the clarity and care with which we have loved others 

will speak with vitality of the great gift of life we have been for each other.  

Wherever you die, I shall die, 

 and there shall I be buried beside you. 

 We will be together forever, 

 and our love will be the gift of our life. 

 © 1972 The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc.

Thus living in Israel, Ruth met a man, Boaz, whom she married, and so achieved her own greatness, by becoming a forebear of King David, of Israel.  An amazing story!  Life is amazing!  We just don't appreciate it often enough.  Life is precious and full of riches to behold.   

I'm back

A dagwood dog at the Brisbane Ekka

Being back home in Australia, I found myself just being naturally relaxed.  Actually, I have not felt so relaxed for ages.  This felt experience reflected my three-fold theme for my time away: 

re-create 

re-generate 

re-connect. 

So has been my time.  I can say that as I return home to My Bangkok.

My time back home in Australia was focused on people who have been part of my life, for so long, and my life experiences in reconnecting with them.  It was not about the usual work regime in my life. 

Whether it was 

being at the school, where I was chaplain 28 years ago, for an uplifting mass;

visiting where I was parish priest 21 years ago and seeing the renovated church and the new school, I envisioned;

being with family and close friends, taking time with them, savouring them; 

talking with significant others and sharing their trials and achievements in their daily, life struggles; 

or seeing my country and home city with new eyes; 

I reconnected, re-generated, re-created and so naturally became so relaxed.  Thanks be to God.  

It has been a timely reminder for me to keep my eyes on what really matters in life.  As I say so often, life is about being, not doing.  Well, live it, I say to myself. 

Life is about people and sharing kindness, taking time to be with them, being silent with them, listening to them, being comfortable with them.  That has been the welcome gift of my six weeks away.  May I never forget this this lesson, as I get back into the rough and tumble of daily life.    

May I always savour that disgusting dagwood dog.