What can I say?

There is a great book of poetry and verse, written by Edwina Gateley, where she places God in the brothel.  There God sits and watches, being utterly dumbfounded by the brutality of humanity.  How true that is today!  What can I say?  

Maybe I can say something after learning from a Thai friend.  I just visited him on his farm in Isan, up in the northeast of Thailand.  He has worked so hard to turn his little piece of land into his farm.  More importantly, he has worked so hard to live his dream.  I have now seen what he has created.  He did it.  His dream is now a reality.  

So after visiting my friend, what can I say?  The sky is the limit.   Humanity can achieve if we choose and are determined to do so.  Edwina Gateley puts it another way. 

The deeper we enter into the journey, the bigger God becomes -- until we reach the stage where we no longer have any names or definitions for God. God is. We can only stand in awe before God's amazing love... God's love is far beyond our comprehension. We cannot even begin to sound the depth and breadth of this love for each single one of us and for all of creation. It is a love that takes precedence over all else, and must be fundamental to our call as Christians. This, I believe, was the message of Jesus and one which, clearly, we seem to be having a hard time embracing. 

How true!  We are capable of so much more.  We can do so much better as a human race and as human individuals.  We just have to believe in humanity, in ourselves, and not be driven by a world seemingly overcome by greed, conflict and abuse.  We can say so much more.    

 

Joy to the World!

 

Christmas 2023

There just is not enough joy in our world.  Now is the time to right that, and to do so as best we can.   I ask this not for the sake of self-satisfaction, nor for fake glee.  Rather, I seek we be strengthened to share a world that is far much better than what we now see around us.  Truth is we could do better.  Nor do I seek shallow self-enjoyment.  Rather, I have a simple wish that love and justice reach a humanity suffering far too much, so cruelly and so harshly.        

At this time, I am reminded of a 1974 hit song – Horror Movie.  It was a reflection on watching the TV news every night, then featuring far too much horror, by continually showing the brutal war waging in Vietnam.  How true that is today with Ukraine, Gaza and every other inhuman war in our world, even Myanmar, right next door to Thailand.   

One should never avoid harsh reality.  However, just watching war 24/7 on the TV is not the answer, for that only serves to desensitize us to the brutality and suffering of humanity.  Is it not better, at this time of the year, for us to focus purposefully more on the goodness and beauty of humanity and creation?  That way we may truly taste the joy of Christmas, a joy that is meant for all humanity and for all year round. 

What we celebrate on 25^th December is not just for one day, but for every day.  And, why not? That is why we make Christmas so special and joyful, doing so each day for the sake of lightening the load borne by a burdened humanity, within a world that appears too bleak.  Thus, we remind ourselves that hope is eternal.  So let our Ho! Ho! Ho! be jolly and let it be heard as far as we can make it be heard.  Our world needs more joy.  Let us make it happen this Christmas.

Ho! Ho! Ho!   Happy Christmas from My Bangkok.

Heroes don't work

May 1987 at Villanova College, Brisbane

In late 1970s Brisbane, as a young rebel, a university student and a St Vincent de Paul youth activist, I was busy philosophizing and working to change the world.  Obviously, I never succeeded, but they were great times and I shared them with some great people, who stay with me until today.  

One was Noel Hackett.  I met Noel through the St Vincent de Paul Society.  He was then Fr Noel Hackett, an Augustinian, teaching at Villanova College, Coorparoo, in southside Brisbane.  Being a northsider myself and having gone to school with the Christian Brothers, it was all new and foreign territory for me.  Noel's connection with young Vincent de Paulers was his love for the poor and his passion for serving them, even wanting to live with them.  

These are my first and lasting memories of Noel, along with his hearty laugh, love for life and people, and his open and meaningful friendship.  For a young rebel like me, searching vigorously for a social justice cause in the Catholic Church, I naturally became attached to Noel and that attachment has stayed with me until the day he died - Friday 8th December.            

Noel introduced me to his Order.  I will not say that I joined because of him, as that is unfair to him.  Rather, he was my entree.  He let me see that you could be a priest and religious in the institutional church, and live out your passion.  As for Noel, my passion has been for the underdog, the battler, the struggler, the little people in life and church.  They matter.  In our ways, Noel and I shared that.  Noel showed me that you could live out that passion, even in the Church.  

In 1981, I went on to join the Order, went away to study and then returned to Australia for ordination, where Noel was there to greet me.  By then, he was more active than ever in his quest to live out his love for the poor, being in our inner-city parish in Melbourne.  

We ever shared, plotted and planned.  He preached at my first mass in 1987.  I remember his words, using the image of the tree, with its roots firmly planted in the soil, while reaching up to the sky.  Then, a couple of years later, he rang me to tell me he was leaving the Order.  I was shocked.  My first thought was -  "My hero!  What will I do?"  That was all about me.  I now had to learn to act for myself, not depend on heroes.  

Still, Noel remained my hero.  He lashed out so as to live his love and passion for life and the poor more than ever.  He did it.  I would meet him whenever and wherever I could.  I stayed with him in smelly men's hostels.  We had meals in left leaning areas of urban Melbourne and Sydney.   We stuck together.  

The it was my turn to lash out.  In 2005, I left Australia for what became My Bangkok, where I do what I can to live out that love and passion, which Noel and I shared. I had to do it; I had to show that I could be as brave as Noel and do something lasting in my life, that gave witness to that young rebel, whom I kept talking about with Noel.  Well, I did it in some funny way, but never alone.  Yes, I did it as a personal stance, but Noel remained ever the hero, even if back in Australia.  So I could say in My Bangkok - "We did it". 

Heroes don't work, but occasionally they do.   Thanks, Noel, good hero, ever my mate!  Stay close with God and all of us.  

  

It's Father's Day in Thailand, and much more

5th December was the birthday of King Bhumibol, Rama IX, the now deceased, much revered king of Thailand.  In his death, this day remains central in the Thai calendar as it is the annual celebration of Father's Day.  So a people remember a man who was their father in life.  

This comes a week after the Loy Krathong Festival.  Both are key to Thai culture.  A short time after, on 16th December, it is the feast of the Seven Martyrs of Thailand.  This is all part of what makes Thailand what it is today, a land much more than just the Land of Smiles.  

What is at the heart of being Thai?  Culture is the cornerstone.  It is about fun and smiles, but it is about much more.  It is about being human within a specific context.  They appreciate kindness, they appreciate humanity, its beauty and goodness.  To the outsider, it may remain shrouded in mystery.  I figure that is being human too, for how can we define or encapsulate what it means to be human, in all our grandeur, in all our wonder and awe?     

No matter who we are, everybody needs a good and loving family.  

Another year begins

Yes, another year begins, or at least in the life of the Church.  In saying this, I am not being insane.  It just is the Church arranges its own life, and has done so successfully for a long time.  

Happening this year, in Thailand, at the same time as the start of a new Church year, we are celebrating Loy Krathong.  This is a most special and lovely, Thai cultural festival.  Its theme is letting go and moving on, giving people each year a chance to start again in life.  Don't we all need this opportunity?  

These are powerful human themes captured within such a colourful and loved celebration, using the key symbols of water and light.  So everybody flocks to the rivers, lakes and other waterways, engaging in festivities, full of energy, colour and friendship.  They lovingly prepare their krathongs (the water floats), with simple symbols of their desires and hopes, and then prayerfully let them go in the water.   So we begin life anew.     

As we leave behind one year within the Church's three year cycle, we too begin life anew as Church, with the beginning of a new liturgical year.  This year is the Year of Mark's Gospel.  At this time, we are reminded yet again, that, in life, 

-we keep doing the best we can with what we've got;  

-we learn from our failures and keep getting back up; 

-we be ever true to self;

-we uphold our dignity and the dignity of all; 

-we love our own self, just as much as we truly love others, especially those in their need and poverty.  

Let another year begin.  Let us ever start anew.  It is only 28 days to Christmas.  

It's time to get out

I have a very healthy philosophy for surviving My Bangkok.  Basically, it reads like this - Get out of the place regularly.  The reason is that this is a most intense place in which to live, and so, one needs to escape regularly for the sake of one's sanity.  My recent time home in Australia only served to verify this principle for healthy living.  Still, the sad fact is that I do not follow my own philosophy.  

However, I have a renewed commitment to live it, because I know how much good my time away in Australia served me, for I have not felt so relaxed for so long.  So, off I went to Nongkhai, for two days, and I did not go alone.  I went with good companions.   And where did I go? 

I went to Sarnelli House, which is a home for abandoned, unwanted children, started and run by Fr Mike Shea, an American, Redemptorist priest, here a long time.  There, I found a special place.  I found it in the children, who are given a home, and the committed volunteers.  Together they offer a centre of hospitality, a fountain of life, for all who come their way.    

The children are just children.  At Sarnelli, they are not labelled as unloved, unwanted nor sick.   They just do not have a family and need love.  They find both there, through being under the care of such good people, who love and look after them.  

There is Fr Mike Shea, but he does not stand alone, nor would he wish it that way.  There are the others with him, who care for these children - young volunteers from anywhere in the world and two married couples who work there full-time, plus many more locals.  They are all such good people, so committed to the children.  It is one of those many grassroots places in our crazy world, that restores our faith in humanity.  It is a seed of hope.  

For me, two days at Sarnelli House have been an experience of real church, at the grassroots.  Being there was a breath of fresh air.  This is where church is found and where it is most healthy and alive.  I see this theological truism yet again.  To meet and share with such lovely people, and to become friends so easily and readily, is an experience of life that is precious and life giving.  It may be said that I work at the centre of the church.  The truth is we find church at the grassroots, where good people are church, living it and giving witness to who we are.  

Thank God for a Sarnelli House, for church at the grassroots, for the people who make us who we are.  As I said at mass on Sunday: 

A cathedral does not make church.  Church makes a cathedral.  

42 Days

It is 42 days until Christmas.  

Last week, I was standing at Ikea, admiring their Swedish, Christmas decor, which served to bring back a flood of fond memories.  As I am ecstatically wrapped up in my Christmas moment, I hear a Thai mother and son, standing beside me, looking at the same scene.  They are looking at it  and are excitedly talking about New Year, not Christmas.  Huh!!??  That is because, in Thailand, all the Christmas scenes, decorations and songs are for them, directed towards their New Year celebration.  

That is how it is for them.  Thailand is a Buddhist country.  So Christmas has no meaning here, while they love the time.  What the Thais have done is simply to assimilate what they so love, our Christmas, into their New Year, which is their big, family celebration of the year.  

Why did they do this?  Simple!  They love fun, and who doesn't?  Christmastime is full of fun, with its wonderful scenes and decorations, the Christmas trees, the silly songs, the colour and all the rest.  They love all that goes with Christmas and they put it into practice so well, despite not comprehending the context, the Jesus story, the meaning.  While Christmas Day may be just another working day here, the Thais just so enjoy Christmas in its outward manifestations, which they have skilfully included in their own big celebration of the year.  Of course, the timing is also great as New Year's Day happens a week later.  

Looking at this local, social phenomenon, one could say that we Christians do something right, or we have a great gift that the world appreciates, joy!  And there is just not enough joy in our world.  It is so badly needed.  The Thais just take on the whole "Christmas World" and place it within their own mindset and culture, putting it to good use.  Good on them!  That is how I see it and I think it is quite smart of them. .  

For now, let us not complicate matters, by getting into the issue of commercialisation of Christmas, which is an abuse of my favourite time of the year.  Let's keep it simple.  No matter what, Christmas is Christmas.  That is it!  Others can make of it what they want.  That others take it on and find happiness in it, that is great, a real gift to this crazy world.  Christmas is special, a time to come together, a time to think of the other, a time for a bit of joy.  Let's have Christmas all year round.  .  

It's communication, stupid!

Remember the great catch-cry of Bill Clinton, during the 1992 US Presidential campaign?  "It's the economy, stupid."  Well, in life, our catch-cry may be - "It's communication, stupid." 

Last week, I took up the gauntlet of communication, for I was at this two day conference, focuusing on religious communication and AI (Artificial Intelligence).  The truth is I have enough problems dealing with present day reality, as does the rest of humanity, judging by the number of wars now waging in our world.   Anyway, I was told that we are at the cusp of Industrial Revolution 5.0, and it just isn’t going to go away.  So deal with it!    

Since leaving this conference, I have been trying to get my head around what I learnt.  I was just dumbstruck to hear that, within the Christian tradition, ones are granting quasi human status to robots.  This is seemingly happening within quarters of the Evangelical tradition, or so I heard.  When grappling with robots, there then arise the same theological questions surrounding the human person.   I found that unbelievable, but that was what I was hearing. 

I find such a development crazy and dangerous.  Why does any reasonable Christian even attribute any human quality to a robot?  Human beings just do not create human beings.  Ai can’t be human in anyway, as it is a human construct.  Only God can create a human being.  That is at the basis of Christian faith and belief.  AI is a human tool, and that is it.  But this challenge is not being so easily met and contained.      

A picture of the conference stays with me.  It was a guy hugging his computer screen, as a sign of love and affection for his AI companion.  This is just crazy and dangerous at all levels of human existence.  So much to digest with a whole new world quickly approaching, while we are failing to deal with the world presently before us.  Just absolutely amazing. 

Thankfully, the church response has not been one of denial, nor simply to be reactive, but to proclaim that this newly arising tool is to be used responsibly and ethically, for the good of all humanity.  Will we?  Well, the bottom line is that religion needs to be proactive, for this outcome to occur, ever upholding the dignity of the person and transformation as the goal of all our activity as church. 

I know now a new and stark challenge is before us and is here to stay.   They key word for religion remains transformation.  Whatever the age or the technology, transformation is ever the goal of religion, for that is what the gospel is about – human transformation.   As usual, I don’t have the answer.  I just know what I know and, for now, I try to digest what I heard at a conference on religion in today’s world.   

A Pauline Paradox

Life is neither a game nor some platform for making political points so as to look good.  Rather it is both precious and a challenge.  It is because it is such a precious gift that it is worth meeting the challenge.  In the midst of life's struggles and strivings, I have become aware that I am caught in a Pauline paradox.  

On one side, I identify the need for self-transformation as I am weak and sinful, which I seldom acknowledge about myself.  Maybe that is because I am just so much out there, criticising and anlysing the world.  On the other side, our world truly does need transformation as so much is going wrong.  Therefore, it does become a focus for critical debate, but don't let this lead to self-indulgent, life enduring discussions.  

What to do, as I feel stuck between these two demarcation lines?  What is the answer to this paradox? 

It lies both within self and out.  The answer is mission – mission to self and to others.  St Teresa of Avila had it right in her approach.  You go within so as to go out.  Life is neither a political campaign nor a self-help trip.  It is an adventure to be lived and shared.  It is a gift from God to all, from which all benefit and in which all participate, encountering the one true God and humanity, through those we meet along the way.  There is so much to savour, savour to the full, both within and out

As I have been recently quoted, life is about "active participation".  It is never a spectator sport,  

There's always an agenda

My Bangkok - a city with so many layers.

One lesson I have learnt, living in My Bangkok, is that there is always an agenda when people approach me for taking on an unannounced task or for proclaiming ground breaking news.  As I often say here - all is not what it seems.  And it is the agenda underneath that really matters.   

I share this as I try to make sense of my crazy life and crazy world.  In the past week, an insight came to me the hard way.  I realized that I too often rant about the nature of the big world out there, doing so at the expense of my own little world, which deserves so much more attention and upon which I can act.  I think to myself, acting on my little world leads to my acting more effectively on the big world.  After all, wherever we are, we are all broken.  

I can so easily critcize and analyse out there, while doing nothing to better my own life, something that I can act on.  Is that not crazy behaviour?   So does the life agenda of making this a better world just become a game, a discussion point for the coffee table?  What to say?  

When you come to me anxious and worried, just tell me what is going on.  

I can cope with the facts.  I just cannot deal with the unknown.  

I won't say you are lying, because I know you are not, but there is a reason why you withhold the full story from me.  I don't get it.  

When you do this, I cannot help, as best I can, and truth is it hurts.  

There is a reason for not coming clean with me.  

You not trust me?

You not want to include me?

You want to use me? 

I not know why and honestly I not care.  

What matters is showing me the respect I deserve as a fellow human being.  

That is it.  

To hide the agenda is purposeful and cunning.  

You might not think so but it is to choose that we are not equals, working on the same side.  

Inclusion matters.  Respect matters.  Don't play games with such core ingredients of life. 

Let's not fool ourselves; let's not fool others.  

Let's not hide that agenda, least of all from ourselves.  That is not fair to anyone, least of all ourselves.  

Together we can build a better self, a better people, a better world.     

.    

Communication remains key

In a divided, torn and conflicted world, that seemingly is only getting worse, this past week, I had a simple, unannounced, pleasant experience on an escalator - no less - that opened my eyes to the immense capacity we have for deep and meaningful encounter with our fellow human beings, in the midst of everyday life.    

  

On Saturday evening, I was transiting through a busy MRT station.  That does not sound too adventurous, does it?  I will continue.  Given the crowd, I was on the very next step behind a younger, Thai woman, who was with her western male companion.  I say this as I would normally stand back on the second step, but not so this time in a busy crowd.    

Anyway, there am I on this step behind the Thai woman.  Her male companion looks back at me, to which I just said: "It's okay".  

The guy picked up my Australian accent and so naturally responded: "Go for it mate", pulling her aside.

I then said: "Good on you, mate". 

To which he replied: "No worries".  

So we had a simple, natural, human encounter between two strangers, who just happened to be both Australians, in Bangkok.  This human connection allowed a good experience of humanity to happen, and what arose was the coming together of two people, strangers, in a good way.  Such is the way life can be, even in a divided, torn and conflicted world.  

It was not complicated.  It was just about being simple, decent human beings.  This simple encounter hit me with the reality that we can make this a better world, and it is not rocket science.  Human encounter is the way.  This is what Pope Francis is on about all the time. and now I understand it.  Amazing!  As humanity, we need to meet and talk, to engage and converse, not in complicated, tightly structured ways, but just in simple, everyday ways.  Be kind to each other and so communicate our goodness, and raise each other up.   

A person from church sent a Prayer for Peace, that she had found.  I think it is worth sharing in part, because it is so pertinent to today.    

God of Comfort,

send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives 

are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine.  

You are the Advocate of the oppressed 

and the One whose eye is on the sparrow. 

Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression. 

Let hearts mourn rather than militarize.

Strengthen our faith in you, O God of All Flesh, 

even when we don’t have clear answers, 

so that we may still offer ourselves nonviolently 

for the cause of peace. Amen.

Rose Marie Berger, 

Black Tuesday in My Bangkok

A dark storm was brewing

After an afternoon coffee, last Tuesday, I was returning home in my friend's car, watching, with keen interest, the pitch black clouds gather over My Bangkok.  These clouds were the darkest I had ever seen in my 18 years here, literally turning day into night.  It was just eerie.  

Yes, this week, I am 18 years in My Bangkok.  Quite the feat!  It was never planned this way.  Looking back, I can only think that God worked this out, not me, as she is much smarter.  

Back to those black clouds.  They seerved as a portent for what became Black Tuesday in My Bangkok.  

The day had begun with a desperate demand, from one of my bosses, leaving me in a state of semi-shock. Later in the day, I received a call from a stranger.  It was from an unknown Australian here in Bangkok, crying and screaming into the phone, making no great sense, as she was trying to deal with a family emergency.  Then the black clouds arrived late in the afternoon, at which time news was breaking of a shooting in a major, Bangkok shopping mall.  

With time, the news became clearer.  A 14 year old lad was shooting in Siam Paragon, killing two or three people and wounding others.  This incident had the sense of the unreal about it, but isn't the unreal happening far too often in our world?        

The challenge arose as how to respond to Black Tuesday in My Bangkok?  

Firstly, don't simply react.  Rather, keep one's focus, acting smart and keeping the agenda in one's life on the path for good.  No matter the situation, everyone caught up in the moment of anxiety or panic may think their agenda is vital, essential, but is it?  Keep the right perspective on life.  As a prayer from Henri Nouwen expresses it: 

"Why am I continuously trapped in this sense of urgency and emergency? Why do I not see that you are eternal, that your kingdom lasts forever, and that for you a thousand years are like one day? O Lord, let me enter into your presence and there taste the eternal, timeless, everlasting love with which you invite me to let go of my time-bound anxieties, fears, preoccupations, and worries. . . . Lord, teach me your ways and give me the courage to follow them. Amen."  

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.  

 

Time to take my leave

While a deacon in Sydney, during 1986 and 1987, my mentor, the full of life and fun loving Fr Maurice O'Connor, taught me something that I have always remembered.  He would often say that ministry may be more about needy priests, looking to meet their needs through serving those to whom they busily minister.  So he would highlight the value of the Ministry of Absence, and not just the Ministry of Presence alone.  For him, the two stood together.  There is truly a ministry in being present to others, but there is also a real ministry in our being absent.  

After five years of constant presence in My Bangkok, it is time to exercise my Ministry of Absence, and go home to Brisbane, for the first time in five years so as to touch base with my family and valued friends and Order.  Going home is important.  I do so with a sense that I never want to lose touch with so much that truly matters in my life.  I hope it will also renew my sense of experiencing life within a healthy and measured perspective, which is something you lose when you are caught up in one situation for too long.  Finally, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.  

Being absent will show me anew that the bonds that join us are much deeper and stronger than whatever may divide us.  If only the world knew that.  Maybe we need more absence from what is and more presence with what could be?    

No matter what...

I happily receive the monthly newsletter of the Jesuits, in Myanmar, which always impresses me by how much they do in the midst of a frightful revolution.  They are amazing agents for good in the midst of darkness, true builders of the Kingdom.  Two stories in the last newsletter stay with me.  

One shared the reflections of their novices, on completeing an intensive, five day spiritual exercise, named the Sadhana experience. One reflection was:

Fasting and hunger made us mindful and aware of our fragility and imperfections. 

Another was: 

A weak body makes my soul strong. ...  All of us have learned that the soul or the inner self is the core of mind, emotion and body.  

Here, they are getting to the heart of what really matters in life, namely spirituality, which is at the heart of who we are, generating energy, purpose and direction for our lives.  

The other story was a reflection of a Jesuit, on his new parish assignment, within his war torn country.  

On Trinity Sunday, I reached my new mission. ... For two years, the two catechists and the three Sisters of St Theresa have walked with the faithful of St St Francis Xavier's parish, on their journey of life and death.  So far, 38 missiles have been fired upon the village, destroying houses, but killing no one.  I stay alone at the clergy house.  My early guests are centipedes, cockroaches, mice, spiders, snakes and scoripons. 

On reading this, I was aghast, sitting in awe of such a man, a true man of God, dedicated to building God's Kingdom here and now, no matter what.  The spirituality, previously expressed by the novices, is at the heart of their fellow Jesuit's dedication to mission.  It is nourishing his faith, feeding his courage.  

This mission to build the Kingdom does not just belong to brave Jesuits in Myanmar; it is entrusted to all people of faith and continues through us.  As Church, together we are builders of the Kingdom.  This is the continuation of Jesus' mission, aimed at realizing God's vision for all humanity and fulfilling the purpose of God's creation.  This mission is the lived expression of love who is God.  This mission drives us and gives us hope for the better world, willed by God.  No matter what, we are Church.  

The truth is God's love is unconquerable, his Kingdom is here, it cannot be stopped.  

It's all so simple but we don't get it.

Last week, a neighbour posed a 'meaning of life' question - .  He asked, "Why did God create man and woman, as we are so destructive of each other and the planet?"  My reply was that it is simply explained by the nature of God who is love.  Simply put, creation is an act of love.  

My good neighbour did not get it and kept on his line of argument of how cruel we can be to our own kind.  I get that and understand it, but that is not the end of the story.   That cannot be the end of the human narrative, nor is it.  

We know how the cruelty of humanity overshadows all the good in our midst.  Within a busy, inner-city parish, that is 10am mass at Assumption Cathedral, the message that strikes a chord is to identify the good in our lived experience, while naming the challenges we face in a complex and conflicted world.  

Within all that we know and face, the answer is simple, but do we get it?  The way to follow is simply laid out by the prescription of love.  The difficulty is living it out.  People yearn for a simple life, appreciating basic principles for life.  Trouble is we make it unnecessarily complicated.   .Will we ever get it?  

Well, by Sunday, I met a woman who did get it.  What was the secret for her?  She did not seek to control or she knew control did not work.  I not know which.  It is all mystery.  We neither accept nor follow blindly.  We just know and accept the mystery.  I share with a true sense of how little I know.  

We all need people

We all need people in our lives, but what do we do? 

We keep busy; we avoid; we act to control and use others; we be arrogant; we are afraid of revealing too much.  Basically, too often, we do anything but connect.  So we act against dialogue and encounter, as Pope Francis describes the way to achieve human connection.  People yearn for community but our world fails too often.  We just seem unable to act for our own good.  

Rather we stick to power games, staying on top, keeping the other in the dark and at an arm's distance.  So our crazy world just goes on and on, even if we don't want it to continue as such.  And so, we ever engage in conflict, division and abuse of the goodness of others.  How tiring!  Pride, greed and control remain as killers of good life and relationships.  How destructive!  

We may full well know that the ways of peace and love are the way to human fulfilment.  Why don't we engage more then in meeting and experiencing each other?  Care and concern for our brothers, sisters and planet; using power to create and build up will achieve much more than focusing on the Ukraine situations of our world, of our coomuniites and our relationships. 

The way to go is summed up in the words of St Irenaeus (2nd Century, Lyon);  

The glory of  God is man and woman fully alive. The glory of God gives life: those who see God receive life."        

We're all in with a chance

 

Within the last two weeks, the world has witnessed two defining, human tragedies,occurring at sea.  Each saw the sad loss of life and let's be very clear - the loss of any life is significant and to be acknowledged as such.  Basically, all life is precious.  I start with this introduction as what sruck me, in following both these stories, was how conflicted and distorted a picture of humanity arose before my eyes.  

The first tragedy featured a shaky boat, full of  fleeing north Africans and west Asians, seeking asylum in Europe. It sank in the Mediterranean under the watch, of the Greek Coast Guard.  Hundreds were lost at sea.  A few days later, a sumersible with five passengers, wealthy men of privilege, was off an adventure to view the Titanic, when it went missing.  The alarm was raised and what pursued was a massive, international search and rescue mission, undertaken at great expense, only to find that the tiny vessel had imploded.  All five were lost.  The response to each tragedy could not have been so starkly different, with the two responses highlighting a frightening divide in how humanity views and treats humanity.     

Whoever the person is - gender, race, creed, socio-economic status - we are all human beings, deserving equal respect and enjoying equal dignity.  What the two observed and contrasting responses did was to put into question this basic premise about the value of life.  What is evidenced when comparing the responses to these two tragedies is that the world showed much greater attention and concern to the plight of the five lost in the submersible, over the hundreds of asylum seekers lost in the Meditarranean.  

We can then rightly suppose that the world cares more for people of wealth and privilege, than people who are poor, vulnerable and desperate.  As I look at the world's comparative lack of concern for a lost boatload of  poor people, fleeing poor countries, caught in conflict, I shake my head and think, "How unethical our world is".   

This is just wrong for human life is human life, end of story.  Put politics and all other external considerations aside.  No matter who they are, what their purpose may be or where they come from, dignity belongs to all human beings and all life is precious.  What a tragic and unethical world is one that judges and discriminates human being against human being, saying that one is worth more than another, based on mere externals.  In doing so, our world is denying many their chance in life, simply because they are poor, different and threatening our comforts.  

Life is life.  We are all in it together.   Pope Francis is right in observing that humanity is "suffering from a famine of fraternity".   I hate to finish on a negative note as this world is a good place to be; this is a good time to be alive and every human being is precious.  These are basic truths that we ever need to affirm.      

Prepare yourselves with enthusiasm

"Prepare yourselves with enthusiasm" are the words of encouragement, which Pope Francis delivered to the youth of the world, as World Youth Day 2023 approaches. 

Approach the journey with enthusiasm, approach the journey of life with enthusiasm.  This is good advice for life, not just for going to World Youth Day.  

In offering it, Francis also gives us a recipe for having an enthusiam for life.  

1)  Be people with a vision, dreaming dreams and not just being overcome by the burdens of life.  

2)  Have hope, hope rooted on good values and a sure forundation, such that our vision is ever possibble.  

3)  Live, going forward, being firmly rooted in who we are and where we come from.      

And so the admonition for living a good and fruitful life is that we always go forward 

Siempre avanti!  

 

Do we really get it?

Thailand's tallest building in Bangkok

As I passed a spot well-known to me, early one recent morning, I happened to look up and saw a sight that immediately took my attention.  I had to take a photo and place it on Facebook, which I did.  It attracted many Likes and some interesting comments. 

A few commented on how quiet the street was for Bangkok.  One comment hinted at it being late at night.  Good guess but it was rather early morning, before the masses hit the streets.  Another comment made me smile as the question was - Is this building falling apart or is it meant to look like that?  

I smiled as this building was constructed at great expense to be not just the country's tallest building, but one of its most creative and outstanding ones.  The locals refer to it as the Jigsaw Building.  

During the same week, I read a recent line of Pope Francis that stays with me.  He said - "In today's world, the feelings of belonging to the same humanity are weakening" (Fratelli Tutti 30).  I think, 'how true'.   

I was then talking with a good friend about a world that seems to be less caring about the plight of the other.  As we lose our sense of connectedness, we will care less.  We agreed that we live in a less caring world.  There is a war in Ukraine.  Who really cares?  There is a war in Sudan.  Who really cares?  There is a war in Myanmar.  Who really cares?  

Yet the truth is that, as we care less about the other, so we impact more negatively upon our own plight.  This is because the reality is that all of humanity is interconnected.  We all belong together.  The truth is that, as chaos or catastrophe hits one part of humanity, so it impacts upon all of humanity.  If we believe we can protect or hide ourselves from the plight suffered by the rest of humanity, we are living in a fool's paradise.   . 

As the human race is seemingly tearing itself apart, for whatever reason, a related prophecy is given by Francis - "The dream of building justice and peace seems like a utopia of another era".  

Do we really get it?  Or do we just see flawed buildings which, in truth are works of art?  

Time for a story

Meeting God  (Author and Source Unknown) 

There was once a little boy who wanted to meet God.  He knew it was a long trip to where God lived.  So he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer, and he started his journey. 

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman.  She was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons.  The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase.  He was about to take a drink from his root beer, when he noticed the old lady looked hungry.  So he offered her a Twinkie.  She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.  Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again.  So he offered her a root beer.  Once again she smiled at him.  The boy was delighted.  They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.  

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug.  She gave him her biggest smile ever.  When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.  She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?"  He replied, "I had lunch with God."  But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what?  She's got the most beautiful smile I have ever seen!"      

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.  Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?"  She replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God."  But before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

  

 

Life is WoW, but most people don't get it.

Confirmation at Assumption Cathedral, Pentecost 2023  

Too many people around me are too often negative, or that is my experience.  So much so that, at times, it is just unhealthy or unhelpful.  I do get it, as there is so much wrong in our world.  I am not going to list all the possible wrongs at play, as we know them already, and it would just be depressing, going nowhere.  This self-defeating dynamic seemingly acts so that we are overcome not just by what goes wrong, but by what could go wrong as well.  How easily, one can become stuck in a bottomless pit. 

This Sunday was Pentecost Sunday.  During mass, that day, we confirmed eight people - teenagers and older.  Gathering, I saw eight positive, excited, happy people, along with their happy families.  Their level of positive energy was contagious.  At least on this occasson, people around me got it.  Life is WoW!  

There is so much good happening in our world.  There are so many good people, doing good, spreading some hope and joy in life.  I would never say we have to be happy, but please let us not be driven by what disfigures our experience of life.  My theory is we are too easily overcome by the big issues, standing at any level, from international to personal, that are just too much for us to handle.  After all, what can we do about them?  Or so we may think.  Or we feel a loss of control, as a result, and become stuck.  

Sunday's experience was a reminder to me that we too easily become stuck or overcome.  No matter what, life is WoW!  We can jump out of our bottomless pit.  We just have to open up to what is possible, what is other in our world.  We are best to move beyond what holds us back from or blinds us to the goodness and beauty of life and people.    

I saw it this Sunday.  Eight ordinary citizens came together within our church community, for an experience of the sacred, to take a step forward in life, and the effect was obvious, contagious, even monumental.  Life is WoW!  If we just take that extra step, we can experience it and share it.  

This extra step is gospel based, for the message of John's gospel is clear.   

You don't have to be dead to enjoy life, for eternal life is with us now, in Jesus, through the Spirit. 

Truth is we are about life before death, not just life after death.  WoW!  

It is a gift to know when it is time to move on

I learnt early on that it is a gift to know when to move on in life.  Like her or not, Maggie Thatcher, a long-standing British PM of the 1980s, was a notable world leader.  It was sad to watch her fight the inevitable of having to relinquish her post.  Eventually, she fell in an untimely and unseemly manner.  I always thought she deserved a more dignified exit, but not to be, as she just would not let go.  

Now we ome to the Feast of the Ascension.  Its point is not about Jesus going away.  Rather it is about the disciples moving on and getting on with the next steps in the journey.  In the story, Jesus took a dignified exit, while the disciples graciously, if somewhat reluctantly, accepted their new role in life.  I can see a real value in saying our goodbyes at the right time.   

In moving on, it is not that all is lost.  Rather it is about allowing life to progress, letting people take their rightful place and seeing growth happen in one's own life, instead of becoming stale or bitter and twisted, while holding onto one's gained lot in life, no matter what the cost.  The latter way is so undignified.  Letting go iand moving on s healthy for all parties.  .    

On this Laudato Si' Week (a week for focusing on Pope Francis' teaching on caring for creation), it may be good to finish with a prayer for this week.  

Holy Spirit, You are God’s presence in our hearts, bringing life, love and joy, like a caring Mother. 

You are in singing birds, hidden in vegetation, in the subtle fragrance of inconspicuous flowers… You are a Mystery, invisible, but powerfully influencing our life. We open our hearts to You.

Please inspire us and give us wisdom, courage, and hope. Let us make use of our various talents and Your gifts. Please teach us patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Guide us the right way and teach us to love You, others, and ourselves. Please help us to work together in peace and respect every person, regardless of all the differences between us, but also to respect nature and everything else you have created for us. Last but not least, let us always remember about our dignity of being Your children and about our freedom to serve others, like Jesus. Amen

by Sylwia Ufnalska, Laudato si’ Animator, coordinator of Rogalin Ways of the Holy Spirit and of the project “Tree of Life” – Rogalin, Poland)

Grace us, Lord, with the courage to be ever open to letting go and moving on, in the freedom of your Spirit.  Amen.