All wars to end on New Year's Day

While I so love all that goes with Christmas, it is about much more than being nice and mushy.  Christmas is gutsy stuff.  Pope Francis appreciates this, when he challenges the world to stop all wars in 2025.  And he challenged the world to this two weeks before Christmas.  Foolish? Naive?  I do not think so.  

After all, why do we so simply accept or come to think it is normal practice to expect daily news of human destruction and bombings?  Is not such a mindset evil?  Why can't we think better of our world?  Why can't we challenge each other to rise up to the good that we can be?  

The usual Christmas greeting is "Happy Christmas".  I appreciate that Christmas cannot be reduced to personal happiness.  We can't always be happy and why should we?  Life is about much more.  So I wish ones a "Holy Christmas", "Much joy of the season" or simply "Peace".  

Joy goes to the heart of the matter.  It is of the heart and spirituality, and can never be taken away.  Like hope, joy and hope are the great values to be treasured and shared in real and active ways.  As for peace then, why not?  Ho! Ho! Ho!

The Journey is done Together

I am just back from a great three days in Singapore, which may be a small island, but it is full of wonder for a first time visitor.  What made it such a top experience was the people with whom I shared the journey.  

I went there to see a dear friend, who showed Om and me the ultimate in hospitality.  She even brought along some of her friends to accompany us on a full day tour of Singapore.  They had much to share and show.  They were all so kind and generous.  It was such a positive and refreshing experience of humanity, that I felt overwhelmed.  Thank you, my friends.   

Their planned tour for the day was jam packed, so much so that we did not achieve all they wanted to do.  So they kept expressing disappointment that they could not do it all, while I just responded that I was happy to do what we did.  At the end of the day, my good friends bemoaned what we didn't do, while I was most appreciative for what we did do.  

Then it struck me.  Neither party in this was wrong.  Rather, it was presenting two sides of the same stance in life.  Both sides are needed for a healkthy approach to life.  One side speaks of the human endeavour to achieve, of having a vision.  The other reflects human reality that we are limited and do fail, learning along the way.  Both stances are needed in life.  

Vision and reality go together in life.  It is about having a vision and living it.  Isn't that what the Christian Project is about?  We share God's vision for creation and live it as best we can, always moving forward, while often falling along the way.

One Church year ends and and another begins.

Yes, before Christmas, the Church has an early New Year, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent.  So we finished our year on the last Sunday of November.  We do like to be different, but the point is that the dates of the Church Year revolve around the timing of Easter. 

By nature, end of year is a good time to reflect, being good to stand back and ask:  How are we going?  Where are we going?  What have we learnt?   

As I get older, I reflect that life gets more challenging and interesting - more challenging with the natural losses in life and more interesting in watching our world, from hopefully a wiser standpoint.  

I recently came across an American-Vietnamese writer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, an insightful and smart individual.  For me, his wisdom was in naming that we are people in construction and that our vulnerability is our strength.  I find both to be so true as I deal with my own vulnerabilities and loss, as well as that of those around me.  

The line from another writer, TS Eliot, also stays with me at this time - In my beginning is my end.  I only came across it in the last month, while reading a work on prayer by Archbishop Kallistos Ware, but this line literally haunts me.  What is it saying to me?  Its message is slowly unfolding.  

Is it that we keep repeating the same themes in life, even if absolutely absurd?  Is it we never learn?  Is it that God's presence is eternally now?  Is it all this and much more?  Who knows?  More to come.  Life is a mystery.  It remains as such and I only grow in my appreciation of this as I go along in life.   I give thanks for a year that has been and look forward to a year that is to unfold more of God's mystery.    

Colour reflects what is essential.

Colour and Christmas are two things I so love in life.  With Christmas fast approaching, I had the coming together of these two, key themes, when I recently bought a shirt.  The woman, selling the shirts, on helping me choose which one, asked me if I liked a particular style, to which I replied - 

"Yes, I like colour and it is for Christmas". 

She immediately said to me - "Merry Christmas". 

So this went down in my diary as my first exchange of "Merry Christmas", which automatically became a red letter day in my calendar, a milestone event in my year.  

All this happened over a simple, everyday encounter which served as a reminder, that another year is about to end, which is a natural time to reflect upon how life is going.   In indulging in my annual, end of year reflections, I came across one simple, but powerful, line - "In my beginning is my end".  This so captivated me, but what was it about these six words that had me mesmerized?  On research, I did discover that this was a line from T.S. Eliot's poem, Four Quartets.  

Then it struck me.  What is my beginning?  God. What is my end?  God.  

In between, it is all about God, who is enmeshed in our human reality, all the way. With this assurance, hope is embedded in the harshest of our reality.  Thus hope lies at the core of our human reality.  Wow!    

How to be a Christian in Buddhist Thailand?

A typical bus of My Bangkok

During my daily routine, I recently had two natural, human encounters with bus conductors.  I get around My Bangkok using public transport.  So bus conductors are people I encounter every day.  Yes, My Bangkok still has bus conductors.  Some are regular and know me.  

One has even become a good friend.  So when I saw her recently at the bus stop, she became very excited, coming over with a big smile to greet me.  She took hold of my hand, explaining why I no longer see her so regularly.  I was touched and taken aback by this most welcome encounter.  Next time, I will take hold of her hand.  

Two days later, I got on a bus to be greeted by a bus conductor, who was the exact opposite.  He stood right back from me, saying nothing, showing no sense of engagement.  His behaviour was such that it made me ask myself - what is going on here?  

Quite naturally for me, this questioning deepened to my asking myself - how does one be a Christian in Buddhist Thailand?  On later reflection, I realised I could also ask - how does one be a Christian in secular Australia?  Still, I am here in Thailand, not Australia.  So my question stood.   

I would not name this as a World War III question.  Nor would I think this demands a deep theological response.  I would simply say that it raises the challenge of our being human together.  No matter who we are, we enjoy a shared humanity.  It makes the uncomplicated demand that we make the other feel at home in our presence.  Humour, a smile are great tools for engagement, leading to a good, natural and huiman encounter.  

How did I become such a good friend with his woman bus conductor?  On first meeting her on a bus, she too was most unfriendly.  I rsponded by greeting her in return, with humour in my poor Thai, which she loved and to which she responded most positively.  She even asked for my phone number (which I never gave).  How funny! 

  

It is not rocket science.  I am not on Mars.  It is just about being a decent human being, who sees the other as my equal and partner on this planet.  And that is not always easy but, after all, we are all human. 

It's Melbourne Cup Day!

Everyone is going on about an election happening somewhere in the world, on the first Tuesday in November.  But don't they get it?  The first Tuesday in November is Melbourne Cup Day.  The Melbourne Cup is a horse race that holds the title of "stopping a nation", namely Australia.

  

While the US election may raise people's prejudices, fears and ire, the Melbourne Cup is about enthusiam for life and gladly belonging somewhere in the world.  It is a gala event that can excite any heart or community.    

Life is too short.  That may be a cliche, but it is true, for life is meant to be lived and enjoyed.  We just get distratced too easily, along the way, by the loaded agenda of others.  Despite all in our world that may say otherwise and disturb us, life is a gift to be grabbed and savoured.  It is a Melbourne Cup event, not a US election campaign.    

I am so Western

A few days ago, I went to the hospital for a health check procedure.  As I do, I went on my own.  That is just normal for me. 

As part of procedure, staff at the hospital needed to look after my belongings, while I was being checked elsewhere in the hospital.  So along came a person from the Finance Department to take my bag into their care.  Before taking it into their safe keeping, she asked me to count any money I had on me.  I was to do so there and then, in front of her and the nurse.  I found this to be confronting and intrusive.  I thought to myself- Why don't they just have a locker for me to use?  

But then I thought, the nurse had asked me - Don't you have family with you? 

It struck me.  That's it.  Here, there is no need for any locker, as the family accompanies any patient to the hospital.  They are the security system.  Once again, it is the cultural card.  They have their system, their security.  It is their family.  I am ever so Western, just going along alone and independently.  Our western, male way serves a good purpose, but it is not always the way to go.  That is for sure.  

Life is ever full of insights and learning, when one lives outside one's own comfort zone.      

And the journey can be rough going.

 

They say that a picture tells 1,000 words.  Well, here are more than 4,000 words.  These are the Four Lubeck Martyrs - a Lutheran Pastor and three Catholic priests.  For being good Christians, standing up for good and doing the right thing, they were executed.  This says it all.  

.  On November 10 1943, four Lübeck churchmen were beheaded in Hamburg:

The Lutheran Pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink and the Catholic Chaplains Hermann Lange, Eduard Müller and Johannes Prassek. The National Socialist People's Court had sentenced them to death in the summer of 1943 for "subversion of military strength, insidiousness, favoring the enemy, and listening to enemy transmissions."

Life is a journey we share

                       I have been away on a holiday that was more than a trip.  It was a journey.  

                                And what a stupendous journey it was, for so mnay reasons.  

I saw some of the most beautiful parts of the world that I have ever seen.  I naturally reflected how we are connected with nature, finding myself being enlivened, refreshed and rejuvenated.  I had approached my holiday with a "take it as it coimes" attitude.  Well, that did not prepare me for what I was about to experience, for the journey was full of the beauty and goodness of this world.  I rather needed to go with my eyes wide open, from the very beginning, and so appreciate the whole journey to the full.  

It taught me that I need to appreciate better the journey and not take it for granted, as I so often do.  So be prepared, I tell myself.  Wake up and enjoy the journey to the full.  I saw so much that left me in awe, wonder struck.  It told me that I need to get out of my bubble, for God and creation are so much bigger than my little world.  Thank God!

Life is truly a journey.  

-We meet ones along the way.  We hear their stories.  We become connected.  We learn from each other.  -The way is unknown and so we make mistakes, but we learn from them.  

-We are not alone . We share the journey with equals.  

-The journey can be both exciting and lonely, but we keep going.  We have no other choice.  

Above all, along the way, you meet people who are so kind.  This is key, as their kindness sustains you on the way.  I say - "Kindness meets kindness".  Life is a journey, a journey best shared.  

And you know what?  I would worry so much about little things on the way and I discovered that it all worked out, in the end.  Not because of me, but because of God who opened so many doors (be they ever so little ones) for me.  It is true what I often say in greeting others - Vaya con Dios!  

  

Adieu My Bangkok!

Admit that God deserves to be loved very much, yea, boundlessly, because He loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, loved us, miserable sinners, with a love so great and so free. This is why I said at the beginning that the measure of our love to God is to love immeasurably. For since our love is toward God, who is infinite and immeasurable, how can we bound or limit the love we owe Him? Besides, our love is not a gift but a debt. And since it is the Godhead who loves us, Himself boundless, eternal, supreme love, of whose greatness there is no end, yea, and His wisdom is infinite, whose peace passeth all understanding; since it is He who loves us, I say, can we think of repaying Him grudgingly? ~Saint Bernard, On Loving God

 

I read this and thought what an extraordinary insight.  Just revolutionary!  And it comes from a 12th century, French monk, St Bernard of Claivaux, theologian and church leader.  He shares so passionately on God's intimacy with us.  Who are we to be honoured with such intimacy?  Yet, who are we not to be so honoured?  Truth is it is God's choice, pure and simple.  So much love is so readily on offer to us, here and now.  Revolutionary stuff!  Yet what do we do with it?  Do we even know about it?  Sadly, we too easily squander this precious opportunity in life.    

I was struck recently by how we waste love offered, when I read a news piece on abortion.  I am against abortion, but I do not want to appear as an anti-abortion extremist or terrorist, for we kill life in so many ways.  Abortion is but one way.  Still, what I read just left me speechless.  It is the testimony of a nurse in Queensland.  

"Some babies born alive after an abortion were never held by their parents but were instead placed in witches hats, taken out of the room and left to die."  

When so much love is offered us so freely, so intimately, by a God of life, how can we do that?  Do we really get it?   God's love is such that it revolutionizes our lives.  Revolution!  It is a word we pull back from, are threatened by.  Yet our faith in God and humanity calls us to revolution, for it is so far from human conception or thought.  Are we held back by the very word?  Is it such a dangerous word?  Yet, revolution is at hand when we fully partake of God's love and life. 

If we truly believe that God loves us so deeply, so intimately, we will never be the same again.  I reflect upon this mystery in the midst of My Bangkok, a somewhat crazy place, knowing that I am about to take my leave for three weeks holiday and explore the bigger world.  Such reflections on the mysteries of life deserve a wider field of  exploration, than even that of My Bangkok.  Adieu My Bangkok!  I will return soon, hopefully wiser and healthier for the experience.    

My Bangkok is a place of spiritual enlightenment

Deutsche Welle is presently showing a further look at the dark side of Thailand.  I do not deny this reality, but I also know and experience another side of here, that which I call "spiritual enlightenment".  It seems to me few acknowledge or care to know about such happenings in My Bangkok.  I ask if any media company would like to do a story on this side of Thailand.  

I suspect not for two reasons.  Firstly, it is not sensational, nor does it offer sex appeal.  Secondly, it does not fit into the general and overused stereotype of Thailand, presented on the international stage.  I have a hunch that the latter is not based on foreign naughtiness.  Rather it is locally based, serving the purposes of some wealthy and powerful interests, for the dark side is a source of industry and huge revenue.  

Back to the local theme of spiritual enlightenment.  For a foreigner here, Bangkok can be a hard place to be grounded in life, for it has its transitory flavour and fanciful nature.  It may seem strange, but only now, after 19 years here, am I finding a solid sense of being grounded in this place I call home.  I find it happening now as, these past months, three good friends of My Bangkok have died.  The last one dying just this week.  As I deal with their loss, I become aware of the great gift of their passing for me.  They tell me that I have been here long enough to experience the full cycle of life - is excitement, its struggle; its exhilaration, its suffering; its joy, its loss.      

Spiritual enlightenment happens within reality, within a context that is beyond the fancy free Bangkok.  It arises in a Bangkok that gives freedom to those who come her way.   It is a freedom that arises from making the usual mistakes in life, that are only highlighted in Bangkok,  or from just taking a breather from a pushed routine, within an exotic and freeing Bangkok.  

My Bangkok can make one stand back and think and pray.  It is a powerful place, unleashing forces for change, change that is good.  God bless all who come her way!   

The simpler, the better

KISS is an ever guiding principle of my life.  It was taught to us, in our first year at the seminary, by the priest, who had us for logic.  His words of back then remain with me.   

"Gentlemen, if you never remember anything else from this subject, you will always remember this - the KISS Principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid".  

A Catalan restaurant recently discovered in My Bangkok

How true, his words were.  My experience tells me that simple is always best.  I was reminded of this with a wedding, I had, in the past week.  

Three months previously, the future groom appeared unannounced, before me, telling me that he needed a priest for eloping.  My first reaction was to be dismissive, but then I thought, I must listen to this guy.  What I learnt was that he and his fiancee had embarked on a three month sojourn in Southeast Asia, coming from Spain, with the determined aim of getting married here, at the end of their adventure.  I concluded that I could not say No and that I would see where we go with this, giving them every chance.  They were actually well organised, even if presenting in an unconventional way.  I thought - I like unconventional.  

So we celebrated one of the great weddings of my life, as a priest.  It was n a lovely chapel, with just the bride, the groom, the two witnesses and me.  By the way, I got the witnesses as they knew no one here to ask.  At the end of the day, I understood that this couple had a dream for their union and I had helped their dream come true.  What a great privilege!    

As for the wedding reception, it was the bride, the groom and I gathering for lunch at a great Catalonian restaurant, of their choice.  It was a grand and most enjoyable time.  It is so true - simple is best.   

It reminds me of the deeper truth that life is as simple as - We are because God is (Teresa of Avila)  

KISS always!  

Hungry Hearts

I was recently at a local shopping mall, where I heard the barking of a dog from a pram.  Huh?  Then, I saw a young woman come out of a restaurant to attend to the dog, in the pram, feeding it milk, from a baby's bottle.  I was in shock, being dismayed, horrified and just plain upset.  

My first thought was there are children starving and homeless in the country next door, because of a war, and here is a woman babying a dog.  I saw this as narcissistic behavior, wasting money and love on a dog in such a selfish way, while poor and suffering people need our attention and care.  I was stuck by how wrong this was.  I could have gone totally askew in my thinking, until a thought came to me.  

This woman is lacking something in her life.  She is hungry for something much deeper and not getting it.  So this fluffy little dog becomes the substitute, the focus of her care and love, instead of a real person.  What is going on here?  

I can only speculate from my own stance in life.  Sometime later, I find someone who supports me in my mental discomfort and assures me that I am on the right track - St John Paul II.  His welcome reality check is clear and simple: 

"Only a person can love and only a person can be loved. Love is an ontological and ethical requirement of the person. The person must be loved, since love alone corresponds to what the person is."  

Our world is a fragile place, with more than its fair share of conflict, division and fear.  Within such a world, people are hungry for more than food to eat.  They are hungry for love, for peace, for a sense of security, for belonging for hope.  These are deep, human hungers, spiritual hungers.  They will not be satisfied in individual pursuits, worldly comforts, nor personal abuse of power.    

As we pursue life, healthily nourishing our human hungers, the words of another Pope may speak to us.  They are from Pope Francis' prayer for Grandparents' Day 2024:  

"Lord, faithful God, do not allow anyone to be cast aside.

May your Spirit of love fill us with Your tenderness 

and teach us to say : 'I will not abandon you!' to those we meet on our journey. 

With the help of your beloved Son, 

may we not lose the taste for fraternity 

and may we not conform to the sadness of loneliness. 

Help us to look to the future with renewed hope."

It's never too late.

A great line of Kierkegaard keeps coming back to me, as it makes so much sense.  What was his line?  

"We live life moving forward, looking backwards."  

How true!  Do we ever get it?  

I am presently listening to the Peter, Paul and Mary classic - "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind".  Is it not obvious?  Yet we keep 'screwing up', as Americans say.  

For St Teresa of Avila, life is all about love.  Quite simply put, God within us is to be found, pondered, revered and lived.  As our God is love, it is all about love.  Know love and live it to the full. 

Yet, we remain self-engrossed, we keep doing the same, old stuff over and over again.  I need, we need, our world needs the revolution of love.   

Chef JP

 

Guess who?

St Teresa of Avila wrote:  "Know that even when you are in the kitchen, our Lord moves amidst the pots and pans".   As I sit through another. heady church discussion on community, I think, "How true".   

We talk forever about themes like community from on high, going nowhere.  I think - Is it not better to stand grounded on terra firma and go from there?   From that perspective, looking at community from the grassroots, the focus is on human friendship and relationships, the nitty-gritty of life.  The challenge is then placed on depthing one's everyday relationships within the context of the sacred, which is at the core of human existence.  Thus, in striving for community, with this mindset in place, we are pursuing a goal that is at the one time truly human and truly divine.  Does this not speak of who we are as church?  

Instead, we so easily idealise life, making it much more difficult and unworldly than it needs to be.  Religion is for both this world and beyond, not just for another life and another time.  Our passion for the deeper, for good, for truth and justice, for union with others and so with God - it all begins here and now, in the midst of who we are and where we are.  

As one may have a passion for cooking, so one may have a passion for life and much more - the divine.  God is found amongst the pots and pans, just as readily as anywhere else.   .

As St Augustine put it -  "When you are all things in all, you will be our common possession, our common peace, our rest, our joy".         

We each have a story to tell. Let's listen and respect

In the past week, I have been privileged to meet people who have shared powerful and moving stories of their lives.  I heard a couple speak from their heart, of their faith.  I wwas truly touched to hear their depth of faith.  Their sharing made me seriously reflect on my own life.  I listened to a humble bishop, from Myanmar, speak of how his diocese is presently under attack, from the Tatmadaw.  As he spoke, I could feel his pain.  A friend shared how he felt rejection, on being question about a heartfelt choice he had made at church.  Who am I to question anyone?  Accept people where they are at, and go from there. 

They all impacted me, making me think:

Am I so right in life, in what I think and portray?

Do I really get the essence of life? 

 

I was reminded that it is best in life to stand back and reflect, thus getting in touch with the deeper meaning and reality of life, than just to react to what life throws at us.  I felt humbled by these people in my week.  They reminded me that I am above no one, nor nothing.  Rather I basically live out of my own struggle and chaos, which place me at the centre of our shared humanity.  We are humanity together.  

I was struck how we are humbled in life, when we realize who we are in relationship, to and with others.  We each have a story.  No one's story is better than another.  Each story is quintessential, being part of the rich and diverse tapestry that makes up life.  Listen to each other and respect the other's story, no matter how distant it may seem from one's own.  Ultimately, all is mystery, all is gift; we are in life together and need each other.  Here we find God, the true meaning of life.       

 

Let's fill in the blank picture from my last entry

This Sunday, at mass, I was involved in an unnecessary and unfortunate exchange over a simple church practice.  As I reflect on my Sunday, I see how I helped create, even if well intentioned and innocently, a hurtful experience for another, who came for worship, a time when we remember and manifest God's love for all.  I am sorry unreservedly for this and accept my responsibility for creating a confrontation.  

It is time to move on but not to forget, as there is much to learn.  As happens, chaos creates growth, deep and harsh experiences are opportunities for good change.  This encounter, a true encounter, as it so touches me, only supports my last relfection, on how insane our world can be, even if so by accident or through misunderstanding.   Where to now? 

I would favour going to the root causes of today's woes.  I would name them as two-fold.  Our world has become too comfortable and accordingly disconnected, within which truth has become ruled by one's own needs and world view.  I can see here is a dangerous combination, leading to a narrow vison of life, acting agaisnt the common good.  .     

Comfort is a great temptation, facing all of us.  It can make us susceptible to false conceptions about life and our level of need.  It can serve to disconnect us from others and the real world.  One can ask - what is real?  In a world so detemined by a "my truth and my comfort" philosophy, everything becomes relative and absolutes fall by the wayside.  Abolute truth matters and serves to keep our world on a steady course, serving the good of the greater humanity.  

There are absolute truths and they serve a good purpose.  I will say they are few in number, for too many absolutes in life can also be dangerous.  I would name here a few absolutes that act for the sake of a healthy world, enjoyed by all.  

Every human being is unique, holding a basic dignity and worth.  All human beings stand in human solidarity, through sharing in this basic dignity, given to to us by a loving and creating God.  So human rights do exist for all.  With rights go responsibilities to look after our neighbour and creation.  I think this gives the picture.  

Don't get too comfortable.

Stay connected.

Absolute truths do exist.  The world is not ruled bu what I think and need.  

Creating sanity out of insanity

                                            What do you see in this picture?

Over recent times, I have noticed a natural progression in my use of language, when talking about our world.  It has gone from the new normal to the new abnormal to our crazy world to insanity.  

 As a result, I have come to the present conclusion that, in our world, one's mission is to create sanity out of insanity.  This may seem absurd or even arrogant, in approaching the world.  I accept that, but, here, I am sharing my felt experience that arose at the end of a rather stressful day, during the past week.  It was a day dealing with a series of issues in my life and work.  

This is so in a world that is ever changing.  Don't get me wrong.  I expect change, I value it and appreciate it.  Change itself is not the issue at hand.  Rather it is the incredibly rapid pace of change, happening at every level of my existence.  I experience it as all too much to deal with at once, so much so that it raises my level of vulnerability.  What is this about?  

I judge that I am first and foremost dealing with a feeling response.  This means that it is not necessarily rational.  So I need to stand back and ask myself what is happening.  Following my day of dealing with the insanity of my world, I realized that, in the midst of all that is reeling around me, I fear being abandoned or am feeling a sense of abandonment.  Is my world going to leave me behind and I be left alone?  This is the question.  

That is it.  It is dangerous when one feels isolated, as if one is the only one dealing with the insanity of our world.  So then, reach out anew to others and know that one is not alone.  Here lies the key to creating sanity out of insanity.  As Pope John Paul II once said so intuitively and passionately to his crowd - You are not alone. 

From Rags to Riches

This is where my week began.  Early Sunday morning, I went to my bus stop, in Silom, to catch the bus to go to the cathedral, for mass.  What did I find there?  A dead body, lying on the rosd, right in front of the bus stop.  There had been a motor bike accident.  I was stunned.  I looked at all the people there - police, emergency services, witnesses, fellow travellers.  Everyone was just standing back, doing nothing, not engaging.  The whole scene gave me a deep sesne of loneliness, of emptiness.  This poor guy before us, lying dead on the road.  What an awful way to die, just lying there on your own.  I wanted to do something, but what?  I felt useless.  So I just prayed.  I wsa not useless after all.  I was praying for this poor soul.  

The very next day, I flew up to Mae Hong Son, to join in church celebrations in a refugee camp, for the Karenni, of Myanmar.  Their bishop had come for his annual pastoral visit and to confirm 300 children.  It was a day of great joy for the community.  Despite all their hardships and any suffering, you could feel their faith and experience their deep and strong spirit for life.  

This only reinforced and reflected the message shared on the day, that true wealth is knowing and having God, while true poverty is being sad and having no friends.  How true!  My week has reflected the reality of life.  Namely, what is true poverty and what is true wealth, with our going constantly between the two.   

  

Being grounded

My Bangkok  

I live in a country, where the local culture supports its people to avoid conflict.  I reflect that nobody likes conflict.  I sure don't, but I also know that you can't just always evade it.  Maybe it is more about how we deal with it.  Sure, one does not make a "Last Stand at the Alamo" response each time.  There can be my trap or downfall.  Instead, we choose our fights.  This choosing happens within the context of who we are.  

Who am I?  A central theme in my life is belonging, referring back to my very origins.  Along with this, for me, another central theme, arising over the years, is spirituality matters.  Then, only last week, I finally discovered a purposeful definition of spirituality.  I thought, Eureka!  It goes like this.

Spirituality is being grounded before God in the very place, where he chooses for me."  

Then it struck me that grounded has two meanings in English.  It can mean being rooted firmly into the earth or being punished by your parents when you are a naughty child.  I find that word association fascinating.  

This fascinates me even further as I am coming more and more to a realization that Thailand is my home.  Reality is telling me that I am no longer under the category of being an Australian living in Thailand.  Rather I am an Australian whose home is Thailand.  

This is all significant for me as it refers back to belonging, that central theme of my life.  Where do I belong?  Where is home?  My understanding of self firmly demands that I be grounded.  To be otherwise is more than just unsettling, it is frightening, as then where is home?   Home is important. Home is about being grounded.   

This reflects the struggle of life.  I have learnt that this struggle is not linear, proceeding easily to some resolution.  Rather, life is a cyclical journey, where all the same themes keep playing their tune.   Being grounded allows one to face those ever continuing tunes of life's struggles with more wisdom, deeper awareness and greater confidence to learn, grow and share.      

Happy NewYear

Thailand is the only country I have lived in where they celebrate three New Years - 1st January, Chinese and Thai.  Truth is that the last New Year is the best.  Thai New Year, or Songkran Festival, is celebrated 13 to 15 April.  It is the country's major, annual holiday time and best known as the Thai water festival with its major water fights in the streets.  It is quite incredible. The country stops to throw water at each other and they love it.  

I have a theory.  In such a disconnected world, throwing water at each other is one way of connecting.  So it could be named as Songkran - the Festival for Connecting in a Disconnected World.   Crowds of adults throng in the street to spurt water at each other with water pistols.  It is a huge social phenomenon that attracts a good share of international tourists, who come to play with water pistols in the street.  How does one explain such social behaviour?  

Is it the need to connect in some way or the need just to let go and have fun, or a bit of both, or something else?  In a tightly controlled society, like Thailand, control goes out the window for three days and people are free to let off some steam.  Or is it something deeper?  Is it the human need to be with others and simply enjoy being with them?  

My experience tells me control does not work.  The human spirit can't be dampened by outside forces, of whatever nature or source.  Having fun is good.  Add these three simple statements together and are you nearing an unstated, social contract that allows Songkran to become the mass phenomenon it has become?  If Songkran is an annual social experiment in fun, what is it saying about the people and their society?  Is this a manifestation of the human bonds necessary for social cohesion?  You have to move beyond indulging in this fun event to discover any deeper meaning or message that resonates for the remaining 362 days of the year and understanding better My Bangkok.  

Happy Thai New Year!.              

Transformation is the word

Easter fire

If it is about anything, our Easter faith is about transformation.  That is not a way or ideal we often contemplate, for we generally just go along with the everyday, doing our bit, living life as best and as joyfully as we can.  By the way, what is wrong with that?  It just is that life is about much more than just the routine.  It has a deeper meaning and purpose.  

Okay, where is this heading?  Let's get real.   

I recently attended the opening of an art exhibition, arising out of the revolution in Myanmar.  The exhibit and the whole event spoke of the warm and life-giving spirit of the people of Myanmar, who have suffered for far too long, at the hands of their own military.  As a people, they know very well the killings, the arrests, the torture, the destrucion, endured for decades, under military rule  They are an oppressed people, but with a strong spirit, knowing that life is about so much more and yearning for that for so long.   

So they rose up in solidarity to say, "No more", acting to transform their society into something better, something they deserve.  In the face of so much injustice and suffering, this is a seemingly insurmountable challenge, but one that the people have chosen to meet.  While not the chosen way, armed struggle has tragically become their reality, as they saw no other choice in a world that was failing them.   Whatever happened to human solidarity?

As I heard said by a speaker at the opening, a revolution is fuelled by heart and passion, not by weapons.  Passion is the energy for the human struggle, in which we share to transform our world and self into the image of God.  Passion is the essential ingredient in a world where relationship with the mystery, the sacred of life is at the core of human existence.  Ultimately, love and passion, not violence, win the struggle for all to enjoy the fullness of life.    

Art and culture lie at the heart of this transformation.  I saw and experienced this at the opening of this wonderful art exhibit, fuelled by the people's passion for their revolution - with its live performance of music of the revolution, quilting made up of pieces of cloth from the clothes of political prisoners, pictures of body art used as a way to protest against brute violence and oppression.  

We all need to be transformed.  I surely do.  Our world needs to be transformed - just look at Myanmar, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan +++++  Transformation may not be talked about much, but that is not to unerestimate its importance in our world and lives.  It surely does not happen easily and that is why it arises mostly out of our human suffering and chaos.  

Such is transformation!  Such is Easter!  

A message of the art exhibit

        

People have the power

 

"People have the power" is a song by Patti and Fred Sonic Smith that I accidentally and happily discovered on Facebook.  This powerful song was my introduction to the Smiths.  On hearing it, I immediately named as my song for Holy Week.  It certainly gets my award.  

In writing the song, Patti Smith says, "What we wanted to do was remind the listener of their individual power but also of the collective power of the people, how we can do anything.  That's why at the end, it goes: 'I believe everything we dream can come to pass, through our union we can turn the world around, we can turn the earth's revolution.'"  

Holy Week this year began on 24th March, the feast of Oscar Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador, shot dead while offering mass.  Why?  Simply because he followed the gospel, in standing up for his oppressed people.  His waa a struggle of hope, arising from his commitment to building the Kingdom of God.   

The Easter moon is a sign to the world of this hope eternal.  We all have a reason, a purpose, a place in being here.  We make the world turn around.  The real power in life is at the grassroots with the people.  Holy Week has its focus on the sruggles of the people in life.  Easter takes it to the next level, with its focus on how our struggles are transformed to give new life to a world, so desperately overcome by so much human greed, aggression and craziness, which are part of the human narrative, but not the end of it, by any means.  Power to the people!   

   

 

Patience is a virtue

My sister is ever telling me - "Patience, Johnny".  I guess it is not one of my greatest virtues.  Well, last week I escaped to upcountry Thailand, in the northeast region, named Isan, for a bit of fresh and quiet.  It was "desert time", as I would say. 

There, as I quietly spent my short time, joining in life and watching the locals, I noticed their patience. They have lives to live and things to do, within the tough environment of rural Thailand, with its heat and varied limitations of a challenging rural existence, somewhat isolated from the lures of the big city.  In the midst of it all, its ups and downs, its dramas and traumas, they just get on with their daily routine, they're happy with their lot, they continue to ever thrive enjoying their family and love the place they call home.  I guess that is what matters in life. 

Living in a big city, being so western and critical in my approach to life, I can make life more complicated than it needs to be and become overly anxious about what should be.  There is something to be said for patience, while still keeping a watchful eye on life and its comings and goings.  .  

I needed my "desert time". not to escape reality, but to be able to appreciate it more deeply and live it more wholesomely.  I learnt from the people with whom I shared my desert.  I came to see them in a new light - as good and simple people, who work and struggle in life, loving and enjoying their family, continuing the daily chores.  I found that refreshing and life giving. The desert is a fertile place.  

 

The land is fertile

     

.   

Control doesn't work

We are mid-way through Lent and I hope I am learning something about life and me.  If I may be bold enough to venture an insight from my own journey into the desert this Lent, I am ever re-affirmed in a key life motif - control does not work.  Truth is there is only one person in control, and that is God, who has her own ways of keeping the show going, despite whatever we may do.  Thank God.  

Knowing who is in charge reassures me, as life then, in no way, depends on me.  Thank God, yet again.  

Last week, I participated in an international gathering of church partners, working on opposing human trafficking.  When I first walked in the room, I saw how few were there, but then I was immediately struck by their diversity and strength.  Each person represented a different country and each one was so strong.  So here was a group not to be misjudged or underestimated.  Control doesn't work.  

I have a simple encounter on the bus, on the way to work.  The conductor, a more mature woman, and I have a dispute over my fare.  I get the bus every day and I know how much I pay, which is what I paid her.  She continues the dispute, all spoken in Thai.  I am amazed at how much Thai I can speak. She eventually turns, telling me she knows who I am (after all I am a regular).  Her turning statement was how she would like to learn English and that her sister lives in Denmark.  She likes farang men and asks my name and where I live.  This is both funny and very uncomfortable.  We are friendly and that is good, but I am no longer in control, not knowing where this will go.  I am very  happy to get off the bus, while encouraging her all the way as a good and strong woman, who is smart.  

Control doesn't work, but be ever smart and friendly.  They work.  

 ; diversity and strength do.  

Hear the Cry of the Earth

Guess who?

I went to a friend's farm in Buriram last week, for a couple of quiet days, to begin Lent.  I also went with a practical task for my short time there, as I am to present on a key theme of Pope Francis' Laudato Si - "Hear the cry of the earth". I thought how can I hear that cry, when I live at the centre of My big, busy, crowded and noisy Bangkok?  So off I went on the bus, heading upcountry.  Well, what did I hear there? 

Firstly, I was struck by and enjoyed the silence.  This told me that I had to become still to hear the earth's cry.  Coming from the big city and its busyness of life, it takes time to become still and quiet so as to listen.  As I downed the pace of my life, I quickly became aware that I was not setting the conversation.  I surely knew that I had to stop and listen.  

I saw the animals on the farm.  The dogs, the ducks, the geese, the chickens - they all looked so cute.  On the surface, they got on with their business, living in harmony.  In fact, the very opposite was part of the reality as the dogs would slyly attack and kill the other, defenceless animals.  In order to keep the dogs in line and protect the other animals, they were given their own, comfortable house. 

Truth is, while life on the farm is peaceful, it can also be cruel and harsh.  Animals are territorial and fall prey to each other, with the stronger ones in the chain dealing harshly with their weaker brothers and sisters.  So there is ever an undercurrent/  

While all looks still and calm on the farm, the climate is harsh and there is a lot of work to be done.  No matter how hot it may be, there is always a list of chores waiting for one's attention.  When something goes wrong, you don't call in the workmen.  Rather you fix it yourself.  So the realities make you more aware of your dependency and interdependency, on both nature and humanity.  You know your farm and you work with it.  You know the earth and you work with it.  And you know you cannot do it alone. 

Life may seem simpler in the country, but it is not.  It involves hard work, and, to be successful, you work with the earth, not against it.  That is a skill.  You get your hands dirty.  Anything can go wrong at any moment.  The harshness of the climate and the land remind you who is in control.  Not you!

I could see how the land is there not to be tamed or conquered.  It can't be as nature is too strong.  Rather, the land is to be connected with and related with, like dealing with another person.  Show it respect and give it the dignity it deserves.    

In the big city, we make things happen, using money; we take too much for granted.  In the country, you achieve, using your own resources and knowing and respecting nature.   In the big city, there are more barriers or defence mechanisms.  In the country, it is you and the earth, together with those around you.  In the end, that is it.    

Fiery Arrow

St Brigid of Kildare (451-525CE)

1st February is the feast of St Brigid.  She was a native of Ireland, being the daughter of a Celtic chieftain.  She was named after a Celtic goddess, whose name means "fiery arrow".  I thought - Wow! Her name reflects how I picture her - a strong willed woman.  Her life story speaks of a holy woman, a strong woman, with a real zeal for the faith and helping others in need.  In doing so, she faced all sorts of opposition, even from her father, for she did not just comfortably follow the social norms of her day in reaching out to the poor and suffering.  So it would seem she was and had to be a fiery arrow.  Don't we as well, in this harsh world?  

Like St Patrick, she was a missionary, building a new church in her homeland.  Together, they are the patrons of Ireland.  Here, we see the bond of mission, bringing together two great characters in history.  It is a small world.  .  

Mission?  What is it really?  It is not rocket science.  It is simply whatever good we do in following the ways of Jesus, to build up the Kingdom of God here and now.  Even that simple explanation sounds too academic or complex.  Put it another way.  All, we do and are, is coloured by our basic life orientation to following Jesus and his Good News.  We do so out of love and passion, not compulsion or compliance.   

And so... 

We may not deal very well with opposition or difficult people, but we keep at our tasks, ever believing in what we do for the other.  

We may take conflict and life's hurts far too seriously, but we never lose our sense of perspective and joy in life. 

We may be challenged by the demands of every day commitments, but we remain true to who we are and our responsibilities.  

A fiery arrow is not stopped by the elements.  It keeps reaching for the stars.  

It takes love, not money

Chipping in to get ready for the big wedding

I just had a great weekend up north, in Mae Hong Son, a most beautiful part of Thailand, by the border with Myanmar.  I went there for the wedding of a good friend, a Karenni guy.  

On arriving there,  my friend, the groom, took me to his place to see the preparations happening for the wedding, the next day.  I was just amazed to see these young guys busily cutting up a pig for tomorrow's feast.  Then I looked across the yard to see a whole group of women cooking the dissected pigs in huge pans, over gas flames.    

The wedding, the next day, was just as amazing, or simply put, it was a breath of resh air for a Catholic priest so often imprisoned by "Wedding World", with all its over the top demands, costs and expectations.  All ever too much!  For a pleasant change, this was a "do it yourself" wedding.  I just loved it.  

There was a lot of fuss and preparation,  It was a grand celebration, but it was created by the couple, with their people, helping all the way.  Balloons decorated the church.  The bride and groom, elegantly but simply dressed, welcomed all the guests.  There was no long line of bridesmaids and groomsmen, doing nothing other than imbuing the event with fashion and beauty.  The church was a small, simple, village church, where the local community gathered.  Today, the people sung gustily and said all the prayers with firm conviction.  The church celebration was engulfed in a family atmosphere.  It set the scene for a relaxed, at home reception, enjoying home cooked pork.  Just wonderful!     

It was all about using the limited resources available to the people, to create a celebration of love.  It hit me - a strong, loving community makes a family.   

 

We are the clergy

I have just received a reminder from the local church here - 

"We are the clergy.  We are above the laity." 

I think: "Really? When did we last read Pope Francis on the scourge of clericalism in the church?" 

Then, I harken bak to last Friday, the 12th January, which was the feast day of Blessed Nicholas, a Thai priest, who has been named a martyr in the universal church.  For me, the landmark was that it was 80 years since he died a martyr in a Bangkok prison.  

80 years ago saw a different world and a different Thailand, caught up in the utter chaos of the Second World War.  At that time, the Catholic Church in Thailand knew persecution, for it was wrongly perceived as an agent of the then enemy, the French, a European, colonizing power.  

So Fr Nicholas Bunkerd  was hauled off to prison in January, 1941, having been wrongfully convicted, along with many other Catholics.  There he lasted three years, living under tough conditions, while remaining true to being a priest, through prayer and exercising ministry in teaching and charity. Having been infected with TB and being weakened by excessive blood transfusions, he died a martyr on 12th January, 1944.  

For me, his life message is two-fold. 

1)  Always be true o yourself and your calling.

2)  In the context of our Christian calling, rise up to meet the challenges of life.

Having suffered so much in prison, having ever remained the true priest and kind man, I do not believe that Blessed Nicholas would, in anyway, hold that the clergy were above the laity.  I see it in his fresh approach to life and its presenting tribulations; I see it in his good nature and ever pressing ahead in fulfilling his mission.  I never met the guy, but I look at his face and I see a kind and good hearted man, with a sense of humour.   

All I can say is that the essential and good message for life is too often lost in life's messiness and intrigues.  We too often and unnecessarily do ourselves harm.  Blessed Nicholas, pray for us.