We are on the way

Mary, our Mother, shows us the way

Ayutthaya is a special place in Thailand, as it was the centre of the Siam Kingdom, before Bangkok, and thus it became the cradle of Christianity in Thailand and beyond.  The latter all started with the coming of the Portuguese in the 16th century.  Within what was the Portuguese Village there, where an active community of Portuguese had lived for over 200 years, there now stands a statue of Our Lady, a sign of faith.  

With the fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese, in 1767, this settlement ceased to exist, becoming today an archeological site.  The Portuguese had come to then Siam for trade and commerce.  As a Catholic community in need of pastoral care, first the Dominicans arrived, then the Franciscans and much later the Jesuits followed.  The Dominican church site now remains as a focus for tourism and pilgrimage.  

Today, its cemetery gives witness to what was in Ayutthaya - an active Portuguese, Catholic community.  This is the birthplace of the Church, not just in Thailand, but also beyond into Vietnam and southern China.  

It is to Ayutthaya,  that 80 of us from the 10am mass community, at Assumption Cathedral, went on pilgrimage.  As pilgrims, we shared a special day, a special experience.  All ages, all shapes and sizes, from our many different backgrounds, together we journeyed.  We were happy pilgrims, needy pilgrims, simple pilgrims, but we all shared one purpose - to consecrate a day to our common search for the sacred.  

We had chosen to go to holy ground, with its history of church and adventure.  There we discovered and we learnt.  There we prayed and we celebrated eucharist.  There we shared bread and we enjoyed.   We returned home better for the experience, enlivened and nourished in body and soul.  What was the source of our personal enrichment?  Simply, we had experienced together the sacred in history and in our present as church.  So our eyes were opened wider by discovery and so we learnt: 

-more than happy, we are joyful, being satisfied by our faith;

-more than needy, we are not alone, being accompanied by God; 

-more than simple, we are humble, knowing our strength is in God with us .  

 Truly, we are pilgrims of hope, ever on the way.