Easter in Thailand: Like leaves, the risen Christ gives new life to the mission
Mae Suay (AsiaNews) – Easter in Thailand always coincides with hot weather, after the cold of winter and before the rainy season. If Easter is a sign of rebirth, it is interesting to see how nature has a course of its own here in Thailand, or at least in the north where I live. In the eyes of us mortals, this might seem strange, but it means life and renewal following God’s own logic.
In a tropical country, falling leaves may not seem that obvious. In southern Thailand, trees are always green, but seeing bare trees at a time when everything should be logically reborn has a certain effect.
Yet, the strangest thing is that trees stay without leaves for only a week. With some yellow leaves still hanging on branches, sprouts start to replace the dead leaves . . . Like in a continuous cycle or, like the Easter “sequence” whereby “Death and life contended
in a spectacular battle”.
I think our lives as Christians is a bit like this: a ceaseless "duel" between our daily rebirths and deaths; or rather, a continuous cycle of not random events, dictated by a law above us, God’s law, which we call Love.
If we lose sight of this simple consideration, which is the foundation of our Christian life, it is then easy to fall into the "repetitiveness" of a flat and meaningless life . . .
I say this because in my mission I am surrounded by two types of people. The first one is made up of "elders", who in their wisdom and simplicity see everything as the work of a great divine plan.
Most of them come from traditional animist religions and know that nature is something over which man has no absolute power, because it is dominated by "spirits". For them, it is easy to see the divine presence in what happens.
Our ministry involves blessing the seeds and the fields, placing crosses in workplaces and in the fields themselves, etc. . . . things that the "globalised" world has rejected as superstition and bigotry. Instead, seeing God’s presence in what one does and what surrounds us helps us live in a "sacred" dimension whose existence we often forget.
The young are the second type of people. I work mainly with ethnic Akha. When they come into the villages to attend school with Thais, they see what their Thai peers do and imitate them . . . Unfortunately, only in the bad ways. The lack of ideals and personal projects about the future do the rest.
Here in northern Thailand, we are just in the second generation of Christian "sympathisers" and already most do not want to hear about it . . . It takes a lot to get the children of our Catholics to come to the centre for Mass and catechesis! When I go into a village to say the Mass, they do everything not to be there.
What can be done? Can the life of a young person be directed and motivated only by the example set by football players, singers, telenovelas and mobile phones? Can a young person throw away his or her future for a mobile phone? How not to see this behaviour as small "deaths" or defeats?
Young people bear such defeats with indifference, without thinking that the lack of ideals can only lead to inwardness to the point of not using one’s education, of staying behind in the village or being exploited in Bangkok for underpaid work.
This is what happened to four high school students, who dropped out of school with the silent blessing of their parents. What was the first thing they did? Buy beer and cigarettes, posting pictures on Facebook . . . This is the freedom they crave for. But can high school students really handle the world? What about their parents?
In the middle of all this, some trees "create" new leaves. This year, as many as 47 kids, 15 to 19 years, asked to be baptised. Eventually, we let only 14 do it but this is already a good number.
A young couple in a mountain village also decided to receive the sacrament of marriage after years of living together. They know that the word "loyalty" is not part of their ethnic group’s vocabulary, but the fact of going "against the grain" and the law of the "pack" is a strong sign of birth and hope for the future.
Likewise, more than 45 young people from our villages asked whether they could get into the mission hostels. This is a sign that Catholic families, who increasingly have economic opportunities to be self-sufficient, see value and reliability in our educational model.
They know that sending their children to us means that they will grow up as Christians, that they will be taught how to be an actively involved in society. Even so, children do not always agree!
In the case of sick people or those who need time to detox, we have the wider network of village solidarity.
Although it will take a long time, these seeds of the Gospel do affect social life and are slowly changing people’s way of thinking.
Easter. During the Vigil on Holy Saturday, I had the joy of performing 60 baptisms, mostly young adults and teenagers: many seeds sown in various villages, with the hope that they multiply. They included six catechists. You may wonder how they could be catechists and not be yet baptised. Oh, well, here, such things do happen, but it is something I shall tell you another time!
This is how life goes on at the Mae Suay mission. Like leaves from a tree, we too fall, but we are always ready to be reborn because Jesus is at the centre of our lives.
This is also a special year. Next May, we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of the mission. We entered the preparatory phase for this last July. Such spiritual preparation was especially necessary to help fully grasp what was done in the Lord's presence.
In the coming weeks, I shall finish touring 29 villages. I am using the same passage from the Gospel and the same sermon based on three guidelines: showing Jesus Christ to those who do not know him as well as among ourselves; bearing witness to him; and seeking him without getting tired, like John the Baptist, who chose self-effacement in order to exalt Christ.
Going into a village means sharing people’s deaths and rebirths, although certain situations are often hard to understand . . .
I ask you for a special prayer, that the mission in Mae Suay may continue to seek the Lord, as well as point and bear witness to him despite our limits and weaknesses.
I also ask you to pray for me. I was appointed as the mission’s parish priest, which I accepted with much trepidation. . . . Will I be able to do it?
The day I gave my answer to my superior who referred it to the bishop, I found myself in front of the poster with my priestly ordination. In it, we PIME priests, graduates of 2008, chose what God told Moses, "Now go" I am sending you".
How can anyone doubt God’s "mandate"?
Happy Easter everyone
* Fr Valerio Sala is a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). A native of the province of Milan (Italy), he has been in Thailand for the past six years.
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22/06/2022 18:18
