Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Christmas in Thailand “is anticipated with joy especially by youth who participate with enthusiasm in parish activities and appear to be ever more animated by a new spirit. The commitment to improve our society can be read in their faces.”

This is what Fr Peter Vidhaya Kaewwaen, assistant to the bishop in pastoral and mission activities, told AsiaNews. For Thai youth, “Christmas is a time of prayer, joy and contemplation, a stimulus to make society smile.”

Teresa Thasawan told AsiaNews: “Christmas is full of smiles and laughter.  People from afar come home to spend time with their relatives. The youth participate in organizing Christmas activities in parishes. It is a kind of a big warm family where everyone has his or her place.  I would like to thank Jesus for the life he gave me and for being by my side always.”

Anna Vilasinee said: “It is important to live the time of this feast within the Church: Like my friends, I enjoy Christmas celebrations and wish that we would all commit ourselves to bringing more happiness to the world, especially to orphans.”

For Agnes Yupparat, “prayer and contemplation are important, especially to receive Communion on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I try to help my parents and am preparing Christmas songs for mass.”

Fr Kaewwaen mentioned the example of Fr Veerachai Sripramong of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, who has been responsible for pastoral work in Cambodia for 15 years. “

Every Christmas Fr Sripramong “urges the residents of different villages to consider who is the poorest among them. The rest help to build a simple but robust cottage where the Nativity scene is recreated on Christmas night.” Once the feast is over, the village “gives the cottage to the poorest family and all the residents go to visit with a present that will be useful for the family’s new home.”

In the south of the country, where life is more difficult due to the Muslim insurgency, Christmas “is a time to reflect and to breathe more peacefully”. Fr Gustav Roosens, who tends to six churches in the southern provinces, said “Every year, I take Jesus to every home to bless Catholic families and celebrate mass. This year I will have to adjust the timetable of midnight mass because it is no longer safe to travel at night.” The most precious gift for the people in the south this year is “undoubtedly the Don Bosco professional school in Pattani province which is expected to be finished very soon. It will provide education for 200 students per year and this will allow them to rise above poverty.”