An Easter letter from Thailand: The greater the pain, the greater the hope

This is the story of an ordinary day of pain. "The greater the sin, the greater the forgiveness". God “frees us from slavery paying the price of our redemption with the Blood of his One and Only son, Jesus Christ.”

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - Dear Friends, I just turned 72 on 1st of March, without celebrations, in a villa that a Catholic man puts at my disposal when I need to rest and retire in prayer, located on hills some 150 km from Bangkok. I was with some kids who live with me in St Mark’s Parish. The weather was good and nature was beautiful. I thank the Lord.

Now let me describe to you a day of normal service, 8 March 2018 for example. That day I got up at 5 am when it was still dark, I did some meditation on the readings of the day. “I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever,” said the Entrance Antiphon.

At 6 o'clock I celebrate the Office of Readings and Lauds together with young aspiring missionaries. At 7 we had breakfast. At 7.45 I went by car with Nat, one of the men who drive me, to Mr Sanya. His son, Ai, is 15, and in the juvenile detention centre. Sanya's friends also came: Mrs Nat and her husband Tii with two grandchildren aged three and five.

During the trip we talked about Nat’s and Tii’s problems: two sons, 23 and 25, both in prison at Sam Kok.  The next day we were going to visit them. Another son has problems with his wife and has been a Buddhist monk for two months. The grandchildren are staying with the grandparents. Tii has a herniated disc that does not allow him to work as he would like.

Nat, the wife, has had a very troubled life. She was bought as a child by a family who then “lent” her to a prostitution house for money. At 15, she escaped and has lived with her husband Tii. But when she was 20, she met an Australian who got her a passport and took her to Australia for a few years. She then moved on to another man in Germany and was then abandoned.

At nine we arrive at Juvenile Court in Tanyaburi. Ai has not arrived yet and so we went for a simple breakfast. With the equivalent of six dollars we ate, five adults and two children. At 10 am the minibus arrived, bringing Ai from the detention centre to the courthouse. I asked Ai if he would like to come and stay with me at the church with the other boys: there he can continue to study and prepare for the future. He knows that dad drinks and does not work; life is difficult at home.

At 11 am they called us in to hear the judge sentence Ai to another two months of detention because he is stubborn. The boy broke down in tears. During lunch we comfort each other about Ai and his story and then we brough our guests home.

In the afternoon I was going to get some rest, but Ms Noina called me on the phone. She is from the Wat Sake's shantytown. She was in tears: her daughter was beaten by her husband for the umpteenth time. She asked me if I could go with her to get her daughter and two grandchildren of three and a year. I pray: "Lord, give me the strength and the wisdom to do this service" and I went immediately. I took Ms Noina and her sister Ang in the car. On the way, we talked about the latter’s problems. Her husband left her and her oldest son, in his thirties, beats her.

At about 2.30 pm we arrived at the house of Noina's daughter, Leck. Her face still swollen from the beating, she took her children and ran out. The husband ran after her and took the older son because he did not want him to go away with his mother. As they argued, I prayed in silence for a long time: "Lord, help us, have mercy on your children". Then, slowly I convinced the father not to increase his son's pain and to let him go with his mother.

We got at home around 9 pm. In the parish there is "B", a boy I had found in the slums of Praram Hok about 20 years ago. I baptised him last year. He is married and has a good job. But he had an accident: he was hit by a car and his left shoulder was injured. It will take two months to heal before he can go back to work. He rents a house with his mother who has cancer and is separated from her husband. His wife has flat feet and cannot stand for long.

Finally, the day ended, and thanking God for letting me to see his mercy, I took a shower and went to bed.

The greater the pain, the greater the hope of salvation. And the unexpected surprise of God. The greater the sin, the greater the forgiveness. The more evident death is, the greater the victory of the resurrection.

I offer everyone our prayers and God’s blessing. He became poor so that we may be rich. To all of you, I wish victory over evil with Easter, which is God’s passage that frees us from slavery paying the price of our redemption with the Blood of his One and Only son, Jesus Christ

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