How many significant events can you celebrate in one day? February 6^th saw us marking three which all coincided this year.

First up, it was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Ashes were distributed during an evening Mass here at the Marist Community house. However, following the dispensation given by the Bishops of Thailand, we postponed the usual fasting and abstinence that evening so as to be able to celebrate Chinese New Year. It’s not an official holiday here in Thailand, but seems to be a de facto one for many people. Aside from the many fire-crackers being let off around homes and shops, the town is quieter than usual, with many businesses closed. Some Chinese-Thai families have gone to China itself to celebrate the occasion. Even the Catholic school, which was open on Christmas Day, is closed for three days.

New Year is usually a family reunion-type celebration for Chinese. Away from her own family this year, Alice (Director of Education for MMR) prepared a banquet for us here at the house. Although the food was a change to the usual Ash Wednesday routine, the New Year theme of leaving behind old ways and looking forward to the promise of new life dove-tailed nicely with the focus of Lent.

For John and I, February 6^th was also special in that it was Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s national holiday. This is the day when, in 1840, a treaty was signed by the British Crown and some Maori leaders, effectively making the land a British colony. Given the strained relations that have followed since, many New Zealanders don’t “celebrate” the day as such. However, spending Waitangi Day in this border-town, where relations between Thai and Burmese are often difficult, gave added significance to Ash Wednesday for me this year. It reminded me that prejudice, oppression, injustice and racism have been the dark side of human society in many places throughout history. Hopefully, wherever we find ourselves this Lent, it can be a time when we do our bit to reconcile and to mend, to make our families and communities places of peace. “Hear, then, what the Lord asks of you: to live justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Fr Damian SM