January 1 is not just the first day of 2013 but it is also a holy day for the Catholic Church. This day is the day when we celebrate the Solemnity of Mother of God.
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I am so blessed that I was able to go to a Mass today because a church here had a Holy Mass dedicated for the Mother of God. That church is the Church of Our Lady Mother of God, located in the town of Rangsit, which is just north of Bangkok.
Honoring the Mother of the Word Incarnate is the perfect way of starting the year that's why I made sure that I will not miss today's Mass. I woke up early even though I'm still sleepy due to last night's New Year celebration.
I think that the Mass was great even if I didn't understand most of it because the langage used is Thai.
I am about to leave the church after the Mass but I noticed that people were gathering outside, waiting for something. I was surprised (and delighted) that the Parish will do a procession!
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| Little girls in Thai traditional dress holding the banner of Mary. |
I was delighted because I never expected to join a Catholic procession in Thailand.
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I was so happy that I was willing to walk for miles even under the sun. Sadly, the procession was just around the church. It was a very short walk. I thought that we will be walking along the highway to make the Virgin Mary known to other people.
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Tons of roses were offered to Mary this day. The Thai Catholics really love Mama Mary like the Filipino Catholics do.
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| Red roses for Mama Mary. |
I have no rose so I just prayed one “Hail Mary” as my offering to her.
I then left the church, thankful that God allowed me to attend the Holy Massand the procession for the Solemnity of Mother of God.
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So nice!! And all this while, I thought Thai = Buddhists and Filipinos = Catholics.
ReplyDeleteThere are many Thai who are Catholics but they are still a minority in Thailand. I do hope that many of the Thai consider joining our Church. :-)
DeleteWow, ganyan pala ang style nila sa Thailand ng catholic mass.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just noticed dun sa second image above, puno ba ng Alatires yung nasa gilid ng road?
Happy 2013 parekoy!
Wala akong nakitang aratiles Parekoy. :-P
DeleteGanito sila mag-procession Parekoy pero the same lang din ang misa nila. Naka-Thai language nga lang.
oh yeah i remember the priest told us about that on his homily
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see how our catholic brethrens in Asia do the practices and traditions of the Church. Thanks for sharing Ish.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome Bro.
DeleteAre there a lot of Catholics in Thailand? =)
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wiki, there are about 292,000 Catholics in Thailand which is about 0.46% of the total population. In short, the number of Thai Catholics is very few. OFWs, most of whom are Catholics, boost the Catholic population here.
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