Interview with Cl. Paul Warayut Chareonphoom (THA),
Theology student at Ratisbonne

By Our Own Correspondent

Ratisbonne, Jerusalem, 19 July 2019 -- What does it mean to grow in the Salesian vocation at walking distance from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem?

How lucky I am to have the opportunity to study, live and pray in the land of our Master! I feel that I am blessed to live in Ratisbonne. This is an advantage of living in the Holy sites and also it is a precious meaning for our life and source of our energy.

This place brings us closer to God by study, meditation and gives us a chance to pray in the original places that Our Lord Jesus Christ lived, prayed and taught. Furthermore, We can take a brief walk and arrive at the Holy Sepulchre to see the empty tomb. Physically, Jesus is not here, however from here he becomes the fountain of our faith and energy for our vocation. Whenever I am exhausted and weak, I am discouraged, then immediately I just walk there and put it all in Jesus’ tomb. Then I walk back with a refreshed heart. At the same time I give thanks for this beautiful vocation.

Here, the thousands of pilgrims always move my heart because from them I have seen the power of love and faith in Jesus and Mary. That inspires me a lot to set my heart on going and spending time with Our Master.

How do you feel in the large multi-cultural community of Ratisbonne?

Life in Ratisbonne Monastery is full of wonderful experiences and lessons. During my first year I met Salesian confreres from almost from every continent. A variety of enthusiastic experiences of Salesian lives is brought here and shared, included our tradition and culture. Therefore my experience is part of the multi-cultural community. I feel that helps me a lot to be open and to change my mind and respect different thinking and culture. I have learnt that if you want to grow further, you need more listening and less ego, but dare to speak when it is necessary. Moreover, sharing our formation helps me to get to know different aspects of looking at and practising formation. This is an opportunity to form ourselves.

I appreciate that most of us have tried to be open and to accept each as we are and learn from one another. I find here that there is always a willing and helping hand, encouraging and accompanying others. Besides, here there are good spiritual guides and holy confessors.

On the other hand, living in a multi-cultural community also has some challenges. As soon as you are far away from you country “food” is always a main issue to face, especially from Asia where food has more tastes - so chilli is our salvation here! The weather is another challenge for us during the winter, when we face a freezing cold which is completely different from out home countries. Our community liturgies are much more solemn and lively. And the last challenge - how to find someone that we can trust and with whom we can be open, and be honest with ourselves, our culture and personal maturity. At the end of the day I consider that if we are sincere to ourselves, we will not get lost.

How many EAO Salesians will be members of your community next school year?

This coming academic year 2019-2020 (September-June) our region will have 6 Salesian students: one Filipino missionary (MOR - Middle East province) in 4th year, two Vietnamese (VIE) with one Thai (THA) in the 2nd year) and two newcomers from Papua New Guinea (PGS). We wish to be more connected with our EAO region and experience more solidarity. And finally we dream that we can be accompanied by your prayer and that in the coming year we will have more and more confreres from our EAO region. (NB The deadline to register new students for the next academic year is before Christmas!)

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