Mother of Mercy - Cambodia

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Mother of Mercy - Our Mother of Inclusive Love

Download: EAO-GNT-2016 (22) January ENG+.pdf + EAO-GNT-2016 (22) January ENG+.doc

EAO Good Night Talk (22)

January 1, 2016

Mother of Mercy – Our Mother of the Inclusive Love

Dear friends and confreres!

Every time I visit the Battambang, Apostolic Prefecture in Cambodia, I’m deeply touched by one of the most meaningful and beautiful carvings of Mary – Mother of Mercy. It’s not by accident, that this statue did emerge in the country of the Killing fields. The original name is ‘Our Mother of the Inclusive Love’. Simple contemplation of this welcoming, embracing and smiling statue of Mary might help us on the journey during the Year of Mercy, AD 2016.

A simple catechesis by the Prefect Apostolic of Battambang, Fr. Enrique Figaredo, SJ helps us at the beginning of this Year of Mercy:

‘Mary is holding Jesus, who is with open arms welcoming all who wish to draw near. Both of them with a disarming smile under the warm cloak of loving kindness.

In the middle of the figure, there are two children: one of them holds a book symbolizing wisdom that helps to discern between right and wrong. The other one is playing the flute putting together art, music and tradition for praising God. One of them is on a wheelchair holding a dove, symbol of peace and the other uses crutch, and is holding a bunch of flowers, the sign of love, God’s greatest commandment: ‘Love one another as I have loved you!’ The crutch and the wheelchair are like a sacrament, that gives them back their dignity and make communion between disable and non-disabled.

The cloak of our Lady is an image of the family we all belong to: the Church. We are all included under this cloak.

In the bottom there are lotus flowers. The lotus flower is the most emblematic flower in Cambodia, a symbol of glory, purity and holiness.’

In the Apostolic Prefecture of are only 10 priests in 31 parishes and mission stations, ministering to 4000 Catholics living immersed among 5 millions of majority Buddhist population. This statue of Our Lady is present in all the parishes of the Prefecture and is carved by disabled Cambodian artists. This also shows that we can help each other in bringing the love of God that Jesus brings to our lives, no matter our condition.

May this beauty of the young Cambodia Church help us to start this year with a renewed heart, full of mercy!

Wish you a truly Happy New Year!

In Don Bosco,

Fr. Václav Klement, SDB

Regional Councilor EAO 2014-2020

Battambang - Cambodia (contact Apostolic Vicar - Fr. Henrique Figaredo, SJ)

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Comments '3'

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vaclav 2016.01.09 00:55

Thank you for sending me the good night talk and thank you for sending me the picture of Our lady of Battambang- Mother of Inclusive love.
I had never seen it before and she is beautiful. It will help with the reflection for this year of mercy and I will share it with my sisters.
Love and prayers,
Agnes

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vaclav 2016.01.09 00:58

Thank you so much for the touching good night talk with the beautiful picture „Mother of Mercy“. EAO Good Night talks are very enriching for me. Thank you so much.
At the moment I am enjoying some days of rest in DB Tetere in the Solomon Islands.
United in prayers. Sincerely yours in Don Bosco
Br. R

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vaclav 2017.01.16 13:12

Siem Reap:
Totet Banaybal, a Filipino Jesuit student, had to learn a lot of things when he first went to Cambodia in 1994.

"It was not easy," he recalls. Everything was unlike what he was used to back home, such as removing his shoes before someone’s home.

Fried pineapple and cucumber sautéed with rice noodles were alien to the then young priest. The same was with the music and the poetry.

Communicating with people was a challenge. When he spoke, people listened, but only a few could understand him. "I did not understand them either," he says.

After a year, he returned to the Philippines to finish his studies. He was ordained a priest in 1999, and a few months later went back to Cambodia as a missionary.

He lived with people recovering from the dark years of the Khmer Rouge.

On the outskirts of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, the young Father Banaynal encountered villagers who had lost limbs to landmines.

Almost every other person he encountered had lost a loved one.

"That was when I knew that I would love this culture. I will, if it is what God wants me to be," he says.

He found that learning the language was "so easy."

Loving the food was not anymore an effort. "If they tell me that the food is delicious, then I tell myself that it is lip-smacking," he says.

The priest says he underwent a "process of remolding." He set aside his being Filipino. "I have to become one of them, to serve them better, and to go on with my mission."

The mission

Father Banaynal became parish priest of St. John’s Catholic Church in Siem Reap to minister to some 600 Catholics and at least 400 non-Christians who serve the church as volunteers.

In a city with a population of about a million where Buddhism has been the state religion since the 13th century, the young Jesuit counts the fruit of his mission not by the number of baptisms.

"Our work is the accompaniment of people," he says.

A few meters from the church is an old wooden house where Bopha Chey, a 40-year old vendor, attends to a small Buddhist altar, burning incense sticks.

Five years ago, Bopha started attending catechism classes and Masses. It was curiosity that brought her to the church.

She says she has no "no compelling life story to tell" about her going to a Catholic church. "It is just it. I am happy. I feel heard. I feel I belonged," she says.

Bopha has not been baptized a Catholic, but it does not hinder her from attending Mass.

Father Banaynal says it is not easy to become a Catholic in Cambodia. "We are not here to change their culture but to show them the goodness of our church," he says.

The priest says he does not invite people to be baptized. "If we show them that Catholics are good, they themselves will seek for it," he says.

Inclusive love

The church compound in Siem Reap has no gates. Everyone is welcome to enter.

"The love of God has no boundaries," says Father Banaynal.

Near the entrance to the church is a picture of a stone carving of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus with children around them.

One child holds an open book that symbolizes wisdom, while another plays a flute, which signifies art, music, and the tradition of praising God.

One child is in a wheelchair, holding a dove, which represents peace, while one more holds a flower while on crutches.

"The flower is a sign of love and God’s greatest commandment, to love one another," explains Father Banaynal.

"The crutches and the wheelchair are like a sacrament that gives them back their dignity and makes communion between disable and non-disabled people," he adds.

Surrounding the children is Mary’s cloak that symbolizes "the family we belong to in the church."

Father Banaynal says the image represents the Catholic Church in Cambodia.

Sharing a nurturing church

In the capital Phnom Penh, Arvin Samson Mamhot, a Filipino migrant worker who teaches English, has joined the Couples for Christ, a Catholic movement that started in the Philippines in 1981.

Arvin says he and his wife found in the group everything that he misses back home. "The feel of home is here," he says.

The joy he receives from the group he also shares with others.

During his daily commute from home to the school where he teaches, Arvin met a tut-tuk driver Chamnan Dong.

Arvin shares stories with Chamnan about the Philippines and the Catholic Church.

Chamnam listens to the teacher's stories of village festivals, the observance of the Holy Week back home, the long Christmas in the Philippines, and the feast of the Black Nazarene.

One Sunday, Chamnam came knocking on Arvin's door.

"I have no class today," Arvin told his friend.

"I am here to go with you to the gathering," replied the driver.

From then on, Chamnam, a Buddhist, attended meetings and catechisms of the Couples for Christ.

"How can I turn my back on a wonderful and beautiful culture," Chamnan says.

"I also want to experience God in the presence of my Filipino friends," he says.

"We are here to share ourselves, the church, and Christ," says Father Banaynal.

He says the Catholic Church’s mission in Cambodia is "to find out that people here are also saints."

The Jesuit priest says Filipinos living abroad should realize that they too can be "missionaries and international citizens ... who should embrace the people regardless of their culture and religion."

An estimated 10.2 million Filipinos reside or work outside the Philippines.

Source: UCAN

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