An e-mail greetings from Fr. Un Son: A Faith Sharing

Posted: 20th May 2007

Fr. Un Son, Sharing the culture of Cambodia in Philippines

Mon, 14 May 2007

Thank you very much for your e-mail and I'm so happy to hear from you. I have spent seven months already here at the East Asia Pastoral Institute [EAPI] in the Philippines. I'm very interested to learn and discover more about the Church in Asia. It is a wonderful experience to meet and encounter other priests, sisters and lay missionaries from this region because we have so many things in common and among them a simple life.

Father, I'm sorry for my delay of this reply because I would like to share more with you my experiences in life about Buddhism and Christianity. This is my description about my spirituality, of what I know, and of what I could contribute to others.

When I was 18 years old, I was in the refugee camp in Thailand. One of my friends spoke to me about God’s love. But for me at that time, it did not mean anything because I just came from a Buddhist monastery and I said to him that I will never believe in another God in your heaven other than Buddha or Nirvana.

One year later in 1980, I got a sponsor from Canada, during that time I was a refugee. The sponsor received me and my brother’s family too. Through their humble service and help, I experienced love. It was not only love from their human goodness but from their faith in communion with one another. From this kind of goodness or love I then asked myself: “Why did they do this for me? Why were they helping my family and other refugees?”

I have never had this kind of experience before. From my Buddhist background, I know that whenever something happens to me or other people, I would simply say this is one’s karma (fruit produced by other actions). But then I realized and I can now say that this must be what the love of God for me means. Love is not something far, something abstract, or something that you wait for; it is something in this present life and in this present time.

Personally I want to develop more in me the spirituality of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The role of parish priest is to know the sheep and to be concerned about what happens to them, where they are now, and the need to love and serve them. I often like to share these recollections of mine to the young people I meet there in Cambodia. From my background of Buddhist life, I'm so happy to share and serve the Church in my country because the Khmer people are naturally very spiritual in their way of living. But the past civil war and Khmer Rouge revolution have destroyed the harmony and the sincerity of this people. Today, we can see how much these people have lost their spirituality and many have even become more violent. The war has given their lives much suffering, ignorance, and poverty.

I have had a good experience of sharing and serving for my past five years, working especially with the sick people in the parish. But now I need to pause a while to study, to reflect, and to discover more about myself and the source of my spiritual strength in order to assure the growth of my spirituality. Growth in our spiritual life is indeed a necessity that I feel that as a priest I must always be concerned with. It is only in this measure that I could fulfill my role in supporting the spiritual life of others.

From the depth of my heart I would like to thank the EAPI: the director, the teaching and supporting staff who have given me a opportunity to learn and grow spiritually in God's love. I conclude this e-mail for today and I hope to see you one day in Poi-pet. [from 1963-1975] I was in village Poum Kop-Thom. Father, please convey my regards to the other Salesians and to the Christian community in Poi-Pet. May God, the Father of love, bless all of you.

Article Source: Fr. Un Son, EAPI, Philippines