Chainarong Monthienvichienchai December 30, 2025
As the Holy Doors of the Jubilee Year 2025 begin to close, the Catholic world pauses to look back on a year marked by the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Throughout these months, countless stories have been told of major gatherings, pastoral initiatives, and global events that sought to embody this hope.
Yet, as this Holy Year draws to its conclusion, my own reflection turns not to grand stages or headline moments, but to a quiet village in northeastern Thailand, far from the centers of power and absent from most maps.
I am thinking of Thabom.
More than twenty-five years ago, I traveled alone to this remote village in Loei province, some 700 kilometers northeast of Bangkok. I went there as an educator to observe a new mission initiative. I remained as a witness to something far deeper, a quiet, persistent hope taking root.
As it was then, so it is now: Thabom stands at the “periphery” in every sense, geographically isolated, economically fragile, and educationally disadvantaged.
For generations, children here had little prospect of continuing their studies beyond primary school. Secondary education and the possibility of university belonged to another world altogether.
When the Sisters of the Religious of the Assumption decided to establish their community in Thabom in 2002, they were responding not only to a pastoral need, but to a biblical call:
“Enlarge the space of your tent… unsparingly lengthen the ropes and strengthen your pegs.” (Isaiah 54:2)
They stretched the Church’s tent to the margins, not through grand structures, but through faithful presence, education, and accompaniment.
In doing so, they became a hope for generations of village children who otherwise would have had none.Taking off our shoes
In much of Asia, removing one’s shoes before entering a home or temple is a gesture of reverence. In Thabom, I came to understand that I, too, needed to remove my shoes spiritually.
In stretching the Church’s tent to the margins, the Assumption Sisters became a source of hope for village children long denied opportunities beyond primary school. Photo by LiCAS News
I was reminded of God’s words to Moses:
“Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)
I realized that I had not come to bring God to Thabom. God was already there, present long before the first missionary arrived.
His presence was visible in the rice fields and family homes, in the quiet resilience of parents struggling to educate their children, and in the villagers’ generosity during moments of joy and grief alike.
In the classrooms, I encountered God in unexpected ways, in Buddhist teachers who respectfully refer to Our Blessed Virgin Mary of the Assumption as “Mother,” and in fragile students who slowly discovered their dignity through learning.
Education here was never merely academic; it was transformative. It told young people, often overlooked by society, that their lives mattered and that their future was worth believing in.A sacred exchange
Pope Francis, who proclaimed the Jubilee 2025, has repeatedly reminded the Church that a Jubilee is meant to foster a “genuine personal encounter with the Lord.”
In Thabom, such encounters unfolded quietly through what can only be described as a sacred exchange.
The Sisters came to serve, but they were also welcomed, taught, and transformed by the people. Filipino and Vietnamese missionaries, Thai students and villagers, Catholic and Buddhist alike, gradually became companions on the same journey.
Here, the words of Saint Paul found flesh-and-blood expression:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek… for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
In this small village, divisions of religion, nationality, and social status gave way to shared humanity.
The mission taught that real transformation is not measured by buildings erected or numbers recorded, but by hearts awakened and futures opened, especially through education that restores hope.
Listening to the whisper
Now, as a journalist, I have learned that while the world’s crises shout for attention, God’s work often speaks in a whisper. One student leader from Assumption Antipolo School in the Philippines, who visited Thabom earlier this year, remarked, “Heaven isn’t a place; it’s where God’s work is done.”
In Thabom, that work unfolds slowly and faithfully, in daily presence, patient teaching, and small gestures of love. It is seen in a young student offering her last packet of snacks to a visitor, not from abundance, but from her very core.
As the Church now steps beyond the Jubilee Year, we are reminded to “hold fast to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)
Thabom has taught me that hope is not a distant promise or an abstract idea. It is the ground on which we stand when we approach the “other” with reverence, humility, and bare feet.
The Holy Doors in Rome may be closing, but in the rice fields of Thabom, and in the lives of children who now dare to dream of college and a different future, the door of hope remains wide open.
Chainarong Monthienvichienchai is a founding member of the LiCAS News Board of Governors. For the past two decades, he has served as Vice Chairman of the Association of Catholic Education Council of Thailand. He was the world president of UNDA, the International Catholic Association for Radio and Television, founded in 1928, which merged with OCIC (International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisuals) in 2001 to form SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication.
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