Priests serving across northern and central Thailand were urged to renew their missionary vocation through humility, obedience, and closeness to the people during a spiritual retreat led by Father Camillo Mongkol Charoentham, SCJ, in the Diocese of Nakhon Sawan on May 20.
The monthly retreat gathered diocesan clergy for a day of reflection focused on love, missionary commitment, and spiritual renewal amid the demands of pastoral ministry.
Fr. Mongkol, a member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram, centered his reflections on the congregation’s spirituality of total surrender to God’s will, inspired by Hebrews 10:7: “I am ready, Lord; I am willing to do your will.”
“The essence of being a priest is not personal ability or achievement,” Fr. Mongkol told the participants. “God must always come first. Our priesthood and ministry are gifts chosen by Him.”
He stressed that priestly vocation is rooted not in personal ambition but in trustful surrender to God’s greater plan.
“This response to God means allowing His plan to unfold in our lives,” he said, encouraging priests to deepen their trust in divine providence.
Founded in France in 1832 by St. Michael Garicoïts, the Bétharram congregation arrived in Thailand in 1951 after many missionaries were expelled from China during the communist revolution. Since then, the congregation has worked among remote highland communities in northern Thailand, particularly within the Diocese of Chiang Mai.
Throughout the retreat, Fr. Mongkol organized his reflections around three themes: placing God first, embracing obedience without conditions, and recognizing diversity as a source of strength within the Church.
He challenged priests to practice what he described as “immediate obedience” through acting without delay, accepting God without conditions, and remaining faithful even amid hardship.
“When we recognize what is good and what God is asking of us, we must respond immediately,” he said.
Fr. Mongkol also emphasized that authentic priestly ministry flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and remains rooted in service to the poor, abandoned, and marginalized.
“All of this is driven by the Heart of Jesus,” he explained, “so that His love and mercy may truly reach those most in need.”
Reflecting on unity within the Church, Fr. Mongkol said diversity should not be viewed as division but as a source of collective strength.
“Unity is a blessing from God,” he said. “Differences do not divide us; they become a source of strength.”
Using the image of water forming an ocean, he compared the Church to countless small acts of service united in Christ.
“A single drop may appear small and powerless, but when countless drops come together, they become a vast ocean,” he said. “In the same way, when each priest offers his life and ministry in Christ, together they become a stream of blessings for the Church.”
Perhaps the retreat’s strongest challenge came when Fr. Mongkol reminded priests that Christ depends on human presence to reach people.
“If we do not walk, visit, go out, and be present among the people, then Jesus cannot reach them through us,” he said.
He urged clergy not to remain confined within routines or comfort zones, but to accompany people in their joys, sufferings, struggles, and hopes.
“If we refuse to go out and share the lives of our brothers and sisters, the miracle of God’s love may never touch those waiting outside,” he added.
Several priests described the retreat as a deeply renewing spiritual experience.
“This retreat has become for me a powerful step toward personal conversion,” one priest shared.
The Diocese of Nakhon Sawan, established in 1967 as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Bangkok, covers 13 provinces across central and northern Thailand.
Beyond its pastoral ministry in urban and rural communities, the diocese has long accompanied ethnic minority groups living in mountainous border regions, many of whom historically practiced animist traditions.
For more than four decades, the diocese has also provided pastoral and humanitarian support to refugees and migrant communities from Myanmar, particularly in Tak Province and the border town of Mae Sot, where clergy, catechists, and religious congregations continue to operate educational, counseling, and relief programs for vulnerable families.
