Thailand: The happiest day of their young lives

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He used to say that the happiest day of his life was when he moved into his new forever home at the Father Ray Children's Home in Pattaya Thailand. But that changed when he was selected to attend the Papal Mass at Assumption Cathedral during the visit to Thailand by His Holiness Pope Francis.

The young teenager went to live at the Home when he was eleven years of age, and those previous early years before arriving in Pattaya were spent moving from one relative to another, and from one institution to the next. A devout Catholic, living among a majority of Buddhists, and an altar boy at Sunday Mass, being selected to attend the Papal Mass was, according to him, 'the best day of my life.' Unable to sleep the previous night, he was just too excited and it was a day off school and an early start to reach the cathedral at the given time.

Two students from the Technological College for People with Disabilities also attended, and one young man, living with severe cerebral palsy was personally blessed by Pope Francis, something he will never forget, and an experience he shared with his fellow students the following day at morning assembly.

During the short time that His Holiness was in the Kingdom of Thailand, he celebrated two Masses, one in the National Stadium in front of a crowd of 70,000 and the second to a smaller gathering at the Cathedral. Tickets were allocated by lottery, and while they were hard to get for the stadium Mass, they were even more difficult to obtain for the Mass at the cathedral. But luck was on the side of the Pattaya students as they were allocated seats in zone 1, reserved for wheelchairs, nearest to the altar and as close to the Holy Father as it was possible to be.

It was a day that will live forever in the memories of three young students from the Father Ray Foundation.

Watch a short film about the Fr Ray Foundation here: https://youtu.be/0FGS7sGZXOY

Visit the Fr Ray Foundation website: www.fr-ray.org/