by Tamara Pastorelli
Phra Mahathongrattana Thavorn, a Thai Buddhist monk known as Luce Ardente, passed away on 10 November after a long illness. Among his last wishes was to be buried in Loppiano, the little town where, about 30 years ago, he experienced Christian love and the spirituality of unity.
He arrived in November 1995. He was just over 50 years old and had been a Buddhist monk for over 30 years. He was accompanied by his Grand Master, Ajahn Thong, and his disciple Somjit. Thus, the dream of Phra Mahathongrattana Thavorn came true.
He had come to know the Focolare Movement at the end of 1994 when, after agreeing to participate in World Youth Day in Manila and to meet Pope John Paul II, he spent a few days in the little tpwm of Peace in Tagaytay, Philippines. Impressed by the practical nature of the focolarini’s love and their spirituality, he expressed his desire to learn more and to meet the founder, Chiara Lubich. So he was directed to Loppiano.
At Claritas
When he arrived, he was welcomed, among others, by Fr Amedeo Ferrari, a Conventual Franciscan from the province of Northern Italy who, at that time, was in charge of the Claritas Spirituality Centre for religious, where the monk spent two months. ‘His coming to Loppiano was a somewhat extraordinary grace,’ he says, ‘not only for us religious and for the Loppiano, but also for the whole Movement, marking the beginning of a new relationship with Thai Buddhism.’
Among the witnesses of that period was Luigi Butori, a Focolarino from Lucca, Tuscany, with a good knowledge of Thai, who was asked to translate to facilitate communication between the monk and the religious: “I remember that some of them gave him vitamin C tablets for his cold, another gave him a woollen shirt to wear next to his skin. They turned up the heating so that he wouldn’t suffer too much from the cold, or they left his monk’s robe washed and ironed outside his door in the morning. So, one day he asked, ‘Why have you done all this for me?’ The answer was: “Because we love you!” This upset him and he tried to respond by starting to set the table, clean the floor and do small jobs that he had never done in Thailand.”
His relationship with Chiara Lubich
During his stay in Loppiano, Phra Mahathongrattana Thavorn wrote to Chiara Lubich every day, calling her ‘Mamma Chiara’. He told her what he was learning about Loppiano and the insights he gained from meditating with Fr Amedeo.
‘Buddhism is the religion of wisdom, Islam is the religion of peace, but Christianity is the religion of love,’ he confided to her one day. ‘I thought it was the religion of schools for the rich and hospitals. Instead, I realised that Christianity is the religion of love. I hadn’t understood that in Thailand.’
For their part, the Claritas religious were struck by his fidelity to moments of common prayer, his profound recollection and his immediate adherence to living mutual love. ‘To guests who came to visit on Sundays, he often said that Chiara had founded “the university of love” with Loppiano,’ recalls Fr Amedeo. For us, religious from various institutes, his presence was an opportunity to expand our hearts.‘ He explains: ’Thanks to him, we who had studied theology discovered that in order to live a true interreligious dialogue, a profound conversion was necessary: to put charity before the truths studied in theology, that “ante omnia” that St. Peter proposes to Christians in his Letter.”
On 17 January 1996, his birthday, Phra Mahathongrattana Thavorn met Chiara Lubich for the first time, fulfilling the desire he had expressed a few months earlier. ‘She did not talk to me about her Movement right away, but first asked me, “You are a Buddhist monk, could you tell me about Buddhism?”’ In her spontaneous simplicity and openness, the phrase won him over, so much so that, years later, recalling that episode, he said: ‘She humbly asked me how I was, how it had gone in Loppiano and about my experience as a Buddhist monk. She loved first.’
Luce Ardente, apostle of universal brotherhood
It was on that occasion that Lubich proposed, at his request, two possible new names to symbolically mark the beginning of a life journeying with the focolare family: Amore Ardente (Burning Love) or Luce Ardente (Burning Light). He chose the latter because, he said, ‘“light” corresponds to the light of Chiara’s Ideal and also of Buddhism.’ .
‘His stay in Loppiano in 1995 was a fundamental stage in the life of Luce Ardente,’ testifies Luigi Butori, who, in the following years, continued with him in Thailand the experience of dialogue of life that began at Claritas. From that moment on, upon his return to Thailand, he became a true apostle of universal brotherhood, interreligious dialogue, Loppiano and the focolare in the community of Buddhist monks.”
After that first experience, Luce Ardente often returned to Loppiano, most recently in 2018, on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit. Before his death last November, he expressed his wish to be buried here, in what he considered his second home.
