Friday, July 24, 2009

Man's Worst Disease

The meditation below is taken from Fr. John Cioppa's In His Own Words.

Once in an interview with a reporter, Mother Teresa said that for all kinds of diseases there are medicines and cures. We have almost eradicated leprosy and we have medicines for TB and malaria.But there is one terrible disease she said which I don't think can ever be cured.That is the disease of being unwanted. Every human being wants to be loved. Not a cheap love, but a deep love, a love of being accepted for what I am. A baby who is not welcomed is often ill. A student who does not feel accepted will not learn. A worker who is not accepted by his colleagues will suffer ulcers. A Religious who is not accepted by her community will never be happy.

Acceptance means that people with whom I live give me a feeling of self-respect, a feeling that I am worthwhile, that I am good. They are happy that I am who I am. They don't demand that I be someone else. They don't insist that I be perfect. Each of us is born with many potentialities, but unless they are drawn out by the touch of acceptance, they will remain dormant. Acceptance does not mean that I deny the defects in someone or say that everything he does is beautiful. Only when I accept a person can I really see his defects. People who are not accepted crave , long for it and will do anything to get it. They boast in order to get praise. They exaggerate because they feel inferior and they tend to be rigid and afraid to risk... If I don't experience trust: being trusted and trusting others, my life becomes empty.

I am sure we have all experienced this lack of acceptance at times in our lives. Is there an answer to all of this? There is. And this is going to sound simplistic . But it is a genuine realization that I am accepted by Godㅡas I amㅡ as I am at this very moment and not as I should be. God doesn't demand that we be perfect before He loves us. He doesn't even demand that we be good. He just asks that we trust Him believe in Him, and accept His love.

Many of us spend our whole lives doing many things to build up merit so God will love us more. We believe that the more "I do" the more God will love me. We cannot earn love. Love is a gift from God. We cannot do anything to make God love me. He loves us already and He cannot love us any more because His love is perfect. "In this love, not that we loved God but that He loved us.... We love God because He first loved us." (1 Jn. 4:10) It is hard to believe but God knows my name. In the book of Isaiah God says: "See I have branded you on the palms of my hands." (Is 48:1216) Imagine that! God can never look at His hand without seeing my name and thinking of me. How many times have we said the words, "God loves me". But for most of us deep down in our hearts we have some questions. Does He really love me with no strings attached? Just as I am? With all of my faults? Let me answer. Yes, He does and most of us will spend the rest of our lives trying to understand and open our hearts to accept that love. It is called Faith.

At the end of the interview with Mother Teresa, the reporter said, "Now I understand why you gave up everything to work with the poor hoping that through your care , concern and love they might realize that they are loved, accepted and beautiful people."

II Vatican Council- Reflecting on the Past

Fr. O Kyeong Hwan's words in this weeks Catholic Bulletin.

An Ecumenical Council is a world wide meeting of the Catholic bishops. In the 2000 year history of the Catholic Church we have had 21. The first council was Nicaea 325 and the last one was the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The Second Vatican Council was the first Council that the Korean Bishop have attended.

Fr. O has selected four areas in which we as Church should reflect and renew our lives taking the documents of Vatican II as a starting point.

The first is taken from the Decree on Ecumenism. #3 "In subsequent centuries more widespread disagreements appeared and quite large Communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Churchㅡ developments for which, at times, men of both sides were to blame." "St. John has testified: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1Jn. 1:10). #7 "This holds good for sins against unity.Thus, in humble prayer, we beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive those who trespass against us. "

The second refection is taken from Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World. #36 "Consequently, we cannot but deplore certain habits of mind, sometimes found too among Christians, which do not sufficiently attend to the rightful independence of science. The arguments and controversies which they spark lead many minds to conclude that faith and science are mutually opposed. "

The third reflection: Religious Freedom #12 "In the life of the People of God as it has made its pilgrim way through the vicissitudes of human history, there have at times appeared ways of acting which were less in accord with the spirit of the gospel and even opposed to it."

The fourth reflection is taken from The Church Today. #19 "Yet believers themselves frequently bear some responsibility for this situation( Atheism). For, taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety of causes including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism.To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine , or are deficient in their religious, moral or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion." #21 "This faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer's entire life, including its worldly dimensions, and by activating him toward justice and love, especially regarding the needy."

It is good for us to reflect on our past and acknowledge that many of the problems we have in the Church and in Society are in areas of our life where we have not been faithful to our calling as disciples of Jesus.