Members of the ‘Shalom Society, a group of future-generation researchers at the Catholic Northeast Asia Peace Institute in one of the Dioceses, reading Pope Francis’ 2018 exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel". Reading is listening to invisible sounds and discovering hidden truths.
The columnist mentions that he is always reading. The act of reading is the biggest ritual in his life. Read society, read church, read people, read books and articles. Read newspapers, magazines, Facebook, and blogs. He doesn't remember when he stopped watching TV news? Pope Francis said not to do desk-based theology, but his reading rarely leaves his desk and computer monitor.
Reading is about interest and questioning how the world is moving. What is driving today's society into an undesirable state? How is the church operating in this era? What and how do we act in the name of faith? Where do people live and pay attention? How does human existence in time understand and respond to aging and death? Reading is about paying attention. Sometimes he is interested in things that reveal thoughts and perceptions, sometimes attracted to things that contain feelings and emotions, and sometimes events that include volitional and accidental acts.
Reading is the act of reading the times. Reading the Times includes reading the news. Today we live in a flood of news. In the post-truth era, most media do not aim for the common good. All news is processed and consumed within a commercial context and through partisan perspectives. Even serious and important incidents are treated with curiosity and marketability. Reading the news in this day and age calls for discernment. It is not easy to read with proper interest, delicate discernment, and honest reflection on the world amidst a flood of all kinds of information.
Reading the news is about interest and love for the world. He stopped reading portal news ( the way we access the news) for several years. Go directly to good media sites and read them. It is the minimum expression of willingness to identify and select news on one's own. There is too much news that is commercially or ideologically polluted and distorted. As a timid everyday person, he comforts himself that reading the right news through discernment and choice is an expression of honest love for the world.
Reading a person's inner self and emotions through reading poetry. What kind of perceptions and beliefs does an individual live with during his or her journey of life? From what perspective do you view the world, nature, people, objects, and events? With what emotions and attitude do you respond to things that come as 'fate' and coincidence? To the writer, nothing shows it better than poetry. Without poetry, how dull and empty his life would have been. Being able to live with faith and walk the path of life while reading poetry is a grace and blessing in his life.
What we must ultimately accomplish in this short journey of life is love and 'revolution'. Love in this era is reading, discernment, understanding, and empathy. Reading is listening to invisible sounds and discovering hidden truths. It is something that reaches him to the end even amid gaps and discrepancies. The revolution of this era is a renewal of beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles. A change in the way we live through faith is the revolution of our time. Are today’s churches and believers living a life of reading and change?
