We live in an age where religion has little influence on our daily lives. As a result, we are insensitive to the sacred and the holy. Nevertheless, they are present everywhere in human life. Where can we find them today?
He finds an interesting clue in ‘taking off shoes’— In Korean culture, it's something everybody does when entering a house. It means more than simply taking off shoes to enter a house doesn't it?
The ‘Final Document of the Asian Continental Assembly’ was published in March last year during the ongoing 16th World Synod of Bishops, and the document used the expression ‘taking off shoes’ to describe synodalitas. The document noted that Asians have a common practice of taking off shoes when entering a house or a temple, and stated that it is a beautiful sign of respect, an expression of awareness of the lives of those entering, and an expression of a deep awareness of the sacred.
It also means taking off your protective self and revealing your naked self. This applies not only to temples but also to most places where you enter without shoes. For example, entering someone else’s home is an expression of respect for that home and an awareness of its holiness. It is also a friendly response to the invitation and hospitality of the person living in that home.
He remembered the annual meeting of the Theological Commission (OTC) of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in Malaysia last May. In the middle of the meeting, our group was invited to a Thanksgiving festival in a community called Bunan. We arrived at the village and were led across the street with a band to the ‘long house’ where they lived. We took off our shoes to enter the longhouse, put on the necklaces they gave us and greeted each person one by one.
After the ceremony and greeting, we were accepted into the community. We participated in the festival with them and shared the food that was prepared. Their festival and food were imbued with holiness, and the liveliness of life was mixed everywhere in the house. For us, taking off our shoes meant being accepted into the community where they live, and sharing our lives as members of the community.
At the Diocesan Catholic University Seminary, we conduct home visits during the winter break. What we feel every time we visit a home is that all homes are sacred. This is because they are places of life that cannot be treated lightly and must be respected. The reason why homes are sacred is because they are places where life is conceived, born, and raised.
We must take off our shoes to enter. We must also take off our shoes when accompanying students who were born and raised there as a sign of the student’s sacredness. Taking off our shoes means treating each other as individuals, and living with the heart to respect, learn from, and be together with each other. It also means taking off our 'ornaments' and facing the other person with our naked appearance.
If people today have lost their sense of holiness and lost the way to treat people as holy, how about learning how to take off our shoes? If we learn how to respect holy places, how to approach holy places, and especially how to elevate, serve, and protect the mysterious and holy beings called humans as truly holy beings, wouldn’t our faith grow in holiness day by day?
