Meditation on water

Received two e-mails this past week that gave a teaching lesson from the 'way' of water. One has roots in Lao tzu, embellished by Korea and the other was taken from a Korean poster.

Although water has great strength it is humble and soft and from that we can learn.

Water is adaptable. If we put it in a square container it takes that shape, in a triangular shaped container it will become triangular. In every case it doesn't change its nature but adapts to the situation.

Water has great strength. Depending where it goes: it can make rice grow or slack the thirst of a deer. But it can also on its course break rocks and demolish mountains.

Water always flows from the higher to lower ending up in the wide ocean. Like water, when sociable, adaptable, and accepting, not hesitating but acting bravely before justice, like a rice plant that lowers its head when ripe, we will live with wisdom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A child in kindergarten on a picnic, asked her teacher: "Why does the stream make a noise when it flows?"

The teacher gave her attention to the stream listening intently, and agreed that the stream was making a noise.

The teacher on her return starting looking at all kinds of books to find an answer. She found that it was the uneven stones in the stream that was causing the beautiful sound.

A beautiful and mature personality also will have the gift of beautiful music with the 'stones' of adversity present in life.

Hopefully, this is the way we will see difficulties.

The Korean Zodiac

In the early days of discovery in Korea someone asked me for my zodiac sign and began counting on his fingers, telling me how old I was. I found this intriguing but didn't have enough language to ask how he did it. In time I did learn he was locating my zodiac sign within the list of twelve and making a calculated guess of my age, which was correct.

The counting starts on the ring finger where the finger joins the hand. It starts with the sign of the rat. From there you move to the middle finger where it joins the hand for ox, the index finger for tiger, on the index finger one goes to the first joint for rabbit, the second joint for dragon, and top of the of the index finger for snake, move to the top of the middle finger for horse, the top of ring finger for ram, the top of the little finger is monkey, the first joint going down is rooster, the second joint dog and where the little finger joins the hand you have pig.

Depending on the year you were born you have a 'Tee'. It repeats itself every 12 years; 2009 is the year of the Ox. It is a 60 year cycle, 10 celestial components are added to each of the 12 signs for a period of 10 years and since you have only 10 celestial signs you begin again with the the last celestial sign again in sequence until you reach the 60th year. In Korea the 6oth year, the hwangap, was an important birthday, few lived to make their 60th year.

When you see the list of the animals and remember your 'Tee' it is not difficult to surmise in some way what some would judge to be compatible and not compatible in marriage and in dealings with others and your relationship with the present sign of the Zodiac.They are quite different from western zodiac signs, easier to figure out and more fun to play with. The ram and ox do appear in the western zodiac, the only place they coincide.

How much of this influences the Koreans is difficult to know, but certainly it is an underpinning of the culture. You see the horoscopes in the daily paper as you do in the West, probably as important or not important as in the West. Christianity in time should be changing this dependence for many.

A Taegu Middle School Student

A Maryknoller living in Taegu, Fr. Robert M. Lilly, sent the following blog about a young student that he has known for many years . The family lives in the same apartment building; the mother at one time worked in the parish in which Fr. Robert was the pastor.

A 13- year-old Korean girl recently made news for getting a perfect score on the Internet-based T.O.E.F.L (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Reports headlined that the 7th grader at a Seoul middle school studied at home and had never attended "hagwan" (English teaching institutes)

The second place winner is equally remarkable, Chun Hye Kang, a student at Yeongnam International Middle School in Taegu took that prize, It was the first time that a student from a school outside the Seoul capitol city area was so recognized. It heartened English language students, heretofore, seemingly overlooked in national competitions, everywhere.

Chun, who had lived in England from the age of 5 and attended primary grades at a public school there scored full marks in each of the four sections of the T.O.E.F.L: listening, reading, speaking and writing. The youth returned to Korea in 2000 and found himself a stranger. Today he is more comfortable when he thinks in English, which he translates into Korean in his mind.He gives much credit to his school for his success.

The Yeongnam International Middle School where he studies is a Seventh Day Adventist private religious school with a history of educational assistance to Korea. It recognizes that English language teaching must evolve and offers a globalized approach to language education.
The interaction between student and teacher, which is the basis of formation builds in areas beyond rote memorization and contributes to a learning environment.

Chun Hye Kang excels at regional language test competition. Last week on November 25 he again captured 1st place in the Taegu-North Kyeong Sang yearly Provincial English test.

For the future he is interested in all aspects of science and hopes to achieve a place in the nation's scientific future.

Human Rights Sunday in Korea

The second Sunday of Advent is the 28th Human Rights Sunday in Korea. Since we are made in the image of God we should have respect for each other and show this in the way we live.

It is an absolute value and sadly to say the Catholic Times editorial says the Church in Korea has at times diluted its meaning.

The editorial mentions the many ways Korean society has trampled on these God given rights. The bishops' Justice and Peace Committee mentioned the indiscriminate plans for development, the Yongsan tragedy, discrimination in the work place, the 4 river development plans: few of the many ways of casting doubt on the dignity of the human person.

Not in an obvious manner, there is an individualism in our society that does not have concern for the weak and searches for its own good. The respect that we have for the weaker members of our society is a good yard stick of our maturity.

Catholics have an obligation to get involved when we see the human rights of the weak being trampled on.

Because human rights are relational, they can come into conflict. One person's right to work could interfere with another's right to a healthy environment. One person's right to private property could clash with another's right to food or shelter. Three (3) principles of Catholic social teaching should govern public decisions in such situations.

1. The needs of the poor take priority over the wants of the rich

2. The freedom of the dominated takes priority over the liberty of the powerful

3. The participation of marginalized groups takes priority over the preservation of a political order which excludes them

.

The above are taken from Catholic Social teaching. In Korea the ordinary layperson would not have the sensitivity to the plight of the weak and alienated. This is possibly the failure of those in pastoral work to teach but it is also in many cases not an area where the Catholics feel their Catholicism needs to be activated. We have many priests who are active but not all our parishioners look upon that activism with a benevolent eye. It may be a question of degree but the Catholics are not too upset with the problems of our society. After Vatican II, the theologians were discussing whether human rights were essential, constitutive, integral, or a fundamental part of our belief . A great deal of time and effort was expended but what ever name we give it, clearly it is an important part of Jesus' teaching.

Sister Hae-in Lee's December Letter

Yesterday a beloved Sister poet who is fighting cancer had an essay in the Chosun Ilbo dealing with her plans for the future. She is Sister Claudia Hae-in Lee, a member of the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters of Busan. She finished her chemotherapy and X-ray therapy and hopefully will return to health.

She is a best selling poet and admired by many in and outside the Catholic Church. Having gone through the difficulties of cancer treatment she sees life differently. It was not only her body that hurt but also her spirit. She meant to fight the cancer with a light heart but the spirit was not willing to follow; she was depressed and lonely. " She wants to live like the person who died yesterday, would have desired the next day." With this thought in her head although in pain , all seemed to change. She was beginning to live the first day of her new life. The following 4 paragraphs are the changes she hopes to make.

First, she will have more prayers of thanksgiving for what she has been given than prayers of petition. She will see more things to be thankful for in the time ahead. She will be more conscious of those sicker than she is and correspond and visit with them. Although she will not be of much help she will be able to read their hearts and share this for much personal happiness.

Second, she will see the ordinary things in life as miracles, she will train herself to be surprised, and wonder at all she sees. Every moment of every day is one to be celebrated. She will want to dance.

Third, she will work to have the presence of mind not to be embarrassed at her mistakes and faults and admit them freely. She will also be forgiving of those same mistakes in others and forgive.

Fourth, when angry and hurt she will try not to be agitated and remember that all will pass; accept all with a gentle and a calm mind. With difficult relationships she will remember she is a pilgrim made for eternity. What is it that I can't forgive, I can't understand? With this new outlook the darkness will disappear and her spirit will become bright, peace will embrace her.

This is a brief summary of the essay. I hope it is faithful to Sister's intention. It was a fruitful meditation for me and one I will return to many times in the future.

New Leader of the Korean Buddhists

The new head of Jogye Order, the biggest Buddhist group in Korea with 2,501 temples and 13,860 monks is Ven Jaseung. He has stated that he will work for a revival of Buddhism, the times need and the citizens will support: "make the order more open to the Buddhist community, make plans for providing care for aging monks and nuns, and to increase the scope and awareness of Korean Buddhism in Korea and internationally through education."

He mentioned the poll that was made in Korea under Protestant auspices placing Buddhism in third place in public confidence. "Buddhism to be born again with another face requires that the monks change," he said.

The day before he was installed as the head of the order he visited St. Joseph's Hospital to give financial assistance. The hospital is administered by the Catholic Church taking care of street people and sick travelers. He made the visit as a sign of willingness to dialogue with other religions and to see what he can learn from them. He envied the work that was being done and will be visiting some of the Buddhist facilities to serve in some capacity.

He mentioned the problems that the Buddhist had with the government last year. Buddhist- like, he said the government did not realize how detrimental their position was to Buddhism. He distinguished civil servants from the government saying the civil servants did not know what trouble they were causing by their favoritism.

He won the election with 91% of the votes. The largest in the history of the order.

A Dissertation on the Phenomena in Naju

A priest from the diocese of Kwangju has written a dissertation for a master's degree on the happenings in Naju: 'miracles' and 'private revelations' of Kim Julia, written up in this week's Catholic Times. The movement in Naju is still going strong even after the bishop has made it clear that Kim Julia is automatically excommunicated. The shrine is still getting visitors and strange happenings continue. This was the first time in Korean Catholic history that we had an excommunication promulgated by a bishop of a diocese. It is now being spread to non- believers by the proponents of Naju. There are also bishops and priests who continue to be attracted by Naju.

In his dissertation the priest makes clear it is not miracles and healings that constitute Christianity, but through the Cross we search for faith and love in our lives. The priest is the first to write a dissertation on Naju, academically searching for the truth. His keyword was to discern, giving attention to the Scriptures and Church teaching. Catholic Faith is not only a personal stance but public, when we stress our personal experiences and beliefs they have to be judged by the community that is Church.

The phenomena of Naju have never been approved by the Church. Even after the decision of the bishop they have decided to go their own way. They cling to the miracles and private revelations, attached to the sensible and external. He feels it is not only a problem with Naju but with the Korean Church and Catholics.

The efforts to make Catholicism part of the culture gives birth to these abnormalities, irritations that are experienced. The Church has to make an effort to get the followers to come back. He treats the subject of Naju with gentleness.

Naju should not be an incident that we forget or just pass over but a teaching moment for the Church. We should have a white paper on the incident and see it from many different angles with study and debate.

Scripture tells us you can tell the tree by the fruit- the external test of authenticity: is it in harmony with the Church's constant teaching? Are we dealing with maturity, sincerity, obedience and humility? Thirdly, whether the fruits of the Spirit follow- do we see love?

We the Church have to deepen our Faith by getting closer to Jesus and his word instead of looking for external phenomena to deepen faith. The bishops indicated that what we see externally as Catholicism today may not be a true sign of maturity. Externals are not easy to read, and not a good sign of where we are spiritually.