Overcoming Difficulties

On the opinion page of the Peace Weekly is a column by the four-fingered pianist Lee Hee-ah (Hyacintha), who writes about how she copes with physical disability and discrimination.

I love baby Jesus, she begins, because, like me, he is small. He was born in a manger so all could  touch him. The angels sang: "Glory to God in high heaven, peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests." God was not loving those who live in palaces, she points out, but the shepherds in the  fields.

Some months ago a writer from a Korean TV station came to see me, she says. Years ago when I was in elementary school, he made a documentary about me titled: "I Can Do It." The documentary moved the hearts of  many. This time he is writing a book about what people would like to have inscribed on their tombstones. The inscription I would like is "I am small but happy." Usually, journalists who interview me ask: what makes me sad.  Though six of my fingers are missing and I'm short and have low intelligence and people make fun of me--all of which is true. I have not once been sad because of those things.

Because my mother has 6 more fingers than I do is no concern to me.  I thank God for the two fingers on each hand that I have.  I wrote in my diary, when I was in the third grade, that those four fingers were my treasure.  Because I do not have any legs and am small of stature does not make me sad.  My best fans are the children I can look at face to face, and share my love with them, which gives me great joy.

Because of my low intelligence, I can't use figures well, but that isn't a problem. I have other ways of handling that issue. When I go overseas with my mother, she has difficulty with jet lag, but since I have no interest in numbers, when I finish the performance, I go to bed and wake up at dawn. I thank God for this.

Since my features are different from others, they call me an alien, a monster, scissor-fingers, crab hands, but when children make fun of me with these names, I do not become upset. Children are honest; they express what they  see.  My appearance is unique, which draws  attention, but I am thankful for what I do have, for I am able to make God better known.

I have been given the ability to love myself with a joyous heart; I am happy for that. I have a beautiful voice with which I can praise God  and transmit his words; I am happy also for that. Since I am small like baby Jesus, people can easily approach me to hug me. I am able to deal with  pain  and endure the difficulties that come. And I give thanks to God that those who come to see me play only because of my disability may often leave encouraged to accept more willingly their own difficulties. 

Each day at three o'clock I  pray the mercy prayer, and thank sinless Jesus for the passion that he suffered, which enables me to endure all the difficulties I have experienced because of his great love.

Jesus, the  light of mercy, has taken this small pianist, Hyacintha, as his bride. I take you, the baby Jesus, as the one who loves me, who being small, and I being small can more easily share our love for one another. With my small body and soul, I can offer everything  to God, my father. This gives me joy and happiness.

Making the Truth Known

The freedom to express ourselves freely in a democratic society is taken for granted. Also often taken for granted is the freedom given the mass media to portray sex, love and romance in any manner it pleases, which, according to a  specialist in the field, frequently means indulging in outright lies. He presents his views in a recent issue of the Inchon diocese Catholic bulletin. 

Though there is no way we can censor or force our opinions on others, nor should we want to, he says what we need to do is have the necessary  knowledge, maturity and  courage to distinguish between what is good and what is bad, what is for the common good of humanity and what is not. Because the mass media has such a great influence in modern societies, we need to be especially careful, he says, in making judgments based on what we see, hear and read.

The way the mass media handles matters of sex is obviously creating problems for faithful Christians. Seeing sex as only a tool for pleasure  is very strong in our society. There is a desire on the part of many for more education on sex which today often means: pleasurable and safe sex, using all the tools necessary to prevent pregnancy. "Isn't everybody doing it" is the common refrain; are we are not, many are saying, living in the new age?

The methods used to convey this message are top of the line: contents are beautifully constructed, well explained, and the contexts are  made attractive, which explains the success of this lax and false mindset concerning sex for the last 50 years. Our specialist would like more help available to young people, particularly by educating for media literacy. Ways have to be found, he says, to teach young people the truth about such an important matter.

He refers to a movie popular some years ago, Speedy Scandal. The movie tells the story of a high school student, an unmarried mother with a son, who is a piano prodigy. She herself has dreams of being a successful vocalist, and when finally achieving her dreams is shown as supremely happy--all of it entertainingly presented.  Over 8 million Koreans saw the movie. But is this how it is in real life? he asks. Is this what most of the unmarried mothers experience in our Korean society? Isn't it more of a lie than it is a truthful representation of life?

It is easy for our young people to see the merely physical aspect of sex and to internalize what they see. The attractive person on the screen had an easy and successful time with her unmarried state and her life with her son. This is the message that is conveyed, but the truth has to be done in a similarly attractive way, which is not easy. The way to deal with lies is to tell the truth. What happens to those who become pregnant in middle and high school has to be conveyed.

He mentions that he finds this kind of movie sinful because they are doing much harm to society. The commercial world of images is not the world we live in. The re-constructed world they present in movies, dramas and music videos often only show us the intentions, goals and values of their creators. Educating for media literacy would show the difference between this world of fantasy and the real world. The fantasy world of sex in the media needs to be exposed and this task, he believes, is the mission of our age.

Power of Words to Change Hearts

In the editor's column of the Peace Weekly, a member of the editorial staff reflects on his work as a writer, which includes reading the articles and columns of others; they give him, he says, an appreciation  of much good, useful and stimulating writing.

Often the readers of the Peace Weekly are also the writers he reads. We have a natural tendency, he says, to believe that good articles are written  by good people.  However, it is not rare that those who write good things are not doers of the good things they write about. This is seen most often in journalists who make their living by writing, he says. To put it simply, those who write are often not living in the manner they encourage their readers to live. The writing is one thing; the life they lead is another, neither one having much influence on the other.

When writing an article, he admits that there have been not a few times that he felt uneasy and even embarrassed by what he wrote, but he gave himself high points for the quality of the writing. His excuse? He says he was at least trying to live in the way he wrote.

The Peace Weekly, in a contest for its readers, asked them to submit articles on their faith experiences. 125  were submitted, all of which he read. These were for the most part not written by competent writers,  and much effort was needed in reading them; the expressions were awkward, the line of thought did not always follow coherently, nor were they expressed smoothly. The writers were for the most part amateurs at writing. He realized, however, that writing was only one means of expressing what was felt inside, and the lack of ability to write did not prevent them from expressing what they felt. Truth gave them the strength, he says, to attempt to express what even the best of writers would have difficulty in expressing. 

There were more than a few pieces that caused him, he said, to bow his head, tears coming to his eyes. It was a lesson that clearly showed  him that what is written can mirror the heart and mind of the person writing. There was one common note in all the different pieces, he said. It was the experience of pain, either of the  body or the soul.  They accepted it as if directly from God and through the pain they were able, they said, to encounter God, and by faith to overcome the pain. Whether they  recovered from the sickness or not was not their biggest concern. Their encounter with God was what was important. The encounter was healing for the soul, even if it never manifested in the body.

Granted that this is true, there are few people who want the physical pain.  The columnist said he received much consolation from reading the submitted contest articles.  In his own life there would be little usable material, he says, for a story about a faith experience. His life has gone along rather smoothly, for which he is thankful. In the future, if he is faced with suffering, will these difficulties, he asks himself, be shortcuts in meeting God?  Can't we consider them a grace?  He doesn't know when this will come, if it ever does, but he feels he has received a form of immunization by his reading.

The readings have helped him to see that God is closest to those in pain. He thanks all who have submitted their stories and for allowing him to see in their material how another's faith experience, when expressed from the heart, can bring the one reading in closer contact with his own heart, with his own spirituality. 

Confucian Civility

The columnist in the Peace Weekly writes about an unnerving event that occurred recently in an elegant hotel. She had invited someone to join her for an evening meal at the hotel dinning room. Everything was proper, the waiters looked and acted appropriately, when suddenly, within this atmosphere of elegance, a woman entered the room leading a child by the hand and dressed in pajamas. The columnist confesses that at some level of consciousness she was concerned about the impression this would make on her dinner guest. The woman who came into the dinning room with her nightclothes was giving, she felt, a distorted image of the Korean culture, though the  possible affect on the persons in the dinning room, apparently was of little concern to the woman. 

Considering the cultural standards of our country, can we be unconcerned, the columnist asks, about the  clothes we are wearing? Should we be unconcerned, for instance, if we see someone riding in an elevator, with a bucket of garbage, dressed in pajamas, or walking in their pajamas in the  corridors, or climbing the stairs, smoking? We have a tendency, she says, to overlook the connection of civility with the clothes we wear.

In Confucianism, the Chinese character 'Ye' 禮 (On the left is the icon for heaven and on the right a container on a table filled with food from the harvest which is being offered to heaven) has many English expressions: social custom, manners, courtesy, rites, propriety, politeness. (I would also add 'civility'.) In Confucian philosophy,  'Ye' refers to an important means of keeping order in society. It is the strength that supports society and guarantees support for our  place in society. Confucius, the columnist says, stressed the importance of 'Ye'  to his son. A person, he said, that does not know 'Ye' will find it difficult to put down roots into his society.  'Ye' is the stepping stone that keeps us rooted firmly in the relationships in which we find ourselves.  It is the way we practice 仁: the character for benevolence. ( A man on the left, two  on the right, the relationship between human beings, in other words, humaneness.) 

She tells us that Confucianism teaches children from an  early age that what is not 'Ye' should not be seen, heard, said or done. She does say that this seems difficult to do but the intent is to bring all our behaviors under the guidance of 'Ye' wherever we may be.

In society a person who only considers himself is not going to be liked. Basic to 'Ye' is to have a concern for others, which also includes, she says, being concerned about how the clothes we wear in public will affect others. The columnist feels that this concern should be a  duty of all adults in society. The clothes we wear are going to determine, she believes, how we will be received by others. She hopes adults    will explain this to the younger generation. 

This kind of talk is not easily understood outside of an Asian culture, for informality is for many a virtue, and in the West we like to show our creativity by not following the customs we have inherited. Civility is another area of life that an Asian would be more sensitive than those in the West, but this is changing; the influence of the West has already done much to change the thinking of many in Korea.

The influence that 'Ye' has had on Catholicism is  easily seen by attending a Mass in a Korean Church. Understanding  'Ye' as etiquette and civility and as an example of the Golden Rule are all part our Christian heritage.  Pope Leo XIII is quoted as saying: "Civility and urbanity in customs strongly predispose minds to attain wisdom and to follow the light of truth."

Searching for Wholeness

A priest takes as his subject, in a recent issue of the Kyeongyang magazine, the healing of the whole person. With extensive experience in counseling, he is now helping those in need at a retreat center. The aim of counseling, he says, is to encourage mental and spiritual healing.

Many advances have been made in the field of psychology, however,  clinical studies have not discovered any one particular method that is more successful than any other. The reason for this difficulty, he believes, is that from the beginning there was a failure in not seeing the troubled person as a whole person. From his perspective, he feels most counselors have left out the spiritual dimension.

The person, he reminds us, is made up of body, mind and spirit. Besides the psychological needs, there are spiritual needs and bodily needs--all of which must be considered. There is a mutual correspondence between the spiritual and the psychological. We need  psychological help to grow in  spiritual self-renunciation and in transcendence.

The first requirement, he says, is to discover who we are as persons. St. Paul tells the Christians "May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire: spirit , soul and body, irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Thess. 5:23). Customarily, we are content to split a person into a soul and body dichotomy. What we see is the body, the external dimension, and what we don't see is the internal dimension, the soul. In a way, this view is correct, he says, but it is not what we learn from revelation: What makes us who we are and forms our personality are the body and the  mental faculties, our feelings, thoughts, judgments, reasoning, and will. The spiritual dimension allows us to know God, to become intimate with him, and to have life in him.

The maturity of a human being relies on the development of the whole person. "Grace builds on nature" is a maxim that comes down to us from the  Scholastic period. God meets us according to where we are in our present mental and spiritual maturity, meaning our natural and psychological  dimensions. The Holy Spirit works in harmony with our human development, whatever that development might be, in giving us his graces. This does not rule out a person having a distorted type of spirituality: cliquish and divisive, or with a fundamentalist and fanatical attitude, which are signs of immaturity.

A person with a mature Christian spirituality discovers in God who they are, and through the self discovers God. In the Scriptures we are told what a mature spirituality is "...till we become one in faith and, in the knowledge of God's Son, form that  perfect man who is Christ come in full stature" (Eph. 4:13).

 

Truth is achieved through body, mind and spirit. A Christian does not separate these three. We work to unite the three in a harmonious whole. However, growth in one area does not mean we will necessarily have growth in the other. We will never be satisfied in our spiritual growth.

How does God draw us to him? And how does he love us? are questions we will continue to ask ourselves. But when we realize that God is always working with his Spirit in our lives, we will have an integral  appreciation  of our reality. We then will have the right holistic relationship with our psychological make up, with our work, with others, with our material existence, and with all of existence. Spirituality includes all of this, and not only during our time in prayer, worship and religious exercises.  God works in all that we do.
  

Steps Towards Christian Unity

 

Christians, making up about one-third of the population in Korea, are the largest religious group in the country, though including many varieties of beliefs. The editorial in the Catholic Times mentions that the efforts to overcome these divisions have been far from satisfactory. One of the biggest obstacles  is the competition to gain more adherents.

Christianity has grown and continues to grow, but instead of experiencing unity and cooperation among the various Christian faiths, more attention is given to increasing numbers, stressing the differences and considering other Christians as belonging to another religion, further separating Christian from Christian.

The aim of Christianity is to be of service to the world but the archbishop of Gwangiu, the president of the Episcopal Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue, mentioned in his sermon at the prayer meeting of 11 religious groups: "We are more interested in increasing the numbers of our congregations, which we are able to see, than making the God we can't see known. We need to ponder if we are not intent in getting glory for ourselves."
 
The divisions among the Christians is not only a problem in evangelization but also very much contrary to the essence of Christianity.  When we are not able to treat each other as brothers and sisters, we can't expect to speak convincingly to the larger society about the need for harmony and cooperation.

During the Unity Octave, 11 religious groups did get together to talk about the   problems that prevent closer cooperation among the various groups. It was agreed that discussions in the future on achieving unity would be more theologically based than they have been in the past. And there was also agreement that not only should there be concern for all the religious groups in the country but there should be concern as well for the society at large, so that we all can work together toward the common good. This would be a sign to all of how earnest the Church is in its service to society.

The Apostolic Delegate, in his remarks to the group, said "We need to respect the gifts that God has given to others and, while remaining close to our beliefs and our mission, prayerfully search for the unity that Christ wants us to achieve."
 
The is the first time the religious groups have come together to prepare prayers and a common paper for the Unity Octave, a good omen that the work for unity will continue in the future. What is desired is difficult, but the intention expressed by all of working toward the goal, stressing the need for cooperation, should give us hope for the future.

Education in Search of Wisdom

During a college lecture a professor mentioned that over 10 percent of the students in his class habitually nod off to sleep. High school teachers, with words of condolence, said this should  not cause excessive grief,for in their classes only 10 percent  are listening. It is easy to see those who have given up on their classes: they are the ones with their head down on the desk, preferring to do academy work, or to read a book.

After exams many of the classes are no longer devoted to study but to watching videos or some other pastime. A professor working in the research center of the Catholic University writes, in the Kyeongyang magazine, about the difficulties in educating our students in today's world. Teachers are not to be  blamed, she says, and then she goes on to discuss some of the reasons why this is so. 

Most school curricula are devoted to following the standards set by the government.  Only about 10 percent of school time is spent in creative activities. There has been a change, she says, in recent years but still the amount of study is still small. She believes the education is geared to give them capabilities that will be helpful for the future but she would like more time spent on studies that answer the needs of the students, such as: What do they like...What do they want to study...What are their goals in life...Who am I? Time now spent in these pursuits, she says, is not sufficient.

In elementary school, when students are asked to pick a crayon to color with, you usually find most students looking at the students next to them to see what they have selected. When asked to write about what they want to do in the future, they will usually ask their father for help in deciding. Students mostly don't know what they like and what they are good at. This is not an easy matter to settle, she admits, and even at this stage in her life she says it may take a life time to find out. But efforts have to be made, she insists, to allow students the time to reflect on these important personal matters. 
 
She feels that knowing oneself is necessary if we are going to love who we are. Asking ourselves questions will help in the process: What are my strong points and their limits? Why am I happy or angry or don't like to study? Why do I dislike it when the teacher talks to my friend? and similar questions. This kind of teaching is available, she admits, but it is taking time away from the regular schedule; even the parents do not understand the need for this.

Parents are willing to do everything for the happiness of their children. And yet they do not ask their children what will make them happy. Isn't this the reason our children and young people, when judged by the index of subjective happiness, are ranked so low compared to other countries? 

She quotes a saying she once saw and liked: "Happiness comes when we get rid of the reasons for our unhappiness, and then, though indirectly, we will attain the fruits of happiness. This will require looking at ourselves honestly and not deviating from the desire to attain our goal." She  herself does not have the happiness and peace she wants, she says. That is why she likes the quote's motivating message, and why she wants her students to have time to reflect on who they are.

The words from Wisdom 6:12 gives her courage: "Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.  She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of our desires; whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate."