Today is Pentecost the birth of the Church.We can see the feast day as the reversal of the results of the tower of Babel. On that day we have speaking and communicating with other people and the appearance of tongues of fire. God's desire is to see his creation communicating and living in harmony with others, an extremely difficult task and yet the mission that we have been given.
Regional problems are present in most countries of the world; the
Catholic Times' editorial brings to the readers' attention the
Youngnam and Honam historical conflict. Daegu and Gwangju would be the
metropolitan cities, respectively.
Back in the the
time of the three kingdoms of Korea: Baekje and Silla made up what we now know as the southern part of the Korean peninsular.
Baekje was overcome by Silla and in government and society they were
ostracized, no longer the case, but the
discrimination continues even to this day.
In society at large, efforts have been made to come
together in academic, literary and artistic ways to overcome the deep
seated prejudices in society.This has not been the reality in the past
but it's an effort we see at present. Where is the Church in this
effort? Is a question the editorial asks. Not easy, says the editorial,
to find efforts of the Church.
Both
groups of students, from the two dioceses of the country, remembered the
movement for democracy on May 18th. Both joined a walking pilgrimage to the 5:18
Democratization Movement Archives, historic sites, and the democratic
cemetery where they had a Mass celebrated together. Meetings of the two sections of the
country should be a common event. Bruises from local feelings should not
be allowed to continue beyond the older generation.
What
was the teaching of Pope Francis' visit to Korea last year? Love, peace, consolation, forgiveness, reconciliation, hope, compromise,
sharing.... In order to live these teachings we have to meet one
another.
Local
sentiments and feelings are natural but when they harm the common good it has reached an impermissible level-- we have to eliminate it. Politicians and the mass media should especially be sensitive to this malady, and
the Church make known this disregard in public life. We
are beginning a time for national reconciliation, a new era. The
Church should be involved. We who want to see the justice of God spread, meeting each other, is the way we grow in affection. The
editorial ends with a wish people of faith find the
opportunity for the two areas of the country to meet often.
We all came into the world empty handed and will leave empty handed.
These words start the article in the pastoral bulletin that had been
taken from Osho an Indian mystic. The article deals with the desire to
be number one but does it bring happiness?
The world tells us to grasp what you can, get more than the other-- it can be money
or virtue, this world's goods or the other world's goods. Be
attentive or otherwise you will lose what you have. Don't let it be taken and make sure your taking. We have heard this from early years. From the
time in school to college we have heard the need to compete.
Real
education does not teach us to compete but to cooperate. Fight to be
first is not what is taught. Do not compare yourselves with others, Be a
creator, a person who loves, be a happy person. Be better than another
be number one, and be happy, is not what is being taught.
You
will not absolutely not be happy being number one. Being number one
will require a great deal of hardship, and in the process your body will
be accustomed to this. To become a president or statesman will require
a lot of hardship. That hardship becomes a second nature. That is all that is known. Worry and anxiety have become a way of life. You
have become number one but you are impatient, fearful, you can't
change the desire to be number one.
Real education
does not teach you to be number one. Whatever you do the results are
not important you are meant to enjoy what you are doing. That is what the
artist aspires to. There are two ways to paint. One is
to imitate another person but than what you paint becomes a style of another, you are imitating. It is not you that is painting. You want
to be recognized as an artist. In this case you are not absorbed in what you are doing, and will not
enjoy what you are doing. You are only interested in success. You are
on an ego trip.
A real artist has to rid herself of
the ego. He needs to get rid of the desire to be famous and selfishness, and lose oneself in the painting. It is then that the beauty of the universe
will enter into the painting, and your brush and hands will make something beautiful. Egoism will not help you
to make a masterpiece but without ego and with abnegation you will have what is necessary. Jesus reminded us of this with: the first will be last and the
last first.
In a bulletin for priests, the writer wonders if society is headed for serious confusion. People are condemning with 'swords', under the banner of justice, and enjoying
it. The writer has an eerie feeling
towards what is happening. Even though those who have been singled out
for the 'sword' for their wrong doing and immorality, they are
wielded cruelly.
He doesn't feel that the condemnation
is for the betterment of society but rather like the hunter who has
hit his prey with the arrow, those on the sidelines seeing
the blood yell: kill, kill. Externally it seems there is an interest
in justice, but he can't help but feel that the interest is more in
the cruelty of the violence.
Years ago, an experiment in which a person who had a slight justification to throw a stone, when he does, becomes sadistic. The Stanford Prison Experiment
prepared by the psychologist Zimbardo who selected 24 student from
middle class backgrounds to roll play prisoner and guard in a mock
prison, showed this to be the case.
The aim of the experiment was to see how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and
prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
Surprisingly, the experiment had to be discontinued after just a week for
the guards began to act sadistically towards the prisoners.
Zimbardo
determined from his experiment that no matter how kind a person may be
when the enviroment is evil and one is given the right to punish, this easily turns into cruelty. In the beginning it may
start off as a joke but the students when they were
given authority, internally the latent power, desire to control, and gratuitous
attacking appeared.
When
we condemn someone, the same dynamics are experienced. In this case the
one who is punishing the condemned, feels a sense of superiority and a feeling of pleasure in that he is realizing justice, which can
increase the degree of condemnation. What is even worse
is the righteous anger with which we are filled, sees others
who are not concerned as escapists, small minded, and cowards. There
are many in society who see the corrupt as sinking the society as the Sewol sank, and are speaking out.
This
kind of thinking is very natural to us. We
have to be careful with these feelings. Do the stones we are throwing
really have something to do with justice or a way to
resolve our own violence? We need to examine
ourselves to determine if these words of condemnation are for the sake of
society or coming from our brutal nature. If not we are like
the Khmer Rouge who killed the innocent without any sense of guilt.
May, the month of the family and Mary's month. A beautiful month but
we don't always hear beautiful things about the family. A professor emeritus in the Peace Weekly relates some of the problems we face.
We had killings in Seoul of
parents for inheritance last year; almost half of abuse of
the elderly was committed by sons. A country that was know for its
filial piety is no longer seen as such. Last year police department
statistics say that over 5% of the murders are in the family--more than the United States and England.
We like Cain have
the tragic possibility of disobeying the call of God: selfish acts we see in ourselves daily. Those who commit murder are not conscious of the connection we have with each other. The inability to see the strong connections we
have with one another are replaced by individualism
and selfishness even in families, weakening family bonds.
Industry
in our capitalistic society makes us worshipers of money and its slave.
The sudden development of technology has brought into the family TV, and
the smart phone which have become family. This ends
family communication, the family's values and ethics give way to each
his own understanding of family. This is not only a Korean
problem but a world wide problem, and the synod on the family which began
last year and will continue this October, has this as one of the issues.
Families in Korea have serious ailments, and the wounds have to be faced. We
have one of the lowest birthrates in the world and the number of suicides
are highest. The older one is, the greater are the chances of suicide.
Family problems arise in the eyes of many in the desire to succeed which is the answer to everything. From
an early age study is first; fixed in the head is competition, and
what follows is stress and depression. Number one reason for deaths among the
youth is suicides, and the number of young people who have thought
of suicide continues to rise. Young people who have stopped going to
school and those who have run away from home are many.
Over
20,000 have run away from home and over 60% are girls. Recently a girl of 14, a runaway, when
she ran out of money sold her body for sex, and was killed shocking the nation. This is one of the reason the bishops in synod will be
considering children on the streets.
When adult this
stress does not disappear; this way of living follows them in adult
life and they continue to be self-absorbed. After marriage rather
than solving their problems with love and understanding we often have violence. Instead of the beautiful understanding of marriage as the joining of two for a life time is destroyed, and we have separation and divorce and the violence that is seen in the family is handed down to children.
Our
professor concludes asking for prayers for the coming synod on the
family that it may help us in treating some of the problems
families have in society, and hopes it will be a light to us in Korea. Pope John Paul said the future depends on family
life.
A professor emeritus of the Catholic Medical school in his Peace
Weekly column, remembers the question of his mother: "Does God really
exist?" He was greatly surprised by this unexpected question. The son with a perplexed look on his face: "Mother why such a
question at this time...?" "God has told us he will answer all our
petitions but he has not answered my prayers," was her answer.
She
has over the years prayed fervently for the grandchildren to do well
in school, prayers for the children to get good jobs after college, to
enjoy good health, mostly for family and in her eyes these prayers
weren't answered. Somewhat confused and evasively he answered: "How can
God give answer to everything that people ask at the same time? After a
long time, in God's order, all will work out for the good." Not only his
mother, he says, but many are perplexed and their prayers leave much to
be desired.
The Japanese writer Shusaku Endo considered this silence of God in his novel Silence.
This book continues to be read by many of our Catholics in Korea.
Briefly the plot is based on the 17th century persecution in Japan. A
Jesuit priest Ferreira, a beloved teacher in the seminary, was sent to
Japan as a missioner, and word came back that he had apostatized.
His student, Fr. Rodriguez, went to Japan to find out what happened and
he himself apostatized in an effort to stop the killing of the
Catholics. He did all that the authorities wanted which was to step
on the image of Jesus.
Fr. Rodriguez overcome with remorse, guilt, and resentment cried to heaven: "Lord, why seeing all this suffering do you keep silent, it is impossible to understand." Then to Rodriguez came the voice: "Son! I am not silent I am suffering with you and in torment with you."
Those
reading the book and seeing the suffering of the Christians and
feeling resentment in the silence of God, with the words addressed
to Rodriguez have a greater love for God and a greater trust in
him. Are there any words that can give more consolation and hope?
Spring is here; we hear the sound of the cuckoo bird and are filled with the sentiments that come with the season. The sound is plaintive and
evocative of feeling. However, the bird has the habit of laying its
eggs in another bird's nest, and fools the mother birds into thinking
they are their eggs. The other eggs are destroyed and the cuckoo bird
monopolizes the nest. A priest writing in a pastoral bulletin tells his
reader this is a shameless way of behaving, and wonders if, at times, we act in the
same fashion.
In order to prevent this from
happening--where the cuckoo male becomes the father of the birds in
the nest--makers of the nest have develop methods to distinguish
the intruder's eggs, but in most cases they trust the eggs to be
their own, and lovingly take care of them. The mother cuckoo waits until
the babies are grown and keeps on circling the nest until they are
able to live on their own and takes them. From one mountain
to another in its call the cuckoo is alerting the baby cuckoos of its presence.
There
is fundamental difference between the way we deal with people and the
way Jesus did: we can consider a person as a means or as an end. Jesus gave himself completely to others. This was his love for
all. Love was not merited, but love was
the reason for his life. This journey required giving,
emptying himself and even the cross. We were never a means.
However,
we can use God as a means to satisfy our greed, desires and egoism, but we end up with emptiness. We don't prize the
giver as much as what is given.
This kind of person is
concerned only about his fence, family, and resembles the cuckoo
bird in wondering how the nest of another will be of benefit. It
may seem like success for some but not able to put roots down, and living like a tight rope walker gives little peace.
When we
hear the call of the cuckoo, the writer concludes, let us ask ourselves if we are using God as a
means or as an end.When we are using another to satisfy our needs we are
no different than the cuckoo bird. If we understand God to be our end
than we need to act in this way when relating with others.
A professor who teaches spirituality in the department of Catholic University writes in the Peace Weekly about his talks, which he gives on Spirituality, and on every occasion he mentions the Gallup survey that was made in 2004.
One of the questions on the survey was why do Catholic's believe. Our professor was surprised that 73% of the respondents wanted peace of mind. He admits that the survey is not a specialized study but it does give an indication of the thinking of the Catholics and a great majority have accepted religion for peace of mind. The real reason one accepts religion should be eternal life here and hereafter, but only 5 percent gave this as an answer. In his talks he wants the audience to think about their responses.
Last year a similar survey was made, 10 years after the first one, with a slight change in the results. This time 63% wanted peace of mind, and those who were looking for eternal life rose to 12%. How much of the change were because of his efforts, he leaves as a question, but he thinks Pope Francis' visit had something to do with the change. But still we have a problem with the thinking of our Catholics.
Those with no religion believe that 60% of religious people are looking for peace of mind, and presume that 14 % are looking for eternal life-- similar to the Catholics' answers. With this kind of thinking the priest wonders whether spirituality and psychology become one. Of course he agrees that this was not absent from our history of spirituality but it was secondary.
Peace of mind is offered outside religion where spirituality is replaced by psychology. Searching for peace of mind has nothing to do with religion, and can be found in all areas of life outside of religion-- not the way we arrive at a Catholic spirituality.
As Catholics we are looking for salvation to be with God now, and for all eternity.This is the makeup of the spirituality we choose, and not looking for peace from the blessings of this world.
We have been called to have the joy that was in Jesus and to imitate him. We are called to mission which is the spirituality we want.The peace of mind is a by-product and not motivating force. If we consider only our needs and desires we become selfish, and forget why we have been called, and make religion a means and not an end. We have been called to be like Christ and to love as he did.
