Economic Jubilee Year for Korea

A Catholic university priest professor, with a doctorate in economics, acquaints the readers of the Kyeongyang magazine on some of the economic problems faced by Korean society in this New Year.

 

In Oct. of last year, the Bank of Korea reported that the Piketty index was 8.6 the highest it has been. In 2010 it was 7.6. The index for Germany 4.4, United States 4.8, France 5.9, England 6.0, Japan 6.1, Spain 6.6. According to Piketty, the index shows the economic inequality in society and consequently its dissatisfaction. 

Thomas Piketty is a French Economist who originated this index: the assets of a country compared to how many more times this exceeds the total income of the citizens. When the index increases the power of capital increases compared to the income from labor; according to Piketty, we have a situation for dissatisfaction. 

In Korea, a big reason for the increase of the index comes from the increase in the prices of real estate property. The income from labor in comparison to the income from capital decreases. Not a good sign for society. Simply expressed the value from capital is usually 4 to seven times greater than the total income from labor. This money increase will be going for the most part to the wealthy.

The writer seeing the situation in Korea reminds him of the Jubilee Year of the Old Testament. After the last of the seven sabbatical years on the 50th year, they celebrated the Jubilee Year. One was not to sell their land, God was the landowner and they were only pilgrims on God's land. All had 'equal land rights' so they could enjoy life. 

The distribution of land after entering Canaan was done with great care. Joshua selected three from each tribe to explore the area and make a map. They distributed the land according to this map. To be fair it was done by lot. The Jewish historian Josephus said it was not done by the amount of land but the quality of the land.

The Jubilee Year expressed simply was a reset of society—a new start, going back to the beginning. All debts remitted if the original land that had been allotted had been sold it would be returned to the owner.

 

The writer introduces to the readers, Henry George and his book: Progress and Poverty, published in 1879. George had the same idea that land was for the benefit of all and argued that taxes on land should replace all other taxation, ending unemployment, poverty, and inequality.

 

Since in our modern society the distribution of land is no longer a reasonable possibility the taxing is possible with the distribution to society. This would be a modern-day Jubilee Law benefiting all.

In Korea after liberation in 1950, the government abolished the land tenure system, transferring the land ownership from the absentee landlords to the tenant farmers. This enabled the farmers to care for their families and put aside money for the education of their children which helped the country to quickly develop. 

After 1970 the 'equal land rights' policy began to weaken because of industrialization and the growth of cities. And we had the city land prices increase, speculation, and the growth of unearned income. This became the vision of many, to make easy money without the toil and sweat of the past.

The continual increase of property prices is a problem and few are in the know on how to stop this kind of speculation. He ends the article with the thought that we are going in the opposite direction from the Jubilee Year way of thinking. In his eyes, the Jubilee is not a farfetched way of looking for the solution to our economic problems.

The Color of Corona19

 

The Current Event column of the Catholic Peace Weekly wants to discover the color of the Coronavirus 19 and give readers something to reflect on during the New Year.

Color is expressed through the harmony of light and objects. Various colors are recognized according to the wavelength of light, the angle of reflection, and the complex process recognized by our sense of sight. There are a lot of things young children ask their parents about color. Why is the sky blue? Why are the autumn leaves red?
 
According to each one's experience and knowledge, one discerns the colors they like and the colors they dislike. And in some cases, a simple color may reveal a certain meaning or even the psychological state of a person.
 
The writer likes blue. It is reminiscent of the sea and reminds him of the sky. It is said that Chinese people like red. Is it because of the tradition that says it prevents bad luck? Yellow is the color of gold that brings wealth, and purple is said to be a complex and mysterious color. Each color is unique, but the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue can be mixed to achieve the secondary colors and this can continue making other colors.
 
The coronavirus that has plagued us in 2020 also has been given the color blue. In English, 'blue' is not just the color blue, but is used as a word that expresses depression. We have recently expressed the feeling of loss in our daily life, the emptiness, the lost comfort, the encouragement we experienced through human relationships with the corona blue.
 
However, Corona Red appeared. Changes in human emotions in the face of pain often lead to feelings of embarrassment, depression, anger, desperation, and despair.  Red means one was very angry because of the corona. Why shouldn't stressed people not be angry? However, if anger caused by natural events is directed in the wrong direction, there is a high risk of leading to antisocial behavior. When the virus expands from a personal level to a social level, this hurts many members of the social community and begins to destroy relationships.
 
And the next step is Corona Black. You can fall into a dark situation where you pass through depression and anger, and even feel desperate. Black is the color of darkness, the color that expresses the night, and the color that seems to be reminiscent of a tunnel. In this way, Corona covered us in a blue-stained melancholy, made us angry, and eventually drove our spirits into pitch-black darkness.
 
The stress caused by corona has spread to corona trauma. It is serious in that there is a real panic that leads to the collapse of the household economy, and these are not only psychological and symbolic expressions. This shouldn't be. 2020 is over, but time is not over and it has brought us into the unknown 2021.
 
Now the color of the corona should go white. The white light at the end of the tunnel is the vaccine. A game-changer appeared. Beginning with the UK and the US, the corona train of fear passed through the tunnel. Will finally, Corona Green, a clean forest, a harmonious ecosystem, and a green and safe daily life be restored? He believes so.
 
However, blue, red, black, white, are merely symbolic colors, figurative expressions of our human feelings, but in fact, the colors themselves are only phenomena not bad or good, right or wrong. We hope with the New Year's morning our hearts are strengthened with subtle sunlight of hope, a beautiful sunrise. Let light now shine in a bruised heart, stained with corona.

Recovering What We Lost in the Pandemic

 

The  New Year is about to begin and we are looking forward to leaving the   Coronavirus tunnel with which we have lived in 2020. In an article in the Kyeongyang magazine a priest with a background in education and working in that field gives the readers some thoughts on what we may have lost because of the virus.

Every morning before anything else,  he wants to know how many cases of the virus were discovered the previous day. The news is not good.  In many parishes, the priest says Mass alone in an empty church. The world has changed; the church needs to change. We no longer live in a community, the new normal.

The writer wants the readers to understand how we are overcome with the waves of secularization— separation from religious or spiritual concerns— at a faster rate than before. We have weakened the hold that religion has on our thinking. Some of the reasons are the irrational actions of some of the religions and also the actions and words of some Christian groups and persons have made religion less able to find a place to stand in our pandemics times.

Because of the virus instead of God, material things are the idols many are following. Love and mercy and the belief in God have become what the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard mentioned in a parable.

The parable is about a fire that began before a circus performance. The stage manager sends out one of the performers who was dressed in his clown custom to warn the audience to leave immediately because of the fire. But the audience sees this as part of the show; the more he shouts and gesticulates the more they laugh and the fire engulfs the whole theater.

When the church keeps on shouting the same message, Kierkegaard says, without any change to meet the people where they are, the world will continue to accept the words as part of a familiar show and fail to see a need do something. How do people see Jesus? Does the church convey a correct image of Jesus to the world?

In these times of corona 19, we have empty churches but even before the pandemic, we had a decrease in attendance. We have lost our passion as followers of Jesus. We need to rediscover the merciful and loving Jesus and live his life.

 " Let us not forget that Jesus asked his disciples to pay attention to details. The little detail that wine was running out at a party.
 The little detail that one sheep was missing.
 The little detail of noticing the widow who offered her two small coins.
 The little detail of having spare oil for the lamps, should the bridegroom delay.
 The little detail of asking the disciples how many loaves of bread they had.
The little detail of having a fire burning and a fish cooking as he waited for the disciples at daybreak.

A community that cherishes the little details of love, whose members care for one another and create an open and evangelizing environment, is a place where the risen Lord is present, sanctifying it by the Father’s plan" (Pope Francis Apostolic Exhortation: Gaudete et Exsultate 144-145).

When the Catholic community is a sign of God's love to the worldwide community we have little to worry about. It's not making so many more believers for that is God's doing we make known his love, witness to the Gospel, and live his life. If we don't believe this we are bound to some other mission.

We are experiencing many life changes.The situation we are in is because of the destruction of our environment. In this coronavirus situation, we don't give up—a defeatist attitude is worst than the pandemic for we forget the graces we have and continue to receive. Happy New Year!

Mysticism and the Liturgy

 

In his column, in the Catholic Times, a priest working in the field of spirituality explains the place of mysticism in our understanding of the liturgy.

Mysticism is the belief that union with the divine may be attained through contemplation, prayer, and self-surrender. Through certain spiritual exercises, we can gain a deeper understanding and relationship with the divine.
 

In the traditional Catholic teaching, we have three levels which are continually operative: Purgative, abandoning sin and attachments; Illuminative, practicing the virtues, meditation; and the Unitive Way, detachment from temporal things, enjoying peace not moved by various desires and sinful passions. Union with God experiencing his love and responding.
 
Karl Rahner the German theologian said: "The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all." They will have to have an experiential relationship with God or be without faith.
 
For the liturgy to become reality, not magic there is a need to understand mysticism. The fundamental purpose of the liturgy is to bring forth the fruit of faith. One must understand the mystery of Christ from the reality of symbols.
 
In Romania a large orphanage reopened in 1990, William Snyder photographed the conditions of the children held there and informed the world. The orphanage 'Cradle' he called a "human storehouse". Many children were growing up in a spiritless state; shaking their bodies, pounding their heads against the wall, frowning strangely, they didn't even notice when persons approached them. They had never been abused or hungry, but children were growing up without any communication skills necessary in society— they were neglected.
 
What was the problem? The food provided by the workers did not give them the trust they needed. Children need parents. You cannot grow properly without knowing your parents. Usually, the food giver is the parent. However, the Cradle lacked the necessary workers, so one nanny had to take care of 20 to 30 children. The nanny's job was to distribute food, she couldn't give the children any warm contact or care. The children were able to survive by eating food but did not grow up properly because they couldn't find anyone they could trust.
 
The same can be said of any liturgy that does not bear the fruit of 'faith'. The primary purpose of the liturgy is to show how grace allows us to believe in God as a father so that we can live like children of God. However, no matter how many times one receives the Eucharist if one does not realize its meaning, faith will not grow.
 
The liturgy is not magic. Liturgy is a reality that changes people. In order for the liturgy to become real, catechesis for the liturgy is necessary to lead people to understand its meaning.

The liturgy is made up of 'symbols'. Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ (it is 'mystagogy') by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the 'sacraments' to the 'mysteries' (CC 1075). (The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows)(1074).
 
This is why education is essential in order to participate in the living liturgy that bears the fruit of faith. Sunday we celebrated the Feast Day of the Holy Family and followed, in Korea, was a week spent learning ways to sanctify the family. Would not the desire to become a mystic be a good start?

A Mustard Seed of Love

A lawyer writes in the Eyes of the Believer column on the darkness he sees in our society because of Corona 19 pandemic.

He received an e-mail from a priest who wrote: "It is the first time in my life, ordained 40 years, and was not able to say Mass on Easter or Christmas. It's dark and messy everywhere. I don't know how the year has passed. It would be just a dream to hope that Jesus' way of life would bring a radiant New Year."

The writer agrees that it's really dark and unsettled everywhere. The whole world is depressed because of the coronavirus infection-19, and we see no end to the hardships that the poor people suffer. And in the midst of all this, we see greed, foolishness, and anger which is scarier than Corona 19.

Yesterday, he watched a TV program in which a crowd gathered outside the house of a sex criminal who was released from prison after serving his term. A riot developed outside the house with the police. Stones were thrown at windows, people were climbing up gas pipes, standing on cars, it was free for all. Why were they acting in this way? It turns out that they were broadcasting on YouTube. The more people who watch the broadcast, the more money they make, so they didn't hesitate to gain attention. They are not the only ones. All of us act in the same way at times.

A friend of the writer sold an apartment for 600 million won and moved to a rented house. The price of the sold apartment increased to 1.8 billion won in just 4 years, and the wife was so upset she was bedridden.
People blame the president and the ministers but if we are honest, we are responsible. Even though the government has tried to stop speculation, it is difficult to avoid real estate speculation. Everybody desires that their house price go up. They scream and blame others for what they are doing. It is our greed, foolishness, and anger.

These days, some people are raising their voices toward the parliamentary dictatorship, which has passed the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. In the days of what was called 'Renovation', a third of the lawmakers were appointed by the president. At which time he mentions how his friends were arrested by plainclothes police officers at their school and taken to jail without the chance to say anything.

Today no matter how much one complains, calling the parliament a dictatorship, no one is hauled off to jail. The establishment of a criminal investigation center for high-ranking public officials was a system that both parties were committed to in the past. It was supposed to make sure that there was a separation between the police that investigated and those who prosecuted. When this was achieved it would eventually be eliminated. However, according to many, the majority of the National Assembly is labeled a dictatorship, and the media spreads it and drives people into extreme confrontation, which is also a measure of greed, stupidity, and anger.

But in the old days, 2,500 years ago, Plato already had the same lament. When politics are in the hands of an oligarchy, wisdom, and justice is forgotten we have profit, and a focus on material goods. In democratic politics, indulgence and disintegration are rampant, and when you have a tyrant as a leader who has an obedient crowd we have repression of the citizenry.

It was the same in the days of Jesus. It was a world where all the leaders, political and religious had vested interests, as well as the followers of Jesus who vied for a higher position in the kingdom, they also were greedy, foolish, and angry. Jesus did not despair in such a dark and confusing world, he planted a little mustard seed of love. Then, even though he knew that he would die on the cross, he walked this path of love to the end.

The priest asked the writer at the end of the Christmas e-mail. "Would it be just a dream expecting Jesus' way of life to make a difference in the New Year?  If we all followed the path that Jesus took, Jesus would come through us so the New Year would be bright.

Courage to be Born Again

A religious sister in the field of spirituality writes in the Kyeongyang magazine on the courage to be born again.

We are coming to the end of the year 2020, a year in which all was confused. Plans and people she was to meet never happened. Corona 19 screwed up everything, something she couldn't even imagine at the beginning of the year. She finally arrived at a time when a certain amount of order came into her life and the year is practically ended.

The liturgical year however, is here again to give us hope and consolation. We just celebrated the 4th week of Advent, consoled by hope to humanity that the child Jesus in the manager brought to us.

A few days before, Sister received a telephone call from a woman: "Sister can an old person like myself make a retreat?" She was 83 years old but no indication of this from her voice. "Sister, I have been alone after the death of my husband 4 years ago. My children have all married and live in other parts of the country. I am living each day in preparation to meet our Lord. My only wish is to grow old with grace and meaning." Elizabeth was a reader of the Kyeongyang magazine and her words moved Sister greatly.

We all experience ups and downs in life. Each person wants to live an upright life. Does not Elizabeth have the desire to be born again?
Sister mentions a French poem: 'dare to be born again'—Oser naitre. Not the outer person but the desire of the inner person to be born again. We easily think that the person we were yesterday is who we are today but that is not the case. If one realizes this reality they are born again. When one does not experience a love that was not expected yesterday but does today that person is born again.

"Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history. Faith consists in the willingness to let ourselves be constantly transformed and renewed by God’s call. Herein lies the paradox: by constantly turning towards the Lord, we discover a sure path which liberates us from the dissolution imposed upon us by idols" (Pope Francis Encyclical Lumen Fidei #13).
 

Today we will celebrate Christmas. Each year at this time the Church gives thanks to God for the gift of Jesus that gives us the faith to live fully the gift of life. Jesus gives us the reason to open ourselves up to be born again daily to new life. Merry Christmas!

Responsibility of the Media

A Political Science Department professor gives her views on the media in the Current Event column of the Catholic Peace Weekly. 

The world is still in a crisis situation due to the Corona 19 pandemic. Incidents and accidents that cause public resentment. The conflict in the differences between the ruling and opposition politicians remain.

The reality of the society we encounter through the media seems to be full of things that evoke feelings of depression and negativity rather than news that warms the heart. At this time of year, you usually have the Christmas spirit appear— people giving a helping hand to their neighbors in need. However, we hear little of the medical staff, epidemiological investigators, and public officials dedicated to the fight against COVID-19. And the many citizens working and showing concern for those in need, the media does not see. We need to remember the press has the characteristic of paying attention to issues that are negative, exceptional, and deviant.
 
The professor has in the past focused on issues where the media has not done well and feels a responsibility to be critical of the media's actions. However, constructive criticism also requires we point out also what is being done well. She wants to revisit some of the things that the media has performed properly in their social roles and responsibilities this year.
 
In April of this year, the media established rules for reporting on the pandemic. The reporting rules aim to avoid speculation and exaggeration— reporting based on accurate facts, and prioritizing and listing preventive measures and rules of action. The media must fulfill its role and responsibility in preventing the spread of rumors and preventing social chaos. It is a good example of journalistic practice in that journalists themselves voiced a need to review the media's social role, responsibility, and ethics.
 
Prior to this, in January, nine media organizations launched a "declaration of media practice against hate speech". The spread of expressions of hate is contrary to the media's duty to work for social integration. Careful attention to the dissemination of hate speech is also necessary to expand opportunities for diverse opinions to be shared without discrimination in society. This year the media has been faithfully continuing the role of watchdogs.
 
In addition to publicizing the seriousness of the cyber crime triggered by the N-bang incident (criminal case involving blackmail and the spread of sexually exploitative videos), the media has fulfilled its original mission by revisiting issues facing various parts of our society, including reporting on the status of labor, and the welfare of non-regular workers leading to improvement.
 
"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but not the log in your own eye?" (Lk 6:41) We as news users need to examine our perspectives and values, honestly. Given the social influence of the media, we must try to discover the failings in the media but realizing our own faults in what we perceive. In addition, we must actively promote and support good journalism. Good journalism is realized through the efforts of the press but also those of us who use the media.