'Common Good' More Than A Word

Many years ago before coming to Incheon, I lived in a country parish, Yong Dong, with a mission station called Hak San, The Peace Weekly recently had an article about the mission's pharmacist, Lee Henry,who is also the parish council president and has been for most of the past 43 years.

There are many devoted Christians who have worked for the Church. Lee Henry and his wife Colomba are such a couple.

He was baptized many years ago in a parish where a Maryknoll Missioner, Fr. Mike Zunno, was pastor. Henry at that time was a student at Chungbuk College, studying pharmacy. He brought his fiance to meet Fr. Mike who told Henry that he was thinking of starting a mission station near the college and asked him if he would be willing, after his marriage, to become the catechist. He accepted the invitation and began his new life working for the Church.

Henry and Columba found accommodations in the area and began the new assignment without having even one Catholic. He was a busy man: catechist, student, husband and father.

It was a difficult time in Korea and the family struggled during those years. In 1967, he was asked again if he would go to a mission station of the Yong Dong Parish where Fr. Zunno had been newly assigned as pastor. He went to the mission station, took over the duties of head catechist, and opened a pharmacy, the only one in the area. Because there are also no hospitals or doctors in the area, the pharmacist is allowed to prescribe medicine.

During the 43 years in Hak San he lived a full life, raising a family of 5 children and sending them all to college; one daughter is now a sister of St. Paul of Chartres.

His concern now is to find a replacement. He has a heart condition that requires constant care, so he wants to move to a city where he can be near his children and a hospital. But he will not leave until he finds a suitable replacement. In the Pharmacy he added benches so that people waiting for their prescriptions could socialize, and in difficult times he would often destroy the books of credit. This is no longer necessary; many believe that buying medicine on credit affects the medicine. A certain sign that life has gotten better.

I lived in this parish for 6 years and know that everything in the article was not embellished. It was through efforts of the couple that the mission station was made a parish, fulfilling a desire the Christians had for many years. There are many working in service to others that are not only looking to do well for themselves but working for the common good. May their numbers increase.

Happy Buddha's Birthday

In Korea, Buddha's birthday is celebrated today, May 21. It is a national holiday and celebrated in much the same way Christians celebrate Christmas values.

Buddhist monks in Korea are for the most part celibate, so celibacy is a value that Koreans have little difficulty in accepting. Ascetics play a major role in the training of a monk, and there is no end to study and devotion to one's faith. Meditation on greed, on suffering and the nature of the self, and the impermanence of material things is an important part of their life. Integrity and simplicity are stressed. These are values that most religious people acknowledge.

In a recent interview in a daily newspaper, a well known monk was asked, Why did Buddha come? "We have within us," he answered, "unknown to us, a treasure house of jewels which allows us to live a truly full life. In the West, there is the separation of the 'you' and the 'I', the separation of God and humanity. In Buddhism all is one, all connected, the past, present, and future, the big and the small, existence and non-existence, good and evil, the strong and weak points, we do not distinguish. With this teaching, the Buddha came to bring us happiness." Quotation marks are used even though the translation-interpretation may not have fully captured the intent of the monk's words. However, the monism that is apparent here is quite different from the views of Christians.

Reading the interview I was attracted to much of what was said until coming to a section in which the interviewer mentioned that the monk was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1998. He conquered it with prayers of penance and devotion to his faith. The disease was retribution, he thought, for some fault in a past life, a karmic debt that must be paid. With his penance, it has disappeared and he doesn't think of it any more. As Christians, we would have difficulty accepting his explanation.

The monk recalled an incident that happened to him as a child. He had the job of preparing the porridge for those visiting the temple that day. While he was preparing the porridge,

a centipede fell into the pot. What was he to do? It was lunch time, and he couldn't throw the whole pot away. Not knowing what to do, he asked the head monk who told him to remove the centipede and bring the porridge to the table. It was eaten not only by the visitors to the temple, but by the head monk, who thanked the young boy for a job well done. A humble person has a big heart and can accept anything that happens, were the concluding remarks of the head monk. This consoled him and gave him strength to continue with the training.

The relationship of Catholics and Buddhists in Korea is harmonious. There are visits and exchanges during the year at each others' big events. Today, the archbishop responsible for ecumenical matters will visit one of the temples to give his greetings. In matters that relate to life and in caring for nature, they will continue to work together as closely as possible.

Another Way to Overcome the 'Ego'

The history of the saints tells us that many have acted strangely, not only to our modern sensibilities but to the customs of their time. One such saint was St. Philip Neri. He gave bizarre penances and performed crazy antics to humble his own pride.

He would meet people with his clothes turned inside out, danced through the streets with his beard half shaved, carried a bunch of brooms which he sniffed like a bunch of flowers, appeared in public with a cushion on his head, seen in church with his biretta cocked on one side. He was pleased to draw ridicule for his antics. He acted as the clown for very unclownlish reasons.

We also have this kind of priest in Korea. We will wait until he dies to make a judgement about his sanctity. He writes about his experiences in parish work in the Catholic Peace Weekly. At a seminar for diocesan priests, they commented on his hair style. "Father, you're really chic, please no more of these antics." His hair was long and slightly in a permanent.

In keeping with his unpredictability, each spring, he shaves his head; he can feel the wind on his head and have a light heart.

His eccentricities have led to difficulties in parish work. "Mom, a Buddhist monk has come to the church." This was the reaction to the pastor after arriving at the parish. A girl who had returned home from studies overseas said to her mother that she was hoping to see a classy priest. However, with his head looking like a Buddhist monk and his fluent sermon delivered like a Protestant minister, she didn't know what to think.

The priest mentioned that one day a group of nuns came to see him. He showed them around the area and left while they prepared lunch at the beach. He was dealing with an annoying problem in the parish and was looking for another way of seeing the issue. He went to a nearby beauty shop, had his hair shaved off and soon returned to the sisters. When they saw him, they thought he was a monk down from his temple in the mountains, but it didn't take long before they realized that this was their host. It was difficult to eat lunch in the usual manner, and they remained bewildered.

In Korea in recent years many have their heads shaved in protest to what they see in society. This is a common sign of protest both in the East and in the West: the skinned-head look without the ideology. It is a sign that they are willing to look strange, to look different, giving up something many think important--our physical appearance--to make a point. Our priest if it is a protest it is against himself, perhaps very much in line with the motives of St. Philip Neri.

Attraction to the Natural Life

Many of the emails I receive are written by people I do not know. One email discussed the Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka, author of the acclaimed "bible of natural farming," The One-Straw Revolution. He was an organic farmer who believed that traditional organic farming did not go far enough, that the ideal food producing land had to be kept as close as possible in its natural state.

One day, when young (he died a few years ago at the age of 95), feeling the emptiness of life, he quit his work and began to drift. In his journeys, he came to the ocean where he sat down to rest and heard the song of a bird which gave him a jolt into a new way of looking at life. He returned to the family farm and began to farm naturally, as well as eating and living more naturally, based on the principles of natural farming he spent the last 30 years of his life promoting.

He was trained as a soil scientist but very early in his career began to doubt the wisdom of modern agricultural science. His family farm was on an island and his method of farming--"do nothing farming," he called it--was to do little of what is considered important in farming. In fact, he succeeded in getting yields that were at times even greater than yields from the use of modern farming methods. His method evolved from observing, over many years and through trial and error, the natural requirements of different plants. He learned that they could do very well without our help. The less a farmer did to disturb the natural ecology--no plowing the soil, no chemical fertilizers or prepared compost, no weeding or use of herbicides or pesticides--the better the land would respond. It was a step, a big step, beyond the usual way of doing organic farming. He spent the last years of his life speaking out and writing about his discoveries.

Masanobu Fukuoka was a mystic and a philosopher whose ideas have influenced not only farmers throughout the world, but many others who have applied his ideas to rethink other aspects of life. "A vision offering an ideal to strive for," said one review of his written work. "Indispensable to everyone hoping to understand the future of food and agriculture," said another review. But the review, "Reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world," perhaps best echoes his own assessment of his work: "A way of farming and living fully integrated with nature."

One wonders what would happen to our society if this revolutionary way of doing things naturally became the accepted way of living. Though the chance of this happening on a large scale is remote, each of us can apply some of the principles of living more naturally in our own life. It was Fukuoka's conviction that we must make this effort if we are to avoid the spiritual decay that permeates much of modern society, caused, he believed, by our lost intimacy with the unseen world.

Not Only Sticks and Stones But Words Hurt

"Children will be children." It was true in our day and will be so in the future. A teacher, writing in our Diocesan Bulletin, expressed his concern for the way the children use foul language today. He feels they have no thought of the harm they are doing, to themselves as well as to others.

This is not only true when they are speaking to others but when alone and overcome with emotion. There is no thought that what they are doing is wrong. Their conversation starts and finishes with foul language. When talking to children, one realizes very quickly that the inclination is there to use this kind of language. Why did they pick up the habit? Their language often reflects family language.

The following week the writer, a teacher, also noted that not only children but young people are in the habit of using abusive language among themselves. This is not only when they have ill feelings towards another, it has become an accepted way of communicating; he was surprised to see how much they enjoyed "trash talking"--what some of the younger generation are calling it.

Often in daily life we tend to use this language when faced with an unfair situation and emotions take over. Venting feelings is a relief--to us--but it does damage to others. Most young people, it seems, have accepted and even enjoy this way of dealing with one another and see it as a natural and "cool" way of relating.

What is sometimes forgotten, and not only by the younger generation, is that the language that we use shows our character, our attainments, our cultural level. But perhaps more important, as the writer notes, the way we speak is going to determine how we act. He feels that the older generation has to set a better example in their own speech. And to help accomplish this, he urges that society should take more of an interest in esthetics, including what is often neglected in this study--language as a means of expressing the beauty in life. It will have a great deal to do with the society we will leave for those who come after us.

Language will always be important for it comes from us and ultimately teaches us who we think we are. It is said that we convey more of this self by our non-verbal communication than by the verbal, words giving only a partial expression of the non-verbal. As children, people of my generation, often heard: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Obviously, a defense reaction; we know that words, even when used lightly or in jest, can desensitize us. When they become ingrained as an accepted way of communicating, they not only harm others and ourselves, but society itself will tend to take on the same characteristics and become callous and harsh.

Seeing Life In A New Way

The daily newspaper had a story about Youn Seuk-in, a religious sister who developed infantile rheumatism at the age of 13, when all cartilages atrophied, and she became paralyzed.

She is the first severely paralyzed person in the history of the Catholic Church to become a professed nun. She is now the director of a home for handicapped women.

In addition to her directorial duties, Sister Youn is an artist. She paints by holding the brush in hands severely crippled. She says: "It is the care of my family, those who have taught me and accepted me that I am alive today." The family, with 5 children, neither rich nor poor, lived together harmoniously.

Until she was diagnosed with chronic rheumatism at the age of 13, she dreamed of being a nurse and living a normal life. Gradually, all she could do was lie on the floor. Her father prepared a place for her with books, and they became her constant companions. She read the complete works of Shakespeare and much philosophy.

She asked her brothers and sisters in the beginning to explain difficult passages until the day came when this was no longer necessary . The interviewer was surprised by her skillful use of words and by the depth of her thinking: you would never think she was a grammar school dropout.

This life with books, however, did not satisfy her, and thoughts of suicide came frequently. It was at this time that she came across the book by Cardinal Gibbons, "Faith of Our Fathers." She had no religion but reading this book started her thinking about God.

She finally asked her mother if she could go to church. They found a Church in the area, she started taking a correspondence course and was soon baptized with the name Bona. But the correspondence course was not the answer to what she was looking for. In the desire to get rid of an unfulfilled feeling, she started going to Church regularly. She was taken to different places by members of the parish, like museums and picnics, and started to paint again. She was told she was an inspiration to many. People seeing her paint gained strength to face their own problems, which seemed trivial in comparison, Even a priest asked her to pray for him. Finally, seeing how so many others were helped by her example, Bona could step out of the darkness that had followed her most of her life.

It was then that she visited a home for the handicapped where the priest asked her if she was interested in becoming a nun. The priest wanted to start a religious order that would accept the healthy and the handicapped, and when he finally received permission from the Cardinal of Seoul, Bona was among the first to enter the community. When her family saw her in a nun's habit, they all started to cry. It had been a long journey, for all of them.

She sees her life now as a blessing: "I can move my arms, can grasp a spoon and eat, can remove my hair from the front of my brow.... I can turn to one side for 5 minutes and lie on my face for 5 minutes. I can bend my back at a 45 degree angle-- it's all a blessing."

Few Are The Blessings that Can't Be Abused

A writer commenting on the Feast of the Ascension, which is also World Communication Sunday, begins with a story from Africa. In the forests is a dazzlingly beautiful but poisonous snake. The small animals, mesmerized by its wonderful colors, come close and are grasped and eaten by the snake. In the forest of civilization what snakes are there to enchant us?

There are many, we are told, and he goes on to introduce us to a man whose marriage of just over two years is on the verge of falling apart. Conversation has diminished and arguments are more frequent. The reason? TV, the computer, and a host of other addictive electronic marvels of communication that are taking up more of his time and reducing the time available for his wife. She wants to talk when he comes home from work but has to compete with the ball game for his attention. And while watching the game, he only half listens until it becomes so habitual he hardly notices he's not paying attention to her.

This way of living was not new to him; it preceded his marriage by many years. He walked with ear phones, connected to the internet with ear phones while driving, and was always in front of the TV. He found no satisfaction in books, socialized less frequently, and attendance at Church was no longer a part of his life.

In earlier years children would read fairy tales and books about great people. These books gave the children ideals to imitate and many were greatly influenced by them. Now, electronic and video games provide the stimulation, often leading to addictive behaviors so that we are less prone to read or think creatively.

This lifestyle tends to foster alienation, individualism, and an unhealthy life.

The writer finishes his article by noting the many benefits of modern day communication. The good that can come from cyberspace and audio-visual media is too great to even attempt to list. In the providence of God, we were led to discover this medium to advance the common good. The Church on Communication Sunday makes a special appeal to us to use well our newspapers, magazines, the internet, TV, radio, etc., so as to live life more fully. Those who are working in these areas should also do their part in achieving this common goal. But in the end, it will depend on us, on how disciplined and conscientious we are, whether they are being used wisely or not.