Are We Tuned In To The Right Frequency?

In his column in the Catholic Times, a priest recounts the story of a priest friend who made his retreat  in a monastery.  "The whole day was spent in prayer and doing only what the monks would be doing daily." It was a very prayerful and precious time.

What would a sophisticated  person of the world  think of time spent this way?  Time spent in a non-productive way. Those who want to see results and accomplishments see such time as inefficient, non-productive, a waste of time.

The priest asked himself whether the world would be a better place if there was more emphasis on the values of  efficiency and productivity. He was quick to say no. At the end of the retreat, he wondered if abandoning  the emphasis on efficiency and productivity, he would be taking a step into a better and different world from the one he was in.
 
There are many people who spend time in prayer, attend Mass, say the rosary, read Scripture, spend time before the Blessed Sacrament.  Christians of all persuasions spend a great deal of time in the presence of God in  a non-productive way. Not infrequently, those who pray and meditate  do so for reasons of  health and peace of mind. This is an approach we all can understand, but it is not the understanding of prayer we are dealing with here.

There is another way of looking at this quiet time with God, with its different value system and perspective. Prayer is opening ourselves to God: giving  ourselves to him so that he will be able to change us.  God is coming to us, moving us, speaking to us, so we can go out to others; contemplation is for others. We are globs of clay that we give to him to be  molded into whatever he wants.  For the Christian, this is a given, and deeply influences the way we see time.  In Acts, St. Paul quotes the poets, "In him, we live and move and have our being."  In prayer we try to conform to  God's will and not ask that God's will conform to ours: the initiative is with God, and we wait for his gift.  We believe that he wants the best for us, so we try to get rid of the impediments that prevent him from working in us. Is there anything more practical in a non-practical way?                                                

How To Meet Death--Hospice Movement

One of the Religious Sisters working in  hospice  has an  essay in the secular Chonsun Ilbo on "How to meet death." She  begins by telling us that a woman with terminal cancer, a grandmother, was having  problems with acute pain, and the son, greatly distressed, came to hospice for help, knowing that one of the ends of hospice care is visiting the  homes of the terminally ill  to mitigate the pain during the last days before death. 

The grandmother did not want to spend time in intensive care; she wanted to die at home but the pain was making life unbearable. With the hospice visits at the home and the painkillers, however, the nausea and vomiting ceased and she was able to eat. She was fearful of death and, because of being alone for much of the day, felt lonely. One night when she was in pain, the Sister visited. When she arrived, the grandmother said, "You are not  human." Shocked by what she had said, the Sister asked what she meant. She quicky and forcefully answered: "You are not human, you are like an angel."
 
The grandmother's response made the Sister realize what her job was about. The grandmother, because of her fears, loneliness and pain, was asking for someone to be there with her. It is not only the bodily pain but the mental pain which is difficult to accept. The Sister realized that those in hospice work need to schedule their time around the needs of the sick person.
 
Four months later, the grandmother was in a critical condition. When the Sister arrived, not only were the children there but all the grandchildren. " Grandmother," said the Sister,
"you are ready to go on a trip. Will it be alright to have the grandchldren send you off?"  At the Sister's suggestion, each child had some words of farewell. One said: " From now on no pain and you will be going to a  good place to rest." The grandmother was to weak to say anything but she acknowledged the greeting with her eyes and nodded. The face of the grandmother was peaceful and this enabled the family to rid themselves of their fear of death. The Sister recommended that the body be washed. The grandchildren washed the hands and feet, and the son and daughters washed the face and body. This was a time to come to  terms with her impending death. The Sister also thinks it's a good time to talk about the funeral and will, telling the sick person that all will be done as the sick person wants. 
 
Seeing how death was accepted by the family, the Sister reflected on the different ways we have of reacting to a dying family member. In our present society, most of us die in hospitals.  When asked whether they will be  at the side of the  dying parent many simply turn their head away. The feelings of the dying person, in most cases, are not given the importance they deserve.

The Sister finishes the essay by saying that all will meet death; only the time is not known, and that time somewhere in the distant future. Death is like the unborn baby in the mother's womb, dreaming about the new life outside. After death we are also going to another place, not knowing where. Like the new born baby, we also have to prepare for the new life.

Envioronmentally Friendly Catholic Church Of Korea

Recently, a small group of Maryknollers here in Korea  have been meeting once a month to discuss how we as a community can be more ecologically sensitive. The Society, which has urged us to move from words to action, provides the following guidelines:

a.  Applaud Society members who are engaged in the ministry of ecology and encourage more members to develop this ministry. 

b. Launch educational programs for Society members and those writing for Society publications.

c. Support and cooperate with the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns in their endeavors to educate and to lobby for ecological issues. 

d. Join with other organizations, faith-based and civil, that share a concern for the environment.

e. Initiate long-term planning for stewardship of Society lands and properties.

f. Minimize the impact of greenhouse gas emissions by individual Society members and the Society itself.

g. Reduce, or eliminate when possible, institutional practices that damage the environment.

The Korean Church, in its on-going efforts to encourage better stewardship of creation, has sponsored articles, lectures, educational programs and increased involvement in ecological movements. A few months ago, we had another visit by Fr. Sean McDonagh, a Columban priest and well-known specialist in ecology, who was giving lectures in Korea.  He said that when he started talking on these issues, he felt like Galileo. His first book, "To Care For the Earth," was rejected by publishers for three years before it was finally published, and at the time not only was the relationship of ecology and theology little understood but the interest in ecology was minimal. "In comparison to what it was 30 years ago--when I could understand the feelings of Galileo--there's been quite a change in the number of articles being written and interviews I have had on the subject."

In Korea, the ecological movements have had a mixed reception. With the Four River Project, the ever increasing number of golf courses, loss of wetlands,  pollution of air, water and food, the environmentalists have had to contend with powerful economic interests, but the environmental movements and their goal of better stewardship  of the earth are no doubt here to stay. May the efforts continue.

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Why Don't We See The Teenager in the Delinquent?

A diocesan priest in charge of a home for teenagers writes about the antagonism of neighbors toward this home for 'juvenile delinquents.'  A principal  of a nearby school  would like the home blocked from the view of the students; they would be a  bad influence on the student body, he said.  The real estate people also want us to leave. Everyone in the neighborhood, it seems, the priest said, is hostile to the teenagers; he wonders what effect this will have on them.
 
Before this assignment at the home, he expected to be dealing with rough and sometimes violent teenagers and wondered how he would deal with them.  But after meeting them, though not always liking what he saw, he found them to be like most teenagers who like to play around and want to be accepted and loved. 
 
When the home showed a film on ecology and the damming of a river, a teenager asked what happens to the fish that like to swim in the rapidly flowing water--the priest also had the same thought-- those fish have no place to go, the teenager said, and then, comparing himself and the others at the home to those fish, said, "We also have no place to go in this world."

This teenager wasn't  clear on what he was trying to express but the priest understood. The world is not very inviting to those who  do not go along with the standards that are set by the world. Like nature, many of these young men are vulnerable; nobody wants to listen to what they have to say. The young man was expressing his feelings and the pain he was experiencing in his troubled life.

The priest mentions the respect he has for St. John Bosco, who said that young people not only have to be loved but have to feel that love. All of us are the same, but in an order of priority the young people should be given preference. But no matter how much their troubled behaviors are calling out to others for help, few are listening, not even the Church. The Church, the priest reminds us, should not follow the ways of the world, in this matter of juvenile delinquency, but should, as in all matters that concern living a more just and holy life, be involved in changing the ways of the world.

A Task Worth All The Effort Required

Korean Culture has been influenced greatly by  Shamanism, Taoism,  Buddhism and Confucianism. Because Christianity found such a fertile spiritual climate when it entered Korea, its ethical teaching was not strange to the Korean converts.

One of the opinion pieces in the Catholic Times brings to our attention the tendency of seeing others negatively, thinking and saying negative things about others. This tendency to be critical, often justified as "just being truthful," is common in our society; we are quick to see the  faults of others and point out their weaknesses.

Lamenting that nothing was going right in his life a man went to the  Buddha  for help. He was told you have to give to others. He said that he had nothing to give. The Buddha told him that no matter how poor you are you can perform the following 7 alms:

1) Greet another with warmth.

2) Speak to another with words of praise, encouragment and tenderness.

3) Open one's heart to the other.

4) Look about the other gently.

 5) With the body help another with their work and baggage.

6) Give one your seat.

7) Without being asked, respond by reading another's heart, and then help.


The writer selects three of these as   the million dollar task of a group that he will be leading on a  summer vacation. To see others with kindly eyes;  think well of them, and  say good things about them. In doing so we leave no room for the negative in our relations with  others.        
 
Look on  others with friendly eyes; think well, and speak well  of them, and you will be happy.  (Matthew 28 verse 21)  You won't find this in Matthew the writer concludes, but it could  very well be part  of Jesus's teaching to the disciples.

A Movement from Intellectualism to Matters of the Heart

Over the years, many have noticed  that those who have been baptized while in military service, when discharged, do not usually join a Church. In recent years, we have heard a great deal of the growth of Catholicism in Korea but a lack of depth in the lives of many Catholics. The recent appointment of a religious as the new bishop of the Korean military, which occasioned a flurry of editorials and articles in Catholic media, may reverse this trend. He is the second religious to be made  bishop in Korea, and will be responsible for the pastoral care of those in the military, an obligatory service for all males.

The comments on the appointment have mentioned the symbolic value of the new bishop's position. Being a religious and  having worked in the field of spirituality for the Franciscans, there is hope that he will help energize the present movement in the Korean Church as it deals with finding ways to deepen the spirituality of our Christians.

The efforts of the new bishop, our Catholic media acknowledge, will not change anything quickly, but it is an important sign for the future. Whether the emphasis on quantity will shift to quality will depend on the spirituality of our Christians. At present, even minor difficulties can irritate because the inner life is missing.

The appointment of the second religious bishop to the Korean military has been seen by many as a symbolic message that the Spirit is at work, causing us to review the way we have conducted our catechumenate.

The Church in Korea knows that the Church in the West is on a downhill slide and that if something is not done here to stem the slide, this could be a self portrait of the Korean Church in the near future. .

A Jesuit superior was quoted as saying: "Since the Church got caught up in intellectualism, we have had a decline in church attendance; the faith has not descended to the heart. When we  experience the risen Lord in our lives, we will see the Church come alive." And a professor mentioned that the appointment of the new bishop brings up another subject to deal with: spirituality, the central focus, of course, of our Catholic life.

In Korea, unlike the States, on many topics, like spirituality, there is unanimity. What is needed is to have everyone working together to make our spirituality a deeply felt reality that all can experience.

What Does Jesus Want In Discipleship?

    There are many attempts to understand the workings of the Spirit in the Church. Faith in search of understanding is a helpful starting point  to grapple with what  the Church is faced with here in Korea and throughout the world.

     A priest writing in the August issue of the Kyeong-Hyang Catholic magazine brings to the fore an issue you hear discussed often; the place of the laity in the Church.

    In the article, we are told that about 30 years ago you heard the  word sick instead of ordinary in many circles of the Church when referring to the lay person. The word for lay person with an  aspirated 'p' is (P'yeong)=ordinary; it is Pyeong=sick  without  the  aspiration. The priest is using this in jest, but telling us many of the  lay person were not properly motivated in entering the Church.

    In the 80s, many were entering  the Church. It was at this time that church attendance was mostly middle class; they were better educated and better off financially and socially, which prompted the Church to take an interest in the culture and arts of the times. It was also at this time that many Church buildings were built, pilgrimage sites began to develop, aid went to North Korea and other countries and, in general, more was done for the poor.  Much of good was done during this period.

   
    The priest exemplifies the change in the Church by three examples with which he was not happy.

 

    A parish priest wanted to start a free lunch program for the poor but the opposition was so great he had to discard the idea. The time was not ripe for the idea of free lunches in the parish: many thought it would attract 'undesirable' people and not be a good example to the children.  

    Priests  and religious were speaking out on human rights issues and social concerns and being met with opposition by many Catholics. There were even expensive advertisements put in  the daily press and gathering of signatures in opposition. Many protests  were made  to those in authority within the Church.
 

   The third example was the attitude of parents about sending their children to Sunday school. Many parents did not like the idea because these classes were attended by many who were not good students. The parents wanted their children to study, and Sunday school was a hindrance to this quest for good marks.
 

   A gallup survey that was made had  67.9% of those who had a religion considered peace of mind the number one motivation. Catholics according to a  survey made by the Catholic Times had 41.9%  and of those born Catholics 32.4% who were motivated by peace of mind.  This  showed the longer they were Catholic the more in tune they were with the Catholic view of life. This is not the kind of motivation that is a  sign that we have been evangelized by the teachings of Jesus. It is the thinking of the larger society but not of a disciple of Jesus. Peace of  mind is a by-product of discipleship and not  its reason.

    There is always the danger of separating our life into daily life and faith life, and thus living a double life. As disciples of Jesus, we have only one life. Whatever we do is done as a disciple of Jesus.   

    The priest was very honest in what he had to say, and  I wonder how much credence he will be given. Those of us who find the status quo pleasant enough do not want to change. That has been true throughout history, and it is no different today. Change is not always for the best but when we reflect on what our Lord expects from us as his disciples, the possibilities of change should not be written off automatically.