Giving a Penance that Includes Sacrifice

Each year during  Lent many of the parishes have common penitential services. Priests will come together in different parishes of a deanery to help hear confessions. The  Peace Weekly described some of the interesting  penances that were given.

The words 'penance' and 'sacrifice' are used often in our sermons and spiritual books, words which have  meanings that are not easily understood. But this Lent, in many parishes in Seoul,  the priests gave  penances one had little difficulty in seeing their relevancy to sacrifice and the way of the cross.

(Catholics, according to Church Law, are asked to partake of the Eucharist at least once a year during the paschal time if  there is not a good reason to do otherwise. However, in Korea another period before Christmas is set aside to prepare for Confession and the Eucharist, a period that is called 'Pangong'. The first 'Pangong' was not intended to put any burden on the Christians during their preparations for Easter. During the 'Pangong' before Christmas, however, they were  examined on their faith-life by the priests of the parish, but with the number of Catholics increasing and the current time constraints on the priests, this practice is no longer followed. There were many benefits from this old tradition but times have changed and making  things more difficult for the Christians to approach the sacraments did not seem a wise thing to continue.)

One of the parishes, believing the dinner table an important part of a family's spiritual life, required that the family eat together for a penance.  It is sad, thought the pastor, that eating together, once so common, has become such an extraordinary activity. It can fortify. he says, the bonds of the family and for Christians their life of faith.

Another penance given was to send greeting to family members or acquaintances and, if there has been estrangement, to attempt to improve the situation. One parish required the penitents to read the Gospel of Luke, from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion--a good meditation for Lent. Another parish, using the words of Jacob 2:17 ("So it is with the faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless.") required the penitents to partake in some activity to give life to what we believe.

Many were told to give up some food they especially liked, like alcohol or dessert. Or to give up something they found especially difficult to do, like watching TV, and spend the time saved in meditation. Other parishes gave penances to sensitize the Christians on environmental issues; one such penance was to curtail as much as possible the use of throw-away, one time use, utensils, cups and the like. Some told their parishioners to see the movie  "Don't Cry,Tonj," and to reflect on what it means to be of service to others. Others told the Christians to give at least 10 dollars for three days to the poor, and students were told to do some charitable work on three different occasions.

Foreign Workers In Korea

The young Korean priest tells us that he first came to appreciate the difficulties of a foreigner when he was in Italy for studies. He did his language study in Perugia where there were no Korean restaurants. This was his first experience  having difficulty in eating non-Korean meals.

He was told that a healthy diet was salad, spaghetti and steak. This was now his principle meal. He was used to having haejangguk (a soup containing coagulated cow's blood, beef and vegetables) or  bean-sprout soup  in the morning but now he was having coffee with bread and cheese. He disliked greasy food and after each afternoon meal he would head for the toilet.  Within one month he had lost over 10 kilo.

The grandmother working in the kitchen worried a great deal about his health. Whether this was the reason or not for his weight loss, little by little he got used to Italian food and regained his weight and had no further difficulty with the food.  It was then that he looked back on his own life and remembered living with the foreign missioner in Korea, and reproaching him for his eating habits. Now he could appreciate the importance of food in the life of a foreigner because of his own experience in Italy. 

When he had to go to the police station in Italy, he could sympathize with the foreigners in Korea who had to do the same.  Not having the necessary papers, he had to make a number of trips back to the police station, and because of his poor knowledge of the language, he was made to stand stand before the counter while the clerks chattered on the telephone. Though angry, he passed it off with a smile, fearing he would upset the clerk and make it harder for him to get the paper work done. It was another incident that helped him appreciate the foreigner's plight, along with the difficulties he had getting his ID card and the transfer of his auto license.

As of February of this year, there were 1,236,385 foreigners in Korea. In 2001 there were 570,000; if adding the illegal immigrants to this number, the total number of foreigners in Korea would be about a million and half, more than 3 percent of the total population. The greatest number are from China, most of whom would be ethnic Koreans (410,000) who had lived in China. Next would be Americans, Vietnamese and Philippines, in that order. Foreign workers would number about 600,000; foreigners who have married Koreans, 120,000; resident foreigner's children, 110,000; those affiliated with foreign businesses, 100,000; and foreign students, 80,000.

It is evident, the professor says, that Korea is no longer a single race nation. Not infrequently, we see foreigners in our villages and our workplaces, and often there is a feeling of animosity against them which is reported in  the mass media, and he finds this painful to have to acknowledge. They are coming to Korea like our fathers went to other countries to help their families, and these foreign workers in Korea are coming from poorer countries to help their families. We forget how we were years ago, he says, and now discriminate and reject them.

It's very clear what the Church teaches about the treatment of foreigners. Especially when we remember that they are coming here to do work our Koreans do not want to do: work that is dirty, dangerous and difficult. The following is taken from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Institutions in host countries must keep careful watch to prevent the spread of the temptation to exploit foreign laborers, denying them the same rights enjoyed by nationals, rights that are to be guaranteed to all without discrimination. Regulating immigration according to criteria of equity and balance  is one of the indispensable conditions for ensuring that immigrants are integrated into society with the guarantees required by recognition of their human dignity. Immigrants are to be received as persons and helped, together with their families, to become a part of societal life. In this context, the right of reuniting families should be respected and promoted. At the same time, conditions that foster increased work opportunities in people's place of origin are to be promoted as much as possible.(298)

The professor ends his article  by saying that his stay in a foreign country helped him to appreciate the difficulties experienced by foreigners now living in Korea. We should always be on the side of the alienated and the oppressed, and that includes, he reminds us, the foreign workers in Korea. 
                

Learning by Experience

Writing in the Kyeongyang Magazine, a professor of social justice at the Incheon Catholic University recollects his experience with foreigners--mostly American foreign missionaries working in the Incheon Diocese--when he was a child. (Tomorrow's blog will deal with  his own overseas experience and with the experience of  foreign workers in Korea.)

When the professor was a child, coming in contact with a foreigner was not a frequent experience. However, he did see a foreigner at least once a year and that was the ordinary of the diocese, Bishop William McNaughton, on his pastoral visit to the parish. "Wow, he's tall," he remembers thinking, "not everything  I see is ordinary."
 

As an altar boy he served at the Confirmation Mass, and seeing the shoes the bishop left in the sacristy, they looked like a model for an aircraft carrier. Out of curiosity he put his small feet into the shoes and thought that all Americans must be tall and have big feet like the bishop.  At that time, there were many foreigner missioners from America in the diocese and he wondered about the country and about the people.

He remembers that his father was rather fluent in English.  Later, he learned  that his father worked in an  American military base and  during the Vietnam war volunteered to go to Vietnam, like many other Korean fathers, to work to help support his family. And, like many others, he spent many years overseas doing this.

After ordination he lived as an assistant to an American missioner who is now retired in a mission station. He was able to learn much during  this one year living with the foreigner, and praises him for being a good pastor. But there was one problem.

The missioner did not use any salt in his food. He would have a large bowl of lettuce and  sprinkle it freely with olive oil. He did tell the cook not to be concerned with his needs but to serve the assistant what he wanted.. However, the instruction fell on deaf ears, for he was the pastor and he came first.

In his heart, the assistant couldn't understand how someone who had been in the country for over 30 years could still have a problem eating Korean food. With his own bias, he saw the priest as discriminating against Koreans.

One day the missioner asked the assistant very indirectly for help in renewing his resident permit. He had moved into a different area of the city and was required to report this to the county office. In the past, he had difficulty in doing this and wanted the assistant to accompany him to the county office, and if necessary assist him with the permit.

The assistant quickly agreed to go with him to the county office, where everything went smoothly, taking no more than 30 minutes to complete. On the trip home, the missioner thanked his assistant priest, "Father, many thanks; because you came with me I could finish what was to be done very quickly."

The assistant priest then realized that in the past the foreigner had to visit the county seat a number of times to  register before successfully completing the papers required, sometimes because a person was not present or because not all the papers were in order and, at other times, because the missioner was not familiar with what was required. It was here that the Korean priest came to appreciate some of the difficulties foreigners have in Korea. (To be continued)

What is Meant by Well-Being?

Here in Korea, as in other parts of the world, many of us are spending more time exercising for reasons of health. Mountain climbers, walkers and joggers are all looking for better health, often sacrificing large amounts of time and money to achieve it. Although a healthy body is a good and necessary part of our life, a problem arises when the desire becomes fixated on achieving the ideal muscular or  good looks.

An article in a bulletin for priests, commenting on the problem, tells us the World Heath Organization (WHO) defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." We as Catholics would add, for well-being, spiritual to the other three  This spiritual component is the one that has been overlooked by many in  the human family, as the physical component became more important. In our Korean society, up until recent times, three important areas of life were defined as knowledge, virtue and body, requiring for optimum development mental training, character training and physical training.  Without the harmony of all three, we will not have the well being we desire.

The article moves on to discuss life in society and what we understand by a healthy society. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been used as the gauge of a healthy economy but has not been accepted by all. The problem seen by many is the tendency to take the financial and economic potential of a country as indicative of societal health. The fear is that when we strive for these material goals all other values fall by the wayside. To have a healthy society, the mental and moral virtues must keep up with, and be in harmony with, the financial and economic growth of the society. 

When we are tempted  to quench our thirst with a sugary, refreshing soft drink that does not succeed in slaking our thirst, we should turn to the important values of life that make life fulfilling and beautiful, instead of treating them like relics from a bygone era. The third  Sunday of Lent we heard about the living water that Jesus came to give us. This water that will well up within us, we can be sure, will bring satisfaction. 

Learning How to Empty Ourselves

The columnist writing on spiritual issues for the Catholic Times tells us about a priest he remembers from his days in the seminary. He was then very chubby, very spirited and very worldly-wise. When he met him recently, thin and very serene, he was surprised and somewhat worried to see him so changed.

"How come?" he asked. "Inscrutable are the ways of heaven," was his answer, explaining that he has learned what this means. The columnist was surprised to hear this from a man in his early forties who had once had an expansive view on life. This peeked his curiosity and he asked for more information.

"Brother," he said, as a priest I have  had many dreams. I had all kinds of plans and ideals lodged in my head. Every time I was assigned a new parish, I had great expectations.  However, when it came time to leave, few of my expectations had turned out the way I wanted. Almost daily, things I didn't want occurred, leaving me perplexed, but in the long run it was all for the good. During the last ten years, my heart has become bigger and more empty."

Having known him in the seminary, the columnist suggested that the reason for the change was his humility. He disagreed, saying he knew how proud he was, but now has come to a point in his life where he can empty himself, his body becoming lighter and his impetuosity diminished--adding up to more leisure. He recalled the times in his life when he lost his temper, raised his voice and lived with resentment. In trying to attain his goals all that he  succeeded in doing was to vex himself. He never achieved what he wanted, he said, and when he  did, it wore him out. He finally decided to give himself a break.

Lowering our personal expectations to achieve more, the columnist advises, may be just the kind of break we all need to become a new person. But we must stop pushing ourselves, as his seminary friend found out, to grow to this new level.

This year, in the liturgy for the scrutinies, there are lessons for the new Christians being baptized on Easter. Last Sunday we were there with the woman at the well, as she became someone quite different, a new person, after her conversation with Jesus. This Sunday we were there with the blind man who knew he was blind and received sight. And also there with those who thought they could see, but were blind.  At the  last scrutiny we are told to come out of the tomb and begin a new life--a life of grace, with its accompanying emptiness that allows God to work in us.

Difference between Revenge and Hate

A guest columnist for the Catholic Times does some deep retrospection on the horrific suffering of our Japanese neighbors in the wake of the earthquake. He quotes his father: "Those around my age remember the cruelty of the Japanese; they are now receiving their penalty." The family found these words at this time so out of place it was difficult to accept, but the writer, trying to understand his father's feelings, uses a Talmudic explanation of revenge to make sense of his father's feelings.

"When a friend refuses to lend you his hoe, revenge would be to refuse to lend him your shovel. If he asks you for the use of your shovel, and you tell him  he refused to lend you his hoe, but you are going to lend him your shovel. This is hate."

Adapting this to the situation in Japan since they trampled on our country for so long the natural disaster can be  seen as repayment. We suffered much at the hands of the Japanese, but to think they should not have pain permits us to hate. The writer is conjecturing that his father  is saying that revenge is better than hate.

The son does not go along with this way of thinking, but he is trying to defend his father's distorted way of seeing the situation.

He describes the difficulties faced by his father growing up. He never went to school  and doesn't remember ever playing with anybody during this time. He began working as a street vendor at the age of 10 and as a father, had to care for a family of seven children. There were many reverses and little time for anything but making money for food and clothes and for educating his family.

The son feels it would be rude to tell his father to forgive the world for his difficulties. Throughout history, it's usually the poor who suffer the most. And those who have not suffered directly or who have suffered relatively less will find it easier to forgive than those hearts have been brutalized.  With the passage of time this can be forgotten, but when trauma comes with the suffering, it's more difficult to forget and more likely to be passed on to later generations. The son believes this has  happened even to him.

Jesus did forgive those who were killing him and the writer knows the Church continues this message of forgiveness and love. Since the Second Vatican Council, we have often heard of the necessity to be on the side of the poor and the alienated. Those who remember the pain and  the alienation that comes with poverty do not  easily forget. Better than to ask them to  forgive is to try to  understand their situation and the trauma which does not allow them to open their hearts. To help this process along requires the concern of society and more pastoral outreach and care by the Church.

The columnist concludes the article with  fear that we try to forget and bury  and not listen to the many who have been traumatized. In doing so  we add trauma to trauma which some day will come back to haunt us.





























I

Foreigners In Their Own Country

Many of the refugees from the North who are now living in South Korea face many hardships and not the least is being a foreigner in a country that was once united.Those who have defected have done so for many different reasons and economic reasons,for many, may be the most important. They usually cross the border into China hoping to go to a third country because China is a close ally of North Korea, and does not grant refugee status and considers them illegal migrants.

This situation is such that those who arrive in China are exploited by the Chinese and often  sold into forced marriages. Life is difficult and no matter how long they remain in China they are not recognized as citizens and their  children can't be registered; they always fear that they will be sent back to North Korea. 

The religious sister working with the refugees in Incheon mentions a young girl who because of a deformed ear received  medical help to correct the abnormality.The mother was married to a Chinese and finally made it to South Korea. The operation  made the child's  ear almost normal. She can now wear glasses and is no longer open to ridicule by the children.

The sister mentions that these children and the mothers who have lived in China for many years speak Chinese but because of their illegal situation in China live in fear of being  picked up by the authorities. Their  mental state is very unstable. In the South  the treatment the children receive from their classmates is such that they hide their North Korean background except to very close  friends to whom they will say they are foreign born Koreans or  lived in China.

In  the 1990s they went through a very difficult period of hunger, which stunted  their growth and  gave them weak bodies.This  makes it hard to concentrate in school; many can't read the Korean script. Since the parents were trying to make a living they often lived with their relatives which did not make for a warm family relationship.

Each new semester, the sister explains,  when the children have to go to school, they become sick.   Everything is new to them, they find the society uninviting. Life in the South is not easy. They can't hide their  accents. The children because of their hard lives, are at the bottom of the class, have great difficulty with English, which the Koreans start learning in grammar school. Children can be cruel and when they are treated with contempt it is no wonder the refugee dropouts are many times over the normal.

The sister is optimistic about their future, but it is a problem for the country to find ways to make these new  members in the free society of the South one that will be the harbinger  of what the future unification will be. At present, the difficulties are numerous.