The Hard Decision of the Black Kite

Korea has no serious problems with the changes that came with the Second Vatican Council. Most Catholics entered the Church after the Council was over. Few  remember the Latin Mass or the liturgical life of the past. Nostalgia is not part of the thinking of our Catholics. The Society of Pius X (followers of Archbishop Lefebrev) has few members in Korea.
 
The desk columnist for the Catholic Times recalls that next year is the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council. This Council was the foundation on which the Church grew in Korea.

'Renewal' is the word that is often used when talking about the Council. Nowadays all of society is using the word renewal: you and I are to become 'renovated.' But the columnist is disturbed when the desire for renewal is used as a motivational tool to get us out of some crisis we are presently in. It should be much more than that, he says.

What is necessary is to know oneself. Knowing yourself, he says, is the beginning of change. Socrates knew he didn't know everything, which enabled him to search for wisdom.
 
For a Catholic, renovation comes, he says, when we desire to become more like Christ. It is the promise of Jesus and the Holy Spirit's presence in us that leads us to wisdom--the message of the Gospel. To be evangelized is the first duty of a Christian.
 
But what is self-evangelization? he asks. It is to become familiar with God's word in the Scriptures. Reading and study of the Scriptures is the first step in the change that will come.

The columnist uses an example that the internet has made popular but without any basis in fact. It probably goes back to Psalm 103: "Your youth is renewed like the eagle." Instead of the eagle, in Korean it is the black kite. The story is presented in video's and articles that try to inspire us to change in all facets of life. As a prod to change it may have some value even if not true. The story, briefly, is about a black kite with a life span of 40 years. To live to 70 it has to make a hard decision. At 40 its talons can no longer grab prey, its beak becomes bent, its feathers become thick and stick to the breast. It is faced with the option of dying or getting renewed. The renewal is painful, requiring that it break its beak against a rock, pluck out its talons and feathers, and wait for them to grow back; doing the difficult and painful thing, it lives another 30 years.

The columnist concludes the article by comparing our life with that of the black kite. It takes much more than just thinking about change to bring about change; it takes making some difficult decisions. If we are satisfied with the way things are, we will not mature and life will end in failure. Change requires effort and pain.

Being-Toward-Death

The guest columnist in the Catholic Times discusses  the play, "Killing Sisters," which tells the story, part documentary, of religious sisters who help patients die well, focusing on the hospice approach to death in Korea. Seeing the play made her uncomfortable, thinking about how most of us live our lives.  

She thought of those who spend most of their time making money, yet without much thought of how it's to be spent. But when the end comes they often see their life differently and have remorse for the way they lived.
 
The hospice movement is intended to help those in their last days to face death in peace. And also to help their families accept the death of the loved one. In other countries 40 percent take advantage of hospice care; in Korea it is less than one percent.
 
She quotes Heidegger's "being-toward-death," as a way for us to be in the world and, guided by the awareness of death's on-going presence in life, to awaken to a more "authentic perception" of life.  She feels that persons living today should have more of an experience of death than those in the past because of the many more deaths from accidents and from diseases such as cancer and AIDS. In the past, death was mostly associated with the old.
 
The play made her realize how oblivious we are of the death that awaits us, and also made her aware that many of us do not know who we are or how to live in a way that has value. We die without discovering who we are. At funerals we come face to face with death but usually deny or try not to think of death; this is not a healthy way to live. She quotes from Ecclesiastes (7:2): "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting." Not to reflect on this fact is to live like a fool. And from Hebrews (13:14): "For here we have no lasting city; we are seeking one which is to come." Every day, she says, we should have a thought about death and prepare for it.

Advent, she wants us to remember, was a period of waiting. We await Jesus liturgically, but we also become aware that there is an end to earthly life, and that there is a need to discover the real me, the whole me. That would be the best preparation for our last days on earth.

Drinking to Celebrate Christmas and New Year

New year is a time to rejoice and celebrate. Parties, both at work and at churches, take for granted the presence of liquor. It's no longer news that Catholics do more drinking than all the other religious groups. This was made known a few years ago in a survey of the religions in Korea. The Peace Weekly, in an article and editorial, discusses the issue and gives some guidelines for a healthy culture of drinking.

The article mentions a couple of parishes that do not allow any drinking on their property; even with events, parties, parish excursions, or bazaars to help the poor, no liquor is seen. The editorial reminds us that Korea is number two  in the consumption of liquor; loss to society from the consumption is astronomical.

It is not difficult to surmise what the men think of the parish ruling; the women are not generally adverse to it.  The reason for the ruling is obvious: there were serious abuses, and it was an effort to bring the idea of temperance to the attention of all.

Often, after a meeting, the men go off property to drink, which would usually be a period of time much longer than the meeting itself. Not only do the middle aged men drink but also the young. Drinking among the young is not less than that done by the older groups, and many of the high school graduates say they learned how to drink in these groups. But many would also say it helped bring the different age groups together, making for camaraderie. 

The Protestants have a reputation in Korea for not drinking or smoking, while the Catholics have a reputation for being very tolerant of drinking. The writer quotes a priest professor who mentioned a number of Scripture quotes that allow drinking, but there also are many that warn of the evil effects from liquor when over-indulged, drinking, he said, needs to be done in moderation.


There are parishes that, instead of drinking at meetings or other gatherings, provide either at the parish or in other areas cultural activities such as watching films, plays, and drinking tea or coffee. There are many who have difficulties in joining some of the parish groups because they don't drink, which is another issue. If the drinking could be limited to one glass, quoting one of the Christians, there would not be a problem.
 
He leaves us with the well-known phrase, "Too much of a good thing is bad." This applies especially, he feels, to the use of liquor, and adds, quoting from Sirach 31:28, "Joy of heart, good cheer and merriment are wine drunk freely at the proper time." When they are drunk to excess these good things become poison.                                                     
 
                                                 

Merry Christmas!

Blessed Christmas! Today we reflect on the meaning of the day. In all the Christian churches throughout the world, we will hear explanations in different words of what Jesus means to us. One of the blogs on Christmas quoted St. Augustine: "Let us rejoice and give thanks that we have become not only Christians but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God's grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ."
 
We talk much of what Christ means in our life, but if we ask Catholics what model would they take in life to follow, rarely would you hear the name of Jesus. We have made him an object of our adoration, of our praise and piety--all right and good, but we have forgotten that we are born in baptism to become other Christs.
 
The words we know well, but it's a big leap for us to use them to motivate what we do in our lives. The emphasis is on God's graces, which may make us passive, just waiting for something to happen. Grace is also always moving us to act: study, listen, relate, love, serve---these things we often forget.
 
God came to earth so that we can partake of his divinity. And when we attend Mass we are reminded of the symbolism inherent in the celebration of the Mass. During the offertory, for example, when the water is mixed with the wine, we read: "By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity" (2 Peter 1-4). Similar symbolic language is present throughout the liturgy.  

Today is our special feast day. We have been born to be other Christs and to follow his way of life. We all know this intellectually but, sadly, it is not part of our affective life.
 
Understanding the symbolism used by the Church, especially in the liturgy, brings greater depth to our Christian life but at times symbolism can be a stumbling block for the literal-minded person and an idol for the overly pious. However, symbolic language has a great deal to teach us; without it life would be very insipid. Can we image life without the handshake, bow, kiss, eating together, and without language itself, which of course is also symbolic.  Catholics have also the Sacraments, which make us more aware that all of life is a symbol of God's love for us. Without the understanding of symbolism, some have maintained, the deeper dimensions of life cannot be understood and appreciated.
  

When we look at the crib(the trough) this year, let us direct our minds to look more deeply into its symbolism to appreciate fully what St. Luke wanted us to understand. Merry Christmas!

Magnanimity to Accept all that is True

Christmas means a great deal to many of us; to others it is foolishness and a lie. Even the word Christmas for some Christians is an embarrassment, thus the now popular 'Season's Greetings.'
 
Some do not find 'Christmas' in the Scriptures and therefore reason enough to dispense with the word. The origin of the word, 'Mass of Christ,' also does not help matters. Others go back into history and are scandalized that the Catholic Church used the pagan feast of the Winter Solstice as the birthday of Jesus. The Church has no difficulty seeing this as a deliberate and legitimate 'baptism' of a pagan celebration.
 
Acculturating to a reality when it is teaching or enabling us to accept some truth is welcomed; truth is to be accepted wherever found.  The Winter Solstice, when the days begin getting longer, had great meaning for the early Christians; for them, as for us, it was Jesus who was the light of the world.
 
Last week, Legion of Mary members were on retreat for three days, and heard talks on the Buddhist 'search for the ox'. These ten pictures are seen often on the walls of Buddhist main sermon halls. The members returned with leaflets with the ten colored pictures, which most Koreans would be familiar with. They do help a great deal in showing us the steps to moral growth.
 
The ten steps: 1)Searching for the bull, 2)Discovering footprints, 3)Seeing the bull, 4)Catching the bull, 5)Taming the bull, 6) Riding the bull home, 7)The bull is forgotten, the individual remains, 8)Both the bull and self transcended. 9) Reaching the source, 10)Going back to the market place, enlightened.
 
The Buddhists gave a Buddhist interpretation to the Taoist pictures;  we Christians can give a Christian interpretation to the pictures. The retreat master using the same 10 pictures did just that. Each one of us can use them in anyway he wishes for his own spiritual growth.

Since true Buddhism is a natural religion without revelation the Catholic Encyclopedia reminds us: "In general, revealed religion does not reject natural religion and ethics, but rather adopts them in a higher form."
 
A common interpretation for the pictures would be the search for one's true self, the bull, the true self, is captured with difficulty, tamed, returning home on the bull, but the self and inner nature are still divided. You have the uniting of the two; the circle is arriving at pure light, total emptiness, which is fullness. Oneness with all nature and a return to daily life, enlightened.
 
Catholics should be small letter c-catholic in accepting truth wherever found that enables us to love God and our brothers and sisters. We have not always lived up to the saying attributed to St. Augustine: "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity." It's a sure way of being magnanimous in the way we look at the here and now.

All Depends on our Attitiude.

Writing in his weekly column in the Catholic Times, the poet lets his thoughts play with the way God deals with his beloved creation. He sees the beauty and harmony in nature, the mountains, lakes, trees, flowers, the rice plants moving in the gentle breezes, and then he looks on the fishing village and sees the tsunami sweep away thousands into the sea.

Nature seems mysterious and unrevealing. Some are ready to stress the favorable, and others the unfavorable relationship between God and creation; sometimes it's benevolence and other times non-benevolence.  Which one is the correct view? The relationship of heaven and earth is sometimes this and sometimes that. Can we call it fickle? A great abyss of separation?

Inanimate objects don't speak so we interpret. To interpret, according to the dictionary, means to explain and make objects known. Seemingly very easy to do, but when philosophers get involved it becomes complicated. It also has to do with our attitude towards the object. Whatever is received is received in the manner of the one receiving.

In prayer, God sometime gives what we want and other times not. How should we interpret this situation? The columnist gives us St. Paul's answer (1Thessalonians 5:16-18): "Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus."
 
How many of us have this as a guide, a teaching or a goal in our lives? If we took this to heart, Paul reminds us, we would be persons of virtue, extraordinary human beings.  Many times we pray and get the opposite of what we prayed for, which breeds resentment. But the answer, though not what we wanted, did come. Here, our attitude and free will come into play; we can accept the answer as being at this time the correct answer. 

We learn early on that God's standards are not the same as ours. When we give thanks and have joy in all things, then we consider God's mercy and interpret all with thanks in our hearts. It all depends on our free will; that is why it is such a precious gift.

How Advent was Spent in Past Years

Recently reported in the news was the generosity of an elderly man who put the equivalent of a hundred thousand dollars in the Salvation Army Red Kettle. The anonymous donor hoped the money would be used for underprivileged senior citizens. It was the single largest gift the Salvation Army has ever received in their Christmas campaigns in Korea since the campaigns began 83 years ago. There are warm lights aglow, a Catholic Times' writer tells us, in our sometimes cold world.

But he reminds us that in the Catholic world the warmth that came with the preparations for the big feasts in Korea has disappeared as older cultural ways have been replaced by newer ways. He goes on to explain that for a time in our Korean Catholic history, there were private meetings with all the Christians of the parish before the big feasts of Easter and Christmas. Priests would interview individual Catholics or entire families during the Advent preparation period to determine how well they knew the catechism; being able to answer correctly was a requirement in order to receive the sacraments on Christmas.
 
This custom began during the persecution of the Catholics. Fearful of living in large villages with non-Catholics, they gathered together in small hamlets, which in time became mission stations. Because there were few parishes and many mission stations, the priest would make the rounds of these stations to celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments for the two big feasts. He would also check to see if they had been faithful in their prayer life, spiritual reading, and in the study of the catechism. 

The visit of the priest at these mission stations would be reason enough for a holiday celebration. All would put on their best clothes and prepare holiday meals, and those who had left the village for work would return to celebrate the visit of the priest and to go to Mass. It was a joyous time even though the catechism exams did create some stress. 

Usually, the family would appear before the priest, knowing before the visit what questions would be asked. If the children did not answer to the priest's satisfaction, their grandfathers and parents would be reprimanded. It would be hard to imagine this happening today, the writer said. The custom no longer exists and he laments the change. He believes that the difference it has made in the life of our Catholics has not been all for the good. 

Taking the place of the oral exams in many parishes are written questions distributed to parishioners who are interested, and prizes are given to those who have the highest marks. All the burdens have been taken away. The parishes are much larger and the priests are busier, which is part of the reason for the change. And yet, there is something lost, he feels, in the disappearance of this tradition: perhaps less community involvement and less serious preparation for the big feasts of the Church.