Prayer versus Activity

In the column on spirituality in the Catholic Times, the writer recalls, while walking to a nearby convent for Mass, reading about a street person who froze to death. The experience caused him to see street people with a different eye. Furthermore, the problems facing the country and the demonstrations in Seoul flashed through his mind:  "What are the thoughts that I consider important?" he mused.

Arriving at the convent, he saw the sisters in the chapel in prayer.  Everything was in place and  very cozy. Wouldn't it be better, he thought, if they went out into the streets and brought some hot water to the street people. In the world today there are many fighting for a fair distribution of goods and for justice--and these nuns are praying. Wouldn't it be better to have them doing something practical?

After Mass and  during meditation after Communion, a different sound resonated in his head: "Don't be deceived by efficiency; once you have the basics all will correctly follow."

Efficiency enters our thinking and affects all our values. The reason is that efficiency can be understood as another word for love in action. Efficiency supersedes prayer and silence. Activity is considered  true prayer and silence and prayer take a whack.  Yes, to go into the world with love and service, working for peace and justice: doing something about the street person who froze to death is a work we have been given, and we can't emphasis it too much.

However, when we do not attend to the basics and just push activity, in time desire weakens and we get tired; the passion for justice erodes, and we go into the human default of laziness. If we take care of the basics this should not happen. Silence and prayer should be our starting point.     

Our Lord, by his life, gave us the example, if one seems necessary.  He would get up early and go to a lonely spot to pray before his activity.  We should not be deceived by the lure of efficiency, an ever present temptation, thinking we do not have time for prayer. We all tend to lose energy and motivation as we go through our daily routines. Recharging ourselves with moments of silence and prayer can work wonders for us in returning us refreshed for the activities of the day.

A Young Person's Dictionary

A priest of the Seoul Diocese, who has worked with young people for many years, has recently written A Young Person's Dictionary, whose main message is that parents and children often fail to understand each other because many of the words used in their conversations are understood differently. And to have a meaningful conversation, he reminds us, the words being used must be understood to have the same meaning for both the parent and the child.

The book draws on the priest's many years of experience working with youth. It was reviewed in the Catholic press and in one of the secular papers. He feels that parents, no matter their maturity, are often blind when they attempt to judge  their children, believing that no one knows 'my child the way I do.'

Children keep on growing but parents only remain with the remembrance of the past, the priest asserts, and miss the world the child lives in.

Below is a partial list of words that often have different meanings, he claims, for the parent and the child. 

* Bullying

A parent would understand this as shunning or being shunned; a child, as something that he will experience, if not careful.

* A teacher
For a parent: someone who instructs others; for a child: someone who can be clueness even about the meaning of existence.

* Sex

For a parent: sensual contact between male and female bodies; for a child: something embarrassing.

*Dialogue

For a parent: an exchange of thoughts on a subject of mutual interest; for a child: something he or she wanted to do but couldn't, or something of little value. 

*Comparison

For a parent: assessing the merits of two or more things; For a child: a means of squashing the child's spirit.

*Self-confidence

For a parent: trust and firm belief in oneself; for a child: something parents continually want them to have, but that they feel is impossible to acheive. 

The priest feels that the impoverished poor in society are our children. He ends the interview with the words of Don Bosco: "Just to love our children is insufficient; they have to feel that love. The grimmer the school and society become, the more important it is for teachers and parents to grow this feeling in their hearts."

Oh China, Oh China

Oh China, Oh China, a novel from the time of the Boxer rebellion to the 1920s and the rise of Communism, is a saga of those who lived through those times, giving us a picture of Christianity in China. A priest writing for other priests tells us how interesting and moving he found the book and that those to whom he recommended the book also found it difficult to put down.

The aggressive response of the world powers to the boxer rebellion is the main focus of the book. England was the first to become involved, soon followed by other countries, disputing among themselves, about the selling of opium and its spreading influence within China. The confiscation and burning of the opium, the two so-called  opium wars, and the embarrassing treaties and indemnity exacted from the Chinese--all form the background for the novel.

One of the conditions of the treaties was to allow Christians to evangelize freely in China. It was from this time on that the average Chinese saw the West, their own opium use, and the practice of Christianity as being in the same boat, going in the same direction.

Christian missionaries were seen as being more attached to the foreign powers than concerned for the welfare of the Chinese. With war, violence, and all kinds of corruption that the people had to endure, what value was there in preaching Christ? In the novel, a missioner says: "What have we been able to show the Chinese? I did not help to change China but China changed me; that is the result of my 17 years of missionary work."

Gradually, the novel shows us how the Chinese came to see their situation from a common perspective.The boxer rebellion was the manifestation of the resentment that was building up against the foreigners. And when they lost the war, had to pay the indemnity to the foreign powers, and suffered its embarrassment, their defeated spirit help to create the background and confusion that prepared the fertile ground for the Communist movement to take hold and spread so quickly, returning to them a feeling of dignity and patriotism.

The novelist is a Perpetual Help Religious Sister who teaches philosophy  in a university in Taiwan. She is quoted at the end of the book review: "...how much pain and trials the Chinese had to face  to appreciate their dignity? This is a struggle that all sincere people, transcending  place and time, strive to attain; it's the struggle and aim of all believers. The discussion I have had in prayer with God, I wanted to have with my readers. This has been my reason for writing the novel."

New Way of Making Stained Glass

Articles in the Catholic Weeklies introduce us to Fr. Cho Kwang-ho, a professor in the Incheon Catholic University of Art and Design. His new art-stained, glass negative layer method of making stained glass will change, it has been said, the way we look at stained glass making. He has received a patent on the invention.
 

Stained glass, as we know, has been used in churches for hundreds of years, but is not limited to churches; it is seen in many commercial buildings and even in subways. Fr. Cho is a representative of the Korean Research Institute of Art and Design, and has worked with stained glass for many years. His method is cheaper, takes less time and, since lead will not be used, is environmentally friendly.
 

The technique, as in printing, uses a dye that is spread uniformly on the surface of the glass pane that has the desired design. The glass pane is then heated over  700 degrees Celsius. With the old methods, one is limited in many ways; with this method you can determine easily the colors, the brightness, saturation, and gradation of colors. And, in addition, it can capture what is lost with the old methods: the fine details such as hairs of the head and the texture of clothing.
 

In the years of working in art, he has felt many limitations in what he could do.  Fr. Cho studied art in Germany;  with his studies in stained glass, etching, and icons and the  experience in Korea came up with this new way of making stained glass.
 

Fr. Cho has shown the practicality of this way of working with stained glass in his many creations that now are located throughout Korea. They have stood up well with the passage of time. He eagerly looks forward to making the method better known at the Construction Material Exhibition in April this year.

 
 

Lord Make me an Instrument of your Peace

Korean Catholics are familiar with, and enjoy reciting, the prayer for Peace of St. Francis of Assisi. A Catholic Times' columnist also finds the prayer consoling and reminds us of the well-known words:

Lord make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair,hope;
where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be    consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Today, there are many who have difficulty experiencing peace. We tend to be easily upset and angered; hateful and fearful thoughts are common. And not only among those without belief but among Christians as well. Because of the difficult times nowadays, many are living lives without much peace and joy. 

The columnist believes that  without experiencing pain and the tribulations of life one will not know real joy. He compares life to a long journey, a marathon. When one puts off running because of some perceived difficulty, such as the wind, cold, heat, rain or storms, one does not relish the joy that comes at the end of the race.

Jesus reminded us that his peace is not like that given by the world. "Peace, is my farewell to you. My peace is my gift to you. I do not give it to you as the world gives peace" (John 14:27). It is a life lived with him. It is transcending our present conditions: not forgetting our difficulties but facing them with Jesus.

Existence gives off its own fragrance, and a proper attitude toward life makes that fragrance ours; our life history and vision will become our future and our ideals. Living today fully is what is important: to be thankful for the day, and to do all in our power to live each moment completely will bring us peace.

One of Korea's Hot Potatoes

 A journalist for the Catholic Times writes an opinion piece about the current 'hot potato' being passed around, dividing the country, the village and the Church. The naval base in Cheju  island also written Jeju, on the southwestern tip of the peninsula, is considered by some as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  The project to continue building the naval base has aroused strong opposition.

Environmentalists,  activists, opposition politicians, peace lovers, have all raised their voices against the project, the way it was begun and whether the naval base was needed in the first place. The opposition to the project by many Gangjeong villagers and by the larger Cheju, community has resulted in many arrests and imprisonments. The Catholic Church is also active in siding with the opposition.

Recently, Catholics went to Cheju on a walking pilgrimage and went to the Gangjeong village where they  saw the work in progress: excavators, trucks, and the like. The noise of the construction in the background the pilgrims looked out at the Gureombi Rocks--rocks that are considered by some to be a cultural heritage. Each of the pilgrims would have their different ways of viewing what was going on. Some would be praying with tears in their eyes, some with anger in their voice. Alongside those who were demonstrating against  the project would be those who supported the project; the clergy also being divided on the issue.
 

The lack of unity within the Church is  easily seen at the Gangjeong village. It is a school of learning for Catholics. As a journalist he sees so many crisscrossing opinions concerning  Gangjeong. We say the Church should be more active in  the world and yet  are afraid to do so:  a thought that he is not able to shake off. Embarrassingly, the solution to many of our current problems is forgotten; while perhaps 98 percent of Christians, he estimates, know what should be done, only about 2 percent have the courage to act on what they know.

The journalist feels that the fundamental problem is a lack of understanding of God, along with a lack of courage. We are not the persons we should be--persons sent out to evangelize but rather persons who are concerned about ourselves. He concludes with a quote from Hosea:  "For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, a knowledge of God, rather than holocausts" (Hosea 6:6). These words keep ringing in his head.  Without an effort to know God no sacrifice will be pleasing to him. The clue to solving our problems, including the current one surrounding the building of the naval base, can be found, the journalist believes, by opening ourselves up to a deeper understanding of God.

Flight from God

"Truth will make us free," a quote from Scripture that begins the columnist's Notes on Life, will be the source of our bliss, he says, if we live close to this truth.  However, we have to be careful in discerning its meaning; without understanding correctly we can be hurt.

Practicing truth we are also living the truthful life. But from the beginner's understanding to the loftiest, there is a great  variety of behaviors. We have many examples of this, and for a Christian Jesus is our prime example: living the  truth that overcame the natural attachment to earthly life.

This way of life requires the  preparation of the vessel and its capacity to be filled with the truth that makes us free; otherwise, with vanity, we will be faced with  embarrassment. The columnist dreams of this search for truth but not for martyrdom. He tells us of his own preparation of the vessel: not wanting to be lazy but  diligent, not wanting to be deceptive but always speaking the truth, not wanting to judge things foolishly but with a correct understanding, wanting to rid himself of greed, not indulging in overeating or drinking, be accepting of an empty stomach,and more than that, to enjoy the condition. And wanting, perhaps above all else (he is a poet), to write a better line of poetry. He considers all this preparation as bringing him coming closer to the truth. The columnist has bared his soul; he is striving for the truth, trying to achieve a little more than what he now possesses. He admits that his feelings are packaged with his own wrapping paper.

Living with self-discipline will not be detrimental to  a long life, he wants to reassure us. We know that overeating is not as beneficial as eating little, that competing  excessively, with its attendant stress, is not as healthful as living calmly with some uncomfortableness. In brief, the columnist feels that this faith life of accepting  blessings fits rather well into his philosophy of life.

The flow of civilization in the 20th and 21st centuries is decidedly against this disciplined approach to truth--not being particularly interested in things of the mind but worshiping the material. He concludes with the words of Max Picard who defined this age as "fleeing from God."

There are, he feels, too many temptations leading us away from truth. In the Analects of Confucius is found the phrase, "A virtuous man will have a long life."  In silence, living prudently, will they not lead to a long and fruitful life?