The Joy of Writing at any Age

For most of us, the aging of the body is not something  we can control, responding to our bidding whenever we would like. When we see the elderly full of energy and life despite their advancing years, all of us take notice of this unexpected achievement. And that is what the Catholic Times did recently with its interview of  86-year old Teresa Hong, who has recently published her 17th  book of poetry.

Although she has had two serious operations recently, she continues her reading and writing, and has no plans to stop. "When my hand is no longer able to hold the pen, that may be the end to my writing," she says, adding a "but" at the end, perhaps implying that even then she will find a way to continue writing. She admits to having misgivings about much of what she has written--and she has written since 1945--telling the interviewer she no longer desires to hear her poetry read, though she is resigned to these inevitable events. Her satisfaction now comes, she says, from recalling 70 years of loving relationships with others; the joys, the suffering, and the pleasures of life have all become part of her story, and part of her poetry.

Whatever she has seen, heard and thought during her long years of life have found their way into her poetry and other writings. Writing for her is like breathing, she says, but she never thought her writing had any great merit. Though people call her a poet, and she accepts the title, all she is doing, she insists, is answering the call to write, and the pages just follow naturally.

When she finished her 15th book of poetry, she thought that was a sufficient goal to have in life, but she has exceeded that goal by two. It was during this time that she had the operations and was distressed that her writing years might be over, but God allowed her to take pen in hand again and continue writing. The pain and personal struggles she endured during this time have been the miracle drugs, she says,  that enabled her to return to writing, purified and hardened.

More than the  energy that comes to her when she writes, it is her faith, she says, that is all important,  even though she has not been consistently faithful. She is always conscious of the many graces she has received in life, and grateful for being a life-long  Catholic. After publishing her  last book of poems, all that is left, she says, is to prepare for death with dignity and a firm resolve. Thankfully, she will leave behind a remarkable body of work for all of us to reflect on and  enjoy.

Answers to Prayer

That prayers are not answered is a common  complaint and can bring the obvious question: Is there a God to answer our prayers? Our ancestors were faced with the same questions."Even when I cry out for help, he stops my prayer. He has blocked my ways with fitted stones, and turned my paths aside" (Lamentations 3:8-9).  "Oh my God, I cry out by day, and you answer not; by night and there is no relief for me" (Psalm 22:3).

In his article in Bible & Life, a priest reminds us that our ancestors in the faith, being unconcerned whether an answer was received or not, continued in prayer and examined themselves, finding a response by redoubling their efforts in following the will of God.

It was prayer that helped them uncover God's will.  The response to the prayer was not as important as the relationship, the intimate conversation, the daily understanding--all of it came as a gift of love, the essence of prayer.

If we are to discover God's will--unconcerned with our own--patient waiting is necessary. The answer to prayer may take a lifetime. God's way is not our way, scripture tells us. Consequently, when praying we need to pray from the heart and give words to our prayer that is pleasing to God.

And yet, many have spent hours in fervent prayer with important requests...but the loved one died, a son never returned from the war, a business failed, and the divorce did happen. Not surprisingly, many of them gave up prayer as useless. 

Scripture tells us to ask and it will be given to us, but this is not what most of us experience. The priest wants us to know that in prayerful asking we are asking for the Holy Spirit, and that everything comes with this gift. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can be unconcerned about whatever comes our way, welcoming both the inevitable sorrows and the joys of life. The more empty we are of ourselves, he points out, the freer the Spirit is to work within us.

When a favorable breeze blows we do not need the oars. When the Spirit within us is allowed the freedom to move us, prayer becomes easy and a joy.

Who is Healthy?

A doctor, writing in the  Catholic Digest, asks "Who is the healthy person?" The dictionary meaning of health, often cited and generally thought to be accurate, is to be free of mental and physical ailments, and to have a robust constitution. According to this definition, the doctor says he would have to exclude many friends, acquaintances, and patients he considers healthy. He gives examples of what he means. 

A friend of his, another doctor, who has a crippled leg from polio, doesn't hesitate whenever his patients need his help, often being the first one to be at their bedside. At home, though often tired from long hours at work, he plays hide-and-seek with his daughter--not an easy game for someone with a crippled leg. And when his son, like all inquisitive children, asks a difficult question, he always takes the time to respond thoughtfully and appropriately. Can we say, he asks, that his friend does not have good health.

A man in his fifties, having recently climbed one of the highest peaks in Korea, was told a few days later that he had stomach cancer. Are we to think that from the moment he had the diagnosis he no longer was healthy? That he somehow lost the health that enabled him to climb that mountain? Or for that matter, should anything in the natural world that once was young and vigorous be described as having lost health as it ages?

A  78-year old diabetic grandmother,  overly preoccupied with health, leaving the doctor's office asked: Doctor are you  in good health? She just completed a physical exam, and yet she wants another MRI, just to make sure she's healthy. Can we say she is in good health?

We don't normally consider anything old as being healthy. But even in the natural world, taking as an example an old persimmon tree. Yes, it was once vigorous and producing fine fruit but now is producing small, ugly fruit, eaten only by birds. Who would consider the tree as not being healthy? Some of course would, but not our doctor.

He clearly has difficulty with the generally accepted meaning of health that restricts the word to a period of life where physical growth and fruitfulness are most evident, and that describes the period of life where physical powers decline as a lack of health. To focus solely on the physical manifestations of health. he says, will lead to many contradictions. 

Instead of  saying that health is the absence of any physical and mental problems, the doctor would prefer to say a person who lives his daily life without insecurity, and  enjoys physical, mental and spiritual peace is the healthy person. This more holistic understanding of health  includes even those who take medicines to control their high blood pressure, those who have been operated on for cancer and are living a normal life, those who are taking medicines to control depression and yet are able to work helping others, those who are handicapped and are out there teaching others--all of them could be considered healthy, the doctor insists, despite their physical problems.

A grandfather, after x-rays revealed the possibility of TB, was told to undergo more tests to be sure. The doctor did not  want him to take strong drugs that may not be necessary  and may prove harmful, but the grandfather wanted to start taking the drugs, not for his own health but not to  endanger the health of his grandchildren. He had lived a  full life and the health of his grandchildren was now his primary concern. Can we say the grandfather was not in good health?

He gives us another example. A 45-year old man who was diabetic and obese, not wanting others to think he was unhealthy, refused medicine but decided to exercise 4 hours a day, eating only the best food. During the weekends, he would go golfing and mountain climbing. He also cut down on his weekly workload and avoided foods he previously wanted to eat. The family did not enter into the picture and were very much upset by his decision. Let us suppose, the doctor says, that everything turned out normal after his efforts, can we say he was in good  health?

The doctor suggests that a first step in correcting this misunderstanding of true health might start with changing how we greet one another, which would also help rid us of what he calls the "health neurosis" of our society.  Better than wishing other people good health, which is normally understood to mean physical health, he wants us to get into the habit of wishing them "Joy of life," "Be filled with God's graces," "Be happy," 'May your wishes come true"--all stressing the importance of mental and spiritual health. It is our narrow preoccupation with physical health, he says, that deflects many of us from pursuing the health that counts, The real health that makes any physical ailment of little significance.

Foreign Brides' Language Problems

There are few of us who have not had difficulty communicating our thoughts and feelings. The problem often exists where we least expect to  find it: in the best of marriages. Regardless of the shared goals of the partners and the love they have for each other, there is bound to be some discord, some lack of communication. Imagine what it would be like if one of the partners was unfamiliar with the culture and language of the other. Yes, it would be difficult to imagine; such an obstacle to a successful life together would seem almost insurmountable.

International marriages struggling to overcome the language and cultural differences of the partners are not uncommon in Korea, but marriages in which the couples are not able to communicate because the language barrier is too difficult to overcome is a recent and disturbing phenomenon.  When society was simpler and the disparity between the country and city, rich and poor, educated and uneducated was not as pronounced, the problem had easier solutions.  A religious sister, attempting to find current solutions to the problem, works with women who have emigrated to Korea, many of them as foreign brides. Because most of the husbands are struggling financially, most of them, after learning a little Korean, will look for work in the factory area of the diocese. Working in the factories, beginning a family, and doing the household chores leaves the new bride little time to study the language.

Writing in the Bible and Life magazine, the sister stresses how important it is for these women to learn Korean. Without the language, they will not be able to have first-hand knowledge of the culture, or communicate with their husbands, their children, and their neighbors. Many of the most distressing problems they are now experiencing, such as depression and conflicts within the family are caused, she says, from the inability to communicate.

Tien, a young woman from Thailand, a college graduate, is typical, the sister says, of women who come to see her. Married to an earnest, hard-working young man, Tien has been in the country for 10 years.  Around the time of the birth of their third child, she had to admit to herself that living in a foreign country is far from easy. Because she kept putting off the study of Korean, Tien was incapable of helping her children with their schoolwork, and even simple conversations were difficult . But it still was a shock--from which she's never recovered--she told the sister, when she overheard the oldest son ask his father if it was possible to find a Korean woman to marry.

An incident at the children's center prompted Tien to contact the sister. Her youngest child was given medicine for her cold. Tien had asked her teachers to give  the child a spoonful of cough medicine every four hours. When the child came home with the empty medicine bottle, she realized they had given her child too much. She complained but was told there had been a misunderstanding, implying the blame was hers because she had difficulty with the language, while making light of  the whole affair.  She wanted to change to another children's center but her husband gave her no sympathy and made matters worse by siding with the teachers and blaming her for the misunderstanding with the teachers. Tien told sister that because of her difficulty learning the language, she now believes it is beginning to harm the health of her children; she then broke down and  began to cry.

The sister feels that similar incidents will continue to occur until Tien  and the other foreign brides become  proficient in the language.  She hopes they will have the commonsense to avoid them by setting aside enough time to learn the language. How diligent they are in pursuing this goal will determine to a large extent the future happiness of the women and their families.

The Year of Faith: New Evangelization

"When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" A  strange question abruptly asked by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (18:8). In today's world the question is no longer as strange as it once was. Pope Benedict brings up the subject of faith in the life of the Church with his Apostolic Letter of Oct. 11, 2011, Porta Fidei (Door of Faith), which proclaimed that a "Year of Faith" would begin on Oct. 11, 2012 and end on Nov. 24, 2013. 

In conjunction with the Pope's announcement, the 13th Synod of Bishops will meet in Rome, Oct. 7, preceding the opening of the Year of Faith, and conclude Oct. 27. About 300 bishops from around the world will discuss the need for a new approach to spreading the faith, guided by the theme: "The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith." During the deliberations, the Year of Faith will be formally proclaimed, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth  anniversary of the publication of the "Catechism of the Catholic Church." The Korean Church is responding to the event enthusiastically; hopefully the words and ideas exchanged and debated will not be relegated to our personal archives, and forgotten. The working document for the Bishops Synod has been published by the Vatican and can be accessed by typing Instrumentum Laboris in a search engine.

The president of the Bishops Committee on Evangelization held a press conference recently to provide details on the Year of Faith and the Bishops Synod.  A journalist for the Catholic Times, commenting on the Bishop's press conference, said  the term "New Evangelization" is not well understood by most Catholics. New ramifications have surfaced, broadening the meaning of the term and requiring a change of perspective on how best to spread the Gospel message. How this change will translate to the current situation in Korea is too early to tell, the columnist says.

Successful implementation of the evangelization process, according to Blessed Pope John Paul, will depend on how well we can bring to our work new passion, new methods, and new aspirations of what can be accomplished, and how mindful we are that changing a culture requires a change in the methods used.  The bishop in the press conference speaking from the  heart wonders if the change, first of all, has to begin with  himself. We need to experience God.  What our society needs is not more teachers, but men and women who witness to what they believe. 
 
The need for discussion has been felt for sometime for the countries that have been traditionally the bastions of Catholicism are no longer so, and the hope is to change the present reality.  The effort will have to begin with each one of us  examining  our faith life, face the results, and  begin to evangelize ourselves with a new vocabulary and practices.

The Cry of the Poor and of Nature

In the Scriptures, we hear the cry of the Israelites in Egypt,  the cry of the poor and oppressed. "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of  complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering" (Exodus 3:7). There is also the cry of creation, the ecological cry. " Yes, we  know that all creation groans and is in agony even until now" (Rom. 8:22).

There is a common element in  these two cries: The cry that comes from the failure to fulfill our social and economic obligations and to recognize our solidarity with all humans, and the cry that comes from a lack of harmony between humanity and nature--the despoiling of nature often justified by putting commercial concerns before human concerns. Both cries call out to us because of the same injustice and the same suffering. 

In both injustices, the poor are the ones who suffer. Social injustice brings about ecologic injustice, and ecologic injustice brings about social injustice. As Christians we need to attune our ears to this cry and, like the Old Testament prophets, express our just anger against this injustice, against the exploitation of the poor and oppressed.  Social and ecological justice, closely related, are fighting the same enemy: exploitation of the powerless, in most cases for personal gain.

Our relationship with nature should be a familial relationship that seeks a sustainable development for both partners. If we want to free ourselves from all that enslaves us, writes a professor of scripture, we must start by living in harmony with nature. By working for the liberation of the poor, and by identifying with the poor, we are liberating ourselves.

The professor ends his article by reminding us it's not enough to acknowledge the close relationship of social and ecological justice, we need also more study and discussion of this relationship to help us complement their interconnectedness. As we work toward this goal, not only will our political, economic, and social concerns change for the better, but when we link this change with a heightened appreciation of our ecological responsibilities, and when all four concerns are seen as belonging to one undivided whole, then we will experience the liberation we are all seeking. And the Christian response will naturally follow.

Is sex a sport, a game, a leisure-time activity? According to a recent news article, this is the message now being received by our children--in music videos, at pop concerts, in pervasive media coverage of the personal, primarily sexual, lives of celebrities.

Children most at risk have working parents who are not able to give their children the attention they need. When midterm exams are over and  parents are at work, surfing the web for porn and throwing sex parties in the homes become popular pastimes. The current view of sex of many young people can perhaps be best appreciated, the article points out, by the answer of a young girl when asked what sex means to her. "It's good for the complexion," she said. With this frivolous understanding of sex--not too surprising considering the widespread debasing of sex in our society--it is only natural that our children are eager for their first sexual experience.

While many observers interested in cultural matters have noted this growing irresponsible sexual activity among the young, teachers in many of the youth centers in Korea  have often expressed astonishment at the behavior of young people, primarily because of the coarseness of their language and their shallow, reckless understanding of sex. These same observers single out the music video industry as deserving a big part of the blame.

In one popular music video, a young girl meets a man at a night club and then goes to a motel with him. On the way there, the camera focuses on the girl, who looks directly into the camera with a quizzical look in her eyes, as the video ends. Why is the girl looking directly at the viewers? When adults are asked this question, the writer of the article reports that it take them about 30 minutes to come up with the right answer, high-school students 10 minutes, and grammar school children 1 minute. The correct answer?  "Do what I am doing."

The grammar school children, the writer goes on to say, are so accustomed to seeing porn on the internet the answer was obvious to them. In many cases the actresses will gaze into the  camera repeatedly, in effect inviting the viewer, with its subliminal message: "Do what I am doing. you have no idea how great this is."

Some music videos are so sexually explicit a grammar school student of years past would probably not have been capable of imagining its content, nor would many even have been interested; that is clearly no longer the case.Today's grammar school children have knowledge of areas of life that should not be a part of their education. Sadly, this is the way society is programing our young. Unless society takes steps to address this ominous trend, we are likely to see greater harm inflicted on our children. And what price will society have to pay in the future, we need to ask ourselves, for allowing this rampant permissiveness to continue?