The Quest for Happiness

A Catholic priest philosopher, writing in the Kyeongyang magazine, headlined his article: Those Who Want Happiness Need to Walk the Way of Love. He then gives us some examples of this theme.

For St.Thomas the answer to the question What is happiness? was the beatific vision. Many have difficulty with his "sugared, intellectualized," as it has been called, meaning of happiness. The writer goes on to say that this happiness that comes with  gazing (the beatific vision) is the purified and completeness of love. When St.Thomas speaks about happiness what is presupposed for him is that full knowledge equals full love. Shakespeare said something similar: “Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love."

The answer to the meaning of love is love. We learn love by loving. We have to find the way of love to get to happiness. We are all weak and scared individuals, but the first step on this road to love is the way to happiness.

The musical made from The Tale of Two Cites was popular here in Korea, and the priest uses the story as an example of love. It is a melodrama, with the French revolution as background. Old fashioned but with skill in the presentation, the musical leaves a strong impression on the viewer. Sydney Carton, a very talented lawyer, has lost faith in himself and in society. His unreciprocated love for Lucy, pure and full of mercy, remains and, in thanks for what he was given, offers up his life for love. The last scene shows the  saintly and happy death of this once lost soul.

The thesis that love  is happiness is known by those who walk tirelessly along this way.  Is this not the love of imperfect human beings for other imperfect humans? Though this love is still finite and selfish, is it not the imitation of infinite love and the beginning step on the way to happiness?

Another example in our times is the sister Emmanuelle, who lived with the trash collectors in Cairo for 20 years, showing her love to a forgotten segment of society, living in their poverty-like circumstances. In her words: "Many people carry within themselves the eternal face. Their gaze gives a response to love. They very naturally grow close to those they meet. Even their everyday duties, which are repeated over and over again to accomplish their tasks, are freed from emptiness and finiteness." Isn't this the result of love?

The priest concludes that his love is his happiness. For his happiness to be real he has to eagerly desire that his love be real. St. Augustine said after finishing writing one of his books, the book is finished but the quest is not. He ends  his article on happiness by wishing that we all continue the quest in learning how to love.

Letting our Mental Faculties Rest

Many  seeing those dying of hunger in Africa, the agony of families losing everything in natural disasters, and not mentioned by our spiritual columnist in the Catholic Times, the recent horrible killing of 20 kindergarten children, who has not been deeply saddened by these tragic events.
 
Here it is not the head but the heart that is moved. The head has no need to think, examine or cross examine; there is an immediate response from the heart (the spirit). We are in harmony with the will of God; the head rests, and we give ourselves over to  the spirit.

This is true also with a devote reading of the Scriptures. If we have only a rudimentary knowledge of Scripture and do not understand, we still read. With greater knowledge we understand more but even then we need to  stop our thinking and read with the heart. We leave aside our rationalizations and  rest in the fullness of the words. We can remain a whole day with a few words of the Scriptures: "found it very good" from the first chapter of Genesis, pondering over these words as our prayer. All becomes one and simple because we have given the mental faculties a temporary rest.

The mental faculties are good but when they are overused problems develop. At present in Korea the intellect has primacy. From grammar school on to college too many adults, according to the columnist, are living in the head: centering on the 'I' and seeking personal fulfillment. We are not giving the spiritual its rightful place.

In Korea, there are many who are addicted to internet games. They have not been able to surmount the mental, which often develop into addictions to the internet and gambling, and fantasizing about sex. And these problems are not restricted to a  few special people, repeats the columnist, but mostly those who live entirely within the head.

Reflect for a moment on a person kneeling before the remains of a loved one. For the moment he or she  has left the thinking faculties and cherishes the memory of the dead person, crying in the heart and spirit. In these cases few are  those who are still there with the ego, or worrying about work, or absorbed with future plans, but only present to  the dead person. It is a a time when one is lost in silence. It is not a silence that is intended but comes naturally. That is the way we are made. Most of us are not familiar with this way of behaving that comes with putting  aside our thinking faculties.

Putting ourselves out in front, criticizing others, does not appear when we are concerned in forming the self in harmony with the will of God. We get rid of our thinking and are content to rest in the abundance of our spirit. It is truly a precious present we have been given. It is here we experience the fullness of  truth.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Dream Dreams but...

Life is often like walking a tightrope: needing  to dream and at the same time needing to keep our feet firmly on the ground to escape unhappiness--if we are to keep our ideals and reality in the proper perspective. If we only go in search of our ideals, there is a chance they will disappear, and if the present reality is all we trust, there is no guarantee we will always possess it.

There are many that dream big: they will change the world, become rich, a great scientist... these dreams help in achieving one's goals. However, many will run up against reality, and have to deflate the dreams to make them more realistic.

In life, we have  success and failures. New beginnings, new efforts making new dreams, practicing becoming more of what we should be. The efforts are tiring but they  also add to the beauty of life. If before the wall of reality is encountered, we feel frustrated and give up, not giving it our best, we are not searching for our ideals. Even if we fail we need to search and try our best to achieve our ideals.

The desk columnist of the Catholic Times gives us the example of a taxi driver who envied all those he saw who were successful; he wanted to get into the business world but because of poverty began driving a taxi to support his family. He expressed this feeling of disappointed to a passenger who looked prosperous. The passenger told him to leave what he was doing and begin to work to achieve his dream. The taxi driver told him that was impossible because of the needs of his family. The passenger told the driver that he should not demean what he was doing, that there were people who would gladly exchange their jobs for his. But if he wanted to quit his job, he should search for another dream and make plans systematically to achieve it.

When one is dissatisfied by what he is doing the dream is usually missing. Dreams are what motivates us. But when we distort and stubbornly cling to our unrealistic dreams we may be running away from reality and sinking into shame, says the columnist. We have to be prepared to jettison unrealistic dreams.

For a Christian, following Jesus is both our ideal and  our reality. We trust and rely on him; we do not use the yardstick given to us by the  the world. Jesus' way is not always what we would like, but it is the way we need to go. He told us not to be afraid and to trust.

The columnist ends by telling us that it is necessary to dream. Without dreams, we are going to be miserable. If we do not know where we want to go, how can we find strength. We will have to decide on how this is going to be expressed in our lives. What is important is not to give up, to have passion, and to make the effort.

Mass Is Not the Sermon

Sermons are an important part of the Catholic liturgy but they are not the heart of what happens at the altar.  And yet many will leave the church having decided that what happened during the Mass was boring; the sermon was uninteresting. The sermon receives more importance than it deserves. But even a poor sermon can add to our growth in the totality of the Mass. 
 
The whole Mass is a audio-visual sermon. A representation and memorial of the love that Jesus showed us by his life, death and resurrection while here on earth.  We are not present at Mass as passive viewers but as active friends of Jesus who want to deepen our relationship with him by listening to him, by talking to him, by questioning him, by spending time in understanding his call to discipleship. And by becoming one with him. With this  active understanding of the Mass, we have no time to be bored because we are offering the Mass with the priest.

The columnist writing on spirituality for the Catholic Times mentions a priest who was well-known for giving inspiring sermons. He gives us a  glimpse of  the thoughts of his friend when preparing his sermons. Though he spent a great deal of time preparing them and saw them as very important, and was able to move the hearts of the parishioners, the columnist said that the priest didn't accept the praise uncritically.

He explained: "If my sermons are all that they remember and yet they do not pay attention to what is happening at the altar, forgetting what is being represented and what we are remembering, and do not experience  the joy and happiness of the liturgy, then there's a problem. If all that is remembered after the Mass is the sermon, then I have the fear that I pandered to a desire to be popular. I'm saying with sugary words what they want to hear, and that is not what it's all about."

For a Catholic, the sermon should draw us closer to Jesus, but this is done through the whole of the Mass, and it should not depend on the quality of the sermon. If we are receptive and have a desire to grow spiritually then the reception of  God's grace in our hearts will not be prevented by a poor sermon.

It cannot be stressed enough that though sermons are important and nourish us, they are only part of what is happening at Mass. We are renewing again the relationship with our Lord and preparing ourselves for the work he has given us. The word 'liturgy' means unpaid labor exacted by lawful authority. Jesus asks us to get involved in this work. The word 'Mass' derives from the word of dismissal taken from the Latin.  Showing our thanks for the trust he shows us, we answer with gratitude, in the last words of the Mass: "Thanks be to God." Since we have been united with Jesus in the Eucharist, the gratitude can not be exaggerated. 

Knowing Oneself

"Know Yourself" words we know well, that have come down to us from the time of the Greek  philosophers; and very difficult to achieve. A professor of philosophy at the Catholic University, on the  education page of the Catholic Times,  prepares  a short meditation on the subject by using Kant's famous four questions.

Kant in his old age, looking back on his life, believed the subject of philosophy could be summed up by the answers to four questions. What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope? What does it mean to be human?  Attempting to give answers to these four questions he arrived at his philosophy.

To the first question, What can I know, he discusses the nature and scope of knowledge. To the second, What should I do, he discusses ethics. To the third, What may I hope for, he discusses religion and beliefs. The answer to the fourth question, What does it mean to be human, follows naturally from the answers to the previous three questions. With his 
answer to this last question, Kant believed he had summed up and answered all previous philosophical questions.

Humanity has tried to answer these questions over the centuries, speculating far and wide but not satisfied with the answers  kept on searching. Humans will continue to ask these questions until death intervenes, and when doubt appears they will look for better answers. It is from these questions that philosophy developed. There are all kinds of definitions for philosophy, but at the end it comes down to questioning our humanity and looking for answers. The results of our understanding will decide the way we will live, and in this sense all of us are philosophizing.

By philosophizing, we sometimes come to a new understanding of ourselves and look upon ourselves with different eyes. This enables us to see others differently and to initiate new relationships. A person, when viewed philosophically, becomes not merely another object but one I can love or hate. A stranger can become a neighbor, and a person hurting can become the stimulus for selfless giving.  The way I will understand and accept others will depend on how I understand myself. And my philosophy will determine, in many cases, how I will act.

Christianity is a revealed religion but many, without any reference to Christianity, have deduced many of its teachings from their own personal philosophies. "Faith implies reason and perfects it" would be the Christian formulation of how we are to arrive at a life enhancing philosophy. Or, put another way, how the supernatural  builds on the natural, or how grace, as St. Thomas said, builds on nature. In the  past philosophy was considered the handmaid of theology but there would be few philosophers today who would feel comfortable with theology let alone see philosophy as a handmaid. But whether handmaid or not, the Church teaches that both philosophy and theology are necessary for a proper understanding of the fourth question posed by Kant: What does it mean to be human?                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Meaning of the New Evangelization

The difficulties now being experienced in Korea because of the increased presence of foreign workers, interracial marriages, and the school-related problems faced by the children of these marriages, which has resulted in prejudice throughout the country, has gone all the way to the UN, says the priest-columnist writing for the Catholic Times. Korea once took pride in considering itself a homogeneous  people. "The white-clad folks, the unsullied virgin" was our thinking in the past. Today we are in a time where harmony and communication are seen as indispensable ingredients for creating a peaceful world, and the elitist attitudes of the past are seen as stumbling blocks in creating such a world.

The United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has pointed out that Korea has encouraged a belief in the superiority of their culture based on racial discrimination: "purity of blood" beliefs, using words such as  "mixed blood children," and similar derogatory descriptions, that have worsened social conditions within the country. The columnist wants us to now face the problems we have created by our prejudicial attitudes by emphasizing the need for better communication, using the example of people who have come to Korea from other cultures. 

There is little difficulty understanding how children of interracial marriages feel when they hear "mixed blood" and similar words.  There needs to be openness and magnanimity when relating with persons of another culture, he says, particularly when the culture and language is not easy to assimilate, as is the case with Korean. Understanding this simple fact will go a long way toward better communication with those who are struggling with the culture. 

The priest mentions the efforts that have been made to translate the words of Scripture correctly so that we, centuries removed, can understand them.  This requires that the translators know the culture of Jesus' time and the meaning they understood by the words they used; it's an important task.

The world continues to change and seemingly at an ever quicker pace, and new ways of communicating must be found if we are to achieve the peaceful world we all would like. This is especially true if we want to present the teachings of Christ to our generation. Pope John Paul II wanted  to achieve this goal with a new way of delivering the message: which he called the new evangelization. The message is the same, the way we expound it will be different.

If we do not know the young people in our society, we will fail to reach them, no matter how hard we try to communicate with them. It is imperative that we understand the typical mindset of the young and what they hold important if we want to communicate with them.

In the first chapters of Genesis, we read that there has been a confusion of languages and a failure to communicate because of sin. It exists everywhere and perhaps most disconcertingly in our families, where we often don't take the time to uncover the root cause of the problem.  We have been taught to listen and obey our elders, which is a beautiful part of  our culture but no one pays attention to this "old way" anymore. In today's society, the inter-generational divide between the young and the old is looming larger than ever before. If we think we can continue to transmit the message of the gospel as in the past, we will fail.

One of the biggest problems in transmitting the message is the reliance on an older, previously successful authoritarian attitude that no longer speaks to the young. The attitude that pervaded the Second Vatican Council was to open up to newer methods of communication to achieve peace and harmony among all people. To continue the old way of communicating is to go counter to the teachings of Vatican II and against what we mean by evangelization for our times. 

To the Korean Presidential Candidates

Taken from the Catholic  Bishops' Conference of Korea News Letter

A Question to the Candidates for the Presidential Election

Among the many questions posed to the candidates before the 18th presidential election on December 19, 2012, one which must be taken into sincere deliberation to find a proper answer is critical: "Should we give priority to the reconciliation of the two Koreas or should we solve first and foremost the problem of conflict and/or social polarization within South Korea?"

From the beginning, the present government with President Lee Myeong-bak came up with an inter-Korean policy which is almost impossible for North Korea to accept. The South Korean government said it would cooperate with North Korea, so that the North, having given up nuclear arms, could reach the mark of 3,000 USD on GNP per capita within ten years after opening its border to the outer world. Besides, the present government denounced the so-called "Sunshine Policy" of the two late presidents, Mr. Kim Dae-jung and Mr. Roh Mu-hyeon, arguing that those 10 years of their successive presidencies were lost and in vain. Consequently, the relationship between North and South Korea grew worse, as both Koreas entered into a phase of mutual defamation, disagreement, and even military conflict.

Those who argue for tougher measures against North Korea say that the Sunshine Policy contributed to increasing resources for the dictatorship and nuclear arms in North Korea and made the South dance in humiliation to the piping of the North. On the other hand, those affirming the Sunshine Policy assert that the government escalated the tension between the two Koreas with hard-line policies that resulted in the collapse of inter-Korean economic cooperation. It is said that North Korea yielded the mining rights on abundant minerals in its territory to the People's Republic of China (PRC), as North Korea inclined toward de facto economic and political subordination to the PRC in its struggle for bare survival under international pressures.

What the North Korean regime fears most is the North Korean people, not the military might of South Korea or of the USA. In fact, the North Korean regime as well as the conservative camp of South Korea might want to shun by all means the allegedly "dangerous" dĕnte between the two Koreas which started with the Sunshine Policy.

The North Korean regime might want to create more tension between the two Koreas with provocative means, if and when South Korea tries to spread the warmth of the Sunshine Policy to the North Korean people. At the same time, the conservative camp of South Korea would ask the government for more hard-line policies for the inter-Korean relationship on the pretext that such  measures are appropriate for North Korea.

It is not humiliation but tolerance that leads a strong and wealthy party to be generous enough to accommodate the mistakes of its counterpart. To accommodate North Korea with the spirit of infinite forgiveness and love for mutual benefits may well be the cross which our nation should bear. In this regard, I would like to ask the presidential candidates about their concrete policies or visions for the reconciliation of the two Koreas as the first step towards the unification of Korea.

Fr. Thaddaeus Lee Ki-rak
Executive Secretary of the CBCK