A priest recently assigned to head a center for
the disabled writes about an incident that brought sadness to the
inhabitants of the center, and vividly shows the difficulties the disabled have to face in society.
A
middle school child whose disability was not serious came to the center
to attend one of the programs. After the introductions were over, he
said he wanted to go to the toilet. When he did not return to the class,
the priest sent someone to find out what happened and was told they
found the boy in the flower bed in the back of the
building. The priest called for an ambulance and the boy was taken to a
hospital. There was no danger to life, but he would have a long period
of treatment and convalescence.
The priest asked him why he threw
himself out of the small window of the fourth-floor toilet, and was
told he no longer wanted to live. The priest on the way to the hospital
was filled with a thousand different feelings. Why would the young man
want to kill himself? He felt miserable.
The boy had a problem
with tics, which made it difficult to control certain bodily movements,
provoking misunderstanding and causing his classmates to shun him, and
some of the rougher students to beat him. The world he had to face was
filled with exclusion and avoidance, alienation and loneliness. These
experiences left the boy with distrust of others and fear of the world.
In
the introduction on that day of the accident, the boy expressed his
despair by the way he introduced himself, which the priest found deeply
moving. To live in such circumstances, the priest knew, would be
difficult for anyone to accept.
Even though the center is
separated by a large road from residential apartment buildings, there
was opposition to building a center for the disabled. The main reason
was the belief that such a center would change the atmosphere of the
neighborhood, and property values would decline. This is the way society
looks upon those they consider losers in life, the weak who can't
compete successfully with others.
Adults are the mirror for the
young. When adults have little sympathy for the weak and the disabled,
the children will very likely have the same feelings. Rather than
embracing the weak, the delicate, the disabled among us, and helping to
defend them; we are more likely to find that living with them is
uncomfortable, and sometimes give vent to our feelings by using violence
against them.
The priest mentions that he found it difficult,
at first, to accept the assignment to the center, acknowledging feelings
of resentment for having to accept such an assignment. However, living
among the disabled, he was able, little by little, to appreciate the
depth of the sadness they have to live with daily. His heart has been
changed, he says, to one full of gratitude, and he asks for prayers that
he may continue to be a good friend to them.
The possibility of less water for human use, some are predicting, could
be a concern for future generations; some even stating it could be the
reason for the start of the 3rd World War. This warning begins an
article by a research philosopher at the Sogang Philosophy Research
Center. The World Water Forum is currently trying to solve the problems
associated with having less available water in the future. The research
professor attempts to add to the suggestions, in her article in the
Peace Weekly, by recalling the way Asians traditionally viewed the
attributes of water, and the lessons that were learned.
Looking
at water resting in a washbasin, the ancients were reminded, she says,
of the needs of the body and spirit
and the desire for purification. In the Analects, Confucius says that
those who are wise love water and those who are gentle love the
mountain. In this tradition, water is the sign of daily renewal, a sign
of wisdom. When
water stagnates, it putrefies and is not able to give life. When water
continues to flow, however, it continually renews itself and is then
able to give life.
The strength of water comes from its softness.There is, in this
traditional view, an intimate
relationship between softness and life.
In the philosophy of Lao
Tzu, the softness of water is the origin of its vitality. Humans while
living are soft; at death they become stiff. The world in which we live
is always changing and if our thoughts and heart become hardened, we
will have difficulty adapting. If we are careless about disciplining
ourselves, we also lose our flexibility and our ability to communicate
with others. Inability to communicate means death. Flexibility allows us
to communicate well with all manner of persons, and tends to nurture
the life of all creatures. Consequentially, she advises, if we are to
keep on going along the way of softness and flexibility, we have to
fight to maintain these life-nurturing qualities.
When water enters dry objects it makes them
soft: land, trees, any dried up plant, when water is
received, they become soft and return to vibrant life. There is nothing softer than
water, and yet it still is able to overcome the hardest objects on earth. Wisdom, she says,
is having the freedom to communicate like water.
Water is the visible aspect of the way (virtue) in Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In chapter 8 there is the verse:
The highest
good is like water.
Because water excels in benefiting the myriad
creatures
without contending with them and settles where none would like
to be,
it comes close to the way.
In a home it is the site that matters;
In quality of mind it is depth that matters;
In an ally it is benevolence that matters;
In speech it is good faith that matters;
In government it is order that matters;
In affairs it is ability that matters;
In action it is timeliness that matters.
It is because it does not contend that it is never at fault.
There were other sages who expressed similar ideas, the professor reminds us; she ends with chapter 66 of the Tao Te Ching.
"The
reason why the River and the Sea are able to be king of the hundred
valleys is that they excel in taking the lower position. Hence they are
able to be king of the hundred alleys." When a statesman follows this wisdom and lowers himself and works for the benefit of the people he very naturally takes the position of leader.
When we realize that these thoughts on
water are all from reflections on life without the benefit of
revelation, we can appreciate how these wise men of the East prepared
many
for accepting the teachings of Jesus. The professor sees the
possibility of solving the problems we are likely to have with water with the lessons these wise men passed down to us. Simply put, she
says we must learn to think like water, and to live like water.
"Those who study the teaching of
Jesus and want to be his disciples receive baptism. All those who are
baptized are missioners. All believers can do it and must be missioners.
However, the majority feels that all that is necessary is to attend
Mass and become a member of a parish religious group."
A
priest, a professor of missiology interviewed by the Catholic Times,
summed up his views on missionary work with the above words. To be a
missioner, he added, is to speak like Jesus, to act like Jesus, and to
live like Jesus. A missioner is one who wants to imitate Jesus. Most
Christians, he said, see this work as belonging to others who have made a
life commitment to do it. Although they have a vague idea that as
Christians they are called to this life, they find it a great burden,
which he feels results in many fallen-away Catholics. That the
catechumenate does not make this an important element in its teaching,
he said, is another crucial factor why evangelization is not properly
understood.
Another reason, he noted, is that many who become
Catholic do it as an expediency, a convenience, merely as a change in their way of thinking. They have little interest in the
Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. They do not see the
importance of the faith-life and lack confidence in the teachings, so the missionary aspects of their call as disciples is
bound to be missing. The first thing that is necessary, he said, is to believe with a firm faith.
To
fully understand what is
meant by evangelizing, he explained, it's necessary to change how we
think about missionary work. To evangelize one-on-one or to go to the
streets to
proclaim Jesus is okay, but what is most important in the evangelizing
process is not the word but the life of the evangelist. When we live
the Christ life we are evangelizing. In
our daily lives when we relate with our neighbors in harmony with them,
concerned not with my 'I' but with the "I" of each of them, then my love
will express His love--that would be true
evangelizing.
The logic of our faith-life will change the logic that controls the structures of society, he said, so we
will then search for those who are at the margins of society and begin to do
something about it.
Though it's difficult to
convey the meaning of belief to those who do not believe, their being no
special way that this can be done, we can be there for those who most need our help.Evangelization is going out to everybody with
love and living this daily. Briefly, the essence of
evangelization is to live what we believe.
Has there ever been a family that
has not experienced pain? Writing on the opinion page of the Catholic
Times, the writer recalls his own family difficulties experienced some
20 years ago. Its aftermath is still influencing the family, he said,
and he looks back with gratitude to God for the strength to overcome the
problems. He wonders about those who were brought up in luxury and done
all they wanted--whether that kind of life is more insipid than we
generally suppose. Without the trials and failures of life, he wonders,
if it's possible to experience the joys and happiness that life offers?
The
Korean family of one nation, he reminds us, has now been separated for
the last 60 years with violence and misery. One-tenth of the population
were killed, property was destroyed, and the animosity still continues
with the poor suffering the most. Is there any reason to hope that the
future will be any different? he asks. Each side stresses their dignity
and their claims, and yet the feeling of helplessness and frustration
continues to grow. In the last 10 years there have been glimmers of
hope, as North and South have come together to dialogue. Will the day of
peace and happiness ever come? is a question the people of this separated family are still wondering.
The
writer introduces us to Prof. Lyubomirsky, who has studied happiness
for most of her professional life, dividing it into three constituents:
our genes, our life circumstances, and our intentional activities. The
first, our genetic makeup, we receive from our parents, accounting for
50 percent of our happiness: our positive outlook, humorous disposition
and health. 10 percent would be dependent on our life circumstances:
our age, gender, education, our place in society, income, family and
children, our physical attractiveness. 40 percent would be determined by
our intentional activities, our willed actions. According to this
thinking--since we cannot control our genetic makeup, and the
circumstances in our life are thought to have little to do with our
happiness--it is our intentional activity that is going to have the
greatest influence on our happiness.
Acknowledging
the present North-South relationship between the separated factions of
our Korean family, and realizing we can't change the history of the past
60 years, we can, however, make intentional changes in our thinking and
the way we deal with each other.
In
the Old Testament book of Tobit, the angel Raphael said to Tobit: "Take
courage! God has healing in store for you; so take courage!" The writer
prefers to see the two-nation Korea, as a blindness that has to be
healed and as demons that have to be expelled. The lack of trust has to
be changed to trust, hate to forgiveness, anger to embracing, fighting
to dialogue. And trust that God's grace will be there for the change.
It
is only a widow, it is said, who can understand a widow.
And only those who have experienced pain and conflict, and have been at
the
bottom, can give hope to those who live without hope. The bitter
experience we have undergone as a divided nation, when healed, will go a
long way to passing along, in God's providence, what has been learned
to other struggling nations of the world.
The addictive behaviors of the
young, and yes even those of others, is a serious problem within
society. A priest writing in a bulletin for priests mentions that in
his work among the young, he has come in contact with many who, finding it difficult to adapt to society, have resorted to violence. And today, the addiction, more often than not, finds its outlet in internet games.
In Korean society with its digital environment, the
young are easily exposed to the allure of internet games. In the homes, public PC rooms, and the easy availability of smart devices, it is
all very natural and easy to enter the gaming world of cyberspace. The
writer delves into the question whether it's easier for Korean youth to
be addicted to the gaming world than it is in other cultures. He feels
that it is, and presents a few of the reasons why.
First,
the young face the pressure of studies, and have few ways of ridding
themselves of the stress, gaming on the internet provides them with one
way of overcoming some of the stress. Second, the games are enjoyable,
easy to access, and the social networking game is inviting and
technically well-constructed, enabling the players to react with one
another with ease. Third, without a familiarity with the gaming world,
the young would be alienated from their friends.
In
addition, in the home where there is a lack of proper care, with the
young finding themselves unclear about the future, games tend to fill
this lack in their lives. It is when the problem appears that parents
then begin looking around at the other children to find the answer. When
it comes to this point, the priest says, the children are usually
already addicted to the games, and the only thing that can be done
is to help free them from the addiction. The priest says that all those
who are knowledgeable about the addiction process understand that more
important than any therapy is to prevent the addiction in the first
place.
The writer recommends that the older generation uncover the reasons why young people find the cyberspace world of games so
enjoyable and entertaining, in order to better help them re-enter the
real world. To do this, it is necessary, he says, to change a few of
the ways we think. Games are not unconditionally bad; elders have to be
able to speak about the games, and the young have to be told of ways
they can find joy in the world outside of cyberspace.
We
all need to be concerned, he says, but those in pastoral ministry,
especially, have to give this problem much thought, not forgetting the
importance of nurturing a life of faith as the basic solution for overcoming not only this problem, but all others as well.
In and out of church circles, we
hear a lot about spirituality. Religion and the development of
psychology have turned our attention to the inner workings of our psyche
and the spiritual. A seminary professor, a priest with a doctorate in
spirituality, sees this recent interest in spirituality and the psyche
with serious reservations. (We commonly hear today: "I'm spiritual but not religious.") Writing
in the Catholic Times, he suggests that in today's world it's difficult
to have a correct understanding of spirituality and its psychological
implications without straying beyond the Catholic tradition.
A
2004 Gallup survey of Protestants, Buddhists and Catholics, on the
reason for believing, revealed that almost 80 percent of Catholics were
searching for peace of mind; 23 percent of Protestants considered
salvation and eternal life the reason for their religious belief, while
only 6 percent of Catholics had this as their response. The priest sees
this as a problem for Catholics, indicating an incorrect understanding
of spirituality, which Catholicism has traditionally meant to convey. He
does say that seeking peace does not necessarily mean one cannot
practice a correct spirituality.
However,
Jesus did say: "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).
Jesus had another way of seeing peace from an earthly viewpoint: "Do you
think I have come to establish peace on the earth? I assure you the
contrary is true; I have come for division" (Luke 12:50). Because
Catholicism has stressed that we are not on this earth to look for
blessings, only 8 percent said that receiving earthly blessings was not
their understanding of religion. We can understand why some answered in
the way they did, the professor said, feeling that living the Christian
life would bring peace of mind.
Visiting
a Catholic book store, we are likely to see many more books on the
general topic of spirituality than on scripture,
liturgy, theology, and the catechism. He feels that reading these books
on spirituality, without a strong
religious foundation, will only provide, at most, a psychological boost,
an emotional lift. Jesus tells us: "In a word, you must be made
perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). We are called to be holy. This
is the beginning of a Christian's spirituality, the professor said, and
its end.
At
times, we have to fight courageously against ourselves from falling
into temptation and make efforts to practice the virtues in our daily
lives. We need a correct understanding of God and Jesus, with the goal
of being with Jesus after death. Even though each has his own way of
practicing their spirituality, there is a common element, a direction
that is true for all. That is why Catholicism has, for over 2000 years,
looked at spirituality objectively and made judgements in a scientific
way on methods to attain a healthy spirituality.
Charles
Andre Bernard, an authority on spirituality, defined it this way:
"Spirituality is based on revelation, the study of the spiritual
experience of Christians, its gradual development, and the desire to
understand its structure and laws. It is one of the departments in
theology."
The
professor points out that without the
correct understanding of the foundational teaching of Catholicism, we
are not going to have the correct spirituality of a Catholic.
Spirituality
for a Catholic, he emphasizes, is not a vague do-it-yourself effort. He
ends
the article by noting the need for a disciplined search, within the
teachings of the Church, to bring more clarity to the term
'spirituality'.
Dreams have great meaning for
many in Korea. Pigs and dragons appearing in dreams are good signs, and
for some a good time to buy a lottery ticket. In a recent Catholic Times
article, a priest mentions a woman he knew, a mother of two children,
who came to him to interpret a dream.
"What kind of dream did you have that you want me to interpret? I know nothing about dreams." he told her.
"Father,
in my dream I saw, coming from my son's room, an intense light enter the parlor. I ran
to the bedroom but couldn't open the door although it was not locked. I
kicked open the door and entered the room. Lying on the bed was my son,
half robot and half human. I quickly embraced him and he responded by muttering "Help me to be a human, I
want to be human, help me." While I listened to what he was saying, I looked at the mirror in
the room and saw that I was a robot. Startled, I woke up."
The
dream was much longer and interesting, said the priest, and they
laughed a lot during the retelling. That dream without any
interpretation is a gift from God, he said. We can say that as a mother
in raising children, there is the need to be concerned with the thoughts
and feelings of the children. Nowadays, young mothers have all kinds of
information on how to raise children correctly. Doesn't this, the
priest thought, turn the mothers into robots and their grownup children
into robots. Mothers are always thinking of what is to be done today,
tomorrow, next week, next month. Consequently, many children do not
sense the mothers' feelings as much as they do the information the
mothers have gained and passed along. Isn't this what can be assumed
from the dream, he said.
"Good heavens! Father," she replied. "I'm not that
kind of person. Compared to other mothers I give my children all kinds
of freedom. In any event, it was a strange dream. You are very busy,
Father, and have given me of your time, thank you."
" How about a cup of tea before you leave." invited the priest.
"No,
I have to be on my way," she said. "My child has three academies to go
to, and I have to take him there, prepare his snacks, help with the
homework, and shop for what is necessary. I have to work
being a mother, you know. Good bye."
She had in her hands
notifications from school, and as she hurriedly
scurried off, the thoughts that came to mind, he said, were of the
creation story. At the end of that story, humanity appears, and he
wonders why we still continue to desire a robot's existence.
