Service to Others Because of Need

A pastor of a parish called Heaven's Place, writing in the Bible Life Magazine, discusses what makes him despondent and leaves him with a bitter feeling as he goes about his task helping the poor. His parish is in a poor area of the diocese, and Mass and prayers are said in a house named Heaven's Place. Those needing something to eat are prepared meals by grandmothers; it is also a resting place for those seeking companionship, and a place for children to study. Setting up Heaven's Place allows the parish community to gather material that can be reused or sold, with the money received helping those in need, and providing school scholarships to needy students.

No one is paid to work at Heaven's Place, but they are more than volunteers, considering themselves members of a family, says the pastor.They worry together and live together, as they go about the village gathering goods that can be reclaimed to make money to continue their work for the poor. Goods that can't be returned to good use are often given to those who can use them as they are. Many different attitudes are seen by those who give their reusable items, which often leaves the pastor feeling perplexed and despondent. Though some are sorry to give items that are of so little use, wishing they had something better to give, some have so many goods they can't wait to get rid of them. All goods, nonetheless, are welcomed; they accept everything. What is bothersome to him, as he goes out to collect these items is the misplaced concern of many people. For instance, he says that when they see him making his rounds, carrying something heavy, he is often greeted with "That must be heavy, Father," as they offer to help.  But when he tells them to help a fellow worker who is struggling with an item, they often refuse. Older women in their 60s who might be having more difficulty are also shown no concern; they prefer to help him, though he is a man who needs no help. Why do they want to help him? he asks. He knows the answer and in one way he is thankful, but at the same time there is a bitter feeling. He would prefer to have persons helped because of need rather than because of  position.

He is aware of the reasons for this situation,he says. Someone is helped because he's a chairman, or because he's a doctor or a religious. It's their position in society not need that determines whether there is an offer to help, and he finds this upsetting. It need not and should not be this way, he says.
 
When he finds people who are helping one another and showing concern for others, he is happy. But when the concern is for him only because he is a priest, he becomes despondent, bringing to mind the words of Jesus that those who help the least fortunate members of society are also helping him. It's a reminder, he says, we all should keep in mind but this,he confesses,he says with much uneasiness.

Dishonest Experts

 

On the opinion page of the Catholic Times, a seminary professor, a priest, mentions having read a book by the music conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, The Unanswered Question, 20 years ago, and the thoughts from that reading still linger in mind. Although he knows little about music, he found Bernstein's explanations of music, its history and literature totally enjoyable, not only because of what he learned, but because of the ease of communication. Here was a master musician who was continually questioning himself about the role of music in life, and was also able to communicate that interest to others who know little about the subject.
 
Today the professor says it's difficult to find an expert who can communicate truth persuasively, because the sphere of knowledge is so extensive. But also because the organization of knowledge has been divided, fragmented, relativized and specialized.  Often the experts are not able to "see the forest for the trees," he claims, because of the way they have privatized their knowledge and their relationship with power, which makes it difficult to talk about things as they are.

Two examples were given concerning government policy; in one case, either the experts were silent or gave answers to questions that were meant to shut up the opposition. If one speaks up with words of criticism, they are quickly labeled as anti government leftists. And there is the case where government wants the  trust of the citizens without good reason, and the experts are nowhere to be found or are unwilling  to speak the truth, resulting in an irrational situation.

 

He brings us back to the time of Christ and the experts of that age: the lawyers of the law,  and wants us to look at their way of life. Similarities between the experts back then and now are easily seen, he says. They were interested in making themselves known and advancing their personal greed; they were experts in sophistry. They labeled those who wanted freedom and more personal responsibility with the term sinner. They shackled the aspirations of the people with their letter-of-the-law approach to life and made God partake of their wrong-headed interpretations. This is why Jesus called them a brood of vipers.

Those who have built up a reputation for expertise and are endowed with the name "expert" are not considered so for their own private needs. They are not to bow to special interests or give in to temptations but are to search for truth and to free us from ignorance, prejudice, error, liberating us from abuses, helping us to become better persons and working for a better world. This will win the respect of all.

And yet we should be aware, says the professor, that there are those who stand out in society as capable and wise, says the professor, who have led many astray and are doing a lot of harm. Their expert opinions often appear in the media, giving a  false understanding of events, hiding the truth for reasons that are far from laudable. 

 

Aging As It Should Be Done

Having the heart of a teenager when we become adults is not that uncommon, but when a grandmother well into her seventies has the sensibilities normally associated with the young we tend to marvel. A teacher of spirituality, a priest writing in the With Bible magazine, was so impressed by the poem the grandmother sent him that it became the theme of his article in the magazine, causing him to ponder his own thoughts on the gift of life we've been given.

As we age there is the tendency to act with aloofness, he says, and at the same time inadvertently, being enticed by many things in  daily life. To live habitually without expectations, without the fluttering of the heart and the promptings from our true nature, is a great sadness. To be like a block of wood as we age and let the opportunities life presents to us slip by is not what we need, he says.  Our precious memories and our sensitivity gained over the years should be integrated into our lives.

Carl Jung said that life was like the rising and setting of the sun. In the morning we are directed to the noonday sun, in the afternoon toward the waning sun that brings on the time of evening. The appendages of the morning sun are not part of the afternoon sun which has its own value and meaning, Jung said. Morning is the time of maturity and goes out to the external world; the afternoon is the time to go within, where we meet our precious memories and discover our internal treasures. It is during this time--from noon to the setting of the sun--that ripening takes place, he said, where we make  life our own.

The priest mulls over the fact that he is in his 50s and heading toward the setting sun. In the West, he says they call it "passing the threshold." The journey in the outside world comes to an end, and we enter the inner world of self. The forties are called the youth of old age, and the 50s the old age of youth, but the 50s should not be a time for inactivity, for being content to rest on past accomplishments.  Instead, cast your net into the ocean, he says, and bring in all types of fish, putting the good ones in your basket and getting rid of the useless ones. It's a time to put in order the plentiful haul we have amassed of experiences and memories,  separating the good from the bad, forgetting and remembering what needs to be forgotten and remembered, as we put in order the beautiful life God wants us to have. Old age should be a period of recovery, a time to return to the joyous wonder of youth.
 
He ends his article with an answer to the e-mail he received from the grandmother.  "It is necessary that we do not lose the sensibilities we had when young: The joy of reading a line of literature; writing down the thoughts in our heart, even if no one appreciates what we  have done; looking at the moon in the night sky; bringing to mind the nostalgia of the past; calling out to God and praying.  All that we have had in our youth, with its abundance of life, is not like property that we own and can discard when we wish, but is like something warm and shinning, a flowering of our inner life, a gift freely given that makes our life fruitful and beautiful."

Experiencing Another Persons' Religion

It is an attempt to break down some of the prejudice and ill will among religions, the Korean Conference on Religion and Peace has sponsored a program called "A Stay at a Neighboring Religion."  Seven religions have invited those interested to visit and learn about their beliefs and history. The Peace Weekly reports on the program with Buddhism. 
 
On August 9-11, there was "a stay" at a Buddhist Temple to experience Buddhist monastic life and learn about their beliefs, to pay one's respect before the statue of Buddha, experience Buddhist meditation, the 108 bows, and listen to a lecture on Buddhism by one of the temple monks.
 
The monks wake up at the sound of a wooden gong, we are told, and go to the temple for worship for about 40 minutes. A monk, with repeated bows, reads from the Buddhist Scriptures, which was said to be difficult to understand by those attending. At this particular temple, they worship Amitabha Buddha, which occupied the highest place of honor in the temple.

The monk told the group that when the word Buddha is spoken, many will think of Shakyamuni, but the Buddha is not one person, he said. For about 100-200 years after Shakyamuni that was true, but with the passage of time the number of Buddhas  increased, including Amitabha Buddha, the Merciful Buddha. The teaching says that anyone who is enlightened could become a Buddha. And Buddha Nature, according to the teaching, is everywhere, in everyone and in everything, and needs to be acknowledged and respected. This is the reason that killing is prohibited, said the monk. Buddhism, unlike other religions, does not believe in a special God. It believes in those who have been enlightened.

To understand Buddhism, the monk said you have to understand the Buddhist commandments, 250 of them. When Shakyamuni left this world he said that you could forget the insignificant ones, but did not make clear what he meant by insignificant, and in later years this became a problem. After Shakyamuni's death, Buddhism for about 200 years was united, but because of the dispute of what was meant by insignificant, according to the monk, divisions came. Buddhism in Korea, China and Japan have eliminated many of these regulations, but other countries have kept most of them.
 
The article mentions two common misunderstandings of Buddhism. One is that monks are forbidden to eat meat. Vegetarianism is not one of the commandments of Buddhism. Only the Buddhists of Korea, China and Japan eat a vegetarian diet. The reason that the three countries of the North stubbornly stick to vegetarianism, the monk explained, is because of the influence of China. When Buddhism first went into China, Taoism was the religion of China. Taoists considered meat unclean and did not eat it. When Buddhism came in from the West, the Taoists criticized Buddhists as barbarians for eating meat. From that time on, they started to eat vegetarian, and this has become very natural to them.

The other misunderstanding is that monks have to be celibate. Among the more than 30 Buddhist sects in Korea, only the Chogye Order and Buddhist nuns are celibate.

At the time of the Japanese occupation, 90 percent of Buddhist monks were married. Our first Korean president ,Sigmund Rhee, in 1954, wanted to remove all vestiges of Japanese influence, and told all married monks to leave the temples with their families. From that time on, the number of married monks decreased, and today almost all monks are celibate.

The Failure of Christianity in England

 

The director of the pastoral ministry office of one of the dioceses sent an e-mail recently to all priests, informing them of the trends in society which can be expected to change how we are likely to live our lives in the future, and to help plan for this changing future. Reference was also made to a paper by a Protestant missionary, now in England, who has worked for many years on this topic. Protestants, the director says, have been working in this area for some time, and we have a lot to learn from them.

The speed of change is accelerating, he says, and spreading throughout the world, noting the period of 'singularity' (a time when a technological entity with greater than human intelligence is created) that many see approaching .  Consequently, we are told we have to prepare for this eventuality with study and by making the message of Jesus known within this new environment.

We are not attempting to predict the future, he says,  but to see the different possibilities that the future holds.  We have to prepare for this new future, he maintains, and mentions a few of the developments that can be expected to loom large in the coming years: an aging population, merging and  multiculturalism, climate change, the spread of education and literacy, the growth of digital communication, the bankruptcy of some countries, environmental concerns, new energy sources, strengthening of women's role in society, the disappearance of the traditional family, globalization, the bloc economy, and political influence shifting to the East, social networking becoming increasingly more important, among many other developments that may significantly alter our lives.

The  paper by the Protestant missionary presents the results of a study of Christianity in England, and  hopes that its findings will help the Church in Korea. He mentions how the Koreans have admired the English, their culture and Christianity, and that many go to England to study. However, he says that the Christianity in England  is not what Koreans think it is.  Christianity is very much on the decline in England, but there is still much that can be learned from English Christianity, including the reasons for its decline in England.  

The paper goes through the history of Christianity in England, from its beginning with Catholicism, and the Wycliffe period  that preceded the Reformation, which was not, he says, a religious reformation in England, but a political movement. Anglicanism was used as a political force to establish the kingship and the government. But he says you could see the decline of religion in England early on. You had the moral positions that were contrary to biblical morality gradually put in place. Today, he believes there would be very few in England living the Christian life. Though many say they are Christian, humanism and the satisfaction of human needs, he feels, is the predominant ethos within the country.

From the beginning, Christianity in England was divided into those who wanted to reconcile with Rome, the conservatives, and those who  wanted to go along with the reformers on the continent, the liberals, There were also those who wanted to return to the time of the middle ages, but eliminating the abuses and corruption of those times and building a truly National English Church. These divisions, however, helped to break down the unity of the Church, and  the message received from Jesus.

He gives us a number of  facts that he feels precipitated the decline of Christianity, citing first the external reasons for the decline: not seeing and preparing for the changes in society, the Church being used by the government to further their own ends, and the spread of humanistic and secularist ideas. The groups that have stayed close to the Scriptures, he says, have fared much better.

The Internal reasons for the decline of Christianity would be worldly attitudes, pragmatism and rationalism, the loss of desire for the saving of souls and for evangelization. He warns of the same thing happening in Korea if we don't prepare for the changes. He warns about the desire to work for a utopia in this world, and forgetting what the command of Jesus was to his apostles.

What is Truth?

The often heard "rags to riches" tale can also be applied to the achievements of Korea after liberation from Japan and the Korean War. Among the leaders in many endeavors, Korea has recently joined, according to the Catholic Kyeongyang Magazine, the 20-50 Club, the 7th country with a population over 50 million and an average national income surpassing $20,000. It is quite an achievement, but though much has been gained, much has been lost, says the priest-writer, believing there is more joy for what we have gained than sadness for what we have lost. He quotes the words of Jeff Dickson's Paradox of Our Times to illustrate this dichotomy that infects, he believes, our modern societies.     

The paradox of our time in history is that
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less.
We buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families;
More conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees, but less sense;
More knowledge, but less judgment;
More experts, but more problems;
More medicine, but less wellness.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life, not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
But have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We have higher incomes, but lower morals.
We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.
 
Summarizing the words from the article, the writer divides historical time into the ancient age, the middle ages, and the present age, with a definite pattern of thinking and acting in each one of these time periods. The focus, he says, during each of these periods was always on attaining a better understanding of truth, goodness and beauty.

The ancients inquired, with their philosophies, about the universe and the laws of nature. During the middle ages, inquiry swung to the study of metaphysics and, with God the center of interest, sought to prove the existence of the God they couldn't see. Learning was principally occupied with theology, philosophy, law and medicine.

However, with the pain of life and what was seen as the unreasonableness of death, there was a desire for a more personal God that would be more helpful to humanity. The advances of science and the breakdown of the traditional ways of seeing the world and ourselves have brought us into modern times, where humanity has supplanted God at the center of our lives. The industrial revolution and the division of labor accelerated the advancement to modern times, which ushered in contemporary ideas such as communism, democracy, materialism, modernism and postmodernism.

The influences on society have been many, including more emphasis on individualism, pluralism, multiculturalism, relativism.  Traditional concerns on what's important in life have been left behind, replaced with an interest in originality and individualism. Much has improved, with our knowledge greatly expanded, the writer admits, but more has been lost, he says, when the clear distinctions between goodness and evil, justice and injustice are no longer being made. It does require more vigilance on our part, he cautions, as we seek guidance on how to live our lives.

With this type of thinking, he believes everything can be true or untrue. In the past the search for "Being" was at the center of the search for truth; today the search has shifted to "Existence." The author uses the words of Benedict, the last pope, while still a professor in Germany, to emphasize the importance of understanding the dangers of relativism: "In the middle ages all being was true, but modern thinking has changed this to all we make is true, and this will be changed to whatever we will make is true."

The importance of what we think about truth cannot be overstated, says the writer. The way we see it will determine how we live our faith life.

Addiction and Freedom

A Religious Sister, writing in the Kyeongyang Magazine, recounts observing at Mass one morning a Catholic who was obviously drunk and yet wanted to receive communion. He was prevented from approaching the altar by others who escorted him outside, she said. They did not believe he was in the right frame of mind to receive communion, but she asked herself: What would Jesus have done? She believes it's a question not easily answered. We know that addiction takes many forms: the constant use of smart phones, internet searches, pornography, gambling, to name just a few. When these less obviously addicted persons come to Mass, she says we have no idea of their addiction. 

 

We find it much easier to censure those who abuse tobacco and alcohol, but can we say there is no problem with the abuse of the smart phone and the internet? When there is drug abuse, we consider it a disease and usually recommend that the victim seek help. However, there are many who are addicted without any outward signs of their addiction, often without knowing they are addicted. Is addiction to alcohol and gambling less harmful than the addictions to pornography and watching videos nonstop? she asks.

When spirits are low and we are dealing with painful emotions, we can be tempted to abuse alcohol and drugs. Similarly, when bored and lonely, we can have recourse to smart phones, pornography and videos to escape the boredom. When this occurs, aren't we also, she asks, during harm to ourselves, to our bodies and our minds? 

The dictionary describes addiction, she says, as the condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with, or involved in, something. It is like descending a hill in a car without the breaks working. Living in a troubled society, we are all exposed to addiction, she believes; none of us is safe from being infected.

Can we say that substance abuse is any different from addiction to the smart phone, internet surfing, and many other common addictions we hardly are conscious of?  Studies have shown that not only substance abuse but all addictive activities show the same affect on the brain--principally, the loss of self restraint, with an excessive release of dopamine. Using brain scanning equipment, researchers have established that all addictions can be traced to dopamine-induced expectations.
 
Addictions become more serious, she believes, when indulged in secretly, usually because of embarrassment. For instance, she says that while eating too much is sometimes the normal occurrence during a family get-together, eating secretly to excess is a sickness, as are all addictions that are secretly indulged in. 
Watching a drama with the family or watching pornography with some friends is one thing but  staying up all night and watching something on the computer or smart phone is something else, she says. But when it's done and someone comes in and you cover over what you're doing, this is a sign of a possible addiction, and if it continues, there will be lies and more effort to hide what is being done. As a result, the relationship with the family is hurt, as well as our relationship with others. Overall, our interior life becomes weakened, confused and miserable.

When we do continually what is embarrassing and shameful we are lying in our hearts, and darkness grows.  We have to break this to return  to health. Addiction starts from escape from uncomfortableness and pain. We have to have the courage to fight against these feelings.

We should write down our habitual addictive actions honestly.When do we get absorbed with pornography, Internet shopping, etc.? What kind of emotions do we have at that time? Look directly at our feelings of shame and embarrassment and look for the underlying loneliness, fatigue, pain that we have buried.  How lonely how much love did I want to  receive? Acknowledging this and asking help from God is the first step to health.