Searching for Harmony

 

In the spread of communication technology, Korea is at the cutting edge, being a leader in the use of smart phones and high speed wireless internet use. It is, however, in a list of developed countries, close to the bottom in communication skills between individuals.  Writing in the Kyeongyang magazine, a college professor, in the field of communication and mass media, discusses this latest revelation concerning how poorly many of us communicate, and the role of trust in achieving better communication skills.

One of the biggest research institutes has reported that Korea ranks as one of the lowest in the trust needed for good communication. Though a leader in the world with equipment for communication, Korea, ironically, is at the bottom when it comes to having the necessary skills to communicate with others. If we want to remedy the situation, the professor says we must find the reason for our lack of communication skills, and how trust is involved in any successful communication.

He recounts what an older academic said at a  meeting of scholars: With a lack of trust, there will be less foresight, a high probability of uncertainty, increasing  anxiety and insecurity. In the end, this will lead to a lack of judgement and communication, which will lead to pushing one's ideas blindly. This is the current situation in the South in relating to the North,  according to the professor.

We all remember vividly the past: the war, the killed and injured, the abuse and condemnations--all factors continuing to build distrust. We have seen better times in our relationship with the North, but at present we have returned to the beginning of the relationship. Not only is there a breakdown of communication with the North but this situation also affects, he says, the relationships we have with one another, in the government and its opposition, in management and labor; also affecting class divisions within society, the intensification of local prejudices, and the widening of the generation gap-- all resulting from the collapse of effective communication.

In 2012 we began to see a desire for better communication, and the topic was being discussed more often, but at present, we have experienced only failure--from the top down, the professor says. Calling the opposition party, for instance, followers of the North is no help in building trust. He refers to advice from Confucius: A leader needs to gain the trust of the people before exercising power;  without this trust the populace will think they are being tormented; when those governing are not in the right, even when they shout their commands, they will not  be followed. 
 
The article ends with suggestions to improve communication skills.  He lists three factors cited by Aristotle: ethos--the virtue and character of the one speaking; pathos--understanding the situation and the emotional state of those listening; logos-- the words and the way we convey our message. This advice, the professor says, is true for all of us but especially for those in positions of leadership. 
 
Jurgen Habermas, in his The Theory of Communicative Action, also presents what he considers necessary for rational communication by citing three factors: the subjective, the objective and the social areas of life. In all three areas, he stresses the importance of being completely honest. When the mass media, for instance, is not reporting what people need to know, they are not being honest, they are not following the ethical principles of their profession. When they have their eyes set on the power of government, the owners of big business, and potential advertisers, communication with their readers becomes impossible, and a total breakdown of communication usually results.

In Korea, he believes it has come to a point where our communication is limited to small intimate groups, leading to divisions within all sectors of society. Though the means of communication have increased, the ability to communicate has decreased. Removing this chasm requires building trust and developing harmony between those who are in contending positions. This can be achieved if everyone involved makes a sincere effort to understand the other and work for harmony in society, each sharing their desire to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion.

Efficiency or Effectiveness

The speed of societal change and the competition for the material goods of society are bringing us closer to losing, unknowingly, the real benefits of communal living and distancing ourselves from our connection with Jesus and his body, the Church. In a recent issue of the Catholic Times, in its weekly column on faith and finances, the bishop reflects on the word 'efficiency,' particularly on how the word accurately portrays the current dominant value of our society. Before God, it is not a value we should add to those we have received as members of his kingdom.

In our daily lives we are likely to see the word used as an iconic badge of successful marketing: "super efficiency, energy efficiency...thermal efficiency...air conditioning efficiency...study efficiency."  The more efficient a product or a person is, the better, according to this current thinking. And this message is promoted with all kinds of splendid posters declaring the benefits of living efficiently. We have become so inundated and accustomed to this culture-speech that we are tempted to believe that low efficiency is bad, and possibly even evil.

The seriousness of the problem becomes obvious when we turn to the financial sector of society, with its standard of judging a person's worth by their perceived efficiency to contribute as participating members of society. More so than the ordinary citizen, the handicapped and the elderly--usually described, among others, as the "surplus people"--have borne the financial crunch for some time.

This is the cultural climate that surrounds us today, says the bishop. Young people frequently use the term "surplus people" to define a person who is not contributing anything to society, and thus is considered a useless individual. They also use the term to describe their own predicament. Though as students they prepared themselves with all kinds of special qualifications to contribute to society, many of them have not been able to find work and now spend their days surfing the internet. These graduates are the ones who consider themselves, as an economist named them, members of the "880,000 Won Generation"--workers at the bottom of the pay scale earning about US $650 a month, about what an irregular worker earns.

South Korea’s newest batch of university graduates lives in fear of being trapped at this bottom-level pay scale, and is the reason so many of them have given themselves the name of the "surplus generation." There is a need, says the bishop, to examine the economic situation of society to better understand what is prompting such alienating descriptions being applied to so many of our people. 
 
To be considered a surplus person is obviously, not easy to accept. But even if we put aside those who don't have jobs, those who do the routine drudge work in the manufacturing segment of the workplace are not seen with the dignity they deserve as sons and daughters of God, but seen only as expendable cogs furthering the profits of the company. This may be a legitimate operating principle when profit is the bottom line, but when considering the legitimate rights of the worker for finding satisfaction and fulfillment in life, the business model of efficiency becomes one of the absurdities of our society.

In the past, many persons did not have work that was satisfying and fulfilling, and today we may have even more persons who are considered "surplus humanity." We should know that this is not something that God looks upon favorably. However, our current media deliberately doesn't want to bring the seriousness of the situation to our attention, and many of our citizens choose to ignore the problem. Isn't this division between those who are useful and those who are not, a sure sign, the bishop says, of the culture of death that currently rules in our society? We who are Christians should be ready to respond to this challenge. Without such a response we are likely to continue having a society where the majority of us will soon join the younger generation as "surplus people."

Unemployment a Serious Problem of Society

No longer is it easy to find a job you would like to do for a lifetime, and even finding a job, any job, is increasingly difficult for our Korean young people, causing some students to delay graduation, even though having all the necessary credits for graduation. The arduous task of finding work is thought to be, for them, soul-depleting. 

A professor in the sociology department of a college discusses the plight of students in our society. Writing in the Peace Weekly, he notes that at graduating time, all colleges are on emergency alert. Since the number of students finding work after graduation is one of the considerations used by the education ministry to rank colleges, many colleges are involved in finding work for their students. They help write resumes and college reports, notify students of job offers, and prepare them for interviews. Teachers also get in contact with their acquaintances in the marketplace, requesting jobs for their students. Few are the colleges, the professor says, that are not involved in this.

Why should it be so difficult finding a job? he asks. From 2008-2009 this has been the reality in our society. There simply are fewer jobs available. Jobs for those in their twenties, especially, have decreased and, consequently, both in the city and in the country, competition is severe. Many companies have moved their operation to underdeveloped countries to take advantage of the lower cost of labor. And there is of course the use of automation and computers, which have taken much of the work previously done by humans. Our young people are brighter and more capable than in the past, and even though their grasp of specialized knowledge far exceeds that possessed by students of the past, finding work in today's marketplace is like being sent into battle without a weapon. 
 
The problem concerns not only the young people but also their families. In past times, once the money was given to the children for college, the worries would be over, it was thought, and the son or daughter would find their way in the world; that is no longer the case. Parents now have to worry about their finding a job, and worry every time they put in a written application for work; on the side line, parents worry as much as the young person submitting the application. When this lapse of time between looking for a job and finding one is long, the implementation of retirement plans for the parents in many  homes is put on hold.

Besides the scarcity of available jobs, there are a few other obvious problems, one being the large number of students going on to college. The number is more than the society can  absorb. Too many are seeing life and work with a one-track possibility, with academic studies the only viable option, which narrows the possibilities for the future. Social solidarity and relating with and understanding the different segments of society are missing. Instead, many students are bound by regional interests, age, occupational and societal class relationships, and find it difficult to compromise.

He concludes the article with the words of Pope Francis  to the unemployed:  "Lord give us a place to work. Teach us a way to fight for the work." The professor thinks they could find some consolation in these words, even though this is not the kind of issue that will be solved quickly. If, however, we take upon ourselves the idea of solidarity with all those who are facing the same problem and all the other segments of society, we will have found the beginning to a solution of the problem.

Healing of the Whole Person

A popular movie, Milyang, tells the story of a mother whose son was kidnapped and killed. She decided to go to the prison to forgive the killer, who told her that he had already been forgiven by God, and had finally found peace. The mother, who considered herself the only one who had the right to forgive him for what he had done, was filled with anger and gave up on her religious faith. So overcome by the incident, she lost all the peace she had gained by her religion.

A priest-spiritual director writing in the Kyeongyang magazine introduces the above story to explore the relationship between healing and religion. Religion, in this case, he points out, did not help the mother to forgive. She had deceived herself by what she thought would have been an act of mercy by forgiving him, but it was, instead, her own opiate to escape the reality of her own pain. Religion does provide us with the strength to heal but in our present world it has to compete within a world of delusion and deception. Though 'healing' and 'happiness' are words often heard today, they have become commodities to be bought and sold in the marketplace of ideas. And religion, the priest admits, for one reason or another, in this toxic environment, is not providing the healing many of us expect.
 

The so-called healing treatments are often a combination of humanistic methods, he says, used even by Christians without discerning what is being done. Instead of a gospel-based worldview and Christian values, we are playing recklessly with misunderstood human values.

He believes healing is needed more so today than it was in the past, which is the message of Ulrich Beck, in his book Risk Society.  Our material progress, Beck says, has given us the many successes of our modern society, but has also brought us the problems we now have to face. This is the dilemma, and one we face daily in our lives. When we forget who we are, and do damage to our humanity, we hurt also the communities we belong to. Eventually, the problems of society are going to affect our inner life.

Our constant talk about healing is a sure sign of our need for healing. Why the need for so much healing? the priest asks. We have to look for the reasons and the way to heal. The word 'healing,' says the priest, is used with a superficial and distorted meaning. In this kind of atmosphere, there is no place for the healing provided by religion, which is concerned not merely with a cure for certain aliments but with healing of the whole person. Our humanity is made up not only of the body, but of the mental and spiritual. The time of talking about the healing of different parts of ourselves has come to an end, the priest believes. It is the integrated whole of our being that needs to be healed, just as the word 'salvation' now has to be understood as saving the whole person--body, mind and spirit.

Jesus was the example of this kind of healing. It was healing of the whole person. The person was changed and began a new life. It was not only the healing of disease or relief from pain but the return to the wholeness of life. The Church has to return to stressing the understanding that Jesus is the foundation and the fountain from which all healing comes.

Seoul Archbishop Christmas Message

SOUTH KOREA
Archbishop of Seoul: Living Christmas every day, to fight the ills of society

Bishop Andrew Yeom Soo- jung invites the faithful to pray "for the marginalized, the poor, the sick and our North Korean brethren". And remember the importance of fighting "the darkness of a world affected by materialism, atheism, suicides and divorces" with the light of salvation of the new born Christ.

Seoul (AsiaNews ) -. Below is the full text of his message. 

My dearest brothers and sisters!

Baby Jesus is born today, bringing the light of salvation into this dark world. May God's abundant blessings be upon you and your families on this joyful Christmas Day. We also pray for the marginalized, the poor, the sick, and for our North Korean brothers; may the blessings of Christmas fill their hearts with hope and joy.

The Lord sent his only Son into the world, and revealed his infinite love to us. 2000 years ago, Jesus was born in a small Judean village called Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph traveled all the way from Nazareth. They went from inn to inn, but couldn't find an empty room to stay. Eventually, they sought shelter in a shabby stable where Mary gave birth, and she laid the baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by oxen and donkeys. That was how Jesus came to this world-in the most poor and humble way. It brings the important message that God dwells among the weak and the poor, and that he has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

Today, however, atheism and materialism flourish as an integral part of our society. Conflicts and divisions are everywhere. People have forgotten the importance of communication and compromise, while selfishly pursuing their own wishes. Suicide rates and divorce rates rise sharply; families are suffering from all kinds of difficulties and pain. Students are overwhelmed by immense competitions and exams. Graduates face tougher challenges to find employment. And then, there are the people who have been forgotten by the most of us: the homeless, the disabled, the foreign labors, and the poor. They live in pain and anxiety, in a life without human dignity.

Jesus has come as light into this dark, suffocating world. He did not come in the form of God, but in the poorest and the most humble form of a human being. What kind of significant meaning does this has on our times? Perhaps we should not depend only on humane and secular means to solve the problems around the world; for the solution lies in the Christmas mystery of God becoming man and suffering all pains with us. When we humbly empathy and respect others like the Lord being in the middle of men, we are one step closer to a harmonious society.

The social responsibility of the Church is also an important matter. If the Church has external development and social influence, but does not have internal love, the Church is nothing. Pope Francis wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation, "I want a Church which is poor and for the poor." The Holy Father explained that as long as the problems of the poor are not radically, no solution will be found for the world's any problems. If we turn our backs on the poor and try to make ourselves believe that the problems are solved, we may face the real crisis of collapse. Therefore, "the need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed." We really need to contemplate on these words.

We need to show the love of God to those in need-not only by words, but by real actions. We need to show the light of salvation to this dark world. The true meaning of Christmas is not only to be remembered, but to be lived out through our daily life. Because Baby Jesus is born in every place where people love, share, serve, and forgive.

Through Jesus Christ who is born on this joyful Christmas Day, I pray that we all receive the strength from the God and that we all become the children of the light which brightens the darkness of the world.

May the light of life, God's blessings and peace be upon all of you.

Merry Christmas!!

God Is Love

"Love and do what you will; if you are silent, be silent in love; if you shout, shout in love; if you correct, correct in love; if you spare, spare in love. Let the root of love be within and nothing but good can spring from this root." These well-known words come from the commentary of St. Augustine on the First Epistle of St. John. For Augustine,"God is Love" sums up the whole Bible and the saint's central teaching, which ultimately means that a person who loves is a free person.

A meditation on this teaching of "love and do what you will" (Dilige et fac quod vis) appears in the Kyeongyang magazine. Written by a priest who has made a study of the Church Fathers, the article explores what it means to experience freedom, and concludes that a person who is truly free is enjoyably aware. Using this heightened awareness to understand the incarnation and the resurrection allows for greater understanding of the Hebrew Bible, deepening even further our understanding of what it means to be free.

He then uses three other Latin phrases in the writings of the saint to help us understand. The first is from a sermon on Zacchaeus: "He saw because he was seen" (visus est, et vidit). It was because Zacchaeus was, first, loved unconditionally and accepted by God that enabled him to see; it was the beginning, for him, of change and understanding.

The second phrase "Love gives us sight" (Ubi amor ibi oculus), though used  by St. Thomas Aquinas, was  taken from the writings of Augustine. A person may have been baptized and received communion and thus  considered a member of the Church, but by wicked actions he is actually outside the body of the Church. The standard which  determines the rightness of our actions is not the act itself but the intention. Words that are violent in rebuke may be said with great love, and soft words and actions may have the appearance of love but in reality are wicked. The difference is similar to that between a father who punishes his child to correct him, and a slave master who caresses and uses loving words to deceive and seduce.

And the last Latin phrase: The will is freer the more it is subject to God (eris liber, si fueris servus ). To love and be loved is dangerous, for leaving the door of the heart open to receive love opens oneself to death. Jesus was an example of this love. Augustine uses the words from Romans 5:5, where Paul says: "For God has poured out his love into our hearts." Augustine uses this phrase 20 times in his writings. We are shown the descending love of God, and it is our imitation of this love that gives us strength.

In conclusion, the cross was the meeting place where freedom and servitude became one. It is only when one is the slave of love--the slave of  grace-- that one is truly free. It is only then that one is free from egoism, pride, self-indulgence and injustice.

The Feast of the Epiphany

Today is  the day we remember the visit of  the three wise men to the manger, after following the light of a star which brought them to Jesus, our light, the light of the world. In the Easter Church, the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated together with Christmas. The  editorial in the Catholic Times reminds us of the influence we have received from the East in understanding the Feast we celebrate today.

The light was to be for the whole world and these wise men, foreigners, were to be a symbol of the gentiles who would in later years be coming to the Jesus. The feast is the feast of light and of the  manifestation of this light to the whole world. A quote from the sermon of Pope Leo I mentions that God did not want the birth of  Jesus to be confined to the narrow area where his mother gave birth to Jesus; he wanted it known to the whole world.

The editorial asks what meaning does this feast have for us today? Becoming more mature Christians is the answer. And since Christ came to us as the light of world, we need to reflect that light, our light, into our world. 

The light motif recurs often in the Scriptures and in our liturgy. We started off as Christians with our baptism. At which time we were given a candle to hold, either directly or with the help of our godparents, and heard the words: "You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as children of the light and keep the flame of faith alive in  your hearts." 
 
Again at the climax of our liturgical year, at the Easter Vigil, we are reminded of what happened at our baptism. We begin the service at the Vigil blessing with the new fire and lighting of the Paschal Candle. Three times during the procession to the front of the Church we hear, at three different times, the chant, "Light of Christ"  and we answer, "Thanks be to God". At the second chanting, the candles of all the parishioners are lit, which is a ritual way of experiencing what we are meant to be and do as Christians.

This year, no different than last year, many areas of the world are involved in violence and war. The  interests of many are not on the important things of life  obscuring the meaning of the Christmas message. This is the reality and the editorial asks us how are we to face the darkness that we find in life. Since we consider ourselves witnesses to Jesus, are we not to shine this light that we have received in the darkness that surrounds us today? This is the meaning of the Epiphany for us.

Pope Francis has given us a good example of what it means to be a light in the darkness. Light used as a metaphor is free of detractors; few will take issue with this metaphorical use of light. Though, when we speak of  unity, truth, goodness and beauty, there are many who will have difficulty in understanding these concepts in the same way. However, if we make an effort to be a light to others, using our values and work as a light, there is a possibility the light we engender will enable others, along with ourselves, to see the transcendental values more clearly and objectively.