Discussing What Is Meant by Mission

The Columban Missionary Society recently met in a two-day seminar to remember their 80 years of service in Korea and to discuss plans for improving the quality of missionary work in the challenging times ahead. Many specialists, both Catholic and Protestant, came together to share their ideas on the subject. The Catholic Times devoted  two articles and an editorial on the seminar.

In today's world, it was noted, we can't ignore the influence of native cultures and religions when discussing the role of missions. We have seen in Korea the presence of many foreign workers, intermarriages and the mingling of cultures, which is today another way of being Korean. The Church in Korea is also faced with this new reality, and was one reason the Columban Missionary  Society felt the need to discuss this emerging reality and the best steps to take to maximize the efforts of missionary work  in responding to this new world. 

Most of the dioceses and religious groups of the country are sending missionaries to other countries of the world: a sign of the growth and competence  of the Korean Church and the need for continued programs for the education of our missionaries. Because of the present challenges faced by the Church, the question many tried to answer, as they pondered the general topic of discussion, Missio Dei (Mission of God), was: Is there a need for a new way of doing mission?

One participant mentioned that God was always there as the motive force to help one to do good and avoid evil. Jesus came to show us the relationship between the love of God and the love of our fellow humans. Jesus connected the two. If we want to meet God, it is necessary  to do it through our neighbors. When we alienate others  and use God in the process we are making idols  to serve ourselves. Our discipleship to Jesus will depend on our response to our neighbor, on the love and forgiveness we have for others and  we manifest in our daily life, which is our faith life. There is a disposition for God in our DNA, said one participant, that we need to  discover in our mission work.

A Protestant minister said that the missioner should not be primarily interested in increasing the numbers of their community, but be more interested in making those we are evangelizing realize they are children of God and thus brothers and sisters. The ultimate goal of the missioner, it was pointed out, is to help people meet God. And what was to be avoided was making our thinking  the absolute criterion of mission work. God, not the evangelist, is the subject of mission work. Rather than setting the boundaries of our mission work from the perspective of our different religions, it was necessary to bring the people to Jesus,which is the Missio Dei.

Another priest participant said that because we are in a world with many different religions, we need to remember that Christianity is only one of many, and we should not lose sight of that reality. Conscious of this pluralistic world will keep us grounded and prepared to face the challenges ahead. Instead of thinking that each  party  of a dialogue has all the truth, it is better to think it is somewhere between us.

This will require looking for different ways of doing mission. * Learning from one another * Having open conversations with everyone, not only with believers, but with the atheist and the non-believer * Cooperating with those who are suffering  * Going  beyond isolationist spiritual thinking* Making our dialogue take flesh and doing it all with humility.

Another participant, a professor, saw the way God was working in the many different cultures of the world. God is also the God of all these other people, he said, citing Rom. 3:29. God manifested himself sacramentally in a variety of ways in the different cultures and religions of the world. These cultures and religions can lead many to go beyond their values and come to a true understanding of the Gospels.

One of the articles ends with the words of a  priest: The place of God in the life of the believer is continuing to decrease because of the secularization that is taking place. One of the works of mission is to make God present in that reality. When this is done, he said, mission bestows meaning to evangelization.

I Give You My Blessing

“As Christians and Jews, following the example of the faith of Abraham, we are called to be a blessing to the world. This is the common task awaiting us. It is therefore necessary for us, Christians and Jews, to first be a blessing to one another.”

These words of Pope John Paul remind us that we are all called to bless others, to be a benediction to others, and that which promotes well being is our common task.  

A rector of one of our seminaries, in his book I Give You My Blessing, puts it this way: "The first step is to realize who we are. Like standing before a mirror to check our outward appearance, we need to spend time before the mirror of our inner self, acknowledging who we are in thought, feelings and actions." The book wants us all to take time in silence to open our hearts and to be open to the blessings we are receiving. 

In Korea it has been the custom for centuries, he says, to wish others at the holidays, blessings. This has begun to disappear, replaced by complaints and backbiting. It is precisely here that we need to hear the words of blessing. In giving the blessing we are activating the blessings we have already received in the past.

The book is divided into three chapters: Know, Believe and Love, each one showing concretely the way they manifest the life of blessings. We need the  mirror of God to see ourselves as we are, to rid ourselves of the excess packaging we have acquired over a lifetime. When we have an understanding of our real value, then we will gain strength and our hope is made stronger. 

He encourages us to give as often as possible our blessing to others: those we love, those we don't, those we need to forgive, and not forgetting whenever we leave the presence of others to give them our blessing. In Korea, the younger person has cultural difficulties in blessing an older person, but the book makes clear that it's not because the younger person cannot but simply because of his inability to surmount the cultural conditioning.

There are many things like this that we should be doing but don't. Many are sick who would welcome being visited, and our troubling relationships with others might be improved if we paid more attention to them. We need to set aside more time, the book urges us, to focus on the many ways we can share the blessings received from God with all those who have come into our lives to share their lives with ours.  

Why Do the Poor Make Us Feel Uncomfortable?

In Korea, says the bishop writing on religion and economics in the Korean Times, we need not go back beyond one generation to see the poverty that was experienced. 

We all know that there were many more poor people a few years ago than we have now. Rag-pickers would be rummaging through the dumps, aimless people would be wandering the streets, beggars would be everywhere. But they were our neighbors and our friends.  We went to the same schools, played marbles and cards with them in the streets. When a grandmother would leave her house with a heavy load on her head, someone from the community would soon appear to offer help.

There were times when someone from the community would  beg for food. They would not be turned away even though it was giving them some cold rice.  It was unheard of that anyone would die of hunger or freeze to death. Sharing was one of our values and compassion was shown to those having difficulty making their way in life.

How is it today? To start with, we don't even know our  neighbors. Not too long ago, we considered that near-neighbors were  better to have around than distant cousins, but today we are likely to study the expressions on our neighbor's face before engaging them in conversation. And it is not uncommon to have serious fights over trifling matters. 

The problem, many believe, is the impact of our highly competitive economic system on our human value system. Up until a few years ago we didn't classify people by what they possessed nor would it determine how we would react with another person. What was it that changed the way we responded? What caused us to see them as non-persons? The hungry, the thirsty, the poorly dressed, the vagrant, the prisoners, are routinely seen as non-persons, as surplus people, as burdens to society, and even seen as public enemies.

Because of the feeling of uncomfortableness they were making others feel,  a few of the poor would hide their whereabouts  from the rest of us. Even the ordinary folk without realizing it were influenced by this kind of thinking, and came to see the poor as a burden to be shunned and ignored. The poor, feeling the stigma, began to look for out-of-the-way places to live, often winding up in the darkness of ghettos. 

Was it that suddenly the personalities and genes of many of our citizens changed?  Why was it that those we considered our neighbors were no longer seen as such but were considered burdens, useless and surplus people? This was not only true in society at large, but we have seen it also in our churches, which has brought many tears to our eyes.

During the time of the International Monetary Fund relief, many of our neighbors disappeared from sight. We all remember those days. We have to reflect if we should accept some of the blame for their leaving our communities. When we do not see the poor who are living among us, it is a sure sign the world is not getting better, but a sign we are not living close enough to the love that Jesus came to show us.

What Is Success?

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a  perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he  had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.
-Bessie Anderson Stanley, "What is Success" (1904)


This poem begins an article in the Kyeongyang magazine by a professor in English studies at a Korean University. She introduces herself as a person who lives with the words that enhance the lives of others.

The Indians in the Americas also had their ways, she says, of using life-enhancing words. Describing the month of March, some called it the baby Spring, a month even slower than February; others called it "the month that moves the heart."

The poem she places at the beginning of her article is written by an unrecognized poet. It was written for a contest to answer the question: What is Success? and Bessie Stanley won, receiving a prize of 250 dollars, which in 1904 was a lot of money. It is often attributed, she says, because of its lofty sentiments to Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poem came to mind because of a meeting she had with one of her students.

Her student had been dreaming of becoming a college professor; she was a very good student, who spent no time socializing. The professor asked why she had picked the humanities as her major. To be a success in her field was her answer, and to enjoy the material benefits that would naturally result. The professor told her that if that was her dream it would be better to change her major. She admits that she was very careful in the way she approached the subject, knowing she was dealing with a young person's dream.

The professor does not want to consider whether the student's ideas about success were right or wrong, for these thoughts are very common, but they brought to mind Stanley's poem "What is Success." 

She laments that neither God nor any of us are the masters of our society; money appears to be, she says, setting the standard of what is to be valued in our society. What moves our hearts, however, in most cases is not material reality, she points out, as much as what seems insignificant: sincerity, virtuous acts, and even our shared laughter.  The Indian parable can be quoted to summarize the professor's thinking in this area: "When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."

March, for the American Indian, was the month for leaves to burst forth, the month of the whispering breeze. And under the earth, though we can't see them, sprouts are soaking up the rays of the sun and the cool breezes, preparing to make their appearance on earth.

What moves us? she asks. Is it laughter? Love? Doing our best? Sharing? Are we walking, more than yesterday, with a better attitude? Are we responding to the ways our hearts are being moved with joy? Are we relating with those we are with? If we can answer yes, then our lives, she says, would be filled with inspiration, filled with the only success that matters. This is being blessed.  

Learning How to Forgive

The words "forgiving" and "forgetting" were the focus of an article in a Pastoral Bulletin recently, using the example of a woman who, after the marriage of her children and living alone, began to feel depressed. This caused enough of a problem for her to seek professional help.

She remembered the beatings she had received as a child at the hands of her stepfather. And with counseling, she was able to bring this period back to her memory and felt prepared to resolve it.

She asked herself if her remembering was a way for her to reflect on the beatings, to get angry. lose her peace of mind, and not to forgive. Or was it a way for her to open to the grace of God, find the strength to forgive and find peace? This was the decision she had to make, and not an easy decision. Though the person who caused the problem was dead, the point of the story was to stop being a victim and look forward to the future with a healthy, positive  attitude.

There are, of course, many who make matters worse by the way they handle such problems. They continue to deepen their pent up feelings of anger, which further damages their personality. Even when one forgets the past hurts, the pent up feelings that remain have to be dealt with. Otherwise, we will hurt others and continually have need for repentance.

To get rid of these feelings is to look deeply into ourselves and realize the damage they are doing to us. The goal is not to forget the event but the hurt that surrounds the event, and this is done by forgiving. Many find the forgetting difficult and the forgiving impossible. Forgiving is the crucial decision, an act of the will which is motivated by our decision to love.

A proverb from England says we are all in the same boat and suffering from seasickness. We are inflicting our emotional scars on others and receiving them back from them. There is no need to overlook the hurt we have felt but to look for the motives that caused the harm.  A person trying to live the Christian life fully, when faced with these difficulties would look at the cross, at the one who suffered much though having no guilt of his own. His response was to ask God to forgive those who were killing him, for they did not know what they were doing. 

Jesus understood their lack of knowledge, their limited sight, their damaged personalities. And understood also that the hurt they had received in the past was showing itself. He understood all these things. If we also try to understand the other, the pain we feel will be lightened in the some way. This can be done by looking at the cross, and bringing these things to mind. We will be doing this often during Lent.

Teachers of the Future Generation

"Leopard of Mt. Kilimanjaro" was a  song that a teacher remembers memorizing and singing when he was an 11-year old  elementary school student. At that age he didn't understand what the song meant to say, but hearing it so often on TV, the words have stayed with him for these past thirty years.

He left the teaching profession--troubled by the number of girls absent from class because of their decisions to have abortions--to begin a full time study of sexuality and other life issues.  He knew he was exchanging a field for which he had spent years in preparation for a field that offered no  guarantees in earning a living, but he felt that was his calling and made the change. The lyrics of the song were a great help in giving him the confidence to make the move.

Have you ever seen a hyena
walking at the foot of the mountains in search of food?
Those hyenas in the mountains
scavenging for rotten meat?
I long to be the leopard, not the hyena,
that climbed to the top of the mountain and froze to death.
That leopard of the snow-covered Kilimanjaro.

Overnight a great man, overnight a nobody,
for now I rest in the dark corners of earth.
The city is full of ambition,
and nowhere can I be found
in the middle of this city,
among its many bright lights,
completely abandoned.  But why should that matter? A man named van Gogh lived a more miserable life than I.

                                                                                       
In  our competitive society we are easily puffed up and just as quickly become anguished because of the situations we find ourselves in:  "overnight a great man, overnight a nobody." Leaving the security of a school job to try something new did  pose a problem for him, he admits, but remembering the words of the song was a great help. The song recalls the time that van Gogh went to a mining village with all the zeal of the Gospels to become a great painter.

Though the song's lyrics made an impression on him, he laments that the lyrics of today's songs have little in common with the songs he remembers as a child.

Prime-time TV, when many of the young will be watching, have musical performances in which the lyrics of many of the songs  have little positive value for the young, and these vocalists are the ones that become the idols of our young. Their parents know that the lyrics are not what they want their children to emulate but there is little they can do. Unfortunately, these vocalists are becoming the teachers and role models of our young. They are determining the thinking of the next generation.

Women Taking their Rightful Place in Society and Church

On March 8, 1908, in a textile factory in New York, a fire broke out killing all 129  women workers. They had complained to management about the working conditions of the factory and had been locked within the premises.  News of the incident spread quickly and became the rallying cry throughout the world for improving the working conditions of women everywhere. It was the start of International Women's Day, which sought to make known to the world the deplorable conditions under which most women were forced to work.  

A woman member of the Bishops Committee for Research on Pastoral Problems writes, in her article in the Peace Weekly, of the continuing problems women still face in society. She mentions Rosa Luxemburg, a Polish socialist and revolutionary who began the movement so the world would not forget the women who died in that textile factory and the problems women continue to face in the workplace. In Italy, men give yellow mimosa flowers to women, wanting to show solidarity with the working women throughout the world.

Korea also has problems with issues surrounding women. Women workers on average earn about 63 percent of what the men earn. And 70 percent of women workers are getting less for difficult work and holding temporary jobs. They face discrimination, sexual harassment, mistreatment on a regular basis, which sometimes is so outrageous that it makes the news. 

And still unresolved is the issue surrounding the treatment of Korean sex slaves for the Japanese troops many years ago. However, in other countries the news is getting around and will  put pressure on the Japanese government. These problems are not only of the past but today, in different parts of the world, we continue to see the suffering that women have to accept.

In Papua, New Guinea, a news story emerged of a woman, falsely accused of being a witch, being burned alive. The writer mentions that there is no effort made to bring those at fault to justice, and this is not, she says, a unique incident.

If care is not taken to right the wrongs being done to our working women wherever they exist, she believes the future of the  weak in society, the old and the young, will also be jeopardized.

Pope Francis has shown a willingness to get more women involved within the Church. In his Address to the Italian Women's Center, in January, he said "I too have considered the indispensable contribution of women in society. I have rejoiced in seeing many women sharing some pastoral responsibility with priests in accompanying people, families and groups, as in theological reflection, and I have expressed my hope that greater room can be made for a more capillary and incisive female presence in the Church."   She expresses her hope that the women of Korea will also be able to take their rightful place within the Church of Korea.