Catholic Digest has an article by a former education minister on the formula for happiness. What is the essence of education? His answer is to make the students happy. Parents desire the same happiness but for them success needs to come first. 'Sweetness comes after the bitter' is very much part of the parent's thinking: you study hard, go to a good college, get a good job, and succeed, and happiness will follow. On the contrary, in the study of psychology, economy and sociology, says the writer, it is clear that those who are happy are the ones who succeed.
He tells us about a trip to a monastery near the Black Sea that was built after the recognition of Catholicism by the Empire in the 4th century. The corruption in the Church was great, and a desire for a return to a renewal of the spiritual life. The monastery he visited was built on the side of a cliff and at its prime would have had over 200 monks; the location was close to Constantinople and had many monasteries.
These monks, he says, could have been searching for different values and goals. Some were looking for reasons for the universe and life, some wanted prayer, others found life in society difficult etc..... They had three meals a day, related with their brother monks, worked with them and experienced many different feelings, practiced the virtues and were tempted with many of the vices.
How did these monks experience happiness differently from those outside the monastery? He refers to a study made in a convent of sisters on happiness. The happiness level had nothing to do with the experience in the convent or the level of maturity but more to do with habit and training. In other words sisters who where optimistic, joyful and positive were happier than those who did not have these dispositions. Sister who as children was happy would continue to be disposed in this way until death.
In the monastery on the cliff, happy monks lived together with the unhappy ones. And the writer concludes that what you do in life, or happens to you will not determine the degree of happiness but happiness will rest on a person's natural capabilities, habits and personality.
He mentions a professor at Berkeley who says a person with a lot of money has more purchasing power but also has more wants which takes away from the quality of life, and the possession of happiness, with the danger of becoming a slave to money.
Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky who in her positive psychology studies says the same thing. Happiness brings success. We have to continually experience this happiness be trained and educated in this way of thinking. We should not be awaiting future happiness but happiness in the here and now. We need to educate for happiness and not success.
The opinion in the article works on the empirical scientific research that has been made but the ever present understanding of grace in a person's life, for a Christian, is something we can not evaluate with the tools of science.
"I am a member of the Street People's Choir" is the title of an article in the Catholic Digest. Pope Francis on his visit to the Flower Village while in Korea, in August of last year, arrived by helicopter. There to meet him were about 30,000 people. He transferred to an open car, during this time the Street People's Choir was singing, because of the noise, no one was conscious of their presence.
The pope got out of the car and entered the vestibule of the building and took off his shoes. He was the only one who did, every body else walked in wearing their shoes. The writer thought the pope's feet were hurting. The Street People's Choir was waiting for him and started singing again, but the noise from those in the building was so loud, the singing was buried in the noise.
Behind the stage on which the Street People's Choir was singing was a placard written in Italian introducing them. The pope saw the placard and looking towards the choir raised his two hands over his head and gave them a thumbs up sign telling them to sing louder. They were gratified by the sign of recognition.
The choir was from the Seoul railroad station where the writer of the article says she attended one of their recitals. She was surprised to see women in the group and was impressed with the director and accompanist. She wanted to join the choir to help them as an alto member, and asked one of the religious sisters who helped form the choir, and was accepted as a member.
Because of the visit of the pope and the way the mass media carried the story, the difficulty of finding a place to practice was solved. This had been a problem in the past. After each practice there was a meal served which was appreciated by all. The writer mentions how she began a sponsoring group to help pay for the meals. She had some success, and hopes it will continue to grow.
She concludes her article with the words of Pope Francis: "Important in helping the poor is not just give a one time monetary gift, but to join them to become a member of the cultural life of society." She would like these words to ring loud and clear throughout society.
The social gospel of the Church, in Korea like other countries of the
world, is often misunderstood and attacked. A priest in the Catholic
Times gives us some answers to many of the difficulties in his article.
Those who are sensitive to issues of justice write and speak often on
the problems they see, and this interest gives rise to much rebuttal,
making the topic relevant.
Is the social gospel about
problems in society? Why don't they see their own faults and those of the church instead of expressing criticism of society? There are those who do not
want to hear anything about politics, and want those interested in the
social gospel to go outside to make their opinion known. However, the
Church exists in society. The social gospel is not only limited to
society, humans need others to live, we were born to live with others,
the social gospel helps us have a right relationship with God and our follow human beings.
Do
you think the social gospel is something extra, good if we have it, and
good if we don't? Our belief is made up of what we believe and what we need
to do. What we need to do is the social gospel; it is not an extra but
an integral part of the teaching. It is what I am called to do in my
daily life.
There are those that bring in the
separation of Church and State as a reason for not getting involved. We
can't separate religion from life. The separation of Church and State is
to prevent one Church becoming involved in the governing of a country. The Church is not to infringe in the proper field of the government but
to teach the way of God.
Many are those that think the
social gospel has a leftist tendency and is part and parcel of the
progressive agenda. However, welfare and morality issues would be in
most cases just opposite what the progressives desire and there is confrontation. On the other hand the conservative policies and
directions in these areas would be more compatible. In examining society the social gospel may have many different opinions, but they are all
based on Scripture. It may seem at times to be similar to some special
groups in society but it is based on the gospels which makes the difference.
A good gauge for the level of our religious life will depend on our acceptance of the social gospel. If we do
not meet God in the Scriptures, pray, study and do not share in the
body and blood of Jesus at Mass, we will not be bearing the fruit
of love. The social gospel is an important part of our faith life. When
we have an antipathy or misunderstanding of the
social gospel there is a serious problem with the teaching of the Church. What is the reason for my misunderstanding, is it the Scriptures or the World?
"So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly dark it will be"( Matt. 6:23).
Today is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus and the end of the
Christmas Season. The Liturgical Year begins according to the Solar
calendar but now we will be working with the Lunar Calendar. The first Sunday of Advent begins the liturgical new year at which time we try to
convince ourselves of a need to change our minds and hearts to be more
faithful to our call to discipleship. One
diocese was written up in the Peace Weekly with their plans for evangelization for the new year. Evangelization is a work of the Church
that is always on-going.
How do we go about
evangelizing? This is a question pastoral workers and parishioners
keep asking. The methods differ for the size of the parish, the number
of Christians, and each parishes' environment. The diocese has made a
manual with the consultation of the Christians to help the different
parishes.
They divided the diocese into large, medium,
and small, city parishes, and medium and small country parishes. They
pointed out the problems in the large, medium and small parishes and what needs to change to better prepare to evangelize.
The pastoral office in the diocese determined that the medium and small
parishes whether in the city or country where similar.
Large city parishes had a lack of team work: conflict and lack of
unity. Dealing with the strangers there is a stiffness in attitude and
there is a lack of religion teachers and their quality needs to
improve. To remedy the situation they recommended working to better
the group activities, and the fellowship of the community.
City and country middle size parishes had a lack of experience in
evangelizing and a need for programs, material and tools. In the small parishes there was a problem with finances to invite
speakers to instruct the community, and the age of the parishioners was a
problem. This could be remedied with support from the diocese and the
spread of information on evangelizing to these smaller parishes.
Despite
the size of the parishes there is a lack of plans, workers, appropriate
goals and the capability to deal with the parish situation. Hope is
that each parish will have a mission committee and with the help of
manuals give direction to the community. Starting
in April they will have programs that will be prepared for the
different environments of each parish. 70 percent will be the same the
other 30 percent will fit the situation of the parishes.
The
diocese has the goal by 2019 to have 10 percent of the population
Catholic which at present is only 7.4 percent, lower than the 10.4
percent in the country as a whole. Sunday Mass attendance is 27.7
percent which is higher than the average for the country which is at
21.2.
The magazine With Bible gives us a picture of life in an
old Catholic family going back ten generations. The priest writer recounts growing up in a Catholic village. Up until the II
Vatican Council marriages were always among Catholics so all his
relatives were Catholic. Until the day he went to Elementary School he
thought the whole world was made up of Catholics. In his class the only
other Catholic was his cousin from his village. This was a bombshell
to him, he had been deceived, using today's words it was a cultural shock.
From
that time on he was embarrassed to be known as a Catholic. He would
very surreptitiously make a small sign of the cross on his forehead before eating, and persecution had ended hundreds of years ago.
One day his father went with a married Buddhist monk friend to a temple bringing him along,
where he saw that the hands of the Buddha were bigger than the hands of
Jesus, which caused some consternation, and he ate without any problem the
rice given.
He envied the Buddhist children who did
not have to do anything on Sundays. Mass was one of his biggest
difficulties. He would with friends steal and eat the melons in the farms. He dreamed of time on Sundays to go catching frogs, and
lamented being born into a family of Catholics. He was dreaming of the
day he would be able to skip Mass.
The day came one summer, he skipped Mass, and with a friend went prancing around the
mountains and streams and came back for lunch. When he arrived the family was eating lunch and they all stared at him. There was
no place at the table and his bowl was missing. His grandfather asked
did he come to eat? There was no sympathy for him and he went outside
under the eaves of the house wiping his tears. He hated everybody: God, Jesus, his
grandmother, the Blessed Mother-- from
that day on he became a tepid Catholic.
He dreamed of
getting rid of his Catholicism. In the family they would have the
morning prayers: for him it was the continuance of a bad dream; evening
prayers a lullaby. The holy pictures on the wall would be glaring
at him, he was afraid of Jesus' family. After evening prayers there was
the rosary and even at times the office for the dead.
This
was not all, everyday three times you would hear the bell of the mission
station calling him to pray the Angelus. Every evening he would have a
string rosary on which to pray, he would not get beyond the first decade. His
grandmother told him if he fell asleep his guardian angel would finish
it for him. He says his guardian angel was was busy saying his
rosaries. His family home was a monastery and he was a lonely tepid
Catholic.
As the years passed he ended up in the
seminary. How in the world he ended up in the seminary he doesn't know.
When he finished his studies he went into the military. During that time
he was at camp there was no opportunity to go to Mass, which he liked. He
refused an appointment to work as a religious assistant figuring he
would be doing that for the rest of his life. He was living the life of
a tepid and was enjoying it. As long as God allowed him to do what
he wanted all was well, and he feels this is common among the tepid.
Even after he became a priest he felt that
his tepidity continued. The joy at ordination quickly left and he
did not feel God's love. It was not easy to talk about God's love. When he was saying the breviary it was like the morning and evening prayers
he knew as a child. He was curious about the things of the world.
He felt he received little from God. He tried
to forget the emptiness by filling it up with all kinds of works,
not only by possessing material things but also knowledge, and working
excessively with great pride: using God to grant what he wanted.
This all came to an end when after a year as an
assistant priest he was sent overseas to study. During this time he
found it difficult to breathe, and they did not know the origin of the problem; he was faced with a serious operation.
Death became a possibility and he began to see everything
differently. He was looking for forgiveness. He wanted forgiveness
and wanted to love. It was at this time that he received the
peace that he had never experienced before in his life. All the joys
and sorrows of his life, his tears, regrets and worries were all
washed away. Everything had changed. He had met God.
The article finishes with his gratitude for his gift of faith.
It was packaged in a box that he opened when he faced death. God's love
for him he saw with new eyes, and he wants to make this love known to others.
This year is the International Year of Soils and the Catholic Times
gave the topic a full page coverage showing the Church's teaching on the
subject. Ecology and poverty, the continual possibility of development
and the food supply all depend on the earth. Solving the problems and
showing concern for the earth are the reasons for the proclamation of
the Year of Soils.
Economic development and the
accompanying slogans have helped to damage and destroy a great deal of
our environment, The words from Scripture: Genesis 1:28,were not
understood to take care of the earth, but misunderstood to mean subjugate. "This
universality and, at the same time,
this multiplicity of the process of 'subduing the earth' throw light
upon human work, because man's dominion over the earth is achieved in
and by
means of work. There thus emerges the meaning of work in an objective sense,
which finds expression in the various epochs of culture and
civilization.
Man dominates the earth by the very fact of domesticating animals,
rearing them
and obtaining from them the food and clothing he needs, and by the fact
of
being able to extract various natural resources from the earth and the
seas" (Laborem Exercens #5).The effort to domesticate the earth is the origin for private
property.
Pope Paul VI in Progress of Peoples: "Everyone knows that the Fathers of the Church laid down the duty of the rich
toward the poor in no uncertain terms. As St. Ambrose put it: "You are not
making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what
is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common
use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich."
These words indicate that the right to private property is not absolute and
unconditional" Pope John Paul II in Centesimus Annus (#23).
In
another article on the same page we hear about a priest who thinks
highly of farming life. We have all come from the earth and we will
all return to the earth. We have forgotten the importance of the earth
on which we live. We do not need the Scriptures, he says, to teach us
this very important lesson. Sadly in our economic system we see
all values with a monetary measurement, land is object of barter and
investment; those that see it as a home for humans and an object to
preserve are few.
As a city pastor he wanted to have the
parish children get to feel and interact with the earth. A large plot
of land was donated to the parish in the country and under the direction
of the priest each week during the the farming season on Mondays and
Tuesdays they make the trip from the city to their country farm. The
farming is done in the primitive way following the ways of their
ancestors.
He advocates that all the parishioners
prepare one meal each day with their own hands. He hopes they will use
their verandas and those with weekend plots of land to
work to prepare this one meal. The
future is going to be a time when we will be closer to the land than we
are are now, he believes, and he is preparing his parishioners for the day with the
excursions to the county side. Since we have come from the earth he
wants us to return to the earth for he feels this is what the future is
calling us to do.
We just finished an eventful 2014. There were many accidents and
incidents that brought much sadness. We saw a breakdown of trust in our national systems, a minimum of concern for
etiquette, and a lack of shame, which gave rise to citizen's anger. Despite it all there was
reason for hope in the visit of the pope.
A hope the
new year will be better. A seminary professor who teachers Church History at the diocesan seminary, in an article in the Kyeongyang
magazine, introduces us to three words which prepare for the new year:
plans, desires and spring.
Each year we make plans
and each year we fail to carry them out. We decide to change some
aspect of our lives, to do something we have never done before, and make some long range plans. As a Catholic we decide to become more involved
in church life, take more interest in our spiritual life etc., but
again we fail, however, the making of plans is a worthwhile exercise; we have the opportunity to look over our lives.
Failure
comes because we don't reflect on who we are and make huge plans not
proper to our situation. We need to have control over the plans and not be impetuous, true also in our growth in spirituality; not an area we can in a few moments of time hope to see
renewal. Required is effort over a period of time to
see results, and no need to despair when not attained with our time clock.
We all have dreams and desires that we want to see realized. Whether a person is
religious or not is immaterial for desiring is part of our nature. These
desires are varied: health, success, family peace, not achieved the past
year we try again. We also have desires for the nation.
However, we have to determine whether our desires are opposed to what
another person desires. Our desires can be fueling our greed. In God's providence the
answer may come in a way we do not expect. If we do not get what we
want no reason to hold God responsible nor despair but to remain
patient and continue desiring.
When we followed the lunar calendar the New Year coincided with spring. The weather is not warm but we know that spring is close. Lunar New Year was often used interchangeably with spring. As we know from the winter solstice the days begin getting longer. The time for a take-off.
When
no hint of change is perceived it is easy to see only darkness, But
the present continues to change. It is only a question of time before
spring is here. This is nature's way. Our spiritual life is the same. No blossoming, we are faced with the fierce cold and recoil but with patience we know the spring will come.
The
writer used these three words to urge us to see the new year in a
different way. There are those who have no feeling one way or another
with the advent of the new year, and those who have lost hope and with
the above kind of talk greet it only with a cynical smile.
Even
with this attitude, frustrated and lacking hope this planning and desiring are not useless. According to the law of nature spring
will come. The new year will be different and our need to continue to hope.
