"Why do people promise to meet at the first snow? Why so
happy at the first snow? Maybe because those that love are waiting for the first snow."
These are the words of a Korean poem that the columnist uses to
introduce his column: The Wisdom we can learn from Bhutan. The
columnist a university president writing on the opinion page, of the
Catholic Times, believes Bhutan has something to teach.
There is something romantic about the
first snow fall. And in the small country of Bhutan,
with 700 thousand citizens, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas,
the fairytale-like land proclaims a national holiday at the
first snow. National income is 2,300 dollars per capita, and yet 97
citizens out of 100 consider themselves happy. One of the happiest
countries in the world.
In 1972 the government
considering their culture and environment has made it their philosophy
to enhance the life of the citizens with a just distribution of the
wealth. This progressiveness relates not only with economics but
also with the environment; they are determined not to do
anything to destroy the ecology of the country. The point of reference is the happiness
level of the people not the amount of money each citizen has to spend. They will find ways to make education
and health free for the people in their constitution. Bhutan is the
first country in the world that has made
Gross National Happiness (GNH) as their point of departure instead of the Gross National Product (GNP).
The
columnist feels our present economic model is not person orientated and
builds a culture of death. We are destroying our environment and our
traditional communities. The polarization of the "haves" and "have-nots" is
getting larger and society less secure. Our 'new-liberal'
social structures allow many of the poor to get caught in a
trap from which they can not escape.
In 2011
the young people fought against the economic insecurity and corruption by
occupying Wall Street. A movement that spread worldwide. The strong American
welfare safety-net began to disappear, and tragedies followed tragedies in the use of guns and killings. The United States is a super
power but not an advanced society, according to the columnist-- a nation exists
for the happiness of the citizens.
Pope Francis has
attacked unfettered capitalism as a new tyranny. A model in
opposition to the dignity of the person, and producing the culture of
death. Capitalism is one of the biggest revolutions in the world, and a
challenge to Christianity. We need a new paradigm that will have
happiness for the foundation in the use of money."I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation."
These words of St. Paul should fill us with a feeling of gratitude. We who have received an abundance from Jesus should be able to live in the spirit of poverty. Would not
this be a rightful understanding of the blessings received? Happy Lunar New Year!
Today we begin Lent, tomorrow the Lunar New Year. A pastoral
bulletin gives us 11 resolutions from Pope Francis that were taken from
Facebook. They would make a good beginning for Lent and the New Year.
(Don't
Gossip) (Finish my meals) (Make time for others) (Choose the more
humble purchase) (Meet the poor) (Stop judging others) (Be friends with
those you disagree) (Don't be afraid to say "forever") (Make it a
habit to "ask the Lord") (Be happy) (Forget what others did wrong to me)
We
are all on a journey living in a beautiful boardinghouse for a short
period of time. We have not built the world and are living in this
world without any demand for rent. And it is clear that we are not the
owners of the house.
We know we are here for an
indefinite period of time. Not for 3 or 4 days but for about 70 to 80
years and we leave. We tend to forget that this earthly journey
will come to an end.
The owner of the boardinghouse
quietly looks over what is going on. The travelers prepare their room as
if they were the owners, and if other travelers want to look at the
room there is a price to pay. At times there is a fight to take another
person's room, and even do harm to the other fellow travelers.
The
owner has given us everything free: the sun , air, water and even the
rooms we use, but we demand a price for their use from each other.
We
are all travelers. The kind hearted owner had given us the use of
these facilities and wouldn't it be wonderful if we had the use of what
the owner has given to all of us. We are only on this journey once.
Today
in the Masses within the Catholic world we received ashes on the
forehead reminding us that our bodies will return to the earth from
which we came. Life is short; in the Gospel we are reminded to work in
becoming better tools: by thinking of others, communicating with God in
our prayer life, and
opening ourselves to receiving the graces he continually bestows by
preparing the container with asceticism-- a word we are embarrassed to
use.
The Holy Father in his Lenten message has warned us
of the globalization of indifference. He has selected three sentences
for us to meditate on for this Lent: If one member suffers, all suffer together” (Cor.12:26). “Where is your brother?” (Gen 4:9) “Make your hearts firm!” (James 5:8) We have here more than enough matter for meditation.
We are all growing old: is there a way of doing this gracefully? In a
bulletin for priests a Maryknoll priest writes about a one day seminar
that the Maryknoll Fathers had in Korea at the end of last year--
conducted by Brother Wayne Fitzpatrick who is in charge of the Office of
Life Long Formation for the Society.
Happiness for
ourselves, and those we live with, depends a great deal on how
we grow old. This is, no doubt, the thinking of the Society for
preparing the one day seminar. We were given some articles to read; we heard a number of talks, Brother, asked some
questions of the group and we discussed some areas that he had covered
in his talks.
One of the papers mentioned Carl Jung who
said that in retirement the most important element is our spiritual
outlook on life. We may be led to think that our strong points when
young will be a great help in our retirement years, but Jung did not
think this was the case. What was true when young is not necessarily so
when old.
Many things change with time. We also have to
change. We need to get rid of harmful fixed ideas, and open ourselves
to new ways of thinking. When we look back on our lives we recall
many things we have learned, and because of them have become wiser.
We know from experience that to die to ourselves is to begin living--Paschal Mystery.
We
should begin preparing for retirement when young. Without plans we will
not know what to do and be confused when the time arrives. We should
be able to go on doing what we want depending on the
condition of our health.
There are those that after
retirement adapt well to their new life but there are also those that do
not. Our health will have a lot to do with the way we enter
retirement; old age and our bodily infirmities will have a big influence
on our life, but our faith life is always there to give us strength.
Being, is important, our natural disposition is more important than
our external actions for with the right internal disposition the right actions
will follow. Brother stressed the positive outlook on life, and listed 9 points that he wanted us to consider:
attitude, love, friendships, keep on dreaming, forgive, give
ourselves to others, faith- gratitude for the gift of life, continue
to discover the meaning of life, and achieving a balance in life.
We
need leisure in life. Our spirit should not get old. We should learn to rest while working. "Pause a while and know that I am God...."
Besides the activity in life we need to acknowledge the receptivity in
life. There is the possibility that we will be faced with a time when
we can only receive, and without preparation in life this will be
difficult. There has to be a balance between the active and the
receptive which is a form of the contemplative life.
This
is not something that will come naturally but we have to prepare for
it. Growing old gracefully is both a science and an art.
In September of 2012 an English Language Teacher in Elementary School
decided to listen to her inner voice, gave up her secure teaching
job, and went to Russia to study. She writes about her experience in the
recent issue of the Korean Catholic Digest.
She is 26
years old, and because of her long held dream, and firm resolution, left teaching to return to being a student in Russia. From the first night
in Russia, one by one, her strong aspirations began to disappear. When
she saw her sleeping quarters she was transported back to the 70s, a
great shock to her.
The place was filled with dust and cobwebs, filled with a horrible stench, a common toilet without lights, a ceiling
that was leaking water, and a corridor that was filled with mold. Yuck! was the feeling that naturally followed from seeing her situation.
Her
roommate was Chinese who liked to listen to music to early in the
morning with little understanding of what common living meant.
She
began studying the Russian language, doing her home work, cooking her
meals and cleaning up afterwards, and little by little adapting to her
new environment.
In reality, her biggest difficulty was
the discrimination she felt for being Asian. When she walked the streets the
children would confront her; laughing they would be abusing her
with words she couldn't understand, which made it all the worse. In the
post office she would have persons push themselves in line ahead of her,
which would fill her with pent up anger. Her personality was one that
would ordinarily give 'tic for tac' but since she didn't understand or speak Russian she was more than upset.
What
wealth and honors was she going to enjoy that would deserve this kind
of treatment? She was an only daughter, and had a job that gave her
prestige in her society; never before did she experience this kind of abuse...
why did she ever come to Russia? She returned to her room and felt completely helpless, and began counting the days to return to Korea.
At
that time Jesus came into her thoughts. Usually when she felt upset
she would go to church. The thoughts about Jesus suddenly coming to mind was strange. She
recalled how Jesus came to us and suffered all the
discrimination and abuse for love of us, it was the first time,
she ever thought about the virtue of humility.
Up until
that time, she thought that she was a humble person, but realized
she was full of pride. She wanted others to appreciate who she was. She
was concerned on how she was coming across to others, and wasn't able to detach herself from the way others saw her. She knew that real
humility was not concerned with this. The study of the language was not
coming easy, she was struggling alone, but she came to
the realization that more then learning Russian she learned something
more important.
Why did she come to Russia? More than regrets
she is now thankful for her experience; a
lesson that will remain with her for the rest of her life. She hopes she will be open to imitating Jesus more closely and following
his will.
In the Peace Weekly, Diagnosis of Current Affairs, the columnist
explains why he is working with human rights issues. He loves the work, and he attributes this love to the time he spent in Sunday
School as a child. He thanks his parents for the gift they gave him, and
considers it fortunate that those years gave him a world view, and a way
of thinking which he was able to develop.
No one is
born with a way of thinking or a world view, but it comes with
education. In his public schooling he was exposed to the historical mission of
national renaissance. He feels that he was repeatedly trained to see
his mission as one with the nation: the nations development was his
development. The existence of the nation was to determine his own
existence. It was a military style training; the object was grades
with little time for leisure.
Sunday school was
different. No teacher tried to control the students; they were
devoted to the teaching, which was also more polished. Even though
poverty was everywhere they had slides, movies and other visual aids
to help in the education. They had camp and retreats that would
require lodging and meals away from home. School support fees were only a
few hundred won, and if you did not pay, the parish would take care of
it, and they did not make you feel like a thief, as was the case, often,
in the public schools. They were teaching other values that were
missing in the public schools: love for others and what was necessary in living the virtuous life. They were teaching what a
thinking life should be.
Today the Sunday School
Programs are dying. The churches are filled with old people. The
children, and especially the young people are not interested, and this
has been true for some time. What is the reason? Is it the pressure
of college entrance and the after- school academies? Is it
the ever present smart phones, and the tepid religious life of the
parents? All are reasons,but the columnist feels the biggest problem is the lack of concern on the part of the parishes-- not like it was
in the past.
The teachers are young, few, and are changed often. Young priests do not have the experience, and after a few years leave. Teachers do not have confidence that what they are doing will
have any concrete results. This has brought about the decline in the
programs. Most of the parishes devout less than 5 percent of the budget to the school program.
He
concludes his column with a desire to make the programs even compete with the schools and academies. He feels there are many in the parishes with the qualifications to teach. He wants the parishes to
look for teachers among the older parishioners, school teachers, college professors and
to arrange for special lectures. Place placards on the streets
inviting those who are not members of the parish to come to the
programs. He wants the parishes to give the religious education of the young high priority, for without these programs the future of the Church is bleak.
On the spiritual page of the Catholic Times the columnist gives us a
humorous story with a worthwhile message. One of the members in his
religious community had a commitment in the city and arrived at his
destination 40 minutes early, and wondered what to do. He saw an
invitation to give blood nearby, and felt that would be a good place to
be of service and await his appointment.
He entered the
building and after signing in, was told to go to a cot and lie down
and wait for the nurse. While lying down, he began to open and close
his fist to enable the blood to flow quickly so as to quicken the
process.
When the nurse arrived at the cot she excitedly
said: "wow that is real good looking." Hearing those words the priest
was embarrassed and laughing: "I am not so bad looking, you say, I
have heard that often, ha, ha, ha!" The nurse not knowing what to say:
"I am not talking about your face, but the vein, which is very distinct and easy to see!"
His faced flushed, embarrassed, he
figured everybody was laughing at him. The nurse began drawing the blood
and left. He had only one thought, and that was to get out of there as
soon as possible. He continued to clench and open his fist to hasten
the process.
After doing this for a short period of time
he heard a 'pi-pi' and the nurse came rushing to his cot and was
surprised to see how quick the blood was drawn. She took the needle out,
and replaced it with a sterilized cotton pad. She told him that he
was not to leave, to drink some water, and rest for awhile. He was still
overcome with the embarrassment he felt when he began giving the blood.
"I
have a important meeting and will need to leave." The priest stubbornly
did as he said, got up from the cot, put on his shoes and left. As soon
as he opened the door and breathed in some fresh air, with a sigh of
relief, he fainted. He doesn't know how long he was unconscious but he ended up on the cot in which he gave blood and the nurse, a doctor,
and all those who were waiting to give blood where gazing at him. It was the first time in his life that he wanted to die.
Whenever he hears the word blood donation all these thought come back to
him. The columnist concludes that after giving blood we need to follow
instructions, but a bigger moral, and a more important lesson, would be to welcome the embarrassments in life, they are opportunities in mastering our emotions, which often enslave us, and cause much harm to ourselves and others.
Marriage, having children, is no longer something we can take for
granted or expect of the young. We hear often that one of the reasons
for the low birthrate in Korea is deferring marriage to late in life. An
article in the Catholic Times reminds the readers what the young people have to face when they contemplate marriage.
Many
do not have regular jobs which means that the salaries are low and
envisioning marriage is not something they can easily do. Many have to
pay back the debt for their schooling, and the prospects of requiring
another big debt for marriage is demoralizing. Birth of a child and the
schooling that is necessary goes into the 100,000s of dollars.
The
article mentions a poster which explains to the older generation: we
can't judge the young people as thoughtless and selfish; society
does not make raising a family easy. The family is the basic community
in society and when this is destroyed society ceases to exist. In
Catholic social teaching the family does not exist for society or the
nation, but the nation and society exist for the family.
This
is the principle of subsidiarity. Pope Francis continues to speak of
the failure of the economic system that puts money ahead of the human
person. We are destroying the family and making persons serve the system.
As Christians we know that God has
made men and women to join together as husband and wife, to raise a family. Today, however, society which we have made does not promote the raising of a family. The
structures of society make the raising a family, according to Christian
principles, difficult. The structures of society also make young
people unsympathetic to the teachings of the Church on sexual morality.
Structures of society are in opposition to the commands of God and are harmful to humans. What God wants from us,
has in Jesus been given to the Church. This has become
our mission. We have to help our young people find a way to join
together in marriage and raise a family.This requires a change in the structures of society.
