This Chinese Character 靈
is the one we use in Korea for the Holy Spirit and spirituality in
general. This doesn't fit our Christian understanding of the spiritual.
Korea's shamanistic history shows itself in the way the icon expresses
the spiritual. The top part of the character is the icon for rain, the
three mouths are said to express the rain falling and the bottom
character is the icon for sorceress who dancing, asks for rain.
A seminary professor who teaches spirituality begins a series of articles in the Peace Weekly on the subject.
He has the need to speak about spirituality with the modifier Catholic,
because of the possibility of misunderstanding, due to the shamanistic
understanding of spirituality in Korean history.
After the second Vatican council we use the word spirituality often in
our teaching. Not only within Christianity but even outside of religion
altogether. But the professor makes it clear that in Korea the word
does have a context that is different from what we would understand by
the word. In Korea the word would mean marvelous, magical, and strange. The
context in which the West understands the word is missing. He admits
this is also changing in the West. The Church in Korea started using
the word regularly about 20 years ago. He says it is not an
exaggeration to say that Christians are forcing a Christian meaning on
to their past understanding of the word. In Korean society all feel no
restraint in using the word spirituality, which he says requires we be attentive to this reality.
The shamanistic history
of Korea will continue to influence the native religions and those from
the outside and society. This common denominator probably is the
reason that Koreans have a good feeling towards the practices of other
religions.
Spirituality
as used in Korean society does not have the Christian meaning of the
word. If we do not understand the Christian meaning we will easily,
without any discernment, have an eclectic acceptance of other religious
beliefs, and the possibility of losing our faith.
We
have in recent years accepted a great deal from what we have learned
from anthropology and psychology in our spirituality which is a good but we have to discern otherwise spirituality can be just the results of what we have learned from psychology. Our
spirituality becomes a hodgepodge of the teachings of many other
religions and ceases to be Christian, consequently, he concludes the
need to use the modifier Catholic when he speaks about spirituality.
Back in last years of the 1970s, a retired professor from the Catholic Medical School,
remembers a two day workshop he gave to a representative group of
mothers in a diocese at the request of the bishop. The workshop was
sponsored by the Happy Family Movement and was to teach the Catholic birth regulation methods to the women who were to spread the movement
within the diocese.
The method was the natural regulation
of births, now well know in Korean society. Whether a person wants to
become pregnant or avoid pregnancy, women are taught to notice the
changes during the period of ovulation by tracking changes in the vaginal
discharge. Examining the mucus would indicate the need for avoidance or not.
After
the end of the workshop he asked the group of mothers about their
thoughts. He recalls the sharing that took place,and
how moved he was. Each person gave their assessment of the program,
the common element would be the physiological mystery of the women's
fertility cycle, and their surprise in hearing about it, and the desire
to spread the news to those in the diocese.
One woman in
the group when her turn came had her head down and did not arise from
her seat. He thought she was overly moved by the sharing of the group,
and urged her to speak out. Having no other option but to stand up,
she began speaking very softly.
She and her husband had only a elementary school education, and accepted
children as they came along. She had five and not able to take care of any
more had two abortions. Hearing all that was needed to avoid a
pregnancy was to refrain one week before and after ovulation broke her
heart. Her husband was a devout Catholic and avoiding the time of
fertility would not have been a problem. Would a person like me be accepted
in heaven, and she began to cry.
The hall became solemn, and the professor saw many wiping tears from their eyes. For a moment
he didn't know what to do, went over to the woman and held her hand.
Sister, do not worry, if God is going to get upset it will be with me
for not making the message known before.
People do not
like to talk about abortion, contraception and matters of sex but they
are important matters dealing with our religious life and should not be neglected. The Church spends much time teaching about these matters and what is central is the need for self-discipline and responsibility.
These
virtues are not only needed in matters of sex and contraception for
they are important in all areas of our lives. In matters of sex we are not free
to do anything we want to solve our problems but need these values
to be present--a mysterious reality of our lives.
With the evolving Web the Church needs to adapt to the
changes that continue to come. Popes have expressed the need for us to
get involved. An article in the Catholic Times introduces us to Web 2.0.
The Web 1.0 was mainly static but now we have interaction and
user-generated content.
With the Web 2.0 we have a new
way of involvement and a challenge to the Church--a dilemma. Catholicism is not managed according to democratic
principles, it has a fixed structure. When all can create information,
opinions and become owners of the new media, the one directional
information conveyed approach will be challenged.
Back
in the 90s most of the parishes established their own parish web-sites;
today they have few visitors and many have been discontinued. New
technology needs to be accepted and used. In 2000 we began using the
so-called Web 2.0. Users can now create data, process, preserve and
publish. We have SNS and UCC (User Created Content) and Wikipedia,
Tweeter and Facebook and the like.
Korea is familiar
with Web 2.0. Our diocesan bulletins are no longer only giving
information but the form and ways of accessing the bulletins have
changed. QR code ( a code consisting of black and white squares that
can be read with your smart phone) can allow one to access the bulletin
easily. One can interact with the site and in certain bulletins we have
a code that allows those with impaired vision to access the spoken
word. Podcasts are available.
When
the tools and methods of communication change, it is well known that communication's
enviroment changes: politics, economics, culture and society change.
The way we live and think, religion too will be affected. Our
understanding and behavior, the pastoral enviroment in which we live,
our Christians and the environment in which we seek to evangelize, and
our attitudes change.
One of the priests of the
diocese in an essay he wrote for the Catholic Times in 2004, at the
beginning of the Web 2.0 era said: "The flood of information calls for a
different behavior on the part of Catholicism." We have a paradigm
shift : "Catholics have to begin to get into the pastoral work of the
Church. This change has to take place before they leave the Church."
In the future we will have Web 3.0 and 4.0. Web 2.0 is interactive, Web 3.0 will have communication, customized to the individual.
If the Church is not to lose its essential nature she will have to adapt and plan counter measures. If we see the technological advances
as only something that is adding to our comfort we miss what
is important.The article concludes reminding the readers that all those
using the internet are no longer one way users of technology.
Everybody likes a wedding. After Mass, with a background of flowers,
when pictures are taken with the bride and groom at the front of the
altar, you have many of the congregation crowding around the
photographer enjoying the happiness they see expressed in the newly
wed.
A religious sister writes in View from the Ark,
in the Catholic Times, about her feelings at a wedding. Very naturally what comes to mind are prayers for blessings and graces for the married couple as they begin their journey to the horizon.
In
Asia, marriage was always considered one of the most important matters
in life. Many things have changed but marriage still retains this meaning. God
made us out of love and made us in his image. He wanted to see the love
that exists in the Trinity exemplified in the love that we humans
freely share with others. We realize ourselves when we love. All have
this calling to love, especially those who have been called by baptism.
Married
couples show us how God loves us. God loves us who are so different
from him, he respects this difference to love us. Couples are called to
overcome their differences in loving. They are called
to a bond of friendship.
One of the biggest
problems in society is communication, we understand differences but are unable to accept one another. We need to accept the other's humanity and dignity. Families should be in the forefront in doing this. In the sacrament of matrimony we announce
this love of God, protect it, and make it real. God's love is like a
tabernacle that remains in the couple. "We have come to know and to
believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in
love abides in God, and God in him"( 1 John 4:16).
Family as the basic church community is where the the first pastoral efforts are made. This should be
understood by all who are sacramentally married. Love in the family is not
the same love we know in the world; parents love nurtures and educates the children who in turn spread this love to others.
Words determine the thoughts we have. Laypersons in the Church are
the sleeping giant and movements exist to wake them up. We can
call them collaborators with the clergy or we can understand them as
co-responsible with the clergy. Pope Benedict expressed well the
understanding the Church has about the laity.
"Co-responsibility demands a change in mindset especially concerning the role of lay people in the Church. They should not be regarded as 'collaborators' of the clergy, but, rather, as people who are really 'co-responsible' for the Church's being and acting. It is therefore important that a mature and committed laity be consolidated, which can make its own specific contribution to the ecclesial mission with respect for the ministries and tasks that each one has in the life of the Church and always in cordial communion with the bishops."
Both
Catholic papers had articles on a symposium held in Seoul on the work
of the laity in the new evangelization: the topic was who and to whom?
Korea's Catholic history is different from every other country, and the
laity's rightful place in church life is easy to understand by looking
at their history.They brought the church to Korea, and was active in the
propagation of the Church without the help of the clergy. Laity who were poor and ostracized from society, were able even to increase their numbers, during the early years of the Church in Korea.
A
seminary professor gave a talk on the poor, and the new
evangelization. What do we mean by poverty,who are the poor and why
does the Church have a predilection for the poor? We should not only rid society of forced poverty but each member of the community should desire to live voluntary
poverty, and the community itself to aspire to a more simple life of
voluntary poverty. Forced poverty is the poverty that comes because of
the structures of society and the difficulties that come with financial
matters; voluntary poverty is poverty that one chooses.
With voluntary poverty we are helping to change forced poverty.
Those who are living a forced life of poverty by the way we preach the
Gospel will have a new understanding of what voluntary poverty means. The professor also said that the Church chooses the poor first because they can serve as means of liberating others. God will work through the poor to liberate all of society.
Another
presentation stressed that the laity are in the world as the yeast;
they are God's sign and tool to those in the world. The lay people
imitating Jesus in their lives are a sign of what God wants to do in
society through the laity. Laity are the presence of God in society, the sign of God, and this is
their true identity the gift that they have received.
Today is Pentecost the birth of the Church.We can see the feast day as the reversal of the results of the tower of Babel. On that day we have speaking and communicating with other people and the appearance of tongues of fire. God's desire is to see his creation communicating and living in harmony with others, an extremely difficult task and yet the mission that we have been given.
Regional problems are present in most countries of the world; the
Catholic Times' editorial brings to the readers' attention the
Youngnam and Honam historical conflict. Daegu and Gwangju would be the
metropolitan cities, respectively.
Back in the the
time of the three kingdoms of Korea: Baekje and Silla made up what we now know as the southern part of the Korean peninsular.
Baekje was overcome by Silla and in government and society they were
ostracized, no longer the case, but the
discrimination continues even to this day.
In society at large, efforts have been made to come
together in academic, literary and artistic ways to overcome the deep
seated prejudices in society.This has not been the reality in the past
but it's an effort we see at present. Where is the Church in this
effort? Is a question the editorial asks. Not easy, says the editorial,
to find efforts of the Church.
Both
groups of students, from the two dioceses of the country, remembered the
movement for democracy on May 18th. Both joined a walking pilgrimage to the 5:18
Democratization Movement Archives, historic sites, and the democratic
cemetery where they had a Mass celebrated together. Meetings of the two sections of the
country should be a common event. Bruises from local feelings should not
be allowed to continue beyond the older generation.
What
was the teaching of Pope Francis' visit to Korea last year? Love, peace, consolation, forgiveness, reconciliation, hope, compromise,
sharing.... In order to live these teachings we have to meet one
another.
Local
sentiments and feelings are natural but when they harm the common good it has reached an impermissible level-- we have to eliminate it. Politicians and the mass media should especially be sensitive to this malady, and
the Church make known this disregard in public life. We
are beginning a time for national reconciliation, a new era. The
Church should be involved. We who want to see the justice of God spread, meeting each other, is the way we grow in affection. The
editorial ends with a wish people of faith find the
opportunity for the two areas of the country to meet often.
We all came into the world empty handed and will leave empty handed.
These words start the article in the pastoral bulletin that had been
taken from Osho an Indian mystic. The article deals with the desire to
be number one but does it bring happiness?
The world tells us to grasp what you can, get more than the other-- it can be money
or virtue, this world's goods or the other world's goods. Be
attentive or otherwise you will lose what you have. Don't let it be taken and make sure your taking. We have heard this from early years. From the
time in school to college we have heard the need to compete.
Real
education does not teach us to compete but to cooperate. Fight to be
first is not what is taught. Do not compare yourselves with others, Be a
creator, a person who loves, be a happy person. Be better than another
be number one, and be happy, is not what is being taught.
You
will not absolutely not be happy being number one. Being number one
will require a great deal of hardship, and in the process your body will
be accustomed to this. To become a president or statesman will require
a lot of hardship. That hardship becomes a second nature. That is all that is known. Worry and anxiety have become a way of life. You
have become number one but you are impatient, fearful, you can't
change the desire to be number one.
Real education
does not teach you to be number one. Whatever you do the results are
not important you are meant to enjoy what you are doing. That is what the
artist aspires to. There are two ways to paint. One is
to imitate another person but than what you paint becomes a style of another, you are imitating. It is not you that is painting. You want
to be recognized as an artist. In this case you are not absorbed in what you are doing, and will not
enjoy what you are doing. You are only interested in success. You are
on an ego trip.
A real artist has to rid herself of
the ego. He needs to get rid of the desire to be famous and selfishness, and lose oneself in the painting. It is then that the beauty of the universe
will enter into the painting, and your brush and hands will make something beautiful. Egoism will not help you
to make a masterpiece but without ego and with abnegation you will have what is necessary. Jesus reminded us of this with: the first will be last and the
last first.
