What is our Solidarity Index?

 
“If it should happen one day — and it could be today — that I become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to encompass all the foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to this country. I ask them to accept that the One Master of all life was not a stranger to this brutal departure. I ask them to pray for me: for how could I be found worthy of such an offering? I ask them to be able to associate such a death with the many other deaths that were just as violent, but forgotten through indifference and anonymity.

My life has no more value than any other. Nor any less value. In any case, it has not the innocence of childhood. I have lived long enough to know that I share in the evil which seems, alas, to prevail in the world, even in that which would strike me blindly. I should like, when the time comes, to have a clear space which would allow me to beg forgiveness of God and of all my fellow human beings, and at the same time to forgive with all my heart the one who would strike me down."

These two paragraphs are from the last written testament of Dom Christian de Cherge, the prior of the Cistercian -Trappist Monastery In Algeria. He was one of the seven monks who died at the hands of terrorist on May 21, 1996 in Algeria.

Writing in  the View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a religious sister reminds the readers of the many incidents in Korea in which people have suffered and their rights trampled, and we forget and move on. She writes about our lack of solidarity with those who are hurting.

She mentions a group of citizens who have decided to have citizens mourning for the victims of the Sewol tragedy. Every month on the 16th, they join  in each village for a mourning ceremony that will continue until 2017, August 11: a thousand  days with those who have suffered because of our apathy and  concern for self.

Sister mentions  three types of solidarity that was expressed in the testament by Dom Christian: solidarity in death, in life, and in responsibility. This last solidarity is not just having a guilty conscience but acknowledging our responsibly  for the evil in the world, and the need  to do something about it.

In the Sewol tragedy we have the pursuit of profit at all cost which is pathological-- overlooking truth and justice for money and power followed by  all kinds of vices. She wants more than sorrow for the harm and injustices we have in society but solidarity with those hurting."Not you are you, and I am me" thinking but understanding that we are connected, and I should be moved by empathy and compassion for those who are hurting and do what I can to improved the situation.

Mentioned is the web site SKY & SEWOL. Jesus came to be one with us- in solidarity with  all humanity.  This solidarity does not need theology to understand but  a disposition of the heart.

Trauma Focus Therapy

Both Catholic papers reported  on the seminar on 'Trauma Focus Therapy' which will continue  at St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul.  Korea has had more than its share of trauma causing experiences: Japanese colonial rule, the Korean War,  the fight for Democracy, continues to  influence society. The recent Sewol  tragedy will also, if not addressed  produce  for years to come, trauma for the families of the victims and society.

One article begins with the statement that with the external mental trauma  a person has to deal with, we often  have a mental and a  psychological breakdown. Dr. Mary Kwan who arrived in Korea from the States is a member of the team conducting a seminar for those dealing with trauma in society. Efforts are necessary to train those who work with persons who have experienced trauma: not treated the experience will be  handed down to other generations. She mentions you can't treat all trauma in the same way.

She mentions that in Europe and the States instead of  dealing directly with the mental and psychological difficulties in the beginning they work with the body. Concern is for the way a person is feeling in the body:
What are the physical sensations in the body? This is not what we do in Korea, she laments.

We often confuse psychological  treatment with trauma treatment. Dr. Kwan  makes clear they are two different approaches to the problems. In psychological problems treatment is  usually to bring up the events that have caused the difficulties, and speak about them and face the emotions that arise. She maintains this is not what you want to do with trauma for it often makes matters worse. Efforts need to be made to  approach the emotions aroused in a gradual way.

In Korea we talk a lot about a nervous disorder they attribute to pent up resentment: anger disease--"Han". The problems that come with trauma, the scars are often deepened, and develop into unhealthy side effects. The mass media has a great deal to do in the way they treat the news--whether it will increase or decrease the trauma in society.

Those  in pastoral work should be conscious  of  the difference between psychological problems and trauma producing experiences. People with problems do not only go to the specialists with their problems but to the religious people in their lives, which makes it necessary for pastoral workers  to be familiar with what is necessary to help those in need.

In the seminar she hopes to use many clinical examples that will make clear some of problems that are faced dealing with trauma, without speaking only abstractly. There are many who go to their pastoral worker when facing trauma and often are disappointed, feel betrayed and in anger leave their faith life. 

Korea does not have a healthy social safety net which makes it more difficult for the citizens. She concludes with the reminder that people are the best help in reducing the incidents of trauma. When we have mental and psychological problems, and those in our lives are not at our side; we have to deal with the problems alone, which increases the danger of trauma.

Learning from the Fishbowl

In View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a priest columnist gives us his thoughts on what he learned from the tropical fish left him by the previous pastor. They were fish from Malawi--an unknown world for the new pastor. He searched the Internet for knowledge of what to do. He bought the filters and did all that was necessary. 


For him, it was trial and error. He decided to raise 20 of them. In the beginning, everything went well but gradually each day one would die. He had no idea why they died. The water quality and temperature were correct, and no external signs to warrant death. Those who remained alive were very active, finally only 5 remained. Before he bought any more fish, he wanted to find the reason for the problem.

When fed, one species of  fish  would attack the food, and the other species would go to the bottom of the bowl with their bellies touching the bottom. Even when he put more feed in the bowl after the  others had eaten, the other fish weren't interested. In the human world, you would say they were depressed, and being bullied gave up, dying of starvation. He had heard that one breed of fish would not live with another breed, but he didn't believe it would be in this way. 

He went to the Internet to find out what to do. In a small area, you were to give the fish little food. He put the five fish in another large fish bowl and bought a small bowl for another 40 fish that he was going to raise. Since the space was  small, there was no fighting. He gave feed sparingly and  not as much as they wanted; they were not governed by the territory.

He was gone for a few days and told the priest to give the fish each day some food, but he didn't tell him  how much, so when he returned the shape of the fish changed. Fish were dying, and he was told to put  medication in the bowl.

He got rid of most of the water in the bowl and the fish were crowded together in a small area of the fishbowl, they were like the roaches in a paddy field,  had little water, and squirming around. He gave them no food for two days and then he added water to the bowl. There was no more bullying of other fish and no fish were estranged from the others, no dying fish and all went well. 

 It was an interesting experiment. When the fish had plenty of space and food, we had fighting, alienation and dying fish. Isn't this what is happening in the world? With quick economic development,  we overlook  the mental and spiritual growth of the person.

The Israelites were told to gather just enough manna for the day. The fish when they had the problem with little space and no food it prepared them for the open space and their daily food. The columnist would like this to be the case in our own world.

Joy and Hope

Prudence is one of the Cardinal Virtues, and Wisdom is the first of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Both of these virtues are necessary for a life well lived, and they help our  minds to  look on  reality correctly. Wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit, because it is the perfection of  faith. And might we not say that prudence is the way we apply wisdom to our daily life?
 
In a pastoral bulletin, the writer reflects on his work as a pastor and the desire for wisdom and prudence in his work and what he has learned in relating with his parishioners.  One of the most important words he uses is joy and hope. However, in his work with the problems many have, he meets many who are not happy and have lost hope. When he meets those with joy and hope he is glad and thankful.
  
He confesses  that he finds it difficult to relate with persons who lack joy and hope and is fearful of meeting them and wants to avoid them. In prison work he meets many who are ex-convicts and who are overcome with sadness and lack hope, and often do not receive help from their families, and many of these are young people. 

In his sermons and in his teaching, he stresses that one can find joy in sadness, and hope in despair: when one is in a hole one is able to obtain much, light when it is dark has more meaning for us, when we lose something  we have more to gain-- similar flowery language has something to tell us.

When he meets people who are not happy and have little hope he is very thankful for the gift that he has of joy and hope. However, when he is feeling low he is not in anyway consoled to know that there are other people who are less happy than he is. We compare ourselves with others, and determine our satisfaction and non-satisfaction. We know that we are different from others but this is not what is important, we need to respect the other; we know this with our heads but it is not actualized in our daily lives.

Instead of accepting and respecting others, selfishly he considers himself different from them. When I consider that I am with the poor and do not live the poor life I am not one with them.  Joy and hope, sadness and despair when we look deeply into these feelings and are able to enter into the feelings of those without joy and hope are we not in a position to understand joy and hope, sadness and despair?

What Was Success for Jesus and Buddha?

In a pastoral bulletin for priests, the writer mentions that Buddha was seen by all as a failure living like a beggar. Do we have people becoming successful as beggars? He had the talent, intellect, and noble disposition to be a great leader, but remained a beggar.
 
If he attempted to be a great leader, he would have been a failure. He would not have been himself. What he learned under the Bodhi tree was genuine what he lost was  fake.
 
One is not able to foretell success.  There are  many conditions necessary for worldly success. Happiness, however is mainly concerned with the person. Success is something quite different:  competition is stiff, no matter how hard you try there is always someone more cunning, wiser, more violent, careful, diligent than you. Since so many conditions are necessary to become successful it is a societal phenomenon.

Real happiness is success. Buddha and Jesus talked about happiness as success. However, we strive for success. The object of many is to satisfy the ego which means success.

When people say that you have succeeded then really you have lost everything. You have lost your soul, the simplicity that would have enabled happiness to embrace one was lost, and the quiet and silence that one needed to approach God was possibly lost, and all will call you successful.... Finally you have achieved all you wanted but lost yourself in the process.
 
Therefore, don't aim for success. If you do you will be a failure in life. Think of the road to happiness. Every moment, think of the road to happiness. It may be that the world will call you a failure,  but you will be one who has achieved much.

Jesus said: what use is it that a person gains the whole war and loses his soul?  Who was successful Alexander the Great or Jesus, who died on a cross? Jesus died with  no one looking  upon him as being successful. He selected some followers who were country bumpkins who knew little, who abandoned  him at the end.  Jesus had no status in society, no wealth, no worldly power nothing that we would want.

He was happy, even in carrying the cross, he was happy. Those who nailed him to the cross lived longer but were not happy. Who was really nailed to the cross? Who was really nailed to the cross was it Jesus or rather was it those who nailed Jesus to the cross? That  is the question he wants to ask.
 
This talk was given by the Indian mystic Osho, who died in 1990 and still has a following. His talk was used in this article.  A non-Christian Indian mystic gives us a different way of looking at the life of Jesus and what success means for this Indian mystic. 

Ecology-- And Single Use 'Disposable' Items

Pope Francis has designated Sept. 1, as the  World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation, joining the  Orthodox Church, which has had a concern for creation in their calendar, from the 80s. The Peace Weekly editorial introduces the readers to some of our ecological problems. 


In the  encyclical on the environment the pope said: "living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience."

In inaugurating the day, the Pope said it will be a time to: "reaffirm our personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live."

We are not the top boss of creation-- God is. We  have been created to take care of God's creation and to do this with responsibility. We need a healthy moral code and ecological spirituality. The pope calls this ecological repentance, and working for the common good.

The young people in Seoul are giving us a good example of what it means to have ecological repentance. It is to change our habits  of consumption to environmentally friendly, and with an orientation to the  common good. They are cutting out single use disposable items,  and promoting the use of handkerchiefs to cut down on the use of paper towels. We should be leaders in this movement.

Seoul has a campaign to use handkerchiefs instead of paper towels or dryers, when using public toilets to conserve energy. Seoul Metropolitan Government has unplugged all hand-dryers. Using handkerchiefs instead of hand dryers or paper towels will save electricity and our forests. The editorial concludes by asking the readers to join the campaign.

Celebrating With a Sad Heart

Today is the Feast of the Assumption and National Liberation Day. Korea gained its independence from Japanese rule on August 15, 1945, and the establishment of the Republic of Korea that came three years later. Korean Catholics have a special reason for thanksgiving for liberation, but also  sadness for division that came with liberation.

Society has many reasons to celebrate on this national holiday. Many events remember their years as a colony of Japan and lack of freedom. Cardinal Yeom in his message to the church:

"For our country, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation and the division of North and South Korea. It is a painful reality that a people that speaks the same language should turn against itself for 70, long years. There have been many complications, but we never stopped our effort for reconciliation and peace. The conflict and enmity between North and South Korea still remains.

Conflict, division, hatred are rampant throughout our society. That is why we should put in more effort into the peaceful unification between North and South Korea; we should continue to work on the communication and social integration in the Korean society. As the example of Mary, we should believe strongly in the Lord and never lose our hope even in the darkest of times – for nothing will be impossible for God" (Luke 1:37).

Last year at this time Pope Francis was in Korea and in his sermon on the Feast spoke words that continue to reverberate within the church.

"Today, in venerating Mary, Queen of Heaven, we also turn to her as Mother of the Church in Korea. We ask her to help us to be faithful to the royal freedom we received on the day of our Baptism, to guide our efforts to transform the world in accordance with God’s plan, and to enable the Church in this country to be ever more fully a leaven of his Kingdom in the midst of Korean society. May the Christians of this nation be a generous force for spiritual renewal at every level of society. May they combat the allure of a materialism that stifles authentic spiritual and cultural values and the spirit of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife. May they also reject inhumane economic models which create new forms of poverty and marginalize workers, and the culture of death which devalues the image of God, the God of life, and violates the dignity of every man, woman and child.

As Korean Catholics, heirs to a noble tradition, you are called to cherish this legacy and transmit it to future generations. This will demand of everyone a renewed conversion to the word of God and a passionate concern for the poor, the needy and the vulnerable in our midst." 

Jesus came to begin a reversal of the way we lived. Mary in the Magnificat shows us the blue print that Jesus  inaugurated, a new Jubilee, a new beginning a new way of being human.