In the recent Kyeongyang magazine, the rector of a Catholic University graduate school, with a degree in psychology, revisits the place of the capital sins in Catholicism. The listing of the seven capital sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth, are no longer as familiar to us as they once were. We see daily in the news how these are so much of the life that we live here and now.
In this past year, we had a student who asked for his grades and was told to take an exam. The student in anger sent the teacher a home-made bomb by home delivery service from which the teacher was burnt. Also, we have the recent incident of a man who was sexually mistreating his wife and abducted the daughter of his friend, killed her and abandoned her body: the results of lust.
Anger can make us all murderers. lust makes us rapists, jealousy can make us all criminals. When we surrender to these capital sins we deface our human dignity, and the spiritual life becomes difficult. They are very much part of our daily life. They increase immorality by their many by-products: lust give rise to a pornographic culture, gluttony, the abuse of drugs, envy in the use of terror tactics, anger begets violence, sloth predisposes us to be unconcerned with the pain and despair of others, avarice a lack of sharing, pride breeds coldness and disregard of others. We are all in small and big ways influenced by the society we have made.
We can give undue concern to the negative aspects of life but the writer feels the concern for the virtuous and the ethical has been abandoned by many. Self-centeredness, materialism, hedonism, individualism, has been espoused by many in academia and especially in some schools of psychology, with their theories have begun living a relaxed moral life and seek to rationalize it.
We have the two extremes in the way morality is seen. Even if we are not a member of either group we can not be at peace for there are many who do not have the proper understanding of the harmony that should exist but see it all mixed up.
Many are those who when examining their consciences only see the results of their actions and not the cause of the wrong act. I fought with someone, I nagged, I was angry this is good but more so is the reason behind these actions to uncover the roots of our actions. To find the root of our action is important not only for our spiritual life but our mental health. The integration of the psyche and the spiritual is necessary for mature growth.
Capital sins were a stable part of our preaching and spirituality but over time it became encrusted with theological talk that made the whole issue difficult and separated from life. Even priests began to use other language instead of the seven capital sins. There are parts of the psychological language that is not in harmony with our teaching but a great deal is.
These seven capital sins have deep roots in the Catholic Tradition. They go back to the 4th century and were introduced to Europe by St, Cassian and have merited many studies and used for the examination of conscience to understand our inner life and the way it impacts society. They still separate many of the believers from unbelievers for many have no understanding of sin but only right and wrong acts that bring about harm to others. However all our acts leave footprints, often forgotten.
Recently North Korean missiles and experiments with nuclear weapons is not only a concern for South Korea but the whole world. This advance in scientific knowledge, mathematics, physics, and technology leaves a science professor emeritus sad. He writes in the Kyeongyang magazine on the subject.
South Korea's pursuit of material well-being gives him pain. After the destructive Korean War, efforts were made to develop our scientific knowledge and education for development. All participated in the construction of a new society and we saw the miracle that followed with pride. However, with the rapid process of development, we have done harm to our educational programs in an excessive pursuit of material improvement.
In 2015 we have indications that things were to change. In the Character Education Promotion Act, briefly: "character education is to educate students to develop a well-balanced and good inner state and to nurture the personalities and competencies of human beings needed for harmoniously living together with others in communities and with nature." Probably the first such act ever promoted by any country.
However, will this be the reality in our schools? How do schools go about realizing this ideal? Is it the task of principals, teachers, the placing of placards on premises? Implementation of the ideas expressed will not be easy. We are familiar with various ideals in our educational history: forming scholars and not to dirty one's hands. A desire for knowledge, harmonized with practicality, hands with the head has enabled the west to leave behind many scientific achievements. Imitation of the west is going on but changing the face of our present climate will not be easy.
God's creation is not fickle, it's orderly and beautifully spread out around us. Many look for miracles but all nature working together in an orderly fashion is a miracle, what more is necessary?
Adults have the obligation to give the younger generation the right understanding of reality. However, we see lies and deception the inside and outside are different. We see the untruthful words of politicians, conflict between industrialists and workers. What are the young people seeing? We are not a good example of what kind of education can be transmitted.
Integral, holistic education is not only for the young but for all. Among the Korean saints, we have nobles, those with much education, nobodies, a court lady, farmers, storekeepers, the handicapped and those who weren't able to recite the Our Father or Hail Mary. They were persons in pursuit of God and the practicing of the virtues. A true human is to live in silence and find time to reflect on death.
Study of natural science requires according to our writer the need for a foundation in holistic basics of education. Developing of nuclear armaments and the training of technicians without concern for the object of their study and use is wrong. We are created to continue our studies until death and develop and grow in practice of virtue. The two of them go together.
The last night of the year and dawn of the new year begins with an ardent prayer. A time that can't be ignored by anyone. It's a time to look deeply into oneself, reflect, examine the past and resolve for the future. A time of hope.
Korea has experienced a great change in society over the past few years. Modern times have been tumultuous and Korea understands. The editorial in the Catholic Times reminds the readers of what we have undergone recently in overcoming the adverse conditions faced by society.
Citizens with the same dream, with candles in their hands, took to the streets to resist the absurdity and irrationality they saw all around. Many small flames opened up a new chapter in citizen's democracy and brought about change in our way of doing politics and a new hope.
Now in the new year, many are the tasks that are piled up in front of us. The North Korean nuclear issue raises tensions between the two Koreas. World powers surrounding the peninsular continue vying for control and we continue to ask urgently for international cooperation for Peace in East Asia.
Conflict and stress follow the efforts to remove social abuses. We have the challenges of national economic growth and polarization of society into the haves and have-nots. Urgent are efforts to find work for our young people and concern for our aging society.
The church also has many challenges to face. Church statistics show clearly the participation in the life of the church continues to decrease, the vitality of the believers is lukewarm. Young people are leaving in large numbers, a sign the future is not bright.
Secularism blossoms in Korean society. Loss of faith and attraction to the material is hardly something new but more so than in the past, results are depressing. Secularism does not give a person what they think they need, it's an emptiness that the mass media has fueled without good results. We have articles in the news on the numbers mentally ill that continue to grow. The results of losing meaning in life is a disaster with repercussions too many to number. Korea leads the world in the most extreme of the results: suicides and even among the young.
As we celebrate the new year, believers are willing to work together on a new evangelization effort. Jesus assures us of hope. His disciples are not frustrated by adversity.
We begin the New Year with a new resolution. We make a decision for the common good beyond personal interests for the future of the community, the region, society and the nation.
What we dislike in others we dislike in ourselves and when we recognize this in ourselves the shock is great but our eyes are opened. A priest writing in the Catholic Digest tells his readers how this happened in his life.
His father was a diabetic and exteriorly looked healthy but the writer only remembers him lying in bed. He was bothered by his father's inability to get up and live a natural life. Was it from that time on he doesn't know but he always had a strong dislike for laziness. In his thinking, persons who wanted could do anything they set their mind to do.
His own life was busy with many things and he felt good about the life he was leading. He was busy with pastoral work, working with musical groups and with radio and saw no problems.
Last year, however, he was told on a visit to the hospital that he had to rest. He was diagnosed with hormonal imbalance. He was tired and his emotions were affected he was burnt out. His immunity was not functioning and looking at him nothing seemed out of order but even a few steps would tire him and he had to take a period of recuperation.
As soon as he began the whole body began to ache and he had to go to bed. For some time that was the only relief that he had. He even didn't want to get up to eat. When he decided to do some exercising it would last only for a few minutes before he was overcome with fatigue. His father's situation came back to him, people like his father are not lazy they are sick. It was at this time that he began to go back in time and remind himself of the way his father would interact with him. He was always kind in his dealings with him not once does he remember his father losing his temper. He remembered his father taking him out to the ball field to play. Just as he was beginning to enjoy the play after about 30 minutes the father wanted to return to the house and he remembers hating his father for stopping the fun. And now he found it difficult to exercise for 10 minutes. His father wasn't lazy but a father who loved his son and tried to overcome his body to be with his son.
A few days earlier he receive a telephone call from a young man who everything he tried had failed and called him to complain. If this had happened in the past he would have told the young man give it all you have, it will be all right, but mentally he would think that he was just lazy. However this time he listened carefully to the young man and responded differently: "You have really worked hard. You have really tried to overcome your difficulties. Take a rest and try again" his tone had changed. The young man thanked him for the consoling words. He put the telephone down and started to cry remembering the times he could have been more understanding of his father.
He resolved to respond to complaints he hears in the future in a different way from the past and understand the person who is speaking and his or her feelings and give them strength and encouragement. He had learned an important lesson. Isn't this a good way to begin our new Year?
How does one form one's values on sex? In the past, it was easy to say from our reading. This was true when our culture was based on the printed word but is that true in our present society? Books and the written word no longer have the influence they once had after the appearance of TV, Internet, and Smartphones. We are in video culture and formed by it. The Catholic Peace Weekly has an article by an authority in the field who introduces the readers to a new way of seeing the issue.
What we pick up from the printed word is of a different order than what comes through a picture. Books bring to us the classical world of the humanities; video culture: movies, drama, musical videos, advertising, pornography is a medium that overwhelms. They introduce us to another way of seeing reality.
We all have experienced scenes from movies and TV dramas that remain with us and we even remember the dialogue. If you ask college women what is their ideal place to receive your first kiss 70% of them will answer under a street light as the snow descends and about half of the males will say in an alleyway or in a car. Why is there such a similarity in the responses? It's because that is what they have been exposed to in the visual media.
In movies and dramas, we see romantic love relationships repeatedly. What is understood by the young people is that it's very natural to have sex. In jest when they go on a trip together they will say they are on an MT, membership training trip, meaning that they will end up at a motel for the evening. Dating means sex.
Do the young people only learn from movies and drama? Korea has the world's fastest connection speeds to the internet and is unrestricted. Korea is per capita the biggest user of pornography and a producer of pornography. Attributed greatly to the efficiency of the internet connection and wifi capabilities of the Korean cyberspace. The viewing of pornography according to the writer among the young is the highest in the world. Which is a sign that the future descent into sexual freedom will increase.
In Korea if within a month the couple have a sexual relation they will continue together or else you have problems and breakup. This is not only true with the college-aged youth but even starting in middle school. In Korea, sex education in schools is mostly absent: condoms is the way they treat the problem.
Age for the first experience of sex continues to drop. In 2014 in an internet survey it was as low as 12 years-old. This is only surmised but he says our sex openness is further ahead than Europe or the United States. Even compared to a country like the Netherlands where the age was 18 and older. Does this not warrant concern for programs in our schools and societal interest with the issue?
The
voices shouting for equality are abundant, equality of men and women is
at its height and when it comes to drinking alcoholic beverages there
is no exception. Compared to the past we have an atmosphere that
encourages women to drink more than ever before. Women appear in
advertising frequently with mild soju (Korean vodka) suggesting that
drinking is not the exclusive right of men. Women have become marketing
targets for the alcohol industry says an alcoholic medical center chief
in an article in the Catholic Times.
Alcohol
does not treat men and women both equally. When women abuse alcohol
her health both physical and mental is impaired much quicker than men.
Progress to addiction is also noticeably faster. Many are the wives and
mothers who fall into this quagmire.
Different
than the treatment a man gets: a devoted wife staying by the side of
her husband suffering from the husband's drunkenness and violence and
helping in the recovery. Society shows little sympathy towards women
even when they have made efforts to end their addiction. Prejudice sees
their situation as a moral depravity, a loss of a women's status.
One
of the most common diseases of women is the disorder from the use of
alcohol and it's hard to know why treatment for the sick person is so
difficult. She is often ignored and the object of stone-throwing when
the suffering is not necessarily her fault.
Nonetheless,
if you look closely at those who are treated as alcoholics you realize
that miracles are many. You see hopelessness change to hope and see the
miracle of healing. It is impressive to see the changes take place.
When
treating withdrawal symptoms, taking the right medication, healing the
wounds of the mind, one realizes their world deceived them. Desperation
brought about by alcohol and the anger directed to others gradually
disappears. In the process of recovery, anger towards the family can be
sublimated to the comfort and help of each other.
Recently
there are hospitals that provide women with specialized treatment and
rehabilitation programs. In an open environment, women can be treated
with respect and dignity. There are programs for women who find it
difficult to return home as well as counseling programs for families.The
disease of female alcoholism has been established and the way of
recovery exists. The false comfort of alcohol needs to be discarded and
genuine healing and spiritual recovery attained.
"Pleasure Christmas" a priest writer in the Kyeongyang magazine begins his article on Christmas joy with these words he saw on a pilgrimage to Macao. The word 'Merry' of the Christmas greeting was translated as 'Pleasure' in Chinese. Something he had forgotten came back to him. Is Christmas really a time of Joy?
When he reflects on Christmas he realizes that for many it's the season of Christmas that brings joy and not Christmas itself. It's a holiday, a day free from work, and we have the festive signs along the streets, trees glittering with decorations, carols sung and year-end eating and drinking occasions: not the entrance of Jesus on the world stage.
Why doesn't Christmas gives us great joy? Why doesn't Jesus' coming into the world leave us with strong feelings? May it not be that we do not experience his saving presence? We don't see his saving works in the world we live. Even at the time of Christ the world did not change, one sees the death on the cross as we gaze on the crib. The shepherd did not become rich nor did the angels begin a fight against emperor Augustus.
2000 years later we see no reversal from what we have seen. Shepherds are still poor, many have to work while others sleep.The Augustuses of the world are still strong they are still comfortable and partake of the goods of others, eat and live well. The law is on their side. Rich, developed, welfare countries are many and yet the place of the poor is still difficult. Conditions are still the same what reason is there to celebrate? What are we saved from?
What is salvation? (Scripture uses the word "salvation" mainly in the sense of liberation of humanity or of the individual from sin and its consequences). We tend to think that the almighty God will take away all our difficulties. Just like the superhero does in the movies.That is not what we see in the Scriptures. We are told that the savior of the world is lying in a manger. This is the sign of the savior. Why so?
God did not want to save us with his strength. He doesn't want us to be passive onlookers but cooperators in his work. We are to be the subjects of salvation. He has given us a little spark of fire to continue his work. Jesus didn't want to set the world afire on his own but with the little sparks he has given us. These sparks we keep alive, we need to protect them from the strong winds with our bodies, and set the world afire with their light. By doing this we are also saved.
As Christians, our task is to take on the mind of Jesus that was present in the crib. This would make the world warmer filled with more joy. Our task is to help the weak live more human and holy lives: this is saving and being saved.
This is the way Jesus saves. This is the way we will understand and have the joy of Christmas in our lives."I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people... and here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Luke 2: 20-12).
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