"Charged with the Grandeur of God"

In the recent issue of Bible & Life magazine a priest reflects on what a sabbatical meant for him. During the year he made the walk to Santiago de Compostela; an 800-kilometer trip carrying a backpack of 10 kilos and walking for 20 to 30 kilometers a day, it took over a month. If asked what did he get out of the trip he answers with one word—happiness.
 
He has never considered his life to be a happy one. Occasions of happiness were present but it was his choice of life and he worked hard in what was required, with little time for anything else; happiness was not part of his consciousness. The pilgrimage to Compostela was not easy but he wants to shout out loudly and has done so often, he was happy.
 
In early morning he would wake up in one of the hostels for travelers; begin his daily walk, at night go to the hostel to sleep. Each day was spent in the same way but each moment was one of great joy. Each morning he would wonder what gift would be awaiting him. Nothing special these gifts that came: a beautiful blue sky, sunbeams on the fields, the view of the outstretched road ahead, the forest and trees, flowers, the weeds at the edge of the road, the evening sky—moon and stars...and all the people he met in the villages, talk with fellow travelers, the visit to the village churches, simple prayers.  All that we do every day was filled with great joy.
 
We have heard that God is hidden in the daily tasks of each day. We are surrounded by the presence of God. Jesus did not spend most of his time in the Temple but in the boondocks of the country area of Galilee. We in faith are living in God's world in the here and now. St.Paul expresses this with few words:  "In God we live, move and exist" (Acts 17:28).

The writer thinks we are so familiar with the depravity and redemption dichotomy we forget we are to be filled with joy and happiness. All the universe was made with the outpouring of God's love. The reign of God is with us now.
 
Father William A Barry in his book Finding God in All Things reminds us to find God's goodness and beauty and respond to the wonders with praise and gratitude, which should fill our hearts.

When it came time to compare God's kingdom to what we know, one of  the metaphors the writer found the most moving was the comparison of the kingdom to a mustard seed. Hidden in our everyday life with small acts of love—sacrifice,  forgiveness, encouragement, caring, a word of kindness— without our knowing becomes a big tree with the birds coming to rest in the branches.
 
Our lives he compares to a trip to Compostela. Difficult but with great consolations. We have lost the ability to see the hand of God in creation. We have lost the capacity to see the splendor all around us. We are so taken up with the 'doing' that 'being' escapes us. He concludes the article with a quote from St. John of the Cross in which all of nature was his beloved: "mountains, valleys, strange islands, sonorous rivers the whistling of the air, the peaceful night, the quiet music, the sound of solitude..."
 
"God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in unison with God and God lives in union with him."  When we walk with the beloved, all of life becomes living in God's kingdom.

Maryknoll Missioners in Korea

The Catholic Times had an article on the first foreign mission society established in the United States for Americans in 1911—The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. Father Gerard Hammond, the local superior of the Korean unit, in an interview with the newspaper, gave his impressions on the work of missioners.
 
"You must fall in love with people who you come to serve. This love should begin with understanding their religion and culture and looking at their needs through dialogue; we should give unconditional love to people in mission fields with patience and enthusiasm."

In particular, "We should not compare the culture of the mission field with the culture of the missionary's home country. Instead  of trying to inject my culture, we should try to accept good things in the religion and culture of the mission field." He is there to bring Christ and not his home countries' culture. The missionaries need to make an effort to see what the people need, rather than only what they want to give, he is not sent to be a 'lone ranger'.

On the other hand, he pointed out that for the evangelization of Asia, there should be an interest in Asia on the part of the believers. At the time of the founding of the Maryknoll Society, efforts were made to inform American believers of why they should be engaged in Asian missions.
 
To advance our relationship with North Korea, this has to be done getting all involved with a desire for unification and making efforts for its realization with continual interchanges and contacts. The evangelization of Asia requires the same type of interest, extended to the seminaries, to create an atmosphere for Asian evangelization.
 
Korea has been blessed with many vocations for the clerical and religious life and with an intelligent laity, they should be a leader in the evangelization of Asia. In Korea the days of Western missionaries have passed. Koreans are similar in appearance to other Asians and there is a common Asian culture with Confucianism and Buddhism. With the history of the church in Korea, the martyrdom of so many for the faith, this should help vitalize the church in its missionary outlook.
 
He prays that they will have some of the zeal of their ancestors in the faith to continue the efforts for the evangelization of Asia.

Do not stop, move forward. Do not be afraid. "

A committee member of a unification research team in the Diagnosis of Current Affairs column of the Catholic Peace Weekly gives us three words to spend some time on: Dialogue— Peace —Change.

# 1 Dialogue: A Singaporean scholar mentions the gift given for the Korean peninsula on June 12, with the North Korean and  American Summit. It was on that date in Singapore that Kim Jong-un and the Trump Summit was held. On the memorial stamp for the occasion the word "Sentosa," was written in the Malay language, which means peace and tranquility. The  Singaporeans, felt pride that they played a role as peace mediators. For Singaporeans, the conversation singled peace.
 
# 2 Peace: On the Korean peninsula, peace cannot be guaranteed by dialogue alone. From spring to autumn in 2018, seven historic summits were held on the Korean peninsula, which shook the terrain, all talked about peace.
 

However, residents of North and South Korea are still hesitating at the entrance to peace. Where we stand in the year 2019 is not the place of stable peace but on the  border of an uneasy peace.
 

Stable peace can only be achieved if no consideration is given to the use of force as a means of resolving conflicts. There are two ways to do this. The first is a political commitment to the abandonment of military use through peace treaties. The second is to bring about 100 American businesses to North Korea  and 100 businesses from North Korea to Washington. Then common sense tells us that conflict brings about self-destruction. Both journeys to stable peace require fundamental changes in the thinking, awareness, and behavior of the leaders of the three countries.
 
# 3 Change: The key to controversy over denuclearization is whether North Korea,  under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, will change. Denuclearization skeptics say that Kim Jong-un has not changed and will not change and has shown no sincerity in concerns for  denuclearization. Negotiators, on the other hand, assess that North Korea in the Kim Jong-il era and North Korea led by Kim Jong-un are different. They believe that Kim Jong-un wants to become a leader of a wealthy nation even if it means giving up nuclear power. Consequently, Kim Jong- un should be  provided with the opportunity to change.
 
There is only one person who knows the mind of Kim Jong-un and that is Kim Jong-un. He is the only person who attended all seven summits of 2018. He would have arranged his thoughts by now. 

The United States and China have agreed on a three month truce on the trade war. We are presented with a few months in which Pyongyang and Washington have the opportunity to negotiate. At the beginning of the new year we have this hope and prayer for a stable peace on the Peninsula.
 

The dialogue efforts that the leaders of the three countries of North Korea, South Korea and America have accomplished in 2018 were working towards peace. Now is the time for the leaders to show change in thoughts, understanding and attitudes. The message that Pope Francis gave to  President Moon Jae-in is hopefully remembered by the leaders: "Do not stop, move forward. Do not be afraid. "

Clergy Renewal =Parish Renewal

In the recent issue of the Catholic Peace Weekly, an online survey by the Catholic Pastoral Research Institute, showed some interesting information and areas that need to be addressed. The survey was far from scientific, with only 886  who responded, but can be judged to be the most interested in church, knowledgeable and devoted believers.

The questions asked were direct: What is urgent and necessary for the Korean Church renewal and growth in the Gospel life of the community? Secondly what needs to change in the way the bishops, priests, religious and laypeople have lived their lives.

Bishops: a need for dialog 59%, self-righteousness and authoritarianism 52%, lack of concern for social justice 50%,  too much concern for material things and results  48%, living the easy life 47%.

Priests: self-righteous and authoritarian 73%, dialogue and comunication73%,  more concern for sermons and Mass preparation 66%, extravagant hobbies and interests 65%, lack of pastoral vision and leadership 65%.

Religious: immature language 42%, the narrowness of vision 38%, lack of prayer and spirituality 32%, authoritarian and self-righteousness 28%, lack of concern for the poor 26%.

Laypeople: factionalism 63%, conflicts with others 61%, lack of prayer and a spiritual life 57%, lack of sincerity in their spiritual life 48%, associated with the wealthy 48%.

Overall one sees rather quickly that the laypeople want to see a change among the clergy. They want more communication between the clergy and laypeople and less self-righteous and authoritarian behavior.

There is a saying that 'church renewal depends on clergy reform. Clerical authoritarianism blocks communication and hinders the church from fulfilling its mission of evangelization. In a survey conducted in another diocese recently, believers answered: "I feel the joy of living the faith when a humble priest  treats believers with sincerity and love."

A New Paradigm for the Family

Last year family committees in the parish councils had problems deciding what to call the retreats being prepared for the parishes. In the past, they would be called couple retreats but times have changed. So begins the column in the "Eyes of the Believer" of the Catholic Times.

Today it is necessary to include other types of families: divorced, separated, bereaved, nonmarried and even the 'goose families'. (Families separated for the education of the children in foreign countries— mothers only return seasonally reuniting the families like migrating geese.)  The scope of the retreat was expanded and promoted with the title of "family retreat". Often over half of the participants registered alone. The content is not limited to marital relations but includes communication and human relationships.

May is Family Month when marriage renewal ceremonies were carried out in many parishes, today no longer welcomed. In parishes the number of married couples is small and programs are not able to keep up with the changes in society.  A new family pastoral paradigm is necessary otherwise efforts will miss the targets.

Homes of the 21st century are undergoing rapid change. The number of households is increasing due to the increase in the single-person households, low fertility rate, divorce, and remarriage etc., if the church continues to adhere to the traditional 'normal family' then all others will be excluded.

Moreover, even though today all households are greatly influenced by changes in social structure and systems, the existing family pastoral approach seems to remain in the past and the individual or family differences are bypassed, limiting the problem of the family to the private domain. The church still has a patriarchal family problem, so the unequal structures in society in which women are alienated and suffer are not treated as an issue, and the reality of discrimination continues.

This year's parish pastoral direction for the diocese is the foundation for mission;  emphasizing the family community—highly anticipated because it focuses on pastoral care. It offers a variety of family programs for the spiritual growth of the members, communicating the heritage of the faith in grandparents, parents, and children with specific pastoral activities, daily household prayer, and weekly gospel sharing in the home. There are, of course, programs that take into account changes in the times, but the impression is that they are mainly focused on homes made up of couples and children.

The way the pastoral care of the family can be combined with culture is infinite. He hopes the diocese will put money and personnel into the research to make this the future reality.

Freedom of the Will and Quantum Physics

An article in the Kyeongyang magazine on freedom and willpower by a teacher and researcher in quantum physics gives us some thoughts to reflect on. He recalls as a child that the parents at the start of a new school year would tell the homeroom teacher if the children don't listen, punish them so that they will be good persons.  There were teachers that would do just that. Our writer did not go along with this and thought much on what was rightful punishment.

Children grow up in the manner that the adults teach the children, when a child does something wrong it's the adults who are responsible. Should they not be the ones who are punished?

He remembers while a student in philosophy class hearing about the predestination teaching of John Calvin the Protestant reformer. God knows from the moment of the creation of the world all is decided whether I will go to heaven or hell. When he heard this as a child he got angry for God made him a puppet. He was even thinking of giving up on religion and went to see his parish priest.

The priest told him this was wrong thinking. Catholic believe that God gave us freedom of the will. He was relieved to hear this from the priest. Later he heard about the 'Uncertainty Principle' of Werner Heisenberg 1901-1976 and from that time wanted to be a physicist.

He mentions the thinking of some at the time of the industrial revolution who thought all that was to be discovered was discovered. J.C.Maxwell the English physicist made known electromagnetic waves and Tesla and  Marconi discovered wireless communication. Edison discovered the light bulb and Bell the telephone.

Newton with his law of gravitation and motion they were  able to not  only explain but to forsee what would happen. The French Astronomer and matematicism Pierre -Simon Laplace said if he knew the position and velocity of every single particle in the universe he could predict the future. 

Max Planck a German theoretical physicist is considered to be one of the founders of quantum theory. From one of his teachers he heard that little is left to be discovered in physics, we need now to go deeper and in more detail but in  1920 Heisenberg came out with his uncertainty principle which brought great change to physics.

With Newton, the law of motion determined what would happen  and now we hear about the uncertainity principle which makes us realize the limit of knowing. Einstein had problems with this and that is why he is quoted as saying:"God does not play dice with the world."

The problem of free will can't be solved by science and athough quantum physics does not give an answer neither does it take away the possibility  of free will but rather gives room for it.

In the Scriptures  we have the choice of good and evil which requires  freedom of the will. In Ecclesiasticus 15:14-16: "He himself  made man in the beginning, and then left him free to make his own decisions. If you wish you can keep the commandments to behave faithfully is within your power.  He has set fire and water before you; put out your hand to whichever youy prefer. Man has life and death before him; whichever a man likes better will be given him."

In Steven Covey's  Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, we have those who have deduced from  these habits a  theory of decision according to  the following categories: biological, phycological and environmental. In the biological, the genes are blamed—the ancestors. In the psychological, the way they were brought up— parent's fault. With the enviroment the faults are with others. 

We are to develop this freedom of the will; take responsiblity for our own lives and develop habits that will foster the strengthening of our willpower. The future is not decided but will depend on us, God is calling us to that future.

Remembering the Death of a Temporary Worker

Writing in 'In the Eyes of the Believer' a Catholic Times' column, a lawyer mentions his cell phone on the desk was ringing. He didn't sleep;  just closed his eyes as he laid in bed, not answering the phone—another drunk friend calls to come out in the middle of the night.

The phone kept ringing at intervals for an hour. Oh, that crazy guy. But that was not it. At around 3 am his sister, who lives in the same neighborhood, knocked on the door, shouting:"Brother, why aren't you answering the phone? I got a call from the hospital emergency room. Yong-gun is in the emergency room I don't know what's going on."

He descended into hell. In the early dawn of the new day, the turnpike had few cars but his sister felt all the cars were going too slow.The brother was overcome with all kinds of thoughts and as he was beginning to recover some peace of mind his body revolted and he became nauseous.

"The young man fell from a high place, some of his forehead and face bones were fractured but there was no internal bleeding and he is conscious. He has no breaks in his back or legs. He has been favored from heaven" these words of the doctor took him from hell to heaven but they were his wishful dreaming.

Oh, my God, He didn't know the word 'son' was such a word filled with dread. It doesn't take much to turn one's world upside down.

The trip to the hospital was long. They entered the hospital and looked for the name of his nephew on the emergency room list but couldn't find it. Yong-gun was lying in the hospital morgue, the doctors were not able to do anything. The 24-year-old son, in the prime of life, his body was separated from his head, the body burnt on the conveyor belt.

The son was a temporary worker at a power plant burning coal to produce electricity.He followed the conveyor belt to pick up the coals the fell from the conveyor belt. He would use the light of his mobile phone to do the work.
 
Seeing the work site the mother noticed the risk for accidents was spread throughout the workplace. The handrails provided for safety are of little help in preventing falls. Safety equipment that would stop the conveyor belt if someone was caught was not part of the safety net. Using such devices slows down the operation from time to time and that is bad for business.
 
It is said there were about 40 workers who died in the power plant in the last five years. It's more profitable for the company to have a fast machine without safety devices and compensate workers who are killed and injured. Money controls the world.
 
That's right. "What can I do to heal this world that causes a 24-year-old youth to die needlessly? I will pray for help to decide what to do to make this world a better place."
 
Yong-gun was eager to rid the country of temporary workers and so will the mother.  {workers without the full employee-benefit packages}
 
"I want to see you a lot. You have left us but your mother will be working like you to get rid of the temporary workers. I love you, my son."