Peace And The Light of Christ

The Catholic News Weekly in a column by the priest secretary of the Bishops' National Reconciliation Committee reminds us of the dangers of the arms race.
 
In January, Archbishop John Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, issued a pastoral letter calling for an end to the nuclear arms race. The letter, titled Living in the Light of Christ's Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament, challenges the recognition of "realistic international politics" that nuclear weapons act as deterrents against potential nuclear attacks.
 
 "We can no longer deny or ignore the extremely dangerous predicament that lies before the human family," said Archbishop Wester. We are in an arms race for a new nuclear weapon that is far more dangerous than before," he said, urging his parishes and the world to join a "new resolution for peace" to eliminate all nuclear weapons on Earth. In fact, two out of three U.S. nuclear weapons research facilities are located within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque in the parish is also known to have the largest nuclear weapons depot in the United States.
 
The pastoral letter also mentions the reality that existing nuclear-weapon states do not keep their promises on reduction and the problems of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
 
Furthermore, they point to the fact that the George W. Bush administration unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as a triggering factor in the arms race between the major powers. It is a courageous point to point out that the major powers and the United States are responsible for the current crisis in a situation where the US-China conflict, which is perceived as a threat to Americans, and the Ukraine war are concerned.
 
The possibility of using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war, which shows no sign of resolution, is now being mentioned. Amid differing opinions on the causes and solutions of war, the reality that we believe that only stronger military force or stronger sanctions can be used to preserve "peace" and resolve conflicts weighs heavily on our hearts.
 
Remembering Archbishop Wester's appeal that "the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and all of us are called to live in the light of Christ's peace and shine that light on all sides of the world," let's pray more earnestly for the Light of Christ to overcome the darkness of the world.
 
The Catholic Church has been strong in its support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which the Vatican has signed and ratified. During a visit to Japan, Pope Francis declared: "We must never grow weary of working to support the principal international legal instruments of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, including the Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons."

Is Someone Giving Us A Difficult Time?

In Bible and Life magazine, a religious priest asks: Are there people around us who make life difficult? and goes on to give us his response. 

 

We meet those we find easy to accept and those that make life difficult. Living in a community, we often hear, if only that person was not around, life would be pleasant. As time passes, we realize that many of our problems are due to our immaturity.

 

He mentions his entrance to the monastery and life as a novice. In his class, were eight people in their early 20s to middle 30s. All with different backgrounds, personalities, education... Each goes about their life of eating, working, studying, praying, and learning to be a monk, but not always with joy. Laughing and crying, fighting and little by little, getting to know oneself and others. 

 

One of the novices he found difficult to relate with since he was always ready to point out the writer's faults. The writer considered himself timid, an introvert, and found dealing with him stressful. Especially when they found each other at the same table for meals. Every time he heard the words, "Let your anger disappear with the setting of the sun," he hated himself for his inability to understand his fellow novice.

 

One day, during spiritual reading, he was struck with the phrase: "Is there someone who makes life difficult for you? He is God's gift to you. " At first, he was angry, and the face of his fellow classmate appeared and the thought: "that man is to be considered a gift of God?" was too much to accept. However, with the passage of time the phrase "gift of God" kept moving around in his thoughts and made sense. Deep in our hearts, we all want to be thought well of and loved and his follow religious was no help in this natural quest.

 

His preoccupation with himself in wanting to be loved and accepted was so strong the remarks of his classmate were difficult to face, but when he did face them, he found peace and his fellow classmate was no longer a problem, rather helped to understand himself and others. His horizon of understanding was greatly extended. His fellow classmate was truly a gift from God.

 

To see ourselves and others as Jesus does, we need to relate with Jesus who loves us in order to accept ourselves with our imperfections. We need to experience God's love and mercy; understand the meaning of pain and grow in healing; our understanding of God has to change. Not to be overlooked is to remember that God accepts us as we are, a message that comes to us most clearly in the parable of the prodigal son.

 

Life is a gift from God. The journey of life has joy, but also problems, scars, pain. Jesus did not rid us of all the problems of life when he came to earth. He did come to rid us of sin, but the problems of life, the crosses remain, he carried them and asked us to do the same and why should that be the case?

 

The cross enables us to be born again and the problems and crosses are the means. Many of them are because of our attachment to possessions, ideas, and we become slaves to greed and desires. All belongs to God. Jesus came to the earth naked and left naked why do we become so attached to things, my thoughts, and not able to forget ourselves. When we realize our nothingness outside of God, we become free both internally and externally, all can be considered a gift, and we can express thanks. Is there someone who makes life difficult for us than we try to discover what we can learn about ourselves and others?

 

 

Atheism and "Probablity Coincidence"

 

A Jesuit science professor's  column in the Catholic Times this week is headed: Scientific atheism relies on the extremely low probability of chance.

He has in detail explained the fundamental differences between science and faith in a past article. When there is a conflict between the two camps in this present era, faith is in a more disadvantageous position, and in the 21st century the weakest era in history.
 
We are faced with the following question. Shouldn't science and faith coexist without attacking each other's domains? Many Catholics ask this very question, wanting reconciliation between science and faith. It may be helpful to briefly review the theories that explain the relationship between science and religion. He describes the relationship between science and religion into five categories: atheism, pantheism/universalism, deism/naturalism, evolutionary theism, and creation theism.
 
Now let's take a closer look at scientific atheism. Scientific atheism, simply put, is a theory that asserts that the world came into existence without the existence of a god. The core content of this scientific atheism is the assertion that life was 'accidentally' created by a certain trigger on the planet Earth, which had certain conditions in this huge universe, and that life was differentiated into higher creatures by evolution.
 
The two central scientific theories to atheistically explain the anthropic principle, are the multiverse theory, and the theory of macroevolution that explains the entire biological evolution from unicellular to human. There is no need for any other concept than this theory to explain present reality. This model is supported by numerous atheist scientists, including Richard Dawkins (1941) and Stephen Hawking (1942–2018).
 
The atheist bus campaign is an advertising campaign aimed at posting messages about atheism on city buses in the UK from 2008 to 2009. Launched on October 21, 2008, under the auspices of the British Humanists Association and Richard Dawkins. The atheist bus campaign, which began in Britain, then spread to the United States and Canada, as well as to many Western European countries, including Germany, Italy, and Spain. This case, which is not well known in Korea, is a representative case that shows how powerful scientific atheism is.
 
A brief summary of the arguments of evolutionary scientists, including Dawkins, and Stephen Hawking can be summarized as follows. "At one point, life appeared on Earth 'probably by chance. After that, the descendants of the creature went through a long evolutionary process, and now humans and other creatures on Earth have been formed."

Stephen Hawking in the 1970s, when he was in critical health, gained widespread attention in science through thermodynamics and so-called Hawking radiation, and became a world-famous figure with a popular science book titled A Brief History of Time published in 1988. Then, in his 2010 book The Grand Design, Big Bang is famous for its claim that the universe was born naturally through this process as a result of only the laws of physics, and that the concept of creation is not necessary at all.

"At one point the 'probably accidentally' universe was born by Big Bang. After that, as the universe expands, it goes through the evolution of the universe, where stars, planets, and galaxies form. After that, the proper conditions (temperature, pressure, water, air, etc.) for life to survive "probably accidentally" are formed on Earth, eventually resulting in life and gradually evolving."

As we have seen above, we can see that scientific universalist arguments (either evolutionist or cosmologist) are commonly based on "probability coincidence" as the first starting point for life in the universe and on Earth. The term "probability coincidence" commonly appears here means, as a scientific concept, "a phenomenon occurs with an extremely low probability of approaching zero without any inevitable cause or reason." In other words, the birth of the universe and the birth of life on Earth have no choice but to rely on "very low probability." Scientific atheism, in short, is a theory based on the chance with very low probability instead of the necessity of God.

Neither Conservative or Progressive

 

In recent years we hear people say they are spiritual but not religious, what does that mean? Possibly many have been turned off by what they see among those who are religious but want to continue with the positive and discard what they think is negative which for many is institutional religion.

However, those who have a Christian belief do not believe in fairy tales or make up their belief system but understand it to be based on historical fact and truth. This of course can be denied but it is not of the type of belief that those who prefer to make a spirituality from their inner feelings— Christians are beckoned by truth to the Jesus of history. They believe that truth will set them free (John 8:32).

 

The Catholic Times Light of the World columnist gives the readers some thoughts to consider in understanding Spirituality in the Catholic sense. 

 

Spirituality is a word we hear often but one we don't understand well. Spirituality literally means a spiritual reality not visible to the eye, and spiritual life is interpreted as a life of faith that seeks God, beyond the sensible. Spirituality is the path and attitude of a believer in life, and it is also an inner gift that is formed in us as a result of the will and effort to believe and love God. Also, just as there are different ways of life, there are also different spiritualities.

 

But what is the essence of spirituality? It's the gospel. The good news and way of life God has revealed through Jesus Christ. Spirituality must bloom in each person's daily life and society. The social doctrines are also proclaimed based on the Gospel and spirituality. Consequently, human activity has a deeper meaning when united with spirituality and God. 

 

 Have you heard of Saint Benedict's famous saying, "Pray and work" (ora et labora)? Why were these two emphasized together? 

 

This is because the spiritual element of prayer invigorates human activity and completes its deep meaning. Human work, directed to charity as its final goal, becomes an occasion for contemplation, it becomes devout prayer, vigilantly rising towards and in anxious hope of the day that will not end. “In this superior vision, work, a punishment and at the same time a reward of human activity, involves another relationship, the essentially religious one, which has been happily expressed in the Benedictine formula: ora et labora! The religious fact confers on human work an enlivening and redeeming spirituality. Such a connection between work and religion reflects the mysterious but real alliance, which intervenes between human action and the providential action of God (#266 A Brief Social Doctrine).

 

Pope St. John Paul II prepared a framework for a work ethic containing spirituality against the commodification of human beings and labor (Encyclical: Through Work). Pope Francis also wrote the Encyclical (Laudato Si) in which he urged overcoming the serious ecological environment crisis by restoring the creative order, and for this purpose, conservation of natural ecosystems and a spiritual and ecological conversion. The Catholic Church always puts the gospel at the center of life, not the secular standards of progressive or conservative, and strives to bring forth the fruit of the gospel in the world. 

 

Spring and a new school year have begun and a new leader has been elected. All of us are desperately in need of future-oriented integration and cooperation beyond conflict and confrontation. For the sake of true coexistence and peace, the path of life that we should all remember is forgiveness and reconciliation, and that is the gospel and the practice of spirituality. We must imitate the forgiveness and reconciliation shown by Jesus Christ. Our small efforts become precious grains of wheat that change our lives and the world. 

 

The lay faithful is called to cultivate an authentic lay spirituality by which they are reborn as new men and women, both sanctified and sanctifiers, immersed in the mystery of God and inserted in society. Such a spirituality will build up the world according to Jesus' Spirit. It will make people capable of looking beyond history, without separating themselves from it, of cultivating a passionate love for God without looking away from their bothers and sisters, whom they are able to see as the Lord sees them, and love as the Lord loves them. This spirituality precludes both an intimist spiritualism and social activism, expressing itself instead of in life-giving synthesis that bestows unity, meaning, and hope on an existence that for so many different reasons is contradictory and fragmented. Prompted by such a spirituality, the lay faithful are able to contribute “to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven, by fulfilling their own particular duties. Thus, especially by the witness of their own life ... they must manifest Christ to others”( #545 A Brief Social Doctrine).

 

 

 

Will Spring Between The North and South Come?

 

After Yoon Seok-yeol won the 20th presidential election, the Korean Peninsula is already in turmoil. With the launch of the new government, North Korea is poised to take the initiative with major provocations such as the launch of a new ICBM and the seventh nuclear test. In his campaign, Yoon Seok-yeol vowed to promote peace based on strong national defense, not surrender, in response to North Korea's armed demonstrations. Changes in surrounding conditions, such as the emergence of a conservative government in South Korea and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, are expected to further accelerate North Korea's self-defense and nuclear-missile war deterrence. It is foreseen that the atmosphere of war, which is getting boring whenever a conservative government appears, will spread again. 

As soon as Yoon Seok-yeol's election results came out, North Korea revealed its uncomfortable feelings through internal media. The Unification News, a weekly newspaper for North Korea's foreign affairs, harshly criticized the people's power throughout the presidential election period, saying: "The only thing that will be caused by indiscriminate rash acts and seeing the North with an evil heart is a military conflict between North and South Korea." There are several points to note that the North Korean authorities are concerned about and criticize the new government's policy toward North Korea.  

First, the president-elect Yun Seok-yeol criticizes the Moon Jae-in administration's North Korea policy as a completely failed and submissive policy; secondly, it denies the declarations of the inter-Korean summits (April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration, and the South-North Military Agreement). Third, it puts the issue of complete denuclearization and human rights at the front, and fourth, it insists on restoring the ROK-US alliance, while strengthening ROK-US military training and the possibility of an anti-North Korean military confrontation. Basically, North Korea seems to be looking at the Yun Seok-yeol administration's North Korea policy as an extension of the Lee Myung-bak administration, which put the 'non-nuclear, openness, 3000' policy at the fore, and the Park Geun-hye administration, which in fact pursued unification by absorption called the 'unification and great success theory'.

As the peace process on the Korean Peninsula promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration eventually reached a deadlock, it will be inevitable for the new government to reset its North Korea policy and strategy. The new government is revealing its plan to completely denuclearize North Korea and deter further provocations by restoring the strong ROK-U.S. alliance, that is, by rebuilding the ROK-US combined defense posture and by expanding the ROK-U.S. deterrence against North Korean nuclear weapons. 

The idea is to  secure a firm deterrent against the North Korean nuclear threat and to maximize the effect of extended deterrence by conducting large-scale joint exercises between the United States and South Korea. Based on a comprehensive alliance, it is expected to actively strengthen the alliance between Korea, the United States, and Japan while supporting the US Indo-Pacific strategy. In addition, there is a growing possibility that the United States, Japan, India, and Australia will participate in the unofficial security council, 'Quad'. North Korea will further spur the development of strategic and tactical weapons under the pretext of strengthening its defense capabilities for self-defense, and will further intensify its solidarity with the socialist countries of China and Russia, intensifying the new Cold War.

It seems difficult to imagine a reversal of inter-Korean relations at the moment because the willingness not to give in to each other is stronger than ever. After many twists and turns, the door to inter-Korean dialogue may open again someday. However, as the Moon Jae-in government experienced, the reality of inter-Korean relations is that practice is more important than the agreement itself, and it is difficult to take a step forward without steadily patiently building sufficient trust between each other. For the time being, we will not be enjoying the spring of peace.

There is No "Just War"

Stella: Why did the war happen? A lot of people died. Why do we have to suffer such a tragedy?

 

Non-believer: Isn't war sometimes an unavoidable measure for the safety of one's country? A preemptive strike is also necessary for safety and national interest.

 

Peter: But wouldn't that increase tensions between countries? It also causes anxiety. 

 

Non-believer: I don't think so. Shouldn't the national interest come first under any circumstances? 

 

Let's talk together! So begins the column The Light of  the World in the Catholic Times by a priest columnist.

 

 With people around the world watching anxiously, the "Russia-Ukraine War" broke out and many people are suffering. Unlike in the past, when the war of aggression could be wrapped up in a grand cause of national security and the truth could be hidden, we are now clearly looking at the reckless scenes of an invasion of a weak country, murder, destruction, use of banned weapons (vacuum bombs), deaths of innocent people and children, and victims losing their homes.

 

Everyone in the global village, except for a small number of dictators, condemns the war. Pope Francis also deplored and stressed that all political actions and plans are for brotherhood, not partisan interests. The Catholic Church never tolerates war, and violence and war are defined as criminal acts that incur God's wrath (Article 438 of the "Simple Social doctrine").

 

The purpose of war? Like Korea and Israel, Ukraine has had a lot of historical pain. This is because the black soil, the road between Europe and Asia, is the largest breadbasket in Europe, so invasions by powerful powers were frequent. Starting with Mongolia in the 13th century, it went through a harsh history, from the annexation of Russia in 1793 to independence in 1991. But Ukraine still has the interests of several countries formed over the past several hundred years. The complex history of Russia-Ukraine, which originally had one root, tells us this. So you say that war is ultimately for political and economic purposes? In fact, it is greed for territory, resources, economic interests, and hegemony, and this war is no different.

  

The war against greed— The inhuman reality was that soldiers were sent to the battlefield without knowing the reason, refused to fire at civilians, and confessed the horrors of war by texting with their families. Many people resist the barbaric violence and support universal fraternity; stories of villagers who gave food and encouragement to surrendered soldiers; ordinary people who apologized for their country's atrocities, and those who mourn the victims and wish for a speedy peace.

In fact, the essence of this war is not only the war between the aggressor and victims. It is a war against the greed of a dictator, running an unjust dictatorship for decades. We must resist this with the word of God: to love our neighbor, to long for peace, and to love even our enemies.

 

To resolve the tensions that arise among different political communities and can compromise the stability of nations and international security, it is indispensable to make use of common rules in a commitment to negotiation and to reject definitively the idea that justice can be sought through recourse to war. "If war can end without winners or losers in a suicide of humanity, then we must repudiate the logic which leads to it: the idea that the effort to destroy the enemy, confrontation and war itself are factors of progress and historical advancement"

Not only does the Charter of the United Nations ban recourse to force, but it rejects even the threat to use force (The Concise Social Doctrine, # 438). 

 

 

New Korean President

 

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the conservative People Power Party, won the presidential election on March 9. The Catholic Peace Weekly columnist gives the readers his views on the election.
 
The 20th presidential election, which started with the registration of candidates in July last year, ended the 240-day long journey. This period was solely the 'people’s time'. The people elected Yoon Suk-yeol, with no political experience, as president. Except for a coup d'etat, this is the first time in constitutional history. Concerns about the non-political president were also reflected in the votes. 0.7 percentage points difference. Half of the voters (47.83%) did not support the elected candidate. It was the result of the most unpopular presidential election of all time.
 
This election was a negative one in which the tasks of the times and vision for the future were missing. The people were fed up with the exposure of corruption and suspicion. Conflicts, divisions, and hatred among ideology, region, gender, generation, and class have reached a dangerous level. However, the unfavorable feeling toward the presidential candidates was paradoxically expressed by high political participation and turnout. The final voter turnout was 77.1%, and the two-day advance turnout was 36.93%, a record high. Although there are important duties and rights as a citizen, it was an expression of intense longing for a new era.
 
What was the public sentiment expressed in this election? For the president-elect, it is a warning not to be arrogant and a strict command for unity and cooperation. It also contains the meaning of a warning that the brakes may be applied at any time to the operation of state affairs. 

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's presidential slogan was "Yoon Suk-yeol called out by the people." However, half rejected Yoon-elect. Fortunately, President-elect Yoon said in his election speech, "There will be no liberals, conservatives, or the (Providence that voted against him) in front of us." Archbishop Jeong the Archbishop of Seoul, also asked the new president to "heal the conflicts and be a healing President" in an interview after the vote.
 
In front of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, real estate problems, economic inequality, generational conflict and polarization, youth unemployment, and the climate crisis are piled up. To solve this problem, it is necessary to carefully examine the reality of the promises made during the election period. Some of the promises that fueled gender conflict need reexamination for national unity.
 
In addition, although he was elected based on 'regime change', the policies of the current government, which are showing results, must be continued. In particular, foreign and security policies for peace on the Korean Peninsula should take a long-term and multi-dimensional approach and put the national interest first. In addition, among the promises made by Democratic Party Candidate Jae-Myung Lee, who received half of the support, policies that fit reality and have practical benefits should be actively accepted. Only then will the people believe in the sincerity of President-elect Yoon's national unity and cooperation.
 
The five-year term of the president is time spent with the people. This is not the time to be greedy only for achievements to increase the "name-value" of the president. This is what is written on the banner of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's election greetings: "We will create a unified Korea." This is a promise to the people and the goal of state management. 

What should President-elect Yoon do first? He must first approach humbly half of the people who did not support him, talk, and compromise. If he can lead the division of national opinion to national unity during his five-year term, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will be recorded as the greatest president in constitutional history.