Breaking the Trap of Temptation

A reporter for the Catholic Times gives the readers, at the beginning of the New Year, examples of the efforts of many in quitting an addiction.

‘Quit Smoking’, ‘Lose 3kg through Diet’, ‘Quit Drinking’, ‘Read 100 Books’... The Jubilee Year of 2025 has arrived. People are making New Year’s resolutions. This year in particular, they are starting the year with various hopes with the slogan ‘Pilgrims of Hope'. Many renew their resolution at baptism to cut off all evil among them. Can I really quit? The reporter visited  St. Mary's Hospital, which is helping people overcome various addictions.

“I worked at a construction site for decades. But then, civil engineers in their 20s who graduated from college came and showed off. I knew more about the site, but they made orders that didn’t fit. So I drank a lot of alcohol because of the stress.”

The lecture on ‘Analysis and Response to High-Risk Situations’ started with meditation. Today’s lecture was about physical discomfort caused by addiction. The head of the education and counseling department explained that alcoholics usually suffer from insomnia, depression, and anxiety when they drink alcohol. She continued: “I also give lectures on the dangers of drinking to heavy equipment operators, firefighters, and police officers who have to deal with tension in their daily work."

“But I think all these reasons are just excuses and justifications. Not all people who do difficult jobs suffer from addictions. They manage their stress a lot through exercise or other hobbies. In my case, I think I relieved myself by drinking alcohol because it was easy.”

St. Mary’s Hospital, which celebrated its 20th anniversary, is a hospital specializing in alcohol addiction treatment established by the Korea Addiction Research Foundation. It operates inpatient and outpatient treatment and rehabilitation programs. In addition to alcohol addiction, it also operates clinics for tobacco, drug, and behavioral addiction. Approximately 10,000 patients visit the hospital annually.

In the case of inpatient treatment for alcohol addiction, a systematic program based on over 10 years of experience is conducted.  You can attend lectures such as ‘Brain and Addiction’ and ‘Understanding Addiction’ to understand alcoholism, and you can participate in programs such as ‘Starting Recovery’ to develop the will to quit drinking, ‘Relapse Prevention Education Program’ and ‘Analysis and Coping with High-Risk Situations’ to prepare not to drink again. They also offer art therapy, music therapy, meditation, yoga, and other art therapies and alternative therapies.

There is a terrace where you can walk among plants, a lecture hall, a place to exercise in all four seasons to relieve frustration, and weekly family education and counseling with experts are also available. It goes without saying that both believers and non-believers can participate in the Catholic Mass held every week to help with spiritual recovery.

Cigarettes, alcohol, food, smartphones, games, etc., are easily accessible to us, making them even more easily addictive. Which is better, completely quitting or maintaining a moderate level? The Director recommends complete abstinence, saying that most problems arise when one believes that one can control oneself. “Whether to abstain or completely quit should be determined not by how much one has drunk and for how long, but by whether the individual’s ability to control and restrain one’s behavior is preserved or lost.” He added: “Since most efforts to abstain will lead to a return to one’s original habits, I recommend completely abstaining if possible.”

“Recently, there has been an increase in the number of patients who are highly adaptive, who are experiencing addiction problems while maintaining their work and home life to some extent, and there has also been a significant influx of young people.” He continued, “A man in his late 20s who visited the hospital after a self-diagnosis before getting married had no difficulties in daily life but seemed to have a problem with his ability to control himself, so he decided to completely abstain from drinking and has been living well for several years.”

“Addiction can be a reappearance of a person’s relationship or desires. No one else can solve it for you. Change can begin when I listen to the voice inside me and the stories of my loved ones.”

Philosophy for Life

The Catholic Peace Weekly will start a new column written by a Jesuit priest professor of philosophy at Sogang University who will be retiring soon. 

He conducted a liberal arts course, Study of Happiness, based on philosophical counseling among research projects supported by the government. He practiced philosophy education in conjunction with group counseling. He introduces the course in the recent issue of the paper.

These days, when he looks around our society and surroundings, so many people are in pain in their souls (minds). It is especially sad to see young people who should be full of passion and hope despairing and hurting in the face of an uncertain future.

In addition, he established a new degree program in spirituality and philosophical counseling at Sogang University's Graduate School of Theology. Although it has only been three years since the philosophical counseling degree program was established, it has been accepted by many people, from recent college graduates to professionals and those who dream of making a leap forward in life at a young age. Above all, the philosophical counseling education practice course, in which interns participate under the guidance of professors and conduct group philosophical counseling, is receiving an excellent response from undergraduate students. This may prove that young people suffer from emotional wounds and long for healing.

Unlike psychoanalysis, philosophical counseling may sound unfamiliar. Some may wonder, "What does philosophy have to do with counseling?" Philosophical counseling is a new field of philosophy that developed in Europe, especially in Germany, along with the philosophy practice movement in the latter half of the 20th century.

Since ancient times, philosophy has been a practical discipline, not just a theoretical one. In particular, Stoic philosophy and Epicurean philosophy, which aimed for peace of mind and spirit, are examples of this. The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-271 BC) even claimed that "philosophy is of no use if it does not drive away the diseases of the soul."

In universities like today, which were established in the Middle Ages, philosophy became a significant subject, and philosophy degenerated into an overly speculative and theoretical discipline. Introspection arose in Germany, centered around Gerd B. Achenbach, and developed into the current philosophical counseling. One of the first 'Philosophical Counseling' degree programs was established within the Graduate School of Theology at Sogang University.

As the German poet and philosopher Novalis (1772-1801) argued, the essence of philosophy lies in 'giving vitality to life and making life leap forward'. To that extent, philosophy is closely related to life. Since humans think as spiritual beings and live their lives based on such thinking, philosophy is an indispensable element that cannot be separated from our lives. This is because no human being lives without thinking.

The world we live in is a world that transcends simple nature, and this world exists in the act of thinking. Therefore, incorrect thinking or lack of thinking can be inhumane and can be hurtful to oneself. Correct thinking is also the way for us to live healthily. 

Philosophy has walked the path of wisdom for this correct thinking. In the future, through his column, the professor plans to unfold the story of philosophy that energizes the soul, makes life leap forward, and heals wounds. Through this, he hopes that readers will become familiar with philosophy and find it helpful. We would do well to see philosophy this way for a healthier mental life.

Meaning of Hope

A Seoul Diocesan pastor gives the readers of the Catholic Times some thoughts on the Jubilee Year and what it should mean. A topic which sadly may mean very little to most of us in the world in which we live.

On December 24, the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica was opened. The Jubilee of 2025 began. The Jubilee will continue until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, 2026, under the official motto, "Pilgrims of Hope." 

During the Jubilee, the Jews returned to their family lands, the fields rested, enslaved people were freed, and debts were forgiven.

According to Leviticus, the year following the seven Sabbath years was the Year of Jubilee. It was to return to the state of liberation when settling in Canaan after 400 years of slavery, they were able to give glory to God, who had provided liberation. The land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, was given to each tribe, clan, and family. However, as time passed, some people sold their land and rented other people's land, and some even became slaves. The Year of Jubilee was intended to immediately restore those broken relationships.

The meaning of the Year of Jubilee was a time of hope, not to throw out the lazy because there was no solution, and not to boast that the blessings given by heaven are selective, but to begin living together in peace and joy.

Today, the Year of Jubilee exists, but the practices that should have been done during the Year of Jubilee have disappeared. Those who have lost their homes are driven out and have to wander the streets, those who have lost their jobs have to worry about their livelihood, and the young who have lost their dreams and the elderly who have lost their health in body and mind are entirely excluded. They want to return, but their homes and jobs are gone. Immigrants who had no choice but to turn their backs on their hometowns are strangers in the new world.

It is said that even when the Jubilee of the Jews first came into existence, the practices demanded by the Jubilee were not often carried out. [There is much controversy about the degree of acceptance the Jubilee had among the Israelites. To give up what had been gained was not an easy thing to do.]

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19) It was the core of salvation that restored the lost order of God.

We are once again called to the Jubilee. It is not just a Jubilee that ends with the opening of the doors and the proclamation of the holy liturgy, nor is it a Jubilee that is satisfied with gratitude for individual salvation through indulgences. Instead, we yearn for a year of hope to move towards a new world.

The generations who experienced the tragedies of the Sewol ferry and Itaewon sing: "Into the New World." "Goodbye to the repeated sorrows in this world!" It is a concrete, realistic world that we all create together. It is a song about the true Jubilee, not different from the one we sang together during the dark dictatorship era: "The country of true love and joy where 'lions play with the lambs'." 

The Jubilee is no longer a Christian tradition inherited from the Jewish tradition. The peace that God gives is peace for the whole world. Peace is not enjoyed differently depending on skin color, ideology, possessions, education, or position. It is a peace for all. When the world is at peace, the church is at peace. When the church devotes itself to the world, the world will cherish and care for the church.

An Angel Passes by—

When conversation suddenly stops during a meal, the French expression "an angel passes by"  (un ange passe) describes a sudden moment of silence, particularly during a conversation, signifying a peaceful pause. 

A priest professor in the Catholic Peace Weekly begins his weekly column with these words.   For Mary and Joseph, the fact that an angel "passed by" meant something significant. They had to go through a major upheaval because of the visit.

The angel's visit in the Gospel is not just something that happened 2,000 years ago but something that happens to us today. The Lord's angel still visits our lives, informs us of God's plan, and guides us along a new path.

Every visit begins with a knock on the door and a greeting. When the Lord's angel visited, Joseph and Mary recognized the angel's greeting and responded. So, how can we realize the visit of an angel? The angel doesn't appear before our eyes.

A brother once confided to the columnist the difficulties of his faith. He was worried that his religious life was dry and meaningless and that he should continue to live with faith. So he gave him an answer. "I know you are suffering greatly from your faith concerns. But I wonder if this crisis is an opportunity. Can we escape the hamster wheel-like repetitive religious life if no such crisis exists? Since you have begun to seriously think about life and faith, I think you have truly entered the journey of faith. So, I hope you will have the courage to continue to move forward."

If there is nothing to worry about, our lives will only go around in circles. When a crisis comes to our lives, when we seriously question our lives and contemplate how we should live and believe in the future, that is the moment when the true journey of faith begins. And that is when the visitation of angels takes place.

Angels visit often through everyday events or encounters, primarily through things that make us seriously question our lives.  Encounters with events that cause significant ripples in our previously peaceful lives, we cannot help but look upon them with surprise and doubt. The Bible says this is when angels visit our lives, and God's plan is revealed.

A great crisis came to Mary and Joseph's lives. They were shocked and doubtful after receiving the angel's visit. However, the two discovered God's great plan in it. Although the answer was not immediately visible, the uncertainty and instability continued (if the answer had been clear, there would have been no need to worry!). They had no choice but to entrust themselves to the Lord's plan.

Isn't faith ultimately a journey of realizing God's plan and learning to entrust everything to Him through such a process? This differs from 'letting go,' which is giving up on oneself. Entrusting means giving oneself to the One who has promised the future.

"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38). "Joseph awoke from sleep and took his wife as the angel of the Lord had commanded him." (Matthew 1:24)

The angel's visitation occurs amid everyday life, primarily through events that make us reflect on ourselves and seriously think about our faith. The Bible tells us not to overlook the big and small things in our lives. The people we meet and our conversations with them are all moments when the angel of the Lord visits our lives. Let us ask the Lord for wisdom to recognize and respond to that visitation.

Happy New Year!

Happy Jubilee New Year!

In the View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a  Sister of the St. Paul of Chartres Community on this New Year's Day gives the readers some thoughts on the Jubilee of 2025 and the beginning of the New Year 2025.

“Hope does not shame us.” (Romans 5:5). The Jubilee of 2025 has dawned. The New Year, which has come as a Jubilee, has entered our lives, and we look toward a new time. God, who guides us to light amidst economic problems, unstable politics, and fear of war in people's lives, plants the seed of hope in the center of our hearts as we welcome the new time He has given us.

The wars and civil wars, big and small, that seem like they will never end have made us reflect on the greed and heartlessness within us. The starting point of the war, fueled by the ideological and systemic competition between the pro-Western camp centered on the United States and the G7 countries and the anti-Western camp centered in China and Russia, as well as the corruption revealed in our country’s political world. In that place, we encounter small points of greed seething.

In countries immersed in hegemonism that seek peace through military victory, peace was pushed to the edge of a cliff here in Korea, where the people were confused by the martial law declaration, which can be called a self-inflicted wound. But look. The young people stood up. The cheering lights of the people calling for impeachment never went out and connected us buried in darkness.

As the current affairs and declarations continued, fear was conveyed to us again as hope. The irony is that the festival where Han Kang, the author of “The Boy Comes”  (also known as Human Acts), a novel about a violent student uprising in South Korea in 1980, received the Nobel Prize in Literature overlaps with the dark moment we face.

To maintain power, conspiracies are still being hatched. We must persistently ask: Who are we? Until we see the fundamental problem that caused the distortion of international relations or politics and resolve it, more socially vulnerable people will be driven to violent deaths. 

The hope of the Jubilee that has come in the midst of this darkness invites us to God’s peace and order. Hope comforts us when we are discouraged because we see little encouraging us to take new steps with courage. Excitement pierces through the darkness. Faith is what hope is in a place where there is no hope. What a great legacy this is.

Faith is a journey. A journey encourages us to have hope and head toward the destination. The destination is the love of God, our starting point. In fact, how distant and abstract this story seems to us who live in this cruel world and are busy dealing with the things right in front of us at every moment. But there is no truth more self-evident than this.

At least once a day, we must ask ourselves where we are headed and what is urging us to hurry our steps. Otherwise, we will unknowingly give way to hegemony, trusting only in power, the hotbed of desire.

In this chaotic era, Pope Francis, who constantly touches our roots and sounds the alarm, has issued his fourth encyclical, "Christ Loved Us." This encyclical encourages us to meet God in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the inner driving force of believers, and to turn towards our neighbors who are driven to vulnerability.

Love is in motion. Only when we reach the extreme point of silent agony in living out love can we receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and resolutely hold a candle towards the deeply cracked shadows. Only after a long silence can we hear the words of Jesus, "Take courage; I have conquered the world" (John 16:33), in places rampant with greed and envy. In that solemn place, we will finally embrace the hope that the Jubilee brings.

Philosophy of LIfe

In the Catholic Peace Weekly's 'Philosophy Diary' column, a Catholic university professor has a meditation on the death of a young priest.

While studying for the Franciscan religious order in the seminary in the United States, he lived with a brother named Harry. He had been ordained a priest that year and came to the community to study for his doctorate in theology. He was a well-built, handsome Franciscan from New York who loved hiking and was a good piano player.

However, he was too introverted to converse deeply with a foreign seminary student like the columnist. To him, he was just an ordinary person. He was remembered for getting annoyed when someone put the toilet paper roll the wrong way in the monastery's communal bathroom.

After living together for a few months, Harry was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had been complaining of stomach pain for a few days. Then, he went to the hospital and told the community of the diagnosis. 

Everyone was surprised. Harry must have been the most surprised. He said he had never been seriously ill before. He joked that we shouldn't worry too much about health and that he had been meticulous about taking care of his health, but he had cancer.

His life of fighting illness and his quiet last steps were awe-inspiring. After his colon cancer surgery, he had a colostomy bag attached to his stomach to collect the waste. Consequently, his upper garment always bulged out, and he would often sit with his back slightly bent. He rarely went out but participated in community prayers and Mass. He soon stopped coming to classes, but other than that, his daily life was not much different from that of his brothers.

The columnist's English was poor then, so he couldn't figure out how his illness was progressing even after hearing the explanation. It must have been a difficult time, but as his body grew thinner, his expression became more peaceful. When he occasionally celebrated Mass, he would talk about the resurrection. After living like that for about a year, he passed away quietly one night in his monastery room.

Last week, on Tuesday evening during the Advent season, the columnist witnessed the noisiness in our country that seemed straight out of a third-rate movie. While pondering its significance, he recalled Brother Harry's humble final moments. Was it because he saw the greed of a top leader who should have stepped down? Or was it because of the vanity and shallowness of the thinking of those who claim to represent the nation? Or the realization that what we call happiness, our desires, and our longings can be valueless and vain.

It may be foolish to mention the world's affairs, which could turn in any direction, even tomorrow, to those reading this a week later. However, it is small and insignificant in the big picture, whether it turns this way or that way. No matter how much we— "love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and with all your strength,"— if our steps are directed towards the vain goal of satisfying desires, our lives will be filled with emptiness and without meaning.

In every corner of the country, we are all taking steps with hearts united. For our steps to have meaning, they must start from the most straightforward principle: "All power comes from the people," they must be directed toward the One who is truly good, not the satisfaction of temporary desires.

Only the power entrusted to us by each and every citizen will have meaning and weight, and all other noisy fake powers will be weeded out. In this time of waiting for the birth of the Savior, let us reflect on the meaning and direction of life contained in the humble last steps of Harry and all those who face death with the same kind of peace. 

'Take Courage'

In his Science and Faith column of the Catholic  Peace Weekly, a science teacher provides some interesting details on our body's cell life. 

Emperor Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty ended the chaotic Spring and Autumn Period and unified the continent for the first time in Chinese history in 221 BC. When his subjects sent to find the elixir of life fled, he buried them alive along with hundreds of Confucian scholars and burned Confucian books. What he feared most was aging and disease.

Aging is a phenomenon in which the structure and functions of a living organism deteriorate over time and is directly caused by cellular aging. When cells age, they lose their ability to divide and eventually die. Living organisms maintain life by periodically dividing cells to preserve their body tissues and organs. In the case of humans, the average number of cell divisions is about 50 to 60, and the cell division cycle varies depending on the tissue or organ of the body. The lifespan of skin cells is about 35 days, with existing cells dying and being replaced by new cells. Oral epithelial cells and cells in the digestive tract lining that are physically stimulated by food are faster than this.

Whenever cells divide, they replicate their genetic material, DNA. The DNA fragments at the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, become shorter during this process. When telomeres are shorter than a certain level, cells stop dividing and die, which is the aging process. In the case of cancer cells, an enzyme regenerates telomeres when they divide, so they do not age even after dividing repeatedly. In other words, cancer cells do not die on their own. 

In 2004, the Yonsei University Aging Function Gene Research Center increased the average lifespan by 20% by making telomeres 30% longer than normal using laboratory animals. This experiment was published in the world-renowned scientific journal Nature Genetics. By revealing the aging mechanism, they found a clue to delaying it.

But more important than biological youth is the youth of the mind and spirit. The youth of the mind is not dull to beautiful things and maintains the delicacy of emotions. In his poem “Youth”, Samuel Ullman said, “Youth is not a period of life, but a state of mind. It is a strong will, a rich imagination, and a burning passion.” Goethe began writing “Faust” at the age of 26 and finished it at the age of 83. The British Romantic poet William Wordsworth said, “My heart races when I see a rainbow in the sky.” They showed us what the youth of the mind is. The youth of the mind is the ability to accept new things and flexibility. We should not be stubborn in our thinking and judgment but be flexible to the changes in the world. When our hearts and minds are young, like Jesus, we are young forever.

The World Youth Day (WYD) will be held in Seoul in 2027. Young people from all over the world who want to follow the teachings of Christ will gather in our country, but this event is not just for them. Not only young people but everyone who possesses the spirit and mind of youth should be the protagonist. The theme of the World Youth Day to be held in our country is “Take courage! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We should all ask Christ for courage so that we can overcome the absurdity and injustice of the world and always remain young. “Young one, I say to you, Arise” (Luke 7:14).