"Go and sin no more"

In the Catholic Peace Weekly Philosophical Chat column, a Jesuit professor provides some background on the Virtue of Justice.

Justice is like a double-edged sword. What is just to one person may be unjust to another. Unlike love, which is unconditional and absolute,  justice always comes with a condition of ‘for what.’

Sometimes, it is necessary to understand that justice may not heal the heart's wounds but hurt. The word "justice" often promotes sharp conflicts and confrontations, leaving scars. 

Justice has various meanings. Lawyers advocate legal justice, politicians advocate political justice, religious people advocate divine justice, and civic activists advocate distributive justice. However, the ancient Latin maxim concerning ‘rights’, ‘to each his own!’ (Suum cuique!), has long been used with justice.

The word justice is derived from the Greek, which means ‘rightness’. In Greek mythology, Dike was the goddess of justice and fair judgments, who governed the right relationships between things. 

Plato argued that the purpose of a state is to realize justice, defined justice as the state of rightness achieved by humans through the balance and harmony of the virtues of wisdom, courage, and moderation. 

Aristotle defined it as a moral character that does good and beneficial things to others, especially in personal relationships. 

For St. Thomas Aquinas, Justice is a virtue that involves the constant and firm will to give each person, including God and neighbor, what they are due. It's about establishing relationships with others and is foundational to a just society and life. This suggests that those who create, enforce, and judge laws concerning justice must have a high moral conscience and responsibility.

This is precisely why Aristotle emphasized ‘fairness’ in relation to justice. Rather than realizing universal justice, ethical awareness and morality should be considered first. The essential issue of justice is not good and evil but right and wrong. 

The question of ‘what is truly fair?’ is not easy to answer. In the Bible, is Jesus Christ's forgiving of an adulteress fair and just? Or is the act of the Jews who tried to stone an adulteress fair and just? The Old Testament defines the relationship between God and man as a contractual relationship of rights and obligations and describes the fair performance of this as justice.

However, the more important message is God's justice, who always forgives those who repent, even though they have not repented. God’s justice is fundamentally based on forgiveness and love because this kind of justice can heal and save people. We need to always recall the words of Christ, who performed the miracle of healing: "Go and sin no more."

A Korean Professor's Understanding of Leo XIV

In his column for the Catholic Times, a professor at a university in Seoul shares his reaction to the new Pope, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name Leo XIV.

Since Pope Francis appointed 80% of the cardinals in the conclave, he believed that someone who shared the Pope's vision would be elected, one of the Vatican ministers close to the Pope, entrusted with important responsibilities. The  Minister of the Department of Bishops was elected. 

What kind of person will the new Pope be? The media introduced him as the first American Pope and from the Augustinian Order, but it wasn't enough, so he spent the whole day researching the new Pope Leo XIV.

The keywords that stand out in the 70-year life of Cardinal Prévost before becoming the Pope are  ‘Augustinian Order’ and ‘Peruvian Missionary.’ Born in Chicago, USA, to a devout family with two older brothers, he joined the Augustinian Order, was ordained a priest, and was sent to Peru, where he lived for 20 years as a missionary in his 30s and as a parish priest for 10 years in his 60s.

His long years of living with the poor under challenging conditions in Latin America would have left a deep impression on him.

After his 40s, he spent 15 years as head of the          Augustinian Order. He visited the order in Korea five times during his tenure, demonstrating his dedication and concern for the Augustinian Order worldwide.

We don’t know all about his relationship with Pope Francis. Still, in late 2014, after completing his 12-year term as superior general of the order, Pope Francis consecrated Father Prevost a bishop, entrusted him with the duties of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, and appointed him the Prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops in the Vatican in 2023.

The Augustinian Order's spirituality emphasizes unity. They dream of a community of one heart and one mind, achieved through unity with themselves, their neighbors, and God. With this spirituality, a missionary who lived in Peru became the Pope.

He was also curious about why he chose ‘Leo.’ He wanted to follow Pope Leo XIII. Leo XIII’s achievements were outstanding, as he issued the encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ in 1891, suggesting what the state, employers, and clergy should do during turbulent times when families, labor, and human rights were threatened, and laid the foundation for Catholic social doctrine. It became an opportunity for the Catholic Church to play an active role in social issues.

Like Leo XIII in the late 19th century, he may have the will to help resolve the new situation symbolized by artificial intelligence (AI) in the early 21st century. In the first greeting after being elected as the Pope, the expressions ‘peace for all’, ‘disarmed peace’, ‘Christ as a bridge between God and the world’, and 'a bridge built through dialogue and encounter’ also caught the columnist's eye.

To summarize his brief and superficial study of Pope Leo XIV, the columnist said that he seems to be a ‘bridge-building Pope.’ Let’s not let him work alone, but let’s also become bridge-builders together. He prays for the new Pope, recalling the Zen song ‘Bridge’ lyrics that he often sang in his youth. Let us build bridges wherever needed, even between the South and the North.

Humility Brings Wisdom

Today, we return to the column "Learning Life Wisdom from the Desert Fathers" in the Catholic Times. The Benedictine monk explains the importance of revealing your true feelings. The more we hide, the sicker we become with pride.

It's essential to observe the thoughts that constantly arise in your mind and to distinguish between good and bad ones. Opening your heart to your spiritual master was a first step for beginners in the monastic life.

If they are evil thoughts, you must drive them out from the start so they don't take root and grow. In this process, honesty is essential to revealing your heart to your spiritual master. ‘Opening your heart’ was very important for beginners in monastic life. 

The novice had to receive advice, help, and encouragement from the spiritual master regarding spiritual practice, spiritual struggles, prayer, and all physical and mental practices. The spiritual master was a person who had finally acquired the gift of discernment through long experience, through many failures, mistakes, trials, and errors. 

Only a person who has acquired this discernment can guide others in their spiritual struggle. Since the novice has only passion and lacks discernment, they need an experienced elder who has walked this path before them as their guide, to open their hearts to them, and to follow their advice. The disciple must reveal all their thoughts to the spiritual master so that the master can discern them and provide the appropriate help.

Through this process, the disciple also gradually develops discernment, distinguishes between spirits, and learns how to guide others. In this way, the disciple becomes another master. Without this process, no one can or should dare to guide others. A guide without discernment will lead people astray. 

Some may ask, ' Why is it necessary to open your heart and obey a spiritual teacher?’ The reason for revealing your thoughts is, above all, to conquer evil spirits rather than to succumb to them. One of the reasons why early zealous Christians went into the desert was to directly confront and fight evil spirits. However, without the advice and help of an experienced person, it would be too challenging for a beginner to attempt.

One spiritual master advised that when evil thoughts arise, do not hide them; instead, share them with your spiritual master immediately. Evil thoughts are like snakes emerging from a hole that run away when revealed. However, the more they are hidden, the stronger and more numerous they become. Like maggots in a tree, they can destroy our hearts. Likewise, it is said that those who reveal their thoughts are immediately healed, but those who hide them become sick with pride.

The reason a disciple obeys his master is to fight against their own will. The Desert Fathers knew well that all sin consists in preferring one’s own will to God’s. Therefore, they emphasize renouncing one’s will by submitting to a spiritual master. “The will of man is a wall and a stumbling block between him and God. When man renounces his will, he will say to himself: With the help of my God I will leap over the wall" (Ps. 18). 

In the early days of monastic life, a newcomer to the desert could settle in a cave or hermitage without the help of an elder. But the results were sometimes disastrous. Antony testifies: “Some people harm their bodies by practicing asceticism, but they turn away from God because they lack discernment.” By completely obeying the discernment and judgment of the master, the young monk will become pure in heart, tame his passions, and finally attain inner peace. In the spiritual life, the temptation is always to overestimate one’s abilities. This temptation is nothing but a vain delusion born of pride.

Obedience that gives up one’s own will leads us to humility, the pinnacle of all virtues. In the spiritual journey toward God, a disciple couldn't reveal all their thoughts to the master and follow the master’s discernment and judgment without humility. Therefore, opening one’s heart to the master is ultimately a practice of humility and obedience.

The Desert Fathers’ exhortation to “reveal your heart!” reminds us of the importance of experienced guides in the spiritual life, discernment, openness of heart, a humble attitude toward asking for and listening to others' advice, and the freedom to put down one’s own will.

The Call of Love

The Catholic Times'  column on  Love in God's Plan, written by a member of the Missionary Congregation of the Handmaids of Christ, offers some theological background.

Resurrection, the power of the living God, and the encounter with Him that reveals Himself. 

Jesus concludes by saying to the Sadducees' understanding of the resurrection: “You are greatly mistaken” (Mark 12:24.27). The catechetical texts suggest that no one before Jesus had ever proclaimed a clear teaching on the resurrection of the dead, and the implications of Jesus' answer are profound and accurate.

Jesus' words about the resurrection speak about a dimension of history commensurate with God's wisdom and power, not human knowledge and ability, and of the fact that human beings are bodies alive with God's life. 

In the Old Testament, Israel rejected many mythological gods. Over a long period, it gradually transmitted a worldview derived from faith in God, with different expressions in different places. The resurrection comes from the power of God, something beyond death, and the logic of the world as we know it is insufficient. We have to ask, “What does this mean for me?”

When a human being faces death, his or her very existence becomes the great question. Meet Job, who asked the classic questions “Who am I?” and “Where did I come from and Where am I going?” in the face of his suffering. Job was a righteous man who had not committed any great sin and was wealthy and powerful. 

The first test he received was about his possessions, and the second was about his existence after he became ill. Job was not shaken when he lost his house, livestock, and precious children. He praised God with each loss, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. You gave me and you have taken away; blessed be your name!” (Job 1:21). 

After losing everything he owned, he became ill. Now he was faced with his existence, not his possessions. The incredible pain he feels gives him despair, and he blames his life: "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?" (Job 3,11). His friends, who come to comfort him, tell him to ask God for forgiveness because, according to traditional teachings, suffering and misfortune are punishment for sin. But Job doesn't accept their advice and doesn't kneel down anymore, but questions God. “Why?” The pain of his illness becomes a doorway to a new relationship with God. He realized that questions about his existence could only be asked of God and that only God could answer them. "Why am I dying, and where am I going?"

God speaks out of the storm, as if he has been waiting for Job to ask these questions. “Where were you when I founded the earth?” (Job 38,4b). This means, “Where were you when I formed you, and what have you done? The wise Job understands the meaning of the question and confesses. “Now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42,5) ‘To see’ means to be in personal communion with God. The question he asked with his whole being in the face of his suffering was a call to God, the author of existence. He called, he met, he knew, and confessed that he had come out of love and was returning to it.

The Sadducees' error was that they tried to understand the Bible from their own world and language. Like Job's friends, they mistakenly thought it depended on their merit. Resurrection is an encounter with the power of the living God and the life given.

Treating the Disabled Wisely

 

In the Current Affairs Diagnosis column of the Catholic Peace Weekly, a diocesan priest and director of a social welfare research institute shares his thoughts on an aspect of welfare work for people with disabilities in Korea.

Recently, he heard a professor in the social welfare field express concerns about the Catholic Church's opposition to the deinstitutionalization policy. He also heard many comments criticizing the Catholic Church's position on the government's 'Act on Support for Community Independence and Housing Transition of the Disabled'. On April 6, the National Coalition for the Disabled Against Deinstitutionalization staged a protest at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul.

Expressing your opinion is a right we all enjoy.  However, is it okay to occupy the cathedral and cause trouble just because one's opinion is different? They even reported the absurd claim that the Catholic Church opposes deinstitutionalization, community independence, and housing transition because it operates many residential facilities for disabled people. 

It is truly unfair and insulting to hear this kind of talk. ‘Deinstitutionalization’ became an issue in the field of disabled people’s welfare, and we cannot standardize things just because they seem good without considering the type of disability. However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, national policy agencies, and deinstitutionalization support groups are currently accepting the appeal of the words ‘independence’ and ‘deinstitutionalization’ without a broad understanding of them, and are treating facilities as ‘social evils that must be eliminated.’ They are also branding those who speak of the need for facilities as outdated groups or groups obsessed with protecting their own interests.

In August 2021, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the ‘Deinstitutionalization Disabled Community Self-Reliance Support Roadmap’  The core content of this roadmap is to close residential facilities for the disabled within 10 years and provide public rental housing to all disabled people living in the facilities, except for about 2,000 disabled people whose disabilities are so severe that they cannot live alone. 

What exactly is the standard for 2,000 people who can remain in the facilities, and what is the basis for the target period of ‘10 years’? Despite this, the government conducted a pilot project for deinstitutionalization from 2022 to 2024. However, some of the severely disabled people who were hastily transferred to the local community without sufficiently reflecting their wishes died because they did not receive timely treatment, or their nutritional and sanitary conditions deteriorated significantly.

According to the results of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s comprehensive survey of deinstitutionalization, only about 700 of the approximately 1,200 disabled people who were deinstitutionalized had their residences confirmed. Among the 487 people who participated in the survey, 281 people returned to their homes after being deinstitutionalized, 136 people were discharged by others, and 24 people died within 4 years of being deinstitutionalized.

Since before the term “social work” existed, the church has seen organized acts of love within the church community as its essential mission. The church's treatment of the poor and marginalized, including people with disabilities, can be one of the first times in human history that they were respected like everybody else. This is why the church has pointed out the dangers of the deinstitutionalization policy and the community independence and residential support project for people with disabilities currently underway in Korea.

The columnist is not opposed to support for independence in itself, but the need to discern between those who can benefit from independent living and those who continue to need help. We are not opposed to different types of housing. What the Catholic Church is opposed to is the unfortunate reality that people with disabilities are victimized and their lives are jeopardized by narrow-minded and less than pure intentions. It is time for a more mature and in-depth approach to disability policy.

Dealing with Anxiety

In the Catholic Peace Weekly's 'Philosophy Talk' column, a Jesuit professor offers readers some help understanding anxiety in their lives. 

Modern society is called an ‘anxiety society’ because people feel anxious for various reasons. In "The Malaise of Modernity", Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor (1931~) argues that anxiety is caused by the ills of modern society: ‘rampant individualism’, ‘dominance of instrumental reason’, and ‘loss of freedom’. 

German philosopher Han Byung-chul (1959~) also characterizes modern society as filled with anxiety in 'The Burnout Society' and argues that its fundamental cause is ‘loss of hope’. Psychoanalysis and psychology diagnose the anxiety symptoms felt by modern people as a pathological phenomenon of humans and a disease that must be treated.

Is anxiety really a disease that must be unconditionally eliminated from life? According to philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883~1969), who was a psychiatrist and psychopathologist, anxiety is a very painful emotional feeling that frequently appears in humans. Still, it cannot be resolved by removing particular objects. Rather, it is a fundamental condition of human existence that cannot be avoided. 

Regarding this existential anxiety, the philosopher who had a deep insight on the subject before Jaspers was Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). In “The Concept of Anxiety,” he says that anxiety is “an expression of the perfection of human nature.” According to Kierkegaard, unlike “fear,” which has an object-oriented characteristic, anxiety has the characteristic of “indeterminacy,” which has no object. This means that anxiety cannot disappear by finding its cause and eliminating it. Anxiety is based on the freedom of the human spirit and a chance for humans to acquire a reason for their own existence. If we try to avoid this anxiety, it may even harm us.

To become our true selves, we need to decide freely.  Still, humans facing infinite freedom cannot help but feel dizzy, and Kierkegaard called the “dizziness felt in front of freedom” “anxiety”. Imagine how anxious we would be when we stand alone and responsible in the face of the pure possibility of unpredictable infinite freedom! Paradoxically, the more limitless the possibilities of choice are in the face of uncertainty, the more difficult it becomes to decide. It is as if we are standing before ‘nothingness’ as pure possibility. The moment we decide on something is also the moment when all possibilities disappear. Therefore, not turning away from anxiety but facing it directly means courageously standing in front of the pure possibility of freedom and facing it.

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) defines anxiety as the ‘situational nature’ of human existence. As long as humans exist in the world, they are fundamentally caught up in an atmosphere of anxiety, and they can never avoid it. Anxiety is clearly revealed in death, which absolutely and finally nullifies all possibilities of its existence.

However, the important thing is that without being conscious of anxiety, we not only do not ask about the meaning of our own existence, but we also do not make efforts to advance toward our possibilities in life. As anxiety is an opportunity to find our original self, we need to learn how to live with anxiety rather than reject it. 

Social Connection And Happiness

The Korean secular press's coverage of the World Happiness Report provided readers with insights into countries around the world and the levels of happiness they experienced. Korea ranked very high in the number of deaths from despair—suicides. 

Eating with others was a positive aspect that promoted happiness and connection. Family bonds and size were crucial to one's happiness. 

Social connection improves the happiness level of young adults. Social behavior reduces the number of deaths from despair. Trusting others, helping others, and being kind do a great deal towards overcoming unhappiness. 

Korea ranks 2nd in the world for deaths of despair. The conclusions of the UN's 'World Happiness Report 2025', released in March, suggest that the world is a kind and pro-social place. 

Many countries saw an increase in social isolation and deaths of despair due to alcohol, drug addiction, and suicide. 

This report showed that sharing meals with others is a factor in life satisfaction. Korea was a country with a high frequency of eating alone. In particular, the average number of times a week that people ate dinner with someone was under two times, ranking 135th out of 142 countries. Even including lunch, people shared meals only 4.3 times a week.

Eating alone and loneliness are directly linked. In the group that answered, they shared meals more than 12 times a week, only 1% reported feeling lonely the previous day. However, in the group that answered they ate alone all week, the percentage jumped to 38%. The report stated that “the number of times you share a meal is as strong an indicator of ‘quality of life’ as income or unemployment rate,” and that regardless of age, gender, country, or culture, people who eat with others showed higher life satisfaction.

The research team also noted the finding that “countries with more kind behaviors have fewer deaths due to despair.” According to the report, the percentage of people who answered that they had “performed prosocial behaviors such as helping strangers, donating, or volunteering in the past month” increased from an average of 63% in 2017–2019 to 70% in 2022–2024. On the other hand, the number of deaths of despair decreased in 75% of the 59 countries surveyed from 2000 to 2019.

However, Korea showed a different movement here. Among the remaining 16 countries, the country with the most significant increase in deaths of despair was the United States, with an average increase of 1.3 deaths per 100,000 people per year, followed by Korea and Slovakia in second and third place. 

The research team focused on comparing the United States and Korea with Finland, which has been ranked the “happiest country in the world” for eight years. Both Korea and the United States had high numbers of deaths of despair and a steep increase. On the other hand, Finland’s number of deaths of despair itself was similar to Korea’s, but showed a downward trend of about 0.9 deaths per 100,000 people.

The critical difference was that prosocial behavior decreased in the United States and Korea, but increased in Finland. 

Socializing plays a key role in making people feel less lonely and abandoned, and it creates an inclusive society where help is readily available. Consequently, prosocial behavior plays a key role in preventing unhappiness and suicides. 

Korea has implemented suicide prevention strategies,  such as pesticide restrictions, emergency room follow-ups, and media safety guidelines, successfully reducing suicide rates among older adults. However, since 2017, youth suicides have increased, which means serious gaps remain in the present policy. Suicide prevention continues to be a challenge for society, and the need for all of us to be messengers of hope to the world.