How a Wise Judge Surprised the Accused and Others

A columnist in the Catholic Times reports on what she witnessed recently in a family court.  A young girl was  accused of stealing a motor bike, among other things. The judge  dismissed the case. He spoke to the girl with tenderness: "Stand up where you are." Expecting a heavy protective custody penalty, she stood up with her shoulders pulled back, shuddering. The judge said, "Okay, now repeat after me in a loud voice what I say: 'I am the world's classiest looking person.'"  Expecting something quite different, after some hesitation, she repeated in a low voice what the judge wanted. The Judge then said, "Say in a loud voice, 'I can do anything, there is nothing that I am afraid of, I am not alone in the world.'" When she repeated what was said and  came to the words "I am not alone," the tears she  tried to hold back came streaming down her face.

In school she had been a lively student and was at the top of her class academically; her dream was to be a nurse. One day she was attacked by a gang of boys and raped. From that time she was bothered with a sense of guilt, not able to mix with others in school, started hanging out with  delinquents, and ended up stealing.

This girl came to the court of law as a perpetrator of a crime but those who knew what happened to her would not consider her a criminal. If there was something wrong with her, it  was her lack of self esteem. And the penalty should serve to help her in regaining it. The Judge called the girl to his chair and taking her hands in his said, "Remember who is the most important person in this world. Remember it is you. Never forget this, and you will always be able to overcome the difficulties that you will meet."

The article goes on to show the importance of having love and respect for oneself. Here in Korea we have had too many young children who have killed themselves. This is a problem that the country is facing. When  children receive treatment that is demeaning and hateful and they lack a strong sense of who they are, they will develop a feeling of inferiority, and often hate themselves for what others have said or done to them, making it difficult for them to see themselves as they are.

The columnist mentions that it's important to help a child realize that when they have done something wrong, they have a responsibility to correct it. When they see how embarrassing their behavior can be, the child often has difficulty separating this feeling of embarrassment from who they are, and can begin hating themselves and feeling no one loves them. Parents need to point out wrong behavior and show how to correct it, but doing so with love. The columnist  believes that only when children feel the love of their parents, can love for themselves grow naturally.  

There is now a strong movement in Korea to make us more aware of the culture of life: To see life as a gift and to work to correct the many ways we are cheapening the value of life because of the competitiveness of society and the search for prosperity. The Peace Weekly considers this the hot potato Korea has to deal with. Seeing life as no more than a commodity used to achieve some selfish end is not good for the society we should be creating.

Almsgiving an Important Part of the Spiritual LIfe

Today, the third Sunday of Advent, is Caritas (Almsgiving) Sunday in Korea. The two Catholic papers brought it to our attention in their editorials, as did a pastoral letter from the Bishops' Conference. A surprise to many would be the thinking expressed in Tobit 12:8, "Prayer and fasting are good, but better than either is almsgiving accompanied by righteousness." St. Clement makes a further distinction, saying that fasting is better than prayer and almsgiving is better than both. Giving alms is a giving of ourselves, our love made manifest in material goods, a prayer for those less fortunate than the giver. Catholics start off Lent with these three Lenten practices.

The President of the Bishops' Committee for "Caritas Coreana," in his message for this Sunday, reminds us that "Almsgiving expiates every sin" (Tob. 12:9).  "Many people are suffering from financial difficulty, and more and more people cannot manage their lives with dignity. These days, people do not take time for inner reflection...This results from living 'without hope and without God in the world' "(Eph. 2:12). He reminds us that since God's main work is loving, love should be part of what we are about.

In Korean society, even though we have  made great strides in recent years, there are many who have fallen in-between-the-cracks, and few of us see them. Poverty is of many kinds and the one that is the easiest to see is the material kind. The welfare system is handled well in Korea. Those that do not have any children are given help, but there are times when those that have children would have fared better not to have them-when it comes to receiving help from the government. They would not be on the lists of the poor in the different townships of the country.

Why is almsgiving better than prayer and fasting? It could be because it includes prayer and fasting. Our giving to the poor is prayer-like because it is giving also to God. "I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me" (Matt. 25:40).  Almsgiving is also a form of fasting for it means that I do without, however small what is given may be.  Of all three Lenten practices--prayer, fasting, almsgiving--almsgiving, for many, hurts the most.

However, the material loss for some who give seems not to matter. An economic prize given to those who have been notable in their works of charity was recently given to a company president who had refused to be honored for his giving for many years,, but this year they forced it on him. He has used the phrase from Matthew (his oldest son is a priest): "When you give alms make sure the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing." (This year his strategy did not work.) He has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to many different works of charity within and without the Church.

The interviewer for the Catholic Times asked him what he thought was the meaning of almsgiving. "We have to live humbly and with others," was his reply. The one who gives while living a lavish  lifestyle and  only gives what is left over is not practicing charity, and his giving cannot be called almsgiving. The one who lives frugally and, while sharing in the pain and the joys of others, gives--that giving is almsgiving.

A Reason for Loving One Another

Writing in the Peace Weekly, a professor at the Catholic University tells us why we should love. She begins her column with the story of a student, a young girl, who telephoned her to know why they don't have programs dealing with suicide like they have for sex education. Some students have thoughts of suicide, the student said, because of constant bullying at school, sometimes involving violence. 

We relate well with our friends, but there are always some who pick out others to bully and hurt. What is the fundamental error here?  It is a failure to appreciate the value of life. The culture of life is inseparable from the problems we face.

Seeing the death of another we often reflect on our own impending death, and it's not something we accept easily. Life at these times seems so fleeting and meaningless. She refers to a few incidents in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich  to make her point. When a worker heard that a fellow worker had died, the only thought that came to him was his advancement in the company. And when he died his wife asked the friend of her husband what she needed to do to receive more money from the government.

Tolstoy shows us starkly how cold and callous we can be in dealing with one another. Ivan lived an artificial life, but thought he was living the good life. Just before he died, he could see himself as he truly was, and this enabled him to forgive and love.

The professor believes that city people rarely feel interested in others. Being so absorbed in their work, they are accustomed to the isolated life, often carrying this attitude home where they do not easily share their thoughts with their loved ones.

How do we Christians live? Do we look kindly or suspiciously on the people we see on the street? How do we react with those we know? Do we share with others in their joys and sorrows? Even though in the present we may not be faced with death, the time will come. The death that will enter our lives is the reason, the professor believes, that we should love one another. Our life is often seen as being separate from the lives of others, and that we are basically alone in the world. This thinking predisposes us to forget that we are part of the human family.

In the presence of death--our own or others--we can react with hostility and anger or with calm acceptance. And when facing the death of a loved one, we can, as some have done, help them to carry their cross and open their hearts to those around them. In silence, we can be with them in their time of suffering.

Do All Things Really Work Together For The Good?

A columnist in the Catholic Times treats an important subject bothering many. Years ago a young  grammar school student told her parents she didn't want to go to Church any more. She had prayed to do well in the exams, but she flunked; from that day on she considered prayers useless. The parents had difficulty in trying to convince her of the need to continue to grow in her prayer life. It was a hard sell, and they were hoping from some words of wisdom from their pastor.

This is not only a problem with children but also with adults. Our priest-columnist mentions his own experience with a relative he respected and who held him in high regard as well. The columnist prayed often for the relative's good health, who had made it known many times that he wanted the priest-columnist to be the celebrant at his funeral Mass, and he had promised but events prevented him from being there.

The relative died suddenly, and the columnist, being at the time in a foreign country and in circumstances that made it impossible to attend, was greatly upset; not being able to make good on his promise brought tears to his eyes. Continuing to feel badly about it, he was visited by an older diocesan priest who seemed to know of the columnist's circumstances for he spoke to him in a way that addressed his  situation.

"Brother," he said, "I have a story to tell you. One of our older priests, talking to a group of us younger priests, said with great confidence that 'God exists'. His fellow priests, seeing how certain he was, asked for the reason for his conviction. Laughing, he said: 'I have  tried to live my priestly life well and zealously but  there is nothing that turned out the way I wanted. At the dedication of the Church we built, it rained; the day was ruined. Our parish athletic event that had been planned with great expectations to unify the parish was interrupted by a  thunderstorm. And on some of the great feast days, things did not work out as expected. Something would come up to make the original plans impossible to achieve and yet in God's providence all worked out well. Though it was not what I wanted, it was all that I needed.' The diocesan priest ended by saying that all the seeming failures in his own life had only made his belief stronger. Yes, God exists. All that was needed had been given."

Life, in the words of the columnist, often does not turn out the way we wanted. God is in his heaven and with our prayers is leading us according to his providence. God is always with us. When we believe  and trust in this  providence and follow its direction then it may not be what we wanted, but it is God making things work together for the good. God writes straight with the crooked lines we have made. The columnist could dry his tears and trust in the love of God.                      

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From the Depths of Despair to Hope

Persons with HIV/AIDS in Korea are relatively rare, so understanding the disease is often lacking. Until this year, those with HIV were not allowed to come into the country. But foreign English teachers, after arriving in the country, are required to be tested for the disease. If they are found to be positive, they are deported. Part of the reason for this is the failure of many of our citizens to understand how the disease is transmitted. An article in the recent Kyeongyang Catholic magazine tells us the story of a young man of 28 who discovered that he was HIV positive.

As a child he was made fun of by his classmates because he was fat. He was timid and lacked confidence, which made his early years unpleasant.  His father, when drinkingwould beat his mother in his presence, which made the home environment difficult. His pleasure at that time, to help him forget what he had to face daily, were drawing and fortune telling.
 

As an adult he joined the army, and during those years he found peace by going to a Buddhist temple. His time in the service passed without any problems; he credited this to the peace he found by going to the temple.                

Discharged from the army, he returned home to find the conditions worse than they had been. Poverty had forced the family to break up. It put an end to his desire to finish his education. He left to find work but manual labor on a continual basis was too much for his body, so he found work in the field of entertainment. This did not improve his life, so he went into the sex trade. Although the money was good, he was thinking of getting out of it. But before that happened, he came down with PL (People Living with HIV/AIDS).

The news hit him like a bombshell. He didn't want to believe it; it felt like the end of everything.  If only he  had been more careful, he thought, this wouldn't have happened. He was told that with medication, he could lead a normal but this did not help. He became depressed and the side effects of medication made his life miserable. He even attempted to kill himself but failed. There seemed to be nothing to live for.

He returned home hoping to renew the old ties, but it was not to be. One of his relations introduced him to a Religious Sister, but although he met her a number of times he was not able to open up. On one occasion the Sister told him not to see her as a religious but as just another human being talking to another. She asked him to make a retreat with her, and he accepted, surprisingly. From the time, he was a child, he hated to see pictures of Jesus and the cross; they gave him a headache.

However, he did go on retreat with the Sister for the full six days. There were prayers, talks, and attendance at his first Mass. He received the laying-on of hands, asked for healing, spent time before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer, and had feelings that he had never experienced before. He heard a  whisper in his heart "Live. It is not too late. Love."

During the months that followed, he would often hear the word "Live" and with it a feeling of gratitude for being in the world. He no longer felt it was money and honors that were important but a belief in the value of life was important. He was surprised by the change that took hold of him. A taste of happiness had  come into his life.  He began the study of the catechism, thanked God for the change in his life, and now has a loving relationship with him. 

Korea Catholic Red Ribbon is an Internet site that provides a warm and welcoming atmosphere for persons struggling with the disease. The site is also translated into  English: redribbon.kr

In Treatment of Animals When Do We Go Too Far?

News coverage of the cruel treatment of animals in factory farming is increasing, and a Catholic Times' columnist made it  the subject of  her weekly column. She saw a TV documentary recently and was deeply disturbed. It showed chickens on a conveyor belt being electrically shocked into a state of a convulsion, killed and packaged for market. Seeing what was involved in getting the chickens ready for market, she was haunted by the images she had seen. 

Another issue covered by the documentary was the fur industry and the wholesale killing of animals for their skin and hair. She understands why women would want to be seen wearing such elegant accessories as fur coats and hats. But she believes this is not a good reason to justify killing animals to strip them of their fur when so many other materials can do the job, though most likely not so elegantly.

Though fur is usually an item of clothing for women, most of us have at least one item of clothing lined with duck or goose feathers.  How many animals have to be killed, she wonders, to satisfy our desire for unusual and stylish clothes. She doesn't want us to become entangled in questions of right or wrong but merely to think of what is involved when we desire and buy these articles of clothing.


We are faced with the fact that we have to live together with animal and plant life.We must also face the fact that economic development and the management of wealth often depend on utilizing nature to achieve these goals.  On which side do we find ourselves? In answering the question, it would be well to keep in mind, she says,  that we have been given the command to rule over creation, God  saw all of it as good,and it was given to us as a gift.

Our columnist, being a poet, has treated the subject delicately, knowing that it is a controversial issue and will continue to be for years to come. The Church has principles that should guide us in  seeing the issue with  balance. Pope Benedict, before he became Pope, expressed his opinion in these words: "Certainly, there has been an industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible; hens live so packed together they become just caricatures of birds. This degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me to contradict, in fact, the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."
      
The Catechism of the Catholic Church  says, "The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity." The Catechism spells out clearly what is expected from Catholics dealing with creation. The problem comes when an effort is made by some to place the rights of animals on a par with the rights of  humans.  This extreme position the Church cannot accept. Cruelty to animals, or for that matter, to anyone is of course not accepted by the Church. However, what some consider cruel treatment in preparing animals for market in the factory farm system would very likely be considered a necessary unpleasantness by others. Each of us must come to our own conclusions on the matter.

Learning How To Live Like A Fool And Be Better For It

The best-selling author of "Blessing of the Rainbow," Cha Dong-yeop, has another book now available in bookstores. In "Be Foolish," Fr. Cha, a seminary professor and founder of the Future Pastoral Institute, again shows us how to fully awaken our latent abilities.

He  follows the path of others who have praised the wisdom of foolishness.  St. Paul considered himself a fool, and we hear about the foolishness of Christ. "We are all fools on Christ's account" (Cor. 4:10).  Erasmus in his satirical way wrote one of his most popular books on folly, "The Praise of Folly." It was a devastating, humanistic look at the foolishness in society and in the Church. And with the eyes of a one-time priest, he knew well the failings within the Church. He  considered Jesus a Divine Fool to come to us as a Savior. It is not always easy when reading Erasmus to distinguish when his foolishness is intended to be seen positively, but there are times when it clearly is.  Fr. Cha, however, leads us without sarcasm to see that the wisdom of the world is not always what it is purported to be.

He says we have all been called fools at one time or another. It is often applied to those who are  simple and sentimental, those who try to realize important ideals and are not stopped by pressure from the outside. He tells us that many who have done great things for society were often considered fools. They broke the mold in which society wanted them to live. His book shows us how to free the fool in us and break out to the joy and success that the spirit within is calling us to.

In an interview with The Catholic Times, Fr. Cha refers to the prologue in the book where he writes: "In the old days when I did not know something I tried everything not to hear the word fool. But when I heard the words 'he's quite a brain,' it puffed me up, and I worked to exhaustion to merit those words and not be seen as a fool, not to be listed among the drop outs. I  struggled with all this, troubled by the pressures I was feeling. Isn't this our common self portrait?"

How do we become fools? Fr. Cha lists 12 ways to achieve this "foolish" awakening.  

 1) Be skeptical of common sense
 2) Nurse your fantasies
 3) Act immediately
 4) Consider the small things big
 5) Consider the big things small
 6) Go beyond what you can see
 7) Don't be tied to what others think
 8) Walk ahead like an ox
 9) Be honest
10) Be transparent
11) Share generously
12) Keep  laughing

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