Abundance of Life

Abundance is a word we hear often during this time of  year. Presently, the farmers are busy with the harvest.The writer on spirituality for the Catholic Times would like to define the world as an example of this all-encompassing abundance. The world is filled with air and with an abundance of fruits and vegetables; the oceans with an abundance of sea-life; the earth with an abundance of various kinds of insects. It's difficult to put a limitation on the variety of life that exists.  Even the grains of ocean sand are all different.

God is giving us the use  of this abundance. All that remains for us to do is to receive the abundance. But many are not in a position to enjoy the abundance. The columnist refers to this inability as stemming from a dysfunctional personal spirit, when looking with the eyes results in not seeing. 
 
We can compare the eyes of our spirituality, he says, to a person who has an eyesight problem. If  a person's sight is bleary, all that is necessary is to be fitted with eyeglasses but there are many who are not interested. Spirituality is like being fitted with eyeglasses that allows one to see more. There are many walking in the dark, not knowing where they are going.

The columnist uses the film The Grey, 2012 as an example of people walking in the dark. There is a plane crash and the survivors go from one horrible situation to one even worse. They are attacked by a pack of wolves, and try to escape from the wolfs; ironically in the last scene the hero of the film ends up in the den of the wolfs and the picture ends. 

Similarly, we often try to escape the difficulties of life, the columnist says, and end up at the very center of the difficulties. If we are not going in the right direction we are not able to rid ourselves of the bridles that fetters us. We have to  take the right road with the  correct values. If we are imprisoned by our egoism, we will not be able to see the big picture.

God in his abundance is always relating with us, and when we  enjoy relating with him, we will have spirituality. When we have awe, reverence and wonder we are able to see God relating with his creation and this will enable us to respond with the virtues, says the columnist, like leaves on the sweet potato vine.

When life is lived in harmony with God's will, we can enjoy the abundance in creation. When we are adventuring in an area we do not know, we can be fearful but what do we fear?  Everything is part of God's creation, even the simple grain of sand. Everything is the product of God's abundance and when I am able to have it enter into my thinking, and make it my own, then we will never go hungry before this abundant table that is our world.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                                      

Gift for a Dying Mother

"I only have 5 minutes, would it be possible to speak to you?"--words spoken to a pastor by a school teacher on his way to visit his mother in a hospital, and used to introduce the pastor's article in the Catholic Digest. The teacher, an only son, felt his visit to his mother would be his last; she was dying of a liver ailment. Wanting to give his mother a present before she died, he went to the priest to ask for help, although he was not a Catholic nor was his mother.

"Bringing food does not make sense nor buying her clothes, Father. Any word is acceptable, please help me. I want to hear what you have to say and bring that to my mother before she dies."

Seeing the serious attitude of the man, the priest was moved and asked if he had ever gone to a Catholic Church. No was the answer. He then asked him why was he now coming to a Catholic priest for help in giving a present to his mother. He said he was on  the way to the hospital and saw the church with the cross, and thought the minister or priest would probably  be of some help in knowing what to  bring to his mother.

The priest expressed his respect for the teacher in wanting to have something to give his mother before she died, but felt it was unreasonable to be asked to do this in five minutes. We were in our mother's womb, the priest said, for 10 months, at peace, when we had to leave. This was our first separation and probably the reason separation was followed by cries. But the birth was happiness for many.

When we leave this world the same feelings of sadness come, the priest told him, but knowing what is waiting for us, we are happy as we look forward to the beginning of a new life. His words were well-received by the teacher. The priest added that by helping his mother to desire and look forward to this new life, a life of faith and salvation, he would be giving a great present, as well as expressing his filial piety towards his mother.

The priest's words brought a grateful smile to the teacher's face. He said that in all the years he has been teaching never have these words come to mind. The priest took a rosary out of his pocket and gave it to the teacher. He told him there was a parish in the town where the hospital was located and he could contact the sisters and priest there to come to baptize his mother.

A few days later he received a letter from the teacher, thanking him for his advice and telling him that his mother received the gift gratefully and died in peace.

 

A Strange Relationship

He was a member of a gang of hoodlums and yet the friendship he had with a childhood friend continued even after the friend became a priest. They could always speak freely with each other. In his weekly column in the Catholic Times, the columnist recounts what he recently heard about the hoodlum from  a diocesan priest, while having lunch in his rectory.
 
The priest said his friend came to see him to ask his advice about a current problem. He had lent a sizable sum of money to a man over ten years ago who, he now believes, intended to defraud him of the money by going overseas and returning only after the statute of limitations had run out, which it did recently. What the man did not expect on returning to Korea was to be arrested and incarcerated. The priest's friend was notified of the arrest and was  afraid of what he would  do when he met the prisoner, and  came to his priest friend for advice.

The priest told him that since he didn't need the money he should tell the man that he could keep it, but from this day forward he must commit himself to living like a person who is going to meet his Maker. If he refuses, the priest advised him to tell the man that his children or grandchildren would then have to pay the debt.  
 
The friend went to the police station and did exactly what his priest friend recommended. The police all thought he was crazy and laughed at what he said, but the prisoner didn't think it funny.
 
The prisoner had no religious beliefs but when he was told there was no need to repay the loan, he was so relieved that he genuflected before him. The prisoner did have some qualms of conscience for what he had done, and though now free to use the money as he pleased, on hearing the conditions for doing so, he decided he wasn't ready for such a profound personal change. Knowing also that if he did not repay the debt, his children or grandchildren would be made to pay was enough to make him return the money.
 
The priest's friend was not in need of the money, so he gave it all to charity. The bond of friendship between them, though unusual, was strong and sincere despite the very different paths they had taken in life. It was because of the trust they had in each other that convinced the friend to say and do what the priest had suggested, resolving an awkward situation.

"The door of faith is always open" is the headline in the Catholic Times, using Pope Benedict's words, that introduces their cover story on the Year of Faith.

In recent years the Catholic Church of Korea became familiar with what is happening in the countries of the West, where Christianity has been the foundation of much of the culture and values of society, which is no longer the case. Korea has also not escaped the influence of secularism and relativism. From the years of great growth in the 70s and 80s to the 90s and beyond, Korea now faces the same problems of the West.

The journalist explains the phrase "Cafeteria Catholicism." The phrase appeared for the first time, he says, in 1986 when Catholics were deciding what teachings met their tastes and likes, what to accept and what to reject, and yet consider themselves Catholics.

In  preparation for the 13th Bishops Synod on the secularism of the culture, the following statement was submitted: "The values from materialism incline us toward ambition. These values  are prevalent and have influenced the secularizing of the culture so that the  individual's way of thinking and the  relationship to God is weakened, at times rejecting God and the role of religion in society. The role of religion in many cases is relegated to the internal and to a psychological feeling of peace and comfort."

This understanding of religion is even more  pronounced among the young. In one survey, 61.9 percent of the young  were looking for peace of mind.The problem with this thinking is that there is always the possibility of finding something else that will do a better job of giving them what they want.

Many separate their religion from life, which means their religion has little influence on the way they live. Religion for many is the time they go to church on Sunday, and what makes matters worse, he says, is that they have no problem with this understanding of religion.

There are certain Christians who say: "All religions are  going in the same direction, aren't they? It is not important what we believe as long as we do good and don't harm others; we will all get to heaven." Others say: "To claim that Christianity has the truth is being egotistical. Are we able to talk to other religions with this mentality?" These are some of the  ways relativism  is experienced in society. 

The Church of Korea, in preparing for the synod, has divided the problems we currently face into three categories: Globalization has brought us the bad effects of capitalism: materialism, fetishistic religions and hedonism. Secondly, seeing all religions as the same. And thirdly, our communities are large, lack intimacy, and strive to become middle class (no place for the poor), and have become increasingly secularized. The fellowship we need is missing.

The work required to change this tendency in Korea, because of globalization, is not much different from that of the West. Korea is probably at an advantage in being more homogeneous, well-organized and with less dissent, which hopefully means the efforts at the new evangelization will have a better chance of success.

Sometime Love Hurts

Love is of many kinds: the sweet kind we all are familiar with and often sing its praises, but also, according to the columnist of the "View from the Ark, the kind that hurts but makes us grow.
 
He came to this conclusion back in 1987 when, as one of two seminarians, he was assigned to a country mission station that ministered to 70 Catholic families. They were mostly farmers, some well-off, but most were living a life of poverty. The area was part of the country that was not helped much by the development taking place in Korea.The village was mostly Catholic but the relationship with the other villagers was very warm. The pastor  told the two seminarians that they would be learning a lot from their time spent with the Christians.

The children especially were very open to the seminarians. He tells us that the older seminarian was much better looking than he was and the girls showed this in the way they reacted with him. This left the columnist sad but he kept this to himself. Three attractive girls everyone called the three musketeers would come to visit them often in their place of residence. They were like any third year middle school student, boisterous and talkative. He especially remembered a girl named Helena, and wonders what she would be doing now. When she came to the chapel, she would sit in the back without a word, and then leave.

The day before the seminarians were to leave, they said goodbye to all the parishioners, including the three musketeers, who were there all day, chattering at their side. Next day the catechist prepared a farewell meal for the departing seminarians. That evening, when they were about to go out to eat, the columnist saw Helena walking back and forth outside the mission station. He approached her and told her to be good and tapped her on the shoulder; she yelled out that she didn't want to be good, she loved him. He was flabbergasted. When it came time to leave, Helena was not there.

Now reminiscing on this long-ago incident, the columnist reminds himself that love is not always sweet. At times it's sharp and piercing, and it hurts. But it's this kind of love, he says, that helps us grow.

He finishes the column with the words of Simeon to Mary, "This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed, and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword so that the thought of many hearts may be laid bare."

God's love for us in Jesus was the love that hurt, similar to  the love of parents for the child who continues to cause trouble. Love also is the effort to return to a harmonious relationship when this has broken down. The Blessed Mother, with the pain that came from much in her life, exemplified the graces from this kind of love. Similarly, the piercing of our hearts is often the sign of God's grace.

Upgrading the Spiritual Life

 Convents and monasteries are not places where we find saints but a place where we hope to form saints. A religious sister, in her article in the Catholic Digest, confesses how she found her way back to a heartfelt spirituality, after five years of hating a sister who entered the convent the same year.
 
This emotion toward the Sister got so serious that she was even thinking of leaving.  In one of her visits to the Blessed Sacrament, she decided  to go to confession to an unknown priest. She spent two hours not confessing her sins but  complaining about  the sisters of the convent, the community she belonged to, and the problems with the Church, and how difficult life was for her.

After her recital, the confessor asked her, "Sister, do you know God?" She answered silently by reminding herself it was because she knew God that she wanted to become a religious. The priest continued, "Sister it seems to me that you do not know God. You think you know God, so you do not desire to become more familiar with him, and you are not sad for not knowing him better. If you knew God, you would not be living in this way. A person that knows God grows, matures; you, Sister, have not grown. Once you realize you do not know God and are sorry, you will be on the way to knowing God."  

The Sister felt the priest's words were undeserved. "What right did he have to say that I didn't know God." Having no opportunity to refute what he said, and being upset, she made her way back to the convent. On the way, his words began to resonate within her in a manner that brought pain: "One who knows God grows." Is it a fact that I haven't grown? she asked herself. Is God really unknown to me? What in the world am I to do?"  On the bus, on her way to the convent, she began to agree with the priest that she didn't know God.

Back in the convent, she not only heard  the words of God with her head but her heart. She began  to live  with the  God who lives and breathes with her, and relates with her as a person.  No  matter what the problems, God is always with her and loves her.  For the first time in life, she began to see others as more beautiful than any flower. Everybody, all the sisters were loveable and beautiful. And the sister who she thought was giving her all the trouble turned out to be her patron. She was enabled to upgrade to a different level of living.  

In life, she knows there are many other battles to fight but is looking forward to the encounter, for she knows that it is God's will that will be realized, and she trusts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

The Dream of Dreams

To dream is natural, and to have a dream of what the future will be like is a natural part of our growing-up years.  For many, faced with the present reality, the years of dreaming have ceased, as we become somewhat satisfied with the lives we live. With these words, the desk columnist of the Catholic Times wants us to reflect on how much of  our life allows us to dream.
 
The one who dreams is happy, he says. Without a dream we are persons without goals, which means life can be boring and lack flavor. Those with a dream have very clear goals that engender patience, and energizes them for finding happiness. Aristotle defined the goal of life as the search for happiness. Everyone wants happiness, but it's only those who dream, according to the columnist, who will find it.

Humans are the only ones who dream, have hope and motivation. Dreams are necessary to develop ideals and realize meaning and satisfaction in life. Consequently, the columnist says, those who dream are happy.

Those who dream are those who used yesterday as the mirror for today. They are the ones that do all that comes their way to the best of their ability. Everyone dreams about living the happy life. Each person, according to their given circumstances and values, forms his or her dreams and goals. Those without health, dream of health, and those without enough material goods feel that if only they had more material abundance they would find happiness.  However, nobody can guarantee that attaining these goals will bring the hoped for happiness.
 
To dream for an ideal to be realized in the future is natural, but being concerned about the small things in life and to be happy and thankful for them are also important. We have to ask ourselves: What are my priorities? What is in first place? Is it money, my work, children, love? Many have limits to their dreams,  and when these limited dreams are realized, they often find themselves faced with emptiness.
 
Christians have to have dreams that are not measured by earthly  standards. God wants us to dream; we should plant within our hearts the dream that God has put in us. The work we have been called to do is not everything. No matter what are 'calling' is, we are, first and foremost, to be tools to realize God's given dream. To want to change the world and to do God's will is our dream. We can live either with resentment and dissatisfaction in our hearts or with gratitude and joy in our hearts. The choice is ours to make. Our mission is to join our dream to God's dream--if we want to find the sure way to happiness. 

Happy Chuseok (Happy Moon Festival)