Misfortune Turns into Good Fortune

He spent two and half years in prison for fraud and embezzlement and now is a volunteer in prison pastoral work. Released from prison in 2007, Andrew, now 58, was interviewed recently by the Catholic Times. For ten years, he explained, he worked as a division head for a large corporation. He lived comfortably, not envying anybody. However, he decided to leave and  get into the construction business, which ran into difficulties, and those who had invested in the business were not informed. He admits the business failed because of mistakes stemming from his prideful nature and disregard for the legitimate interests of his investors. His only interest was in doing things his way; that alone, he said, made him happy.

When the prison sentence was given, all his acquaintances left him and problems arose within the family; leading very  close to a divorce from his wife. His life unraveled, and he fell into complete despair.

Prison life for Andrew was hell. He was afraid, found it difficult to eat or sleep and was full of resentment, living in a daze. He wondered if he would be able to keep his sanity in the prison situation. He felt it was a place he didn't deserve to be in.

He soon found, however, that his great misfortune was turning into a blessing. Relating with those who came to the prison to help the inmates, he began to see life through the life of faith he once possessed. Seeing the volunteers coming to help the prisoners with no financial incentive made him reflect on his own life of greed. He had been baptized and married in the Catholic Church but that was the extent of his faith life. 

His thoughts began to change, and he began to see that his life was a mess. Each day he would think of the many things he did wrong and began to repent. A great change took place, and he became involved with the Catholic prisoners who had formed themselves into a community. He was a lector at Mass and became a leader in the community; joy returned to his life.

Andrew, after release from prison Nov. 30, 2007 (coincidentally his name day) went to the nearest church to pray, gave thanks and promised to spend the rest of his life in service to those in prison. He has finished a training program for mission, and is now taking a university course in theology. He has nothing to be proud of from his past, but his own experience in prison has made him a missioner to those who still find prison life only a negative experience. He wants to help them find new reasons to make their lives worth living.

Being Born Again Daily: Christmas Every Day

"We are waiting for the liturgical feast of Christmas. Coming to the end of the year, wearied and somewhat depleted, we find consolation in the coming feast." With these words a priest, also a philosophy professor, begins his article, in the With Bible magazine, on the world's greatest story.   Those who are not Christian, he says, often have the same feelings we Christians have. Hannah Arendt a Jew and a philosopher  also had these feelings.

A student of Martin Heidegger and Carl Jaspers, she fled to the States during the Nazi period in Germany. Her book, The Human Condition, influenced many during the second half of the 20th century, particularly the chapter on action. She begins the chapter with the words of Isak Dinesen, the author of Babette's Feast, "All sorrows can be borne if you put them in a story or tell a story about them."

Arendt says that the power of the story comes when we finally disclose in narrative form who we are by noting our actions and words. When we become conscious of our life in this way, as recounted in our actions and words, we can begin to see our life as part of the fabric of the society we live in. Realizing that our lives are individual stories enacted between a birth and a death, we understand and pass on our stories, says Arendt, by acknowledging our weaknesses and our inability to foresee the future. However, within this imperfect reality, we nevertheless must act and speak.

This perception comes from her understanding of the word 'natality.' The professor notes that her idea is the mirror image of what her teacher Heidegger taught: "Being unto death." For Arendt, birth was a new beginning, giving the person trust and hope that even the wisdom of the Greeks was not able to discover, and that Arendt, though not a Christian, was able to comprehend. She ended her reflections on this point with the words: "Humanity in this world has been given trust and hope expressed in the joy that comes with the Christmas story: the birth of a child."

To understand the word 'natality' that Arendt uses, the professor says we must understand her use of the words 'forgiveness' and 'promise.' The past cannot be undone, and we do not know what the future holds for us. Because of our innate weakness--the weakness of a newborn--we become dependent on our willingness to extend forgiveness, both to others and to ourselves. And since we do not know what the future will be, we become dependent on the promise of a better future, which gives us hope to go into that future to "build islands in the big ocean of life." Arendt says it was Jesus who gave us this hope for forgiveness and promise.

We are not born to die but to be reborn into a new beginning. We can know happiness, says Arendt, by using the twin tools of forgiveness and promise. The same good news of the Gospels we try to live daily. Merry Christmas.

What Does God Do All Day?

Walking the city streets, we see many symbols of Christmas but few that are  close to the meaning of what the day should mean. We see Christmas trees, wreathes, stars, candles, bells, Santa Claus, candy canes, stockings, and many other symbols which in years past had a clear association with the Christ event. Today they are merely attempts to increase sales and make more money. So begins the column on View from the Ark in the Catholic Times.

This is a good indication of what has happened in all aspects of our society. We give meanings to symbols that fit our view of life. And for many the Christmas event has lost its meaning. It is a time to be merry and probably has more to do with the winter solstice than with Christ.
 
Recently, a woman without religious beliefs asked me a question I had never been asked before; it made me laugh, but also think. What does God do all day? I was surprised by the question but did quickly find an answer.And the more I  thought about it, the  more I 
thought it was  one of the best questions I  had ever been asked.

We hear in John I, 4:8 that God is love. The answer came rather easily, remembering these words: God spends his time in loving. The answer did seem to say something to the woman, and it said more to me.  "God's love was revealed in our midst in this way: he sent his only Son to the world that we might have life through him."

For a Christian, if God ever forgot the world and his creation for a moment, we would all cease to exist. What keeps the world and the universe in existence, though not for the scientist or philosopher but for a Christian, is the love that God has for what he has made. He showed us this love with a visual aid that can't be surpassed. He came to earth to live with us. It would be hard to beat that even in the world of children nursery and fairy tales.

The editorial in the Peace Weekly would like to know what questions he would have for us today. And wonders what would be our answers. Merry Christmas.
 

The Quest for Happiness

A Catholic priest philosopher, writing in the Kyeongyang magazine, headlined his article: Those Who Want Happiness Need to Walk the Way of Love. He then gives us some examples of this theme.

For St.Thomas the answer to the question What is happiness? was the beatific vision. Many have difficulty with his "sugared, intellectualized," as it has been called, meaning of happiness. The writer goes on to say that this happiness that comes with  gazing (the beatific vision) is the purified and completeness of love. When St.Thomas speaks about happiness what is presupposed for him is that full knowledge equals full love. Shakespeare said something similar: “Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love."

The answer to the meaning of love is love. We learn love by loving. We have to find the way of love to get to happiness. We are all weak and scared individuals, but the first step on this road to love is the way to happiness.

The musical made from The Tale of Two Cites was popular here in Korea, and the priest uses the story as an example of love. It is a melodrama, with the French revolution as background. Old fashioned but with skill in the presentation, the musical leaves a strong impression on the viewer. Sydney Carton, a very talented lawyer, has lost faith in himself and in society. His unreciprocated love for Lucy, pure and full of mercy, remains and, in thanks for what he was given, offers up his life for love. The last scene shows the  saintly and happy death of this once lost soul.

The thesis that love  is happiness is known by those who walk tirelessly along this way.  Is this not the love of imperfect human beings for other imperfect humans? Though this love is still finite and selfish, is it not the imitation of infinite love and the beginning step on the way to happiness?

Another example in our times is the sister Emmanuelle, who lived with the trash collectors in Cairo for 20 years, showing her love to a forgotten segment of society, living in their poverty-like circumstances. In her words: "Many people carry within themselves the eternal face. Their gaze gives a response to love. They very naturally grow close to those they meet. Even their everyday duties, which are repeated over and over again to accomplish their tasks, are freed from emptiness and finiteness." Isn't this the result of love?

The priest concludes that his love is his happiness. For his happiness to be real he has to eagerly desire that his love be real. St. Augustine said after finishing writing one of his books, the book is finished but the quest is not. He ends  his article on happiness by wishing that we all continue the quest in learning how to love.

Letting our Mental Faculties Rest

Many  seeing those dying of hunger in Africa, the agony of families losing everything in natural disasters, and not mentioned by our spiritual columnist in the Catholic Times, the recent horrible killing of 20 kindergarten children, who has not been deeply saddened by these tragic events.
 
Here it is not the head but the heart that is moved. The head has no need to think, examine or cross examine; there is an immediate response from the heart (the spirit). We are in harmony with the will of God; the head rests, and we give ourselves over to  the spirit.

This is true also with a devote reading of the Scriptures. If we have only a rudimentary knowledge of Scripture and do not understand, we still read. With greater knowledge we understand more but even then we need to  stop our thinking and read with the heart. We leave aside our rationalizations and  rest in the fullness of the words. We can remain a whole day with a few words of the Scriptures: "found it very good" from the first chapter of Genesis, pondering over these words as our prayer. All becomes one and simple because we have given the mental faculties a temporary rest.

The mental faculties are good but when they are overused problems develop. At present in Korea the intellect has primacy. From grammar school on to college too many adults, according to the columnist, are living in the head: centering on the 'I' and seeking personal fulfillment. We are not giving the spiritual its rightful place.

In Korea, there are many who are addicted to internet games. They have not been able to surmount the mental, which often develop into addictions to the internet and gambling, and fantasizing about sex. And these problems are not restricted to a  few special people, repeats the columnist, but mostly those who live entirely within the head.

Reflect for a moment on a person kneeling before the remains of a loved one. For the moment he or she  has left the thinking faculties and cherishes the memory of the dead person, crying in the heart and spirit. In these cases few are  those who are still there with the ego, or worrying about work, or absorbed with future plans, but only present to  the dead person. It is a a time when one is lost in silence. It is not a silence that is intended but comes naturally. That is the way we are made. Most of us are not familiar with this way of behaving that comes with putting  aside our thinking faculties.

Putting ourselves out in front, criticizing others, does not appear when we are concerned in forming the self in harmony with the will of God. We get rid of our thinking and are content to rest in the abundance of our spirit. It is truly a precious present we have been given. It is here we experience the fullness of  truth.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Dream Dreams but...

Life is often like walking a tightrope: needing  to dream and at the same time needing to keep our feet firmly on the ground to escape unhappiness--if we are to keep our ideals and reality in the proper perspective. If we only go in search of our ideals, there is a chance they will disappear, and if the present reality is all we trust, there is no guarantee we will always possess it.

There are many that dream big: they will change the world, become rich, a great scientist... these dreams help in achieving one's goals. However, many will run up against reality, and have to deflate the dreams to make them more realistic.

In life, we have  success and failures. New beginnings, new efforts making new dreams, practicing becoming more of what we should be. The efforts are tiring but they  also add to the beauty of life. If before the wall of reality is encountered, we feel frustrated and give up, not giving it our best, we are not searching for our ideals. Even if we fail we need to search and try our best to achieve our ideals.

The desk columnist of the Catholic Times gives us the example of a taxi driver who envied all those he saw who were successful; he wanted to get into the business world but because of poverty began driving a taxi to support his family. He expressed this feeling of disappointed to a passenger who looked prosperous. The passenger told him to leave what he was doing and begin to work to achieve his dream. The taxi driver told him that was impossible because of the needs of his family. The passenger told the driver that he should not demean what he was doing, that there were people who would gladly exchange their jobs for his. But if he wanted to quit his job, he should search for another dream and make plans systematically to achieve it.

When one is dissatisfied by what he is doing the dream is usually missing. Dreams are what motivates us. But when we distort and stubbornly cling to our unrealistic dreams we may be running away from reality and sinking into shame, says the columnist. We have to be prepared to jettison unrealistic dreams.

For a Christian, following Jesus is both our ideal and  our reality. We trust and rely on him; we do not use the yardstick given to us by the  the world. Jesus' way is not always what we would like, but it is the way we need to go. He told us not to be afraid and to trust.

The columnist ends by telling us that it is necessary to dream. Without dreams, we are going to be miserable. If we do not know where we want to go, how can we find strength. We will have to decide on how this is going to be expressed in our lives. What is important is not to give up, to have passion, and to make the effort.

Mass Is Not the Sermon

Sermons are an important part of the Catholic liturgy but they are not the heart of what happens at the altar.  And yet many will leave the church having decided that what happened during the Mass was boring; the sermon was uninteresting. The sermon receives more importance than it deserves. But even a poor sermon can add to our growth in the totality of the Mass. 
 
The whole Mass is a audio-visual sermon. A representation and memorial of the love that Jesus showed us by his life, death and resurrection while here on earth.  We are not present at Mass as passive viewers but as active friends of Jesus who want to deepen our relationship with him by listening to him, by talking to him, by questioning him, by spending time in understanding his call to discipleship. And by becoming one with him. With this  active understanding of the Mass, we have no time to be bored because we are offering the Mass with the priest.

The columnist writing on spirituality for the Catholic Times mentions a priest who was well-known for giving inspiring sermons. He gives us a  glimpse of  the thoughts of his friend when preparing his sermons. Though he spent a great deal of time preparing them and saw them as very important, and was able to move the hearts of the parishioners, the columnist said that the priest didn't accept the praise uncritically.

He explained: "If my sermons are all that they remember and yet they do not pay attention to what is happening at the altar, forgetting what is being represented and what we are remembering, and do not experience  the joy and happiness of the liturgy, then there's a problem. If all that is remembered after the Mass is the sermon, then I have the fear that I pandered to a desire to be popular. I'm saying with sugary words what they want to hear, and that is not what it's all about."

For a Catholic, the sermon should draw us closer to Jesus, but this is done through the whole of the Mass, and it should not depend on the quality of the sermon. If we are receptive and have a desire to grow spiritually then the reception of  God's grace in our hearts will not be prevented by a poor sermon.

It cannot be stressed enough that though sermons are important and nourish us, they are only part of what is happening at Mass. We are renewing again the relationship with our Lord and preparing ourselves for the work he has given us. The word 'liturgy' means unpaid labor exacted by lawful authority. Jesus asks us to get involved in this work. The word 'Mass' derives from the word of dismissal taken from the Latin.  Showing our thanks for the trust he shows us, we answer with gratitude, in the last words of the Mass: "Thanks be to God." Since we have been united with Jesus in the Eucharist, the gratitude can not be exaggerated.