To Begin is to be Half Done

A famous movie director, who would begin shooting his film before having a completed scenario, was asked by a journalist why he did not complete his preparation before beginning the camera work. He said that there is no time at any beginning where you have a perfectly complete picture of what you want to do. Writing in Bible & Life; a poet tells us he had difficulty in understanding the words of the director, as conveyed by the journalist, considering them wildly wrong-headed. He reveals in his article how he came to a new understanding of his words.

He doesn't  know when but he came to realize that the beginning of something is actually part of the preparation. Nowadays, the words of the director give him courage: the beginning of anything, he realized, is when you commit yourself to do something, for then you are preparing for whatever comes after, which takes courage and a trusting attitude. With this kind of thinking, you tend to have confidence in the work and your expectation becomes greater.

Poets often say that a poem came to them. The writer says that this has not been his experience; he is always in search of a poem. If he had to wait for a poem to come, he said he would never have anything. It is only in the beginning, armed with the intention to write, that a poem comes to him. Song writers and other creative artists, he also mentioned, have had the same experience.

The director is right by noting the importance of the beginning, he said.  To begin when everything is prepared is perfectly alright; beginning and preparing is equally alright. If in the moment a person wants  to see some beautiful flowers and decides to plant flower seeds, it is then too late. When you do not  see the flowers, is when you plant.

It is not rare that  a great deal of time is spent in thinking and in preparation and never beginning.  Like drawing water from a well, you have to decide first to go to the well. It is said that to make a tablespoon of honey the bee has to return to a flower to gather its nectar about  4,200 times: the doing is what makes the honey.

The Japanese winner of the Noble prize in physics said that if you don't try, you will never know what you can do.  He also said "Look for any work that you can do, don't be afraid, and do it." The writer also mentions a famous industrialist who would often say to his workers, "Did you try doing it? Do not say it is difficult without trying it."

The writer reminds us that we are usually more sorry for what we haven't done than for what we have done. We should do, he says, whatever it is we set out to do and do it to the best of our ability. When you want to drink some water and can't find the water cup, you don't give up drinking but use whatever is available, be it a whiskey glass or a food dish. That is doing something to the best of your ability.

Nothing in life is done perfectly.  When we want to do something, it is best not to wait for the best of  times, but to begin doing it now.

Showing Compassion to the Sick

Many organizations are busy trying to make the transition to life in Korea less hectic and difficult for foreigners.  A religious sister of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul starts her column in the Peace Weekly with the words of our Lord: " At sunset, all who had people sick with a variety of diseases took them to [Jesus] and he laid his hand on each of them and cured them."

The sisters manage a medical clinic free of charge for foreign workers. Workers from many backgrounds and races come to the clinic asking for help, often using the only language they know: their own.  With joyless, weary faces they find their way to the clinic. Each one in his or her own way making known their ailment.

"Auntie, this thing here hurts."  Pointing his finger to his stomach: "What's wrong?" asks a man from Uzbekistan. 

"It is not auntie, say, sister, sister." the sister added a new word to  his vocabulary cheerfully.

Another, a Chinese woman, asks if it's possible to be recycled. Sister tells her the clinic is not a department of rehabilitation facility. The woman, who works twelve hours a day, says that her shoulders hurt, and she came for acupuncture.

Most of the foreigners who come to the clinic are illegal foreigners who have no medical insurance, and when sick, they can't go to a hospital. When there is strict  enforcement of the law, these workers are in serious trouble; as an illegal they can be forced to leave the country. They often work long hours doing work most Koreans would shun. The work is difficult and  the pay poor, the sister says, and their language skills are minimal. But there is little they can do to redress the situation, the sister adds. Only if they are in good health can they make a go of it.

We listen to their complaints, the sister says, and prepare them for an examination, taking blood pressure readings, examining blood, and giving medicine. And at all times extending the hand of love to them, in this lonely and cheerless place. When they call us auntie, she says, there is no problem. Hopefully, they will receive a little warmth and consolation from their encounter with us.

The Transcendent Life

What we are able to do with the mind and the body is increased greatly with the help of the spirit and heart  Not that the mind and body have little value or that the spirit and heart are everything, but with the help of the spirit we can enter another level of being, often called the transcendent life.

Writing in his weekly column on spirituality, the Catholic Times' columnist explains what living the transcendent life means to him. It does not mean, he says, being in church at all times. It can happen when we are in our homes, while eating or out walking, or doing anything, as long as the activity is offered up to God; doing so transforms and transcends our mundane concerns, and all of life takes on spiritual meaning.

What about the pleasures of the sexual life? Where do they fit in the transcendent life? It is not the pleasure of the moment that gives meaning to the sex act, says the columnist, but what happens after, when the fullness of love felt for one another can be experienced, bringing them the richness of living the spiritual life. In the  sexual act they  experience God  giving more life to their relationship together. It is this feeling that we want to see continued.
 
In any activity we have reasons to be thankful, he says. When we eat, for example, we have much to be thankful for; food allows us to work diligently and to  praise God. However, it does not mean that the more we eat the more thankful we are. What is important is our constant awareness of the transcendent meaning we have given to the act of eating. Many are satisfied with the eating itself. Content that bodily hunger has been satisfied and pleasure has been derived, they will not pursue any further meaning of the act of eating. But we should continue to be thankful, he says, for the energy received from the food eaten that allows us to pursue our transcendent goal in life.

In all our actions, if we are concerned only with the mind and body, we will do damage to the harmonious relationship we should have with God and also do damage to ourselves. The possibility of spiritual life is always there if we can succeed in keeping the mind and body from interfering.

We think we know a great deal with our minds but with some reflection we realize how little we know.  When we eat we have little idea what happens to our food in digestion, and how it becomes part of our bodies. Few know what makes the car we are driving go.

We are blind to so much of life. We are surrounded by mystery, which is all about God's providence. Although this is the case, we are not completely perplexed with the situation.  We are actually happy, says the columnist, with the situation, for we are, little by little, uncovering some of the mystery. Would it be necessary to have a God if we knew everything? This is one reason why we believe.

We believe that God in his providence is very meticulously keeping us and the world in his hands, directing everything always for the good. Our part is to be  involved in this movement, which is spirituality and the transcendent life.


 

Korean National Election

One of the most important events of the past year was our 18th election for the presidency of the country. A high percentage of voters turned out to elect our first woman president, but at the same time as we praised these achievements societal conflicts remain to be resolved. 

Deeply rooted feelings divide us, says a columnist of the Catholic Times. Conservatives and progressives continually hurl invectives at each other, the 20 and 30-year-olds are opposed to the generation of the 50 and 60-year-olds, and so it goes, with a great deal of false information and criticism of each others' position being exchanged without any serious discussion of issues, the goal only to win votes.

It is now time to work  together, he says. We are all brothers and sisters of the same country, and the elections are over: time for the victors and losers  to seek the common good.  This is the time to communicate and search for unity. The victors should extend their hands in reconciliation and in dialogue. The victors are to remember that almost half the country did not go along with the victor, and when making the laws to keep "the losers" in mind.

And the losers should accept humbly, difficult though it might be, the wish of the majority of the  people. They should not work to criticize the victors but to accept the fact that they have been chosen to run the county for the next five years. When seeing something wrong, they should bring this to the attention of the government, and become partners in the running of the country.

Although we may not rid ourselves, says the columnist, of a feeling of dislike for the others position, what is necessary now is dialogue between the two positions in order to reach some sort of understanding. And solving these controversial issues often depend, the columnist believes, on how the family communicates. Our current generational divide, for example, might not exist, he says, if there had been better communication in the family.  Fathers should be communicating with the children and wife, creating an atmosphere in the family that is open to dialogue.

Cardinal Chong in his address to Catholic journalists mentioned that fathers should be the first to listen to their children and wives, and be ready to work in resolving family misunderstandings and discontent. Sincerely listening to the family members can solve many problems. When there is a refusal to listen, hurt feelings are created that work against the unity of the family.

This also holds true in the world of politics. When those in power listen to the opposition, there is a better chance for communication and unity.The columnist ends with a quote from  Matthew 5:23-24: "If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

Japanese Catholicism Seen by a Korean

Japan, a country near yet far from Korea, hosts a Catholic Church that is near both in distance and in feeling, says a Korean priest who gives us his views of the Japanese Church, as he has seen it during his 19 years in Japan.
 
He mentions that the conservatives in the government still have a colonial mentality, and that he has felt some prejudice among the people because of his Korean nationality, though this attitude is changing, he says. Visiting the historic sites near where he works, he sees what the Korean ancestors have given to Japan and feels a sense of pride in being Korean. The Japanese are beginning to look at their past, feeling embarrassed, and wanting to atone for it.

The estimate of Japanese martyrs range from 40 to 50 thousand. The persecutions started in the 16th century and continued until 1873, when it officially ended. However, the government, up to 1945 and even after, has been reluctant to disown the crimes of the past, and the Japanese themselves have difficulty, with their unique religious disposition, to leave the past behind.

The missionaries who arrived after the persecution did not make sufficient effort, he believes, to inculurate Christianity but merely translated Christian culture into Japan instead of adapting the externals of the religion to the culture and the traditions they found there.Furthermore, the Church's reliance on help from foreign aid gave the impression that the religion was a foreign import. A view the Church has never been able to erase.

Japan of 400 years ago had 400 thousand Catholics. Today, surprisingly, the Catholic Church has approximately the same numbers: 444 thousand Catholics, now organized in 16 dioceses and 797 parishes, with 1,475 priests and 5,766 religious. Compared to the Korean Church of today, it is a far less active Church. Especially when visiting the rural areas you will see parishes, even on Sundays, with no more than 10 people at Mass, and most parishes would have less than 10 people baptized in a year.

However, he goes on to say we cannot say that Japan has not accepted Christianity; the Christians of today are respected. The 854 kindergartens and mission schools are a good example of this. Not only Christians but even some non-Christians are interested in providing their children with a Christian foundation for their children's education.

The educated Japanese often refer to Christian teachings in their works. And when it comes to marriage, many Japanese prefer, even more than the Shinto, the Christian rites for weddings.

The Japanese Church is spiritually strong, the priest says, though few Japanese are Catholic. The priests often do their own cleaning and washing, taking are of all their needs by themselves. They often teach catechism and Scripture to just one person and yet it takes your breath away, he says, to see how thorough they continue to be in their pastoral work.

Two years ago when the tsunami devastated Japan many Christians were involved in the clean up and caring for the injured. The Church also continues its concern for the foreign workers in Japan, offering  Masses in different languages, a good example for the Korean Church to follow. He ends the article by asking for prayers that Japanese Christianity adapt itself more to Japanese culture than it has in the past, understand and put into practice the teachings of Vatican II, and that it will find a way to grow and prosper in the years ahead.

Moving from the Other to a You

Only in the beauty created
by others is there consolation,
in the music of others and in others’ poems.
Only others save us,
even though solitude tastes like
opium. The others are not hell,
if you see them early, with their
foreheads pure, cleansed by dreams.
That is why I wonder what
word should be used, “he” or “you.” Every “he”
is a betrayal of a certain “you” but
in return someone else’s poem
offers the fidelity of a sober dialogue.

This poem by Adam Zagajewski, translated into English, begins an article in the Kyeongyang magazine by a professor, with a doctorate from an American university in modern poetry, in the English Department of a Korean university. She summarizes what the poem has meant to her and wants to share her feelings with her readers at the beginning of this new year.

When she became aware that for most of us our waking hours are taken up with the 'I', she doesn't know. But it's clear to her now that everything we attempt: decisions, successes, failures, self-examinations, understandings, sorrows,  despairs--all have to do with the "me." Which makes every thing we attempt to do difficult, and going to another level requires more effort than should be necessary.

This is the way our understanding usually comes to us, she says. Everything starts with me but unknowingly, the other doesn't remain the other but becomes an intimate and a warm mystery of 'you'. The other should come to us as a 'you'.  Therefore, if the other can become a 'you', and we let it remain the other, this is a betrayal.

When I am tired by struggling with others, she writes, facing failure on the  battlefield of life and yet still able to stretch  out my hand to the unknown other, the loneliness of the narrow way  I am walking becomes wider. When we have many other 'I' s walking the same way, we turn into a community.

Throwing off the self, she continues, I am able to see the beauty of the other.  When I am able, using all my strength, to give up protecting  my domain, it is then that I find relief, giving me strength to meet the other with happiness.  Having our eyes opened to getting rid of the 'I' and daily making the other into a 'you' as we see the hurt and pain of the other is the writer's wish for the new year.

The Power of Forgiveness

Much is learned, says a priest, from visiting parishioners who have not been coming out to church.  From the way they speak and the attitude they have it is not difficult to determine their degree of sympathy for the Church. There are those who want nothing to do with the priest and don't even open the door, and there are those who respond with a meaningless, I am sorry. You also see a spark of faith in their responses, but it was the response of a middle-aged woman that moved the priest to write about his experience in the  Catholic Digest Reader.

When he asked the woman why she wasn't going to Mass, she answered that she couldn't go to Mass. A few years earlier her husband, a truck driver, had killed a child in a truck accident. The husband spent some time in prison, and they did come to an agreement with the family, but the wife lived with a heavy heart, especially because the mother of the dead child visited them screaming, "Bring my child back to life." The father of the child also came to the home and told her how would she like to have her child struck dead on the road.  She became afraid and started going to the Catholic Church, entered the catechism class, and was baptized.

One Sunday, she said, while at Mass, she was so shocked that her heart seemed to stop. The parents of the child who was killed in the truck accident were members of the same church. And her own child was playing with the younger brother of the child who was killed. She didn't know how she finished the Mass but left for home right after. From that time on, she never returned, fearing that the parents on seeing her, all the anguish of the past would return. She had heard that the dead child's parents were Catholics, but it never entered her mind that they were members of the same parish.

The priest understood how painful and frustrating the situation was for the woman. In any event, he thought; the parents of  the dead child had the keys to solving the problem. The parents of the dead child  were devout members of the community and were thought well of by everybody. They couldn't forget their dead child, but the animosity towards the driver had disappeared. The priest on a visit to their home revealed to them that the wife of the man who killed their son in the accident was a member of the same church. They were surprised to hear the news and remained in silence for some time.

After the start of the new year, the father of the dead child came to see the priest. He told the priest, with a trembling voice, that he and his wife went to see the family of the truck driver a few days before Christmas with a box of apples. They sincerely  apologized for their actions. All they could think of was their child and never considered the pain of the driver of the truck and his feelings. They were embarrassed and sincerely sorry for their wretched and rude behavior towards the family and asked for forgiveness. He even told the truck driver that if he decided to come out to the church, he would like to be his godfather at baptism. He told the priest that he felt a lightness of heart when he thought about all of them coming together at Christmas.

Forgiveness is a gift of grace. It is the ability to embrace all that was done, especially the scars, and emptying oneself of all that was standing in the way of going out to the other in forgiveness. There are probably few things that we know as well from the teachings of Jesus as the call to forgive. Let us expand this heartfelt gift from the individual, to groups, and to nations.