We just finished an eventful 2014. There were many accidents and
incidents that brought much sadness. We saw a breakdown of trust in our national systems, a minimum of concern for
etiquette, and a lack of shame, which gave rise to citizen's anger. Despite it all there was
reason for hope in the visit of the pope.
A hope the
new year will be better. A seminary professor who teachers Church History at the diocesan seminary, in an article in the Kyeongyang
magazine, introduces us to three words which prepare for the new year:
plans, desires and spring.
Each year we make plans
and each year we fail to carry them out. We decide to change some
aspect of our lives, to do something we have never done before, and make some long range plans. As a Catholic we decide to become more involved
in church life, take more interest in our spiritual life etc., but
again we fail, however, the making of plans is a worthwhile exercise; we have the opportunity to look over our lives.
Failure
comes because we don't reflect on who we are and make huge plans not
proper to our situation. We need to have control over the plans and not be impetuous, true also in our growth in spirituality; not an area we can in a few moments of time hope to see
renewal. Required is effort over a period of time to
see results, and no need to despair when not attained with our time clock.
We all have dreams and desires that we want to see realized. Whether a person is
religious or not is immaterial for desiring is part of our nature. These
desires are varied: health, success, family peace, not achieved the past
year we try again. We also have desires for the nation.
However, we have to determine whether our desires are opposed to what
another person desires. Our desires can be fueling our greed. In God's providence the
answer may come in a way we do not expect. If we do not get what we
want no reason to hold God responsible nor despair but to remain
patient and continue desiring.
When we followed the lunar calendar the New Year coincided with spring. The weather is not warm but we know that spring is close. Lunar New Year was often used interchangeably with spring. As we know from the winter solstice the days begin getting longer. The time for a take-off.
When
no hint of change is perceived it is easy to see only darkness, But
the present continues to change. It is only a question of time before
spring is here. This is nature's way. Our spiritual life is the same. No blossoming, we are faced with the fierce cold and recoil but with patience we know the spring will come.
The
writer used these three words to urge us to see the new year in a
different way. There are those who have no feeling one way or another
with the advent of the new year, and those who have lost hope and with
the above kind of talk greet it only with a cynical smile.
Even
with this attitude, frustrated and lacking hope this planning and desiring are not useless. According to the law of nature spring
will come. The new year will be different and our need to continue to hope.
The visit of the pope to Korea is still vivid to the Korean
Catholics. His words of appreciation and hope remain not only with the
Catholics but with many of the citizens. He urged the Asian youth to
let their faith be a light to the world. At the beatification ceremony
he pointed out how the martyrs overcame the world and their age with
their faith. Showed those hurting in society his solidarity with
their suffering. Expressed great affection and friendship to the
bishops of Korea but at the same time did not hide his concern with the
challenges to the church of materialism and secularization
(worldliness). These are the words that begin an article in the Korean
Times by a sociologist priest who is the head of the justice and peace committee in his diocese.
Secularization,he says,
generally means the society and culture have abandoned religious
systems and ways of thinking. Industrialization and the multiplicity of
religions have become part of the society. The problem comes when the
church and the people of faith are not conscious that they have become
part of the secularization.
This is the temptation to
worldliness. Instead of following the Gospel and the Church's tradition
we follow the ways of the world The way we have gone for big and
splendid churches and concerned with the numbers of converts is a sign
of this thinking, The church is in search of efficiency like in
industry. Our lives are judged by success and power. The church becomes a
social gathering.
There is the movement towards making
religion and the Gospel a private matter. We limit it to the private
sphere and make it something for the individual. The public
dimension of the Gospel is ignored, the church should only be concerned
with the individual mind and soul. To criticize society and pick out
problems in society is not permitted.
This secularization of religion makes it a private affair and makes for the
marketization of religion, and the theology of prosperity. Consumers
pick what fits their taste and this leads to a Jesus who will bring success and prosperity. Religions and the Church is
no longer purifying us from boundless desires but instead urges on
the craving.
The pope made it very clear that this comes about when the church is no longer close to the people. In this case the church
becomes a social gathering. We lose the prophetic call. We become a church of the rich: a 'well-being' church. The pope showed the bishops where they must go.
"Solidarity with the poor is at the heart of the Gospel; it has to be
seen as an essential element of the Christian life; through preaching
and catechesis grounded in the rich patrimony of the Church’s social
teaching, it must penetrate the hearts and minds of the faithful and be
reflected in every aspect of ecclesial life. The apostolic ideal of a
Church of and for the poor, a poor Church for the poor, found eloquent
expression in the first Christian communities of your nation. I pray
that this ideal will continue to shape the pilgrim path of the Church in
Korea as she looks to the future. I am convinced that if the face of
the Church is first and foremost a face of love, more and more young
people will be drawn to the heart of Jesus ever aflame with divine love
in the communion of his mystical body" (Talk of the pope to Korean bishops).
A discussion with refugees from the North and knowledgeable persons of the current situation of North Korea was transcribed for an article in the Peace Weekly in a question and answer form.
Q. How is the situation in North Korea at present?
A. With the advent of Kim Jong-un life has become more difficult; not because of problems in not having enough to eat. The ones leaving the North are looking for a better life. In the past if unification were to come they wanted it with the leadership of the North, today there is a desire for unification and they don't care who takes the lead, they want unification for a better life.
A. Living conditions in North Korean are much better than in the past. Even the poor can have three meals a day even though it may be corn gruel. However the difference between those who have and those that don't is getting larger, and the poor are having more difficulty.
Q. South Korea is sending food to the North. Is this getting into the hands of the poor people?
A. The bishops have sent food to the North and the priest responsible for the support that is given has been on the spot and certifies that it is delivered to the people, and not sent to other countries for income. The rice we send is going to feed the North Koreans.
Q.The difference in understanding between the North and South is great. Among the citizens in the South there is dissent with helping the North. If we don't solve this problem, even if we have unification the future looks dark.
A. This is a serious issue. There is little effort being made to improve the situation. The Church should be doing something about the rift between the North and South, and foster understanding but the polarization within the South is also the same polarization within the Church. The issue with the North should not be one between the conservatives and progressives. We have to get rid of this ideology. We need to learn about the North and understand them.
Q. What do we need to do to make it easy for the refugees from the North to feel at home in the South?
A. One of those who left the North and for 6 months traveled to Laos, Myanmar and Thailand before finally arriving in South Korea answers: "The help given by the South Korean Government is greatly appreciated. There are many who find it difficult to adapt to the intense life here in the South. Support of the government, and the warm welcome of the churches is a great help.
At the time of the
Sewol tragedy,a group of college students planned a festival and the religious sisters in charge wanted to
change the program to one for reconciliation. In the column on the Electronic and Book World in
the Catholic Times, the columnist wants us to use this situation to
reflect on the word perception and its meaning.
The
sisters asked the 180
students what they wanted to do considering the disaster the nation was
dealing with. They told those who wanted to continue with the festival
to go to the basement auditorium.
They were hoping to see little movement, at least only
half, one third .... They were mistaken for without hesitation almost
all left for the basement. Only about 20 remained. And of those
20 were some that didn't enjoy the prospect of singing and dancing; this
group spent time in silence, conversation and meditating. While the
others enjoyed singing and dancing in the basement auditorium.
The
sisters alternatively spent time with each group coming and going, and
were able to determine the spirit of each group. Surprisingly, they
found the faces of the smaller group seemed to have more joy. They
were entering into themselves, hurting and sad but at the same time
showed great peace and joy. The students that were singing and dancing
also were enjoying their time together but
their joy was stimulated by something external and different in
kind from the other group. Dancing and singing, money and honor can
bring only temporary joy. Persons can be in pain, and sad, and yet can be at peace and have joy.
Perception in all these cases makes the difference.
Perception grasps the totality of the situation, knows what is
important, puts order in thought and comes to understanding. She
quotes one of the famous Korean philosophers of the past who maintained
perception was at the center of our mental faculties. We are able to
distinguish all the stimuli that come from the outside. When we hear,
and see, our faculty to perceive uncovers what is important. We look for
reasons and results, examine our
experiences, and express our emotions. When we read we
don't assign the knowledge to the store house but respond with
perception and emotion that becomes part of the basis for the way we see life.
Consequently,
when we hear a lecture or read a book one person is energized and
another person finds it boring. We are not all living in the same kind
of world. We respond to the same stimuli in different ways. How did the
students receive the news of the Sewol tragedy and perceive what
happened? Was it only news? Does having the festival mean the young
people will not have time to grieve? Or are we dealing with a
situation in which the young people see so many atrocities, and natural
disasters that they have become unfeeling?
Perception is
something more than reading and seeing the news and having knowledge of a
situation. Perception is the meeting of sensation
and our experience, giving us meaning and understanding which
becomes the bases for our introspection and
contemplation. Perception does not mean to look upon the world as an
object of our perception but to meet and have direct contact with the
world. Isn't this why, she concludes, we say real experience is the experience of perception?
"Few souls understand what
God would
accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to
Him and
if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly." St. Ignatius
Loyola's words would take a life time to understand, and for most of us,
even then, their meaning would escape us.
God
only knows how to give without conditions, this is grace: free and unmerited gift of God. We are not
able to receive because we do not allow him to embrace us. In the Seoul
Bulletin a poet writes about the light that entered her life. In the
most difficult of situations there has been the flicker of light that
she was able to see and has given her hope even when hope seemed
impossible. Complete despair does not exist for a small flicker of light
will make its appearance. No matter how difficult it is to believe she
continues to believe. She has the flicker of light and her belief which gives her life.
Searching
is a trait that we hear a lot about these days. We have the search for
'well being' for 'healing', a spirituality without religion which will
fill the needs of the searchers. Those who have had the time to look over their lives
and those of others quickly realize that we don't achieve happiness
with what is external, no matter what it is. Happiness comes
from inside oneself. And even the young people understand that without
a minimum of self discipline they will destroy themselves, and harm
those they love. Searching is an important part of life, but for a
Christian we know that God searches for us, seeks to embrace
us, and to give us of himself. Our answer is the 'fiat'.
We
go in search for answers to our angst, while God's grace is wanting
to fill us but we do not understand. Today is the Feast of the Epiphany
and we have the three wise men who were searching, and found what they
were looking for by following the light and willing to be led.
They were humble, opened to ask questions, and wise enough not to trust those unworthy of trust. The story of the Epiphany has meant a great deal to Christians from the very beginning because of the message that it has to offer. Those who had the opportunities to see the light did not, and those who did see the light were moved to follow. All is grace, and one of our greatest tragedies is not to realize this very central truth of Christianity. We go in search for something that we should already possess, one of the great paradoxes of life.
Recently the word toxic parents is seen often in the press. The
columnist in View from the Ark in the Catholic Times recounts a personal
incident that he recalls from the past in his days as a principal of a
high school.
In making the rounds of the class rooms
he saw a student fighting with another student. The student that
initiated the fight, out of the blue, asked the principal: 'Is what I
have done reason enough to call my mother to come to the school?" A
question which surprised the principal. You would think that he would
ask for mercy, but rather it was with the expectation that he would have the mother come to the school over the
incident.
The principal was curious and looking into
the issue found out that the mother without consultation had
registered him in five academies after school. This proved to
be a problem with the son. Fortunately the father was on the side of the
son, but the mother was adamant. The son hoped the fight would bring the
mother to the school and solve his problem.
They
decided to have an encounter with the student, parents, and teachers. They never had a case of this type so the principal was present. At the
first meeting there was great conflict between the mother and son. On
the way home the three of them walked their separate ways.
On
the second meeting the mother crying said she had no other way of
behaving because of her situation. Her husband's brothers all attended
prestigious schools and her husband went to another college. Fortunately
a cousin was accepted at the school that her husband attended so
if her son doesn't get into college all will think that the children
did not have the right mother.
The son seeing his
mother crying and hearing her words said he would work hard to get
into college and give all the glory to his mother. The fight between
them ended. The husband also was sorry for his behavior. All gave in to
the mother and acquiesced to live with the toxic smoke emitted.
Not
wanting to pass on to the children the mother's weak points she was instead passing on her toxic behavior. This type of nurturing of the child will pass on the toxicity to other generations. What
this generation needs is creativity and autonomy to solve their own
problems. Because of what the son has seen it will be difficult to expect an openness to the life of virtue.
The Chinese
character for closeness (intimacy) has three parts: standing on a tree, and looking
around. This is the understanding that he wants included in the process
of nurturing of children and to be wary of controlling every aspect of
a child's life. He hopes the new year will see many more children
enjoying the school years, and parents finding satisfaction in their
family life without the pressures from society.
We talk a lot about happiness these days says a religious sister who
writes and teaches in the field of spirituality. Her article appears on
the opinion page of the Catholic Times.
She wonders
whether the reason for this interest is the leisure many have found.
Talking about the subjective elements of happiness is not easy. To speak
about happiness objectively, and try to measure the degree of happiness
is also difficult, and to compare the degrees of happiness with other
countries doesn't really make much sense, however, in one of the
comparisons with developed countries of the world, Korea comes out near
the bottom. Korea's economic development has improved greatly, but the
happiness index has not kept up with the material development. Why not?
she asks.
She uses the study made by a college professor
who feels that a lot has to do with the factors surrounding a Korean's
desires. A Korean world view has a great deal to do with family,
present day blessings, and a fusion of worldly blessings and recompense
for the hardships of working in the competitive world in which we live.
The blessings are worldly blessing.
At the start of a
New Year we are wishing others good fortune and what is being wished is
different for each person, but the professor believes good fortune
would be wealth, honors, good health and the like, not internal qualities. Consequently, in our society with excessive competition and a
culture which considers order and rank as important, we have many factors that militate against happiness.
We who are Christians are born in this society and can't help but be influenced by the culture. The desire for worldly blessings should not be our only desire. We
have to appreciate the mystery of pain and difficulties of life.
Difficulties in life can make our life more fruitful.
Where
is the person that can go through life without problems? We all have
different ways of accepting the joys and sorrows of life. We need the wisdom to accept serenely the pain and difficulties of life for it will be the key in finding happiness.
We
already know, she says, that happiness and unhappiness co-exist. There
is a time to be happy and to be sad, a time to cry and a time to
laugh.... She gives us two maxims that express the idea that we really
don't know whether success is success or failure is failure until we look back in retrospect. Our attitude is all important.
She
wants us to begin the new year with a trust in providence. Open to accept all the variety of things that may come our way: mature
Christians asking God for the grace to be born again at the start of this new year.
