Today is the World Day of the Sick, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
We are reminded to pray for all the sick and to thank and honor all
those who work in health care and serve as caregivers. The day was
established by Pope John Paul II in 1992.
Well being,
and healing are two English words we see often, and society continues to
present us with the ideal of health and wealth. Religion is a means for
some believers to search for these values but these values are not the
ones Jesus gave to his Church. Jesus possessed none of the values
that humans think are important: wealth, honor, long life and at one
time children. However, sickness brings to human life much distress and
suffering, and we rightly do all we can to do away with, lessen and
prevent suffering.
The Peace Weekly editorial uses the
words from Job 29:15, which Pope Francis titled his message, to bring
the attention of the readers to this 23rd World Day of the Sick: 'I was
eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame" and recommends to us the
'wisdom of the heart'.
Many are those who see suffering as
the reason to close themselves off from God. How could an all good,
all knowing and all powerful God allow the suffering that we see in
the world? He can't possibly exist and even if he did, they could not
accept him. Job had problems with his God especially when his friends
wanted him to acknowledge his own fault for his suffering which he was
not able to do. We do not know the mind of God and for a Christian we
know he does not cause the suffering we have to endure, but allows it to
happen for reasons our mind is not able to grasp.
The
editorial reminds us that we as Christians have always seen suffering as a way
of participating in the sufferings of Christ. When the sufferings are the kind that we can't avoid and must accept, it becomes a short cut to
get nearer to Jesus.
Our faith does not make it any easier to understand suffering with our heads but it does give us the help to embrace it when we are faced with it. This requires grace and personal experience.
The editorial wants us to act in the way Job and the Samaritan did in
loving and giving comfort to those who face suffering, and are in difficult circumstances. To do this we need to develop the wisdom of the heart.
There are times at Mass where parishioners will take out their
smartphones for the lyrics of a hymn, or the readings for the Mass.
Young priests will take their smartphones to the pulpit to help them deliver
the sermon. In her column in the Catholic Times a religious sister
distinguishes between the paper books and electronic books, and comes
to some interesting conclusions.
She admits when
traveling she uses the smartphone for prayers, but after finishing
wonders whether she did pray. She feels she has done her duty, and yet
she doesn't feel it was a prayer. Was it because of the distracted
environment? No, for when she has complete quiet and alone she has the
same feeling. Isn't it the fragrance from the weight of the book of the
Divine Office? In any event she feels that something is missing:
whether it was habit, bias or whatever, there is something that she was
not able to fill with the use of the electronic book.
With
the liturgy, concentration is important. We try to get rid of
distractions and focus all our attention on the words we are reading
and let them resonate deep within us, and allow our faith to confess
them. There is not a search for knowledge but meaning in our faith
life, and to purify our hearts and spirit. Is the smart phone a
hindrance in reading deeply the words in front of us?
The
script in a written book and the script in a smartphone is the same all
that is different is the container. The medium is different. McLuhan,
the media scholar, has left us the famous words: The medium is the
message. The medium is already the message and influences our thinking
and in the way we live. Walter Ong the English Literature scholar said
the form of the medium contains the substance and at the same time
becomes the contents.
The words we use contained in the
smartphone is the same container used for music, videos, SNS and
for innumerable amount of information. The use of the smartphone over
the years has aroused in us many conscious and unconscious feelings that
weaken our ability to concentrate on what we
are doing.
She mentions the studies that have shown
that there is a difference in the results of reading from a book and
reading from a smartphone. To day there is an excessive dependence on
smartphones. When we want to pray and click on the smartphone how does
the brain react? She hopes that we will not abandon the use of paper
books, for she sees the loss of our ability to concentrate and to maintain a peaceful interior due in some degree to our use of the smartphones.
A priest with the
responsibility for pastoral work in places of labor says Mass in
different groups once a month. In time, he realized this pastoral work
would allow some flowers to bloom and gradually make a bouquet and even a
flower garden. He writes about one of the incidents in Bible & Life.
In the workplace groups you have two types who attend the Masses: workers who want to be there, and those who are there because their work bosses thought it was a good idea.
He
brings to the attention of his readers a man from this second group. He
met him for the first time waiting in an area where those preparing to
receive the sacrament of reconciliation were seated. His facial
expression was one of displeasure, and he told the priest: "I don't want
to go to confession."
"Well
let us talk about it." The man after a long period of silence and a
deep sigh said he hadn't been to church for some time, and presently,
he has no desire to return. His section boss learned about his baptism
and that is why he came.
After
a short period he go up and went to the place for the Mass. The other
fellow believers went to communion but he did not, and during the Mass
he showed on his face that he did not like being where he was. At the
end of Mass the priest expressed his desire they all find hope in the
work place. The man was seen by the priest writing something on a piece
of paper.
On
the way to the meal the man came up beside him and gave him a slip of
paper. After a distracted meal the priest headed for the subway and
took out the slip of paper on which was written: "The work place is a
war zone."
He
wouldn't be going back to that work place for a month and prepared an
answer on a similar slip of paper: "Even in a battle zone flowers can
grow." They continued to communicate with these written messages on
slips of paper.
"Flowers don't put an end to war. "
"Those who see the flower will not be fighting."
"One person who stops and looks at the flower is not sufficient."
This
last message got the priest thinking. After receiving the slip of paper
and seeing the man leave, was like seeing his father and made him sad.
He
ran after the man and asked if they could go for a cup of coffee. They
talked for sometime on many topics. He as a young man was active in the
church and even after beginning to work, but he became frustrated and
faced many difficulties and did not feel the warmth of God's presence
any more.... Tears began to form in his eyes when he received a
telephone call from his work boss. Waiting for him to return the priest was
wondering how to answer his last complaint.
Shaking
his hand as they separated the priest said: "The ones looking at the
flower are two, you and I , so that is reason for you to have hope,
isn't it?"
Activists who take what they believe seriously, and want to do
something about the wrong they see are not always welcomed in "polite"
society. They rock the boat and make us uncomfortable. It is better not
to see, or hear if is going to change the way we have been accustomed
to live.
A religious sister in her article in the
diocesan bulletin tells her readers about two fathers she admires: the father of a girl who died in the Sewol Tragedy, and father of a girl who worked in Samsung's Semiconductor Industry and
died of leukemia.
She met the father of the girl who died
in the ferry tragedy and asked him why he continues the
fast. He told her that he wants to know the reason for the death of his
daughter, and since he has no money and no power he resorted to fasting
and is willing to risk death to find the truth.
By watching the movie 'Another Promise'; she met the father of the girl,
who died of leukemia, a taxi driver, struggling to meet family expenses.
He was proud, when he heard that his daughter got a job at the
biggest conglomerate in the country. Within two years, however, she
returned home with leukemia from which she died. The daughter before she
died asked the father to show that working in the semiconductor section
of the company was the reason for her leukemia, and not something that
came from her. The company kept denying any responsibility for the
sickness. The father gave up his job and spent all his time trying to make
the company acknowledge their responsibility.
Her article
shows how a father sacrificed the life of his son to save the lives of
those who were riding in a train that had come to a drawbridge over a
river. He was the railroad worker responsible for the working of the drawbridge. That day he brought his son to the workplace, the son fell beneath the tracks as the train was coming towards the bridge,
there was no time and he chose to save the passengers, and sacrificed his
son. This was the theme of a short movie that the sister remembered
seeing, and relates it to the love of God for Jesus and all of us. There are times when we are called to sacrifice our comfort, our money and even our lives for something greater.
The
two fathers on the occasion of the death of their daughters decided
that the situations which caused the death of their daughters was not an act of God but of human culpability and were prepared to risk everything
to bring this to the knowledge of the world. The sister admires these
two ordinary men, who were willing to sacrifice for truth. There has been some success in the fight of
these two fathers but the curtain has not come down on the final results of their efforts.
Korea has been divided for over 60 years, the lack of communication
between the North and South has affected the once common language of the
country. North Korean Refugees who have come to the South are the first
ones to experience the change and the difficulties in communicating in
the same country. The language spoken in Pyongyang and Seoul are
different. At present, basic communication is possible, but if we continue going our two different ways, with
unification we will have a problem not easily remedied.
The
representative of the bishops' committee for reconciliation of the
country writes of some of the difficulties he has experienced in dealing
with the refugees from the North living in the South. He has invited
young people from the North to a meal. The answer comes back
bluntly, not a refusal but neither an obvious acceptance: he
surmises they don't want to relate with him, not interested, no
need to be concerned. This understanding comes mostly from the
intonation of their voice, facial expression and rough exterior. He learns
quickly that's not the message that they want to give. The answer is
actually OK, and is embarrassed in harboring the negative thoughts.
On
one occasion after finishing a meal together in a restaurant the person
said to his understanding: "my back hurts because of the way I put on
my shoes." This was not at all what was said, but: "for no reason my
back hurts." What the South would call octopus they call squid.
And many similar examples are the different meanings for words used.
Some are completely opposite from their use in the South.
The
North has made great effort to exclude foreign words in contrast to the South. Many of the words in the South, because of the long interaction with the rest of the world, uses many words from English and other
languages but the North has maintained a desire for 'purism' this
movement is also present in the South but has not progressed far. A
limited use of Chinese characters have been accepted in the North after
years of refusal; the South continues with the 1800 characters they work with in the schools.
The
article mentions how often they use the same words to mean two different
things. In conversation they think they are understanding each other
but are not. This is not an infrequent occurrence.The foreign words
that the North Koreans see are one of the biggest problems they
have in feeling at home in the South.
When relating
with those from the North he recommends to remember how it would be living in a foreign country doing your studies. Gently ask after
speaking whether they understand what was said. Because of embarrassment
they will not ask you to repeat, but will give the impression they
understand when they don't. Don't force the issue, don't look down on
them, don't get angry. Remember how we would be in a foreign country.
With this attitude we will come to an understanding and acceptance of
each other.
A
survey was made among 1500 citizens on their knowledge of hospice and
palliative care, the results showed that only 39.5 percent were
familiar with the hospice movement. An essay in the Catholic Times by a nurse in a Catholic University hospice ward gives us her thoughts on the subject of palliative care.
She
has been a nurse for thirty years, and only a few years before did she
become acquainted with the movement; if this is true of a nurse, she
says, how much more so for others. She has worked in all the
different wards of a hospital, and remembers the efforts she made to
solve the problems the sick faced, and found great satisfaction and
was filled with confidence in the work.
Assigned
to the palliative care ward this all changed. In the beginning she felt
helpless in dealing with the terminally ill cancer patients. She felt
her limitations and great uncomfortableness in working in the ward. But
with the passage of time she began to feel a numbness to her
surroundings and felt guilty in being so callous, and wanted to get back
to the thoughts she has when she first became a nurse. This coldness
appeared unconsciously, she feels, in defense of seeing so many who
were dying, something she did not experience in the other wards of the
hospital.
One
of her misgivings, at present, is not being able to make the last
moments of the dying into memorable events for the families and the
terminally sick. As she mentions there are many, even among the medical
personnel, who feel those in hospice are only there awaiting for death.
It is true that they are there because death is imminent, but we can't
say we can't do anything. We can search for what makes them happy,
and make the last years of earthly life memorable for the dying and
their families.
We
are all preparing to die. Hospice workers are trying to make this
bereavement into something that will leave beautiful memories behind.
Efforts are made to make the time before death as painless and profitable as possible,
and to minimize the sadness attendant on the death of a love one.
Isn't
this the aim of palliative care? She concludes her essay with her
desire to be of more service to those dying and their families. She
feels like an important fellow traveler with the sick person and the
family member, and to serve as the outstretched hand of an
angel.
Families are the basic unit of society. When families are healthy
society is healthy. The role the family had as producer and consumer has
now been reduced to being where members sleep. The intensity of
competition in our society prevents families from being places of
security and rest; the influence of religion on the family has
weakened. These are the words a university professor, with experience
in the field, uses in his article on the family, in the Kyeongyang
Magazine.
The extended family in the past was able to
respond to our needs, both essential and non-essential. With
the change to the nuclear family this has become difficult. We find not
only the non-essential needs are filled outside the family, but also the
essential ones. Even the nuclear family is beginning to wobble. We have
both husband and wife needing to work, the pressure on children to study, and even the living apart of husband and wife for
the sake of the children's schooling. In the last 25 years we have a fourfold increase in divorces, and two times the number of unmarried
families.
Because of the lack of communication within the family we have the breakdown of family bonds. We do hear:
"Have you eaten? Where are you? Are you home? "Can we call this
communication? According to the mass media the face to face
communication has given way, in many instances, to the use of the smart
phone. Part of the reason is not only the lack of time but the lack of
matter to talk about; not only the generational gap but also the lack
of a common culture: without some commonality in
life we have little to talk about.
So what can we do? He
asks. Most know the present family reality is not conducive to happiness,
and are looking to bring joy back to the family. The professor
does not consider the solution as impossible or difficult: get rid
of competition, and work to build up community. We need an attitude
which sees the value of working together; work
against the coldness of materialism which denigrates our human dignity,
and find the values of community. These are the values that we as
Catholics have stressed and have tried to practice.
These
are not the values of our society so we have to work to change the
foundational system of our society. Egotism and the policy of
development at all costs has to change. The government has to
guarantee the right to a human life for all the citizens. This is not
the reality in our present society.
He concludes the
article by presenting us with the countries of Northern Europe and
their welfare state, as examples to follow. Instead of efficiency and
competition, the emphasis is on equality and care for all the citizens. Once we start looking at where the families live and the process of
education comes under the blanket of public welfare the original
understanding of family community and its function will recover.
