In September of 2012 an English Language Teacher in Elementary School
decided to listen to her inner voice, gave up her secure teaching
job, and went to Russia to study. She writes about her experience in the
recent issue of the Korean Catholic Digest.
She is 26
years old, and because of her long held dream, and firm resolution, left teaching to return to being a student in Russia. From the first night
in Russia, one by one, her strong aspirations began to disappear. When
she saw her sleeping quarters she was transported back to the 70s, a
great shock to her.
The place was filled with dust and cobwebs, filled with a horrible stench, a common toilet without lights, a ceiling
that was leaking water, and a corridor that was filled with mold. Yuck! was the feeling that naturally followed from seeing her situation.
Her
roommate was Chinese who liked to listen to music to early in the
morning with little understanding of what common living meant.
She
began studying the Russian language, doing her home work, cooking her
meals and cleaning up afterwards, and little by little adapting to her
new environment.
In reality, her biggest difficulty was
the discrimination she felt for being Asian. When she walked the streets the
children would confront her; laughing they would be abusing her
with words she couldn't understand, which made it all the worse. In the
post office she would have persons push themselves in line ahead of her,
which would fill her with pent up anger. Her personality was one that
would ordinarily give 'tic for tac' but since she didn't understand or speak Russian she was more than upset.
What
wealth and honors was she going to enjoy that would deserve this kind
of treatment? She was an only daughter, and had a job that gave her
prestige in her society; never before did she experience this kind of abuse...
why did she ever come to Russia? She returned to her room and felt completely helpless, and began counting the days to return to Korea.
At
that time Jesus came into her thoughts. Usually when she felt upset
she would go to church. The thoughts about Jesus suddenly coming to mind was strange. She
recalled how Jesus came to us and suffered all the
discrimination and abuse for love of us, it was the first time,
she ever thought about the virtue of humility.
Up until
that time, she thought that she was a humble person, but realized
she was full of pride. She wanted others to appreciate who she was. She
was concerned on how she was coming across to others, and wasn't able to detach herself from the way others saw her. She knew that real
humility was not concerned with this. The study of the language was not
coming easy, she was struggling alone, but she came to
the realization that more then learning Russian she learned something
more important.
Why did she come to Russia? More than regrets
she is now thankful for her experience; a
lesson that will remain with her for the rest of her life. She hopes she will be open to imitating Jesus more closely and following
his will.
In the Peace Weekly, Diagnosis of Current Affairs, the columnist
explains why he is working with human rights issues. He loves the work, and he attributes this love to the time he spent in Sunday
School as a child. He thanks his parents for the gift they gave him, and
considers it fortunate that those years gave him a world view, and a way
of thinking which he was able to develop.
No one is
born with a way of thinking or a world view, but it comes with
education. In his public schooling he was exposed to the historical mission of
national renaissance. He feels that he was repeatedly trained to see
his mission as one with the nation: the nations development was his
development. The existence of the nation was to determine his own
existence. It was a military style training; the object was grades
with little time for leisure.
Sunday school was
different. No teacher tried to control the students; they were
devoted to the teaching, which was also more polished. Even though
poverty was everywhere they had slides, movies and other visual aids
to help in the education. They had camp and retreats that would
require lodging and meals away from home. School support fees were only a
few hundred won, and if you did not pay, the parish would take care of
it, and they did not make you feel like a thief, as was the case, often,
in the public schools. They were teaching other values that were
missing in the public schools: love for others and what was necessary in living the virtuous life. They were teaching what a
thinking life should be.
Today the Sunday School
Programs are dying. The churches are filled with old people. The
children, and especially the young people are not interested, and this
has been true for some time. What is the reason? Is it the pressure
of college entrance and the after- school academies? Is it
the ever present smart phones, and the tepid religious life of the
parents? All are reasons,but the columnist feels the biggest problem is the lack of concern on the part of the parishes-- not like it was
in the past.
The teachers are young, few, and are changed often. Young priests do not have the experience, and after a few years leave. Teachers do not have confidence that what they are doing will
have any concrete results. This has brought about the decline in the
programs. Most of the parishes devout less than 5 percent of the budget to the school program.
He
concludes his column with a desire to make the programs even compete with the schools and academies. He feels there are many in the parishes with the qualifications to teach. He wants the parishes to
look for teachers among the older parishioners, school teachers, college professors and
to arrange for special lectures. Place placards on the streets
inviting those who are not members of the parish to come to the
programs. He wants the parishes to give the religious education of the young high priority, for without these programs the future of the Church is bleak.
On the spiritual page of the Catholic Times the columnist gives us a
humorous story with a worthwhile message. One of the members in his
religious community had a commitment in the city and arrived at his
destination 40 minutes early, and wondered what to do. He saw an
invitation to give blood nearby, and felt that would be a good place to
be of service and await his appointment.
He entered the
building and after signing in, was told to go to a cot and lie down
and wait for the nurse. While lying down, he began to open and close
his fist to enable the blood to flow quickly so as to quicken the
process.
When the nurse arrived at the cot she excitedly
said: "wow that is real good looking." Hearing those words the priest
was embarrassed and laughing: "I am not so bad looking, you say, I
have heard that often, ha, ha, ha!" The nurse not knowing what to say:
"I am not talking about your face, but the vein, which is very distinct and easy to see!"
His faced flushed, embarrassed, he
figured everybody was laughing at him. The nurse began drawing the blood
and left. He had only one thought, and that was to get out of there as
soon as possible. He continued to clench and open his fist to hasten
the process.
After doing this for a short period of time
he heard a 'pi-pi' and the nurse came rushing to his cot and was
surprised to see how quick the blood was drawn. She took the needle out,
and replaced it with a sterilized cotton pad. She told him that he
was not to leave, to drink some water, and rest for awhile. He was still
overcome with the embarrassment he felt when he began giving the blood.
"I
have a important meeting and will need to leave." The priest stubbornly
did as he said, got up from the cot, put on his shoes and left. As soon
as he opened the door and breathed in some fresh air, with a sigh of
relief, he fainted. He doesn't know how long he was unconscious but he ended up on the cot in which he gave blood and the nurse, a doctor,
and all those who were waiting to give blood where gazing at him. It was the first time in his life that he wanted to die.
Whenever he hears the word blood donation all these thought come back to
him. The columnist concludes that after giving blood we need to follow
instructions, but a bigger moral, and a more important lesson, would be to welcome the embarrassments in life, they are opportunities in mastering our emotions, which often enslave us, and cause much harm to ourselves and others.
Marriage, having children, is no longer something we can take for
granted or expect of the young. We hear often that one of the reasons
for the low birthrate in Korea is deferring marriage to late in life. An
article in the Catholic Times reminds the readers what the young people have to face when they contemplate marriage.
Many
do not have regular jobs which means that the salaries are low and
envisioning marriage is not something they can easily do. Many have to
pay back the debt for their schooling, and the prospects of requiring
another big debt for marriage is demoralizing. Birth of a child and the
schooling that is necessary goes into the 100,000s of dollars.
The
article mentions a poster which explains to the older generation: we
can't judge the young people as thoughtless and selfish; society
does not make raising a family easy. The family is the basic community
in society and when this is destroyed society ceases to exist. In
Catholic social teaching the family does not exist for society or the
nation, but the nation and society exist for the family.
This
is the principle of subsidiarity. Pope Francis continues to speak of
the failure of the economic system that puts money ahead of the human
person. We are destroying the family and making persons serve the system.
As Christians we know that God has
made men and women to join together as husband and wife, to raise a family. Today, however, society which we have made does not promote the raising of a family. The
structures of society make the raising a family, according to Christian
principles, difficult. The structures of society also make young
people unsympathetic to the teachings of the Church on sexual morality.
Structures of society are in opposition to the commands of God and are harmful to humans. What God wants from us,
has in Jesus been given to the Church. This has become
our mission. We have to help our young people find a way to join
together in marriage and raise a family.This requires a change in the structures of society.
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?"
