Life is not fair. History makes this clear, and most of us need no reminder. We deal with this in much of society by motivational stories, visuals, and philosophies that try to make sense of the unfavorable conditions in life that many face from birth.
The Kyeongyang magazine has an article written by one of these men who reaching sixty realized his dependence on liquor and is receiving help at a hospital. With the help of medicine, and his efforts to change his thinking, he feels there will be a change in his destiny.
His religious life became the bedrock from which he began. Peace came to his restless spirit. Up until then, he gave all the blame to his parents for his lot in life. He began drinking and smoking at the age of 16 and developed a strong resentment against his parents and the world. He hated his family and enjoyed the time away from the house. He was beaten, he recalls, by his father for no reason. He remembers his father taking him to a little stream behind the house and shoving his head in the water a number of times; every time he remembers this his whole-body shivers. Study was impossible; he often skipped school, and barely received his graduation certificate.
Age difference between his mother and father was 20 years. His father forced a girl who could have been his daughter as his second wife. He was born the first son of that union and had a brother two years younger. His father's first wife had eight children so altogether it was a family of ten. The father was happy to have a young wife, and although he was not working had his wife go out peddling for income.
His father also had a morbid jealousy of his wife and would often beat her, which added reasons for the dislike he had for his father. The mother wanted to leave her husband, but she had two children and did raise them until adulthood.
On one occasion, he remembers the visit to the first wife's house where his mother was violently attacked by the mother-in-law and first wife in the muddy front yard of the house. He saw all his older sisters and brothers but didn't know them. He and his brother were in the corner huddled together watching what was going on. Seeing the treatment his mother received increased his resentment. His brother had a kindlier disposition and did not have the same resentment he had.
Finally, he left and got married. Not having an education he was helped by his parents with money to begin a business, but since he had no business sense everything he tired failed. He was depressed, couldn't sleep and avoided people but kept his drinking habit.
He agreed to a divorce, and his wife took their 16-year-old son. He hoped to change and get the family back, but although he worked hard, nothing ever turned out the way he expected. Over ten years he was in and out of prisons and was now in confinement in the hospital run by the ministry of Justice: treated for alcohol addiction.
During the time in prison, he followed his religious life sincerely. He finished the course for high school and now on his own learning the art of creative writing. After all those years at the age of sixty, he finally began to realize who he was. He is no longer young and sees himself as just so many rustling leaves on a corn stock with little strength.
He wants to warn others against blaming everything on destiny, and living with resentment. For those like himself, he recommends a religious life, and to quickly find their problem and work to remedy the situation. On his part, he is working on his love for music, and wants to spend the rest of his life in playing the saxophone, and helping others like himself, to begin a new life.
Apathy that spreads easily throughout the world has to be addressed. This was the topic of an article in With Bible. An educator emeritus gives the readers his strong views on some of our problems.
Korea's
minimum hourly wage was 5,580 won (US $5.31 cents) for 2015, and was raised 8.1
percent for 2016 to 6,030 won, (US 48 cents). It was a struggle for both labor and business each
complaining: labor saying it was insufficient to improve the life of the
workers, and employers claiming it would be difficult for small
business.
Difficulties in economic life are often
blamed on the workers which is offensive, many who consider themselves middle class accept this situation and keep quiet; heartbreaking, and the writer includes the church. Opposition to a raise in the minimum wage in the States was received by the President: "Try to live on the minimum wage I can't
do it," put an end to the squabble. In the fast food world in New
York the minimum wage was raised to 15 dollars an hour.
He
singles out the church for not saying anything about the way much of society sees
labor problems: shifting the responsibility onto the
workers. The professor emeritus, says the church has not in his estimation said
anything about the situation in Korea outside of some platitudes.
A
year has past from the visit of Pope Francis to Korea. We have already
forgotten what he said, and only remember the event. Strong, said the
writer, were the words he spoke on the plane back to Rome from Korea.
Parents of the victims in the Sewol disaster gave the pope a yellow
ribbon cherishing the memory of those who died in the Sewol Disaster.
Someone approached the pope, and said would it not be proper to be neutral on
the incident and remove the ribbon. The pope answered: "in the presence
of suffering we can not be neutral."
It is not
sufficient to give condolences to those who are hurting in society but
before the harm is done to speak out about the problems. Bishops have
the responsibility to do this, and when they don't they are putting
the Gospel in the coffin and burying it. He misses the courage in the
time of Cardinal Kim.
When the Christians are
Pharisees and the priests are the Sadducees the church is no longer the
light and salt of the earth and just another group in society. The
number of young people and elders who are committing suicides is
staggering, the number of workers who are irregular is one third of the
labor force; this, he opines, is worse than in the time of Jesus.
He
concludes with a desire to see a change. The Church is not worrying
about society but the society worries about the church. This is not the
society that Jesus wanted us to have, and before the people become
activated it requires the bishops and priests to wake up.
Healing with the written word, is a fresh and unfamiliar way of meeting one's inner self. Recently, the Catholic Times had an article on a retreat at the Benedictine Monastery using the written word. Each one writes a short autobiography to get to know oneself, and the emotions engendered: joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hate, hope. The seven colors of the rainbow were also elements of the retreat, but each was to use their own words to describe what was happening as they meditated on the emotions and colors.
An article in With Bible, possibly with a similar intent, was entitled 'Writing with Pencil Wakes up the Soul'. The writer is a religious sister whose interest and specialty are media and spirituality. She begins by using the words of Marshal McLuhan: mediums are tools that extend our bodies and senses.
She tells her readers, she is not using a pencil, but the computer keyboard which is much faster. She wonders what would she do without the computer. And remembers the words of a novelist who felt when writing with a pencil that his body was pushing the pencil. What was he saying? Was it not that his words were being inscribed on his Soul?
She mentions reading often the letters her father sent her during her first years in the convent before his death. They were written in an old style, with Chinese characters interspersed. "...your
father always has you in mind, in the future give yourself entirely to
the life, be a devoted religious to help the many who are hurting, is
my prayer for you. That is all that I can do for you."
Reading the letters, she remembers the love of her father and the sorrow that she was not a better daughter in showing love for him. She imagines if the letters were written with a keyboard, they would not have the same meaning as seeing the father's letter in his own hand, unique to him. Today it is rare to run across anything written by hand.
What is important to her is rather than be in step with the new, shifting, urgent and confused lifestyle is to move slowly, with less, and to enjoy it. No matter how much she tries to keep up with the new it will always stay ahead of her, and she will be fretful and miss what is important. Many things change, but when she remains concerned about what doesn't change she's at rest.
If we are to use the new technology correctly patience and discipline are required. Writing by hand helps us to develop patience, silence, time to think, and slows down the pace in which we live. She is giving breath to her soul. Writing one word after another, slowly, she concludes, like magic her soul awakes, and she finds herself praying.
Lack of respect for the opinions of others is prevalent in all societies and especially when we find it so easy to express ourselves. In offenses against the truth in the Catechism of the Church # 2478: "To avoid rash judgment, everyone
should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's
thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
- Every good Christian ought to be more
ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to
condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other
understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former
correct him with love....
St. Thomas Aquinas many centuries ago, engaged in argumentation by first arguing for the position he disagreed, and often making it stronger, before giving his opinion. A religious priest introduces to the readers of the Catholic Times a serious problem in the community of faith when we forget we are Populus Dei (the People of God). This is the 50th year after the close of the Second Vatican Council, and he wants us to remember our call to renewal, and adapting to new circumstances.
The Church is one of the organizations in society. It has a special object and clear boundaries, and the members' status and roll are specialized and has strict regulations. He has asked his parishioners in the past who is the owner of the parish, and unanimously he gets the answer that the parishioners are, but he reminds them they will all one day have to leave. God is the master of the church and community.
Without this understanding, we are just like any other organization in society. To behave as our own master is one of our temptations. In the community, we have dissonance and conflict, light and darkness, good and evil. We are not a church of the good and healthy, but a church of sinners asking for forgiveness daily.
Today we hear the words not infrequently: a follower of the North, a leftist, Red. They give these tags to some bishops and priests: impure elements. At times we even hear: "take off your clerical clothes" -- "renounce the priesthood," and the like. In the past when they didn't like some of the acts of the clergy, which they considered extreme, they did not express this publicly. We have now those that call themselves Patriotic Catholics for Korea and wonders about their Catholicism.
No need to talk about those who are pro-North but whether we are pro-God. The Church is not here for itself, but as light and salt of the earth.
"Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is nothing else than the culmination of
the way he lived his entire life. Moved by his example, we want to enter
fully into the fabric of society, sharing the lives of all, listening
to their concerns, helping them materially and spiritually in their
needs, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep;
arm in arm with others, we are committed to building a new world. But we
do so not from a sense of obligation, not as a burdensome duty, but as
the result of a personal decision which brings us joy and gives meaning
to our lives" (Joy of the Gospel 269).
In 1945, on August 15th, with the defeat of the Japanese, Korea
received independence. At a recent symposium the topic of Independence
and the Catholic Church was examined, celebrating 70 years of freedom.
It was not all happiness, for the country was divided under the Russian
and American military rule. Both Catholic papers had articles on the
place the Church had in preparing for a self-governing Korea.
Three
years after the Japanese defeat on August 15, 1948, the self-governing Republic of Korea was established. In 1910 they signed the
Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty which took away the freedom of the country and made it a colony of Japan. Over 40 years later independence returned to the nation.
One of the participants in the symposium mentions how
before and after liberation the Korean Catholic missionaries had a
role in setting up the Republic of Korea. At the outbreak of the
Pacific War in 1941, the Maryknoll missioners in Korea who were
deported had written a manifesto which she brought to the attention of
those present. When they were deported because of Japanese imperialism
they made known in magazines, and in the mass media the persecution of
Koreans under Japanese rule, and the importance of the missionary work
in the country. Even after liberation the Maryknoll Society continued to
form groups to push for the self-government and editorials on the
issue. They continued to work for the independence and self-government
after the end of the war.
Bishop Byrne, a Maryknoller, who
returned to Korea in 1947, as the Apostolic Visitor of the Holy See was
made the first Apostolic Delegate to Korea in 1949. He did much to help
the new government and showed the interest of the Church in Korea's struggles. She mentions that the expulsion of the western missioners
made the Catholic history of Korea, and the
aspirations of the Church known internationally.
Bishop Byrne did a great deal
in his position as Apostolic Delegate, to have the Korean National
Government recognized internationally, with his diplomatic contacts. Bishop No
Ki-nam the bishop of Seoul did much also to help with his
contacts and in getting the Vatican's blessing. Another participant mentioned that
the recognition had to come from the general meeting of the United Nations. Some countries were opposed but many
national groups were on the side of Korea.
Another participant mentioned that the
military government did prefer Catholics and Protestants over the
Buddhists and Confucianism. This helped the growth of Christianity in
Korea. However, during the occupation of Korea at the hands of the
Japanese irregularities were overlooked, and those who were
pro-Japanese remains a problem in society. Without the punishment of
those who cooperated with evil and overlooking this period, will only
lead to the same in the future, was a comment by a participant.
Another participant
mentioned the Church and the North Korean Christians. The Church was
not quick to detect what was happening and responded to the
circumstances as they arose. They were not conscious of the change in
society, had no plans to counter the movement against religion, and no systemic response to the North's treatment of religion.
A bishop, in conclusion, encouraged the participants in his talk.
Korea has had many ups and downs but to have reached the present level of
development means many have sacrificed much, and
asks all present to continue to agonize on how the Church can be a light and salt in society.
Money gives power; it can give life and take it away: dangerous, but there are few who dislike its possession; we give our full attention to its search. In a capitalistic society, this is easy to understand.
These are the introductory remarks in an article in the Peace Weekly about money. Without money, life can be shabby and uncomfortable. In a capitalistic society, poverty is looked upon as a sin but money can end up being the master and we its slave.
In the church, money is also important. There are all kinds of reasons we give money to the church. Many are the names we use for the different offerings: asking for blessings, in thanksgiving for blessings received. Since the Christian community is composed of human beings, there is a need for money. Not only the need for running and maintenance of facilities but also planning for the future. Money is needed for many reasons, a natural outcome of a community's need to help others. How it is raised is important.
Many dioceses, religious orders, and groups need money to continue their apostolic works. Many of their programs also bring in money. They are a means of income: schools, hospitals, and welfare works. Many others do the same work as the church in society, but the church has a different value system, and has to be careful not to imitate what we have in society.
To prevent this from happening the church has to be alert to the dangers we have in following the methods of the capitalistic system. We need to follow our principles, and our traditional attitudes must be clear. In hospital work the need is to help the sick. We do have simple hospital facilities that are only concerned for the sick and poor, but they are few.
Many of our hospitals are large, and the numbers continue to grow. They are getting larger, and the columnist wonders whether they are mirroring the Catholic method of what care for the sick should mean. There are many reasons for the problem, and one of them is the need for money to exist. The competition among the hospitals is intense, and the fear of falling behind is present, but here the columnist has a problem: why the fear?
Since the way of the world is to make money the church should especially be conscious of this reality and operate differently. People have to come first before the money, and to keep in mind the gospel message. This is not always an easy task but one that is required by the calling we have received.
In a column in the Peace Weekly, the writer introduces us to a study that was made in 1932 of 180 nuns who wrote about their spiritual life. 70 years later, psychologists went through the written autobiographies and examined them to see how many times the words: wonderful, happy, moving, joyous, thankful, and the like were used.
Those who were in the top 20 percent in the use of these words, 90% of them lived over the age of 85. The lower 20% who had the least use of these words only 34% lived over 85. There are other issues that are involved in such a study but for those who made the study, it was indicative that positive thinking has an influence on longevity.
Positive
thinking is a healthy way of living, needs little help from science, for
most have an intuitive feeling of its wisdom. She mentions very few are able to keep a strong disposition in a long illness, but words can help someone bear up under the difficulties.
The columnist mentions that we are called Homo Narrans. Over and beyond our thinking, we have the ability to store in our heads and express in story form narratives that are welcomed by others and that fosters communication, a quality society esteems highly. We feel that if we do our best and even keep silent we will have a meeting of hearts, which is not the case. If we don't express ourselves, sincerity will not be conveyed.
No matter, what the past was we should pick out some positive words and express them. However, she mentions that if we are too excessively attached to that positive mind, we will fall into the trap of having a people pleaser complex. When not authentic our attempts to be charitable backfire, for words that do not come from the heart are often empty.
She
goes on to show that this is noticed in her radio work where you hear
only words; insincerity is quickly noticed and you lose
listeners.
We often hear about the glass-is-half-full person and the half-empty person. There is something that is being expressed by these words, and it may be the wise person who sees the entire glass but is not elated or depressed by either half, and accepts it as reality and gives thanks. This is also being positive when we choose to see reality as is and make the most of it.
