The Question Box of the Catholic Peace Weekly answers a reader who had a problem understanding his pastor. The priest was recently assigned to the parish. At first, the parishioners were happy to see how devoted he was to prayer. Saying the rosary on his walks, unlike the previous pastor who related easily with the parishioners but wasn't publicly that devoted to prayer.
However, the new pastor was critical of the parishioners and would repeat that he had never done anything that embarrassed him in his actions. The atmosphere of the parish became cold and the pastor a difficult person to approach.
The columnist answers that he understands well the reader's concern over the parish situation. When you have someone saying they have never done anything wrong making a judgment is not easy. However, expressing himself in that way is in itself a shortcoming in the personality: seeming to show a weak understanding of sin.
When we do something sinful we should know about the wrongness of the act. In this case, we are dealing, probably, with a priest who prays but with a narcissistic personality, one with a saint complex or Pharisee complex.
Pharisees, with great confidence, considered themselves chosen. They were different from those who didn't keep the law. God had a special love for them. They also did not have the experience of living like the poor and experiencing their difficulties, which made them oblivious of their plight. They had no idea of what living in poverty meant. With this very narrow vision, they were unable to make a sound judgment about others. They also may have had mental difficulties.
It is not always easy to distinguish between psychological problems and serious mental health problems but when a person is attacking and imputing guilt of others continually and sees no problems in his own actions then it is not inappropriate to think that you are not relating to a mentally healthy person. Is this not the reason Jesus warned us to be wary of the influence of the Pharisees?
A normal Christian is one who has a normal sense of shame and understanding of guilt. When others are in difficulty and we do not help and are able to help and feel shame this is normal. When we see others doing something sinful we also see the possibility of our sinning and refrain from condemning unreasonably, we are acting like people of faith.
When our sense of guilt is exaggerated we may be dealing with psychological problems but a proper sense of guilt is part of our human condition and helps us understand the faults of others. So before we condemn others, we feel sadness for the person and ask for God's forgiveness. Shame makes us more human and understanding of others.
Life is the first gift received and we spend the rest of our lives thanking God or at least we should. "I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works" (Ps. 139:14).
Sadly many are the reasons we fail to see this preciousness and in Korea much of society is concerned because of the large number who have lost the reason for living and die by their own hands. Society knows the cost this has on many families. Programs, education and many efforts are expended to decrease the number of suicides within the country.
In the Catholic Peace Weekly a religious sister who is the director of a suicide prevention program writes an article on what to do when persons don't find a reasons for living. How do we help those who are thinking of suicide? Am I able to help those who are contemplating suicide?
These are the kinds of questions that she hears often in her work. Suicide is the worst possible result of a problem that has many and varied reasons. However, there are ways to prevent this from happening she makes clear. There is a unique counter measure for the problem.
When we discover signs of this possibility we need to take action and use what we learned with Gatekeeper Training for Suicide prevention and get involved. However much learned, it is of little value if we don't apply it.
In the situation of those who are thinking of suicide among the many different emotions they have one that is similar in all cases: a feeling of hopelessness. They have not found a reason for living. Not that there is no meaning for living but they have not found it. When a person has a reason for living he is able to overcome all difficulties.
When a person has lost all reason for living, paradoxically, they are in position to find a reason for living. In the situation they are in they don't have the strength to do this and the reason they need someone to help them. That is where we need to enter and help them to find reasons for living.
Suicide is a choice and in Korea we continue to find ways to help those whose pain either physical, emotional or mental is so severe that nothing makes any sense and they choose death. The family suffers and all those who knew the person suffer so in life we need to be more concerned in making every person we meet our eternal responsibility. In every thing we say and do, to show not only the preciousness of our own life but the lives of all those we meet.
Happiness is a topic central to life. No one wants to live without joy. However, when we ask ourselves whether we are happy the answers don't come easy. A happy person makes others happy and in the process increases one's own happiness.
A religious sister in the Kyeongyang magazine, director of a research center, gives us her thoughts on happiness in a not particularly propitious time in Korea. If the present moment is all that we have than whether I am happy or unhappy depends on me and not on others, it's my attitude.
Studies made on the happiness index of Koreans in comparison to other countries registers low. To come to an objective standard of what we mean by happiness is difficult. The understanding that happiness has in society will influence the citizens. She quotes a sociologist who sees Koreans as cliquish, in a hurry and wanting more, which opens oneself to envy those with education, wealth, and places in society.
Many have an understanding of happiness based on secular values, and not Christian. We are all connected and will not find happiness disconnected from others or with our private groups. Recent Korean history played out before our eyes, shows us what happened to those attempting this.
We need to be providers of joy and begin with those closest to us. I love you, thanks, I am sorry, forgive me.... Within the cells of our brains, our experience, and history are recorded. When we meet similar situations we will react with similar responses: consequently, the reason for training. When we use positive words the positive energy increases and we have joy and peace.
She gives us an example of a garden. We have all kinds of good seeds: joy, love hope but also negative seeds: hate, despair, fear, jealousy. Our actions and words are watering those seeds and the ones we water will grow.
She mentions the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh who recommends we overcome anger in this way: "Do not say it is because of the other person but to mention the feeling of anguish and ask for help. I am in pain and need your help." We need to change the negative energy of anger to positive energy with deep breathing and walking.
For a Christian, we believe that peace is a gift of God. It comes from a trust in God and resting in him. When we surrender to him we will not lose our balance in a continually changing world. Relatively speaking, less chance of losing our way within the chaos we find.
A columnist in the Catholic Peace Weekly gives us a look into the situation of North Koreans living in the South.
Those born in North Korea who left for the South are called by many names. During the war years, they were called displaced persons or separated families. After the war: defectors from the North, North Korean compatriots, people of a new land, for administrative reasons they are called defectors from the North.
The latest statistics show over 30,000 defectors in the South. Before 1990 they counted about 10 defectors coming to the South during the year. After this date, the numbers increased. In 1999 about 100 entered Korea each year. 3 years later this increased to over 1000 and in 2006 over 2000 entered the South. Before 1990 there were only 600 in the South which is an indication that something had changed in the North after 1990.
During the middle of the 1990s many died of starvation and the reason many left the North. In the new century the economy improved greatly but the defections continued to increase which shows it was not only the economy that was prompting the movement to the South. Many wanted to rejoin their families, a better life and to help those in the North.
At different times and for varied reasons many made the difficult trip to the South. They live in cities, living in rented apartments supplied by the government, helped by the government to find jobs and trained. They hesitate to divulge with confidence that they are from the North because of the fear of discrimination and prejudice and wanting to avoid the pain from shunning. [possibly the fear of officials' prying may be a problem for some]
Instead of being welcomed warmly in the workplace and in schools there is a distancing and ignoring of them. The spirit that was present when there were 20,000 is still present with 30,000. The numbers of those who have dropped out of school have decreased but relations with others is far from warm.
The fear of hunger no longer exists but the hunger for human friendship is still present. The government has shown interest in helping make the transition. They continue to improve the treatment in welcoming the displaced persons and accepting them as brothers and sister in the workplace and schools.
If we are to achieve unification there is a need to keep in mind North Koreans who are in the South and to treat them as family. They need to be integrated, feel at home and able to communicate with others as members of the same united family.
Today is the Asian's New Year all the other celebrations were a preparation for the Lunar New Year. A time to wish blessings on those we meet. The Chinese character for blessings in Chinese restaurants often is seen upside down. Christians see the blessings coming from heaven from God who desires our happiness. God's nature is goodness, truthfulness and all that is beautiful and wants us to participate in these attributes.
A retired seminary professor writes in the Kyeongyang magazine on what true happiness means for him from his studies. In the Scriptures, the search for happiness has many different paths. Jesus is the teacher extraordinaire showing us the way. Many of the Fathers of the Church saw the Beatitudes as its promulgation.
St. Cyprian showed us the difference between the true happiness and the counterfeit: the happiness of the world. Lactantius mentions that happiness doesn't come from the pleasures of the body or earthly pleasures. Bishop Basil mentions that happiness does not come from health, material goods or our place in society. St. Ambrose mentions a good conscience brings happiness.
St.Augustine distinguishes between happiness and unhappiness. The happiness of those who are evil and the devout. He gives the example of a person who went to heaven and found the angels packaging gifts of blessing for people on earth. They were wrapping the gifts with adversity. He asked the reason and was told so not as to damage or diminish the value of the gift of blessings, However, many see the wrappings and miss the happiness.
The delight that comes from sin is of no use. Leo the pope said that those who delight in evil will miss the joy that comes from God.
"Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night." ( Ps. 1:1-2)
Happy is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile" (Ps. 32:1-2).
"Happy the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding! For her profit is better than profit in silver, and better than gold is her revenue" (Proverbs 3: 13-14).
"In the New Testament we have a number of phrases: "Happy is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God: (Lk. 14:15). " The angel said to me: Write this down: Happy are they who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev. 18:9).
Happiness that God has prepared for us is for the poor in spirit, the sorrowing, the humble, those who are thirsting and hungry for justice, the merciful the pure of heart and the builders of peace and those who suffer for justice. (Matt. 5:3-10). These are those who imitating God, participate in God's attributes of goodness, truth, and beauty.
May the New Year be filled with this happiness, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and may we be filled with gratitude for such a priceless gift.
Why did Christianity divide? An article in the Catholic Peace Weekly gives the readers a brief summary of the two large divisions in Christianity. The first was the East West Division in 1054 and the second the Protestant Reformation in 1517.
In the West, the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD with the Germanic tribes and the sack of Rome. The Eastern Roman Empire which was centered in Constantinople now Istanbul in Turkey continued for another thousand years even after the fall of the Western Empire. In the East, Emperor Justinius continued as Emperor and as head of the Church in the Byzantine Empire.
Here we can find the seeds for the division that came in 1054. The West used Latin while the East used Greek. The iconoclasm of this period and criticisms of the Church of Rome moved the pope to excommunicate the Patriarch of the Byzantine Empire, Michael Cerularius. The East denied the primacy of the Pope and the infallibility of the Church and called the Pope the king of heretics. In 1204 we had the fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople which made the break complete.
The Eastern Empire continued using their own liturgy and language and in 1453 the city fell to the Ottoman Empire and the Orthodox moved to Russia. They called themselves Orthodox for having kept the correct development of belief from the time of Christ. Greece, Romania, Albania and the other Orthodox countries are independent autonomous churches.
460 years later in 1517, we have the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The protest against the Catholicism of that time. Luther and Calvin and others began the break from Roman Catholicism. Divisions continued among themselves. A few years later we had the break from Rome with the Anglican Church and Henry VIII as the head of a new church.
The teachings of Orthodoxy have the same 7 Sacraments, the veneration of the Saints, the bishop, priest, and deacon hierarchical order as the Roman Church. Priests are allowed to marry. They use the Julian Calendar instead of the Gregorian Calendar which means they have different days for the Feasts of Easter and Christmas.
Protestants have difficulty with the respect shown to Mary, the Sacramental system, teaching on Purgatory, and stress only the Scriptures. Anglicans are in many ways similar to Catholics and their priests are allowed to marry, however, they follow the Protestants in accepting only 39 books of the Old Testament.
There is a desire to find unity among many of the Christians. After the Second Vatican Council, there was a strong movement to find unity with the Orthodox. In 1965 the Holy See and the Ecumenical Patriarchate Athenagoras of Constantinople withdrew the excommunications that were made at the Great Schism of 1054.
St. John Paul II made efforts to increase the contact with the Orthodox. In 1978 each year on the feast of St Andrew, representatives of the two churches meet for talks. The desire for the unity of Christianity is a wish of Jesus which all accept but the desire will need encounter and dialogue, efforts to rid ourselves of prejudices, discrimination, and a large dose of humility to acknowledge where mistakes were made and continue to be made by all the different members of the body of Christ which we know is meant to be one.
Writing in View from the Ark of the Catholic Times a member of a
research center recalls passing a police station where, on a wall were
the words: "abnormality is made normal." This reminded him of a slogan
back in the 80s, "let us make a just society," and responded with a wry
smile.
On the news that evening a politician from the past, far from an
example of integrity, commented on the bleak situation of our politics:
the pot calling the kettle black.
Citizens reacted with
weekend candle demonstrations in the streets of Seoul. They wanted a
change from the old ways of doing government. Investigations continue
which will help overcome the fear many have of the future.'Hell Chosen'
and the division of society expressed with the example of spoons: clay,
bronze, silver and gold spoons are the signs of this dissatisfaction.
Metaphoric language for the levels in society: lower class, working
class, middle class and upper class.
The weekly
demonstrations have removed the shell that all is well in society and
the citizens are moving towards hope from despair, from death to life,
they have become a Paschal procession but on Mondays, for many,
everything goes back to normal, fatigue and despair.
Kierkegaard
the Danish philosopher said we should proclaim the Gospel on Mondays
instead of Sundays. The Gospel is for weekdays. The welcoming and joy of
Sunday does not transfer to Monday and the weekday. The Gospel has to
be proclaimed in the reality of our daily lives. The writer continues with talk
about the many pseudo leaders we have in society and deplores what he
sees.
Pseudo is a word we often use to mean sham,
false, phony, artificial. Confucius had a great dislike for this sham
for it tarnished justice and faith, and virtue is harmed. In the
Christian Scriptures it was the Pharisees who distorted what was justice
and honesty. One of the prime examples in present society for many is the Sewol Ferry Tragedy, still shrouded in mystery.
In the time of Jesus
we had similar falseness that passed as truth. God made
the cosmos from chaos and Jesus asked us to prepare new wine bags for new wine. We need to pray for the wisdom to distinguish the false from the true a task that is far from easy.
