The editors of a bulletin for priests recall a story they heard at a meeting some years ago of the Focolare Movement. (A movement following the inspiration of Jesus: 'May they all be one' respecting diversity and focusing on dialogue)
A young woman who attended one of these meetings tells the group of her difficulty in carrying out what she knew to be her calling as a Christian and how difficult it was to live that life.
One day she came across the words in the Scripture to love your enemy and meditated on the words. No one was an enemy but there were many who she did not like. One person, a senior in the company she worked, hurt her feelings and for some time they were avoiding each other. Yet she knew this was not the Christian thing to do.
She began to plan on how to remedy the situation. She hadn't greeted the person for some time so that was her first step. The next day on entering the office at work the first person she met was the individual she was going to greet, but as soon as they met, nothing came out of her mouth and the person quickly averted her eyes. To decide to love another is difficult but to put it into action is more difficult.
That night while praying she was not going to give up her desire to show love and the next day on her way to work and on the bus she kept mumbling to herself 'good morning, good morning' over and over again. That morning before she opened the door of the office she again repeated to herself: 'good morning'. Entering the office and seeing the person she very awkwardly uttered: "good morning!" The individual with a puzzled expression and bewildered acknowledged the greeting.
The next day she practiced again but this time it was much easier. She continued to make the effort to greet the person without much difficulty and gradually they began to speak.
One day when they were drinking coffee together they began to talk and the individual mentioned how they had been estranged for some time... "but thanks to you we are talking again"... The person was curious in knowing what prompted her to make the effort to return to the relationship they once had. I am a Christian and she needed to start living like one was her answer.
The incident is a very simple and common event in our lives. The editors mentioned this because it was an act of the will to overcome the emotions that paralyzed her. Feelings are difficult to overcome.
We live with many different people. We bicker, dislike, give and receive scars but to say sorry is difficult. We end up losing many acquaintances hurting and being hurt and slow in asking for forgiveness to heal the estrangement. To humbly lower ourselves and overcome our self-respect is a monumental task all necessary to find peace in our own hearts.
Patience with God is a book written by a Czech writer Tomas Halik. In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a columnist read the book on the recommendation of a friend and gives us her understanding of the book's theme: absence of God in the lives of many Christians and atheists and the authors desire to be of help.
In the introduction to the book that author tells his readers of the takeover of the country in 1948 by the Communists. Religion was suppressed and he left the country and was ordained a priest. (He was brought up in in a secular environment and was a convert in his twenties) He was ordained a priest in 1970 and returned to the Czech Nation working in the underground church. In 1989 the Velvet Revolution brought an end to Communist rule and the rise of the Czech Nation and parliamentary government.
He returned to teaching and writing. One day he was invited to deliver a brief meditation to parliament. After the Velvet Revolution, the joy of freedom was enjoyed only briefly by the citizens, they were afraid of crowds. In the presence of so many choices, the citizens were puzzled and confused. Many problems and complications began to appear. Everything was now open to choice. Citizens began to have headaches, missing the black and white world to which they were accustomed.
In the mission he has taken upon himself, he uses the story of Zaccheus in the Gospel of Luke chapter 10:1-10. After the fall of Communism the Christians went out to the streets and realized that many applauded them, some not so positively, but they didn't notice all the Zacchaeuses who didn't associate with the old or new believers but were not indifferent or hostile to them. They were seekers who wanted to remain at a distance.
Jesus called Zacchaeus by name which gave him the confidence to leave the fig tree. Jesus surprised him in willing to stay at his house. There is no evidence Zacchaeus joined his band of followers but he did change his life. The church has not been able to address the Zacchaeuses of the world in this manner. It is only those who understand the Zacchaeuses and can call them by name that we will see a change in the world we live in.
Fr. Tomas feels that he understands the Zacchaeuses of the world. They are not in his mind feeling superior. Things are not that simple. It is more the result of shyness. They did not choose their place on the margins of society many of them know their own shortcomings and the difficulties on their life's journey.
Zacchaeus was open to hearing the voice of Jesus and responded. He was willing to change his life.The priest sees the Zacchaeuses of this world who are between the two fortified camps of assured fundamentalist believers and self-assured atheists. Life is filled with questions and doubts but Christians have an understanding of faith and the one to whom faith relates. They are not afraid of doubts and questions. For these doubts and questions can lead us on to a deeper and maturer faith.
The political situation in Korea has received a great deal of public interest and one of the articles in the Catholic Peace Weekly shows how everything can be enlightening and for growth in spirit and intellect. We have something similar but different, in the Christian Scriptures with 'Happy Fault' and 'all things work together for the good'.
A Bodhisattva in Buddhism is one who has achieved Nirvana or Buddha-hood but postpones the state to do good and help others in this world of trials. A Reverse Bodhisattva (逆行菩薩) is a person who by his wrong actions helps the beholder to reflect on these wrong actions to act in a contrary fashion because of the crudeness experienced. He becomes a person for whom we show gratitude. The wrong actions are a strong lesson on what not to do.
The phrase (國政 壟斷) (state monopoly) is used to describe the present upside down turn of events in society. The phrase comes from the Confucian tradition where a merchant goes up a mountain where he can see all that is happening in the market below and buys what is missing and begins to sell the products at a high price: using the disadvantage of others to make a killing for himself. This was seen happening in the political situation with the supporting and starring characters.
Another phrase used is (他山之石) (his mountain stone) which is taking a stone of little use from a mountain to polish the jade you possess. A person's hurtful and useless words and actions can be used to enhance your own knowledge and virtue. Everything can be used as a lesson to live virtuously.
(反面敎師) (Negative teacher), can be understood as similar to the above. We learn to do the opposite of what is spoken because our consciences tell us what is to be done: opposite to what is being taught.
(三人行必有我師) (When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers) You learn from the virtues and to avoid the vices of the companions with whom you walk.
The writer reminds us of the situation in society and it is not always clear who are the supporting players or those who have the starring roles, but they are all on the stage influencing the citizens. In a democracy, the actions we have seen have reminded the citizens how important it is to think deep and long before casting a vote. Big Busines has taught us the influence they have on society is not always for the best.
Doesn't the recent situation also show us how important solidarity is in running a good government? Efforts to get rid of our apathy is the first step in achieving an honest society, consequently, mature citizens seek something beyond their own comfort and personal needs.
In a bulletin for priests, the writer has taken: "Someone has written these beautiful words" and translated them into Korean for the readers. They have been on the internet for some time but they are well worth the reading and meditating if they were missed.
Must read and try to understand the deep meaning of it. They are like the ten commandments to follow in life all the time.
1) Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.
2) A Car's Windshield is so large and the Rear view Mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So Look Ahead and Move on.
3) Friendship is like a Book. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.
4) All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.
5) Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamonds! If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!
6) Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, "Relax sweetheart, it's just a bend, not the end."
7) When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities: when GOD doesn't solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.
8) A blind person asked St. Anthony: Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?" He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"
9) When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them, and sometimes, when you are safe and happy remember that someone has prayed for you.
10) WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's troubles, it takes away today's PEACE.
The number of school-age children is over 6 million. A few years ago it was 7 million. A drop that is readily seen.
We live in a world in which the young are rare. Even without concern for this fact, the reality of our schools is lamentable. Writing in a diocesan bulletin a priest working in alternative education reminds the readers of the educational programs of our schools.
Statistics from four years ago showed that from 4 to 5 percent of the school-aged students are not in school for one reason or another. Half of those attending school are not interested in what is offered or unable to adjust to the teaching environment.
He doesn't know how much has changed in the meantime but in his estimation, it is much the same. We have a high-ranking 10% who are doing well, and another 10% who follow but the other 80% he compares to students lost in a labyrinth and does not believe he is exaggerating. All preparing for entrance into a university although there are many other possibilities, the system does not permit it.
A world-famous futurist sees the educational system in Korea still preparing the student for the industrial age. Students are spending 15 hours in classrooms and in academies preparing for jobs that will not be around. This, he considers a waste of time. He compares the system to trying to teach fish how to climb trees. There is a need to examine our educational programs and what the students are preparing for in the future.
Our smartphones compared to the telephones of a hundred years ago are different; the automobile is different from the horse and cart of a hundred years ago. Why hasn't the classroom changed?
The reason many of the students are not able to adapt to the classroom is not the student's fault. Education is forgetting the students and their needs and forcing them to adapt to a system that prepared for a reality no longer present.
Education is not to prepare for examinations but to help the students think and open their minds to possibilities. Creativity is an important component of education. Information is plentiful and the classroom is not the only place information is found. With the internet, it is there for the asking. The need to prepare students for the competitive world we live in requires creativity.
He concludes his article with the thought that our Sunday School programs also need to be examined. Parents and students are not the only ones at fault but we need to see the new reality in which the students live and prepare them for it.
A parish priest writing in Bible & Life magazine, begins with the sad reflection that none of the signers of the Proclamation of Korean Independence from Japan, during the Japanese Colonial rule, were Catholic. The only Catholic freedom fighter he knew as a child was An Jung-geun. Hearing all about the Protestants and their large number of freedom fighters, left him with sadness and embarrassment.
Both Protestants and Catholics were followers of Jesus but we had different positions on the way we looked on independence from Japan. Why did we see the love of country and Jesus so differently? What made for the division?
The writer admits that he is simplifying the issue but not beyond reason. In the South, Catholicism was spreading and in the North, Protestants were doing well. We had Catholics in the North and Protestants in the South but Catholicism seemed to find it easier in the South. Catholics were more at home with the elite while the Protestants with the commoners and their concerns.
North Korea was the center of the Goguryeo Kingdom and when it collapsed after a thousand years they were alienated from power, resentment increased because of the continual enjoyment of power by the elite in the South.
Even though you have the same seed when it is planted in a different soil the taste and texture of the fruit will be different. At the time of Jesus, we see the same reality. Those born and raised in the North, the Galilee area of Israel, were far removed from Jerusalem and the elite of the South and close contact and influence of the Romans. The South were content not to rock the boat and enjoy what they had.
Similar was the situation in Korea. The South were willing to accept the Status Quo while those in the North, like the Galileans of Israel, wanted freedom. Protestants in the North were forming freedom fighters to fight the oppression and exploitation of Japan. Up until liberation of the country, Catholics as a group did not fight against oppression and lived peacefully with the colonial rule.
They remembered the martyrs of the past and not willing to fight for their country. The Church during this time did not give any formal witnessing in desiring liberation.They were not involved in the March 1st Movement also called Sam-il. One of the first displays of resistance to Japanese rule.
This all changed as we know with the end of the Korean War. He concludes the article with the hope: "freedom and concern for the weak in society will always have a place among us."
We are all familiar with the fable: the Blind Men and the Elephant from the Buddhist religious tradition of India. The king calls a group of blind men and asks them to examine an elephant and tell him what it is. A diocesan bulletin gives us the story and the writer's meditation.
Each blind person gives their thoughts on the section of the elephant they touch. Touching the ivory tusk one blind man imagined a large turnip, another felt the trunk, like a pestle, the tail was a rope, the legs like pillars, the belly was a wall. Shakyamuni (Buddha) tells his disciples they are like these blind men with their lack of understanding. They all have only a partial understanding of who the Buddha is.
In the same way, we Christians are only accepting a part of the God we worship. We believe in a Trinity but each of us with our different environments and individual personalities experiences God's grace differently. One person experiences God as revealed in nature, another in his love showed to us in Jesus, another in the Holy Spirit working in our souls. God comes to us in many different ways.
Korea is made up of those who come from different Providences of the country but we are all Koreans. We all value experiencing God in different ways. Consequently, we don't want to disparage the way others experience God. If we combine all the opinions of the blind men we come to a truer synthesis of elephant.
The elephant fable has much to teach us in the way we see God. Under the banner of Church, Jesus gives us the community of faith with its many understandings of the mystery of God.
By the working of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is working thru us in our daily life. No matter what our position in the community of faith, the level of our knowledge, we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus, disciples, and members of his body, and active subjects of his Gospel.
We can with this fable stress the relativity of what each one experiences as if this is the essence of what the fable wants to say, forgetting that the elephant was always present and much bigger than what each one imagined. Each was limited by their experience of the elephant but it doesn't mean the elephant wasn't there. Objective truth is there and we with the help of others, speaking and interrelating with others within the church and society come to a greater understanding of the God we believe in and who continues to work in us and through us.
