A Theology That Reads the World

 

In a featured article in the Catholic Times, the director of the Catholic Culture and Theology Institute gives the readers some reflections on how theology is 'reading the world'.

The task of theology is to explore what we believe and how we believe. Theology is to look into how faith is practiced in the here and now of our life. Is the church community to which we belong living according to the Gospel message?

 

What is the theology that reads the world?

What can and should theology do? What role does theology play in understanding the content of faith and maturing it? Is theology actually working in today's church? How does theology function in the formation of church communities and in the performance of church mission? Does theology provide practical and concrete help for believers in their daily lives?

Academic teaching can be hard and boring. Of course, the boundaries between theology as a systematic academic discipline and theology as reflection are not always clear. The two often overlap. However, I would like to focus on theology as religious reasoning and reflection as much as possible. 

 

Theology to explore faith

Traditionally, the task of theology is to explore the origins and contents of faith; to study the process in the formation of doctrines, and to explore the truth contained in the tradition of faith and doctrine and its present meaning. Theology is always closely linked to faith and doctrine.

We believe in God in a Catholic way. It means that although I believe in God, the way of faith is Catholic. The task of theology is to explore what we believe systematically. Theology explores what revelation and faith are, how Christianity has understood God, how God's creation proceeds, who Jesus Christ is, what is the essence and mission of the church, the meaning of sin and grace, why in Catholicism the Seven Sacraments are important, and the meaning of holiness.

This search is the basic framework of theology. The question is whether theology is actually affecting us today. The writer honestly wonders: he reads many theology books but doesn't feel he is getting to know the contents of faith more deeply. What is the problem?

It may be because theological statements simply are over-represented as abstract concepts and propositions without honest consideration of where the readers are. For example, consider the proposition "Trust in God and be saved." When this statement is made what do we think and imagine? Does believing in God just mean that I accept and agree to the doctrinal proposition of God? If you think about and say the concept of God, does that mean you believe it? What do we imagine when we hear the word 'saved'? We don't bother to delve into what the word means in detail but accept salvation as a word we habitually hear without much thought. Theological reflection can help us uncover what we believe. 

Reading the world with the eyes of the gospel and faith is also a task of theology and mission.

 

 Theology that reflects on the church.

Theology is introspective. Reflection is always self-reflection. Theology should help change and reform the church. As the people of God, the body of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit, the church is beyond visible reality. On the other hand, the church is a realistic and concrete reality consisting of a religious system and various institutions. What is seen must be constantly directed at what is invisible. The real church is on a pilgrimage to completion. Reflections on the real church are also the tasks and mission of theology. The task of theology is to ask questions, reflect on whether today's church reality is truly evangelical, whether many norms and institutions in the church properly reflect the meaning of the gospel and faith.

Theology that reads the signs of the age 

 

God is with us in our thoughts, in the church we live in, in our daily lives, and in our society. Theology should be able to talk about God in the world. It is theology to ask, reflect, and explore whether my daily life is evangelical, whether my heart, behavior, and attitude resemble Jesus in my family, neighborhood, and work, whether today's social phenomena and reality are desirable in terms of gospel and faith. Our theological quest cannot be buried only in our reason and within the church. Reading the world with the eyes of the gospel and faith is also a task of theology and mission.

Faith and church aim beyond the world. But at the same time, faith and church are always in the world. The theology of reading the world refers to the theology of exploring faith, the theology of reflecting on the church, the theology of reading the signs of the times. Theology includes exploration, reflection, and reading. and building relationships.

Doing theology is to explore what you believe in, its actual content and meaning. It is to identify whether the church you belong to is evangelical and to reflect on what efforts you are making to form this community. It is a reflection of how faith is expressed, confessed, practiced, in the home, workplace, and in society in which we live.

Anger with Health

The Catholic Peace Weekly column of a priest teacher of spirituality gives the readers some thoughts on health.

An 80-year man who came for a physical exam surprised the doctor, his body seemed 20 years younger. He was able to maintain the health of a middle-aged man. The doctor curious asked him what was the secret to his good health. The elder replied: "I have never eaten any food or medicine that was considered healthy in my life. Isn't it just a case of good luck?"

The doctor asked again with an expression of disbelief. "You are living a life differently from that of other people your age to maintain the health you have." The old man, reflecting for a while, replied: "I got married 50 years ago and made a promise to my wife. When I get angry because of my quick temper my wife will remain silent and when she gets angry, I go outside and take a walk in the woods. After that, I got used to the walk in the woods every day so that may have been good for my health."

Is it possible not to be angry? He explains: anger is an emotion and emotion is energy so anger never goes away. Energy can only be converted to another energy or into a different emotion.

What does it mean to say that anger can be converted into different emotions or different energies? This means that anger can move on to feelings of revenge, another negative emotion, but in some cases, it can change to positive emotions such as love and compassion for oneself or others. It also means that anger can be sublimated into the creative energy that changes one's life, not destructive energy that harms one's health. As in the case of an 80-year-old man mentioned above.

When Joseph and Mary got married and got angry with each other, they promised to address each other with honorifics, and then to fight. This is because they were well aware of the fact that when a conflict occurs, they could be more offended by each other's expression of words than by the content. At first, this promise was not kept. When angry the honorifics would not come out. But one day Joseph put it into practice.  When he felt angry, Joseph immediately honored his wife by attaching the word "nim" (Korean honorific) to her name. Then, curiously enough, his wife began to calm down. He felt he was under the spell of language.
 

Another couple promised to wake up in the morning and bow to each other the next day after the couple had a fight. But the promise was never kept until a child was in elementary school. One night the couple had a big fight over their children's education. The husband had to go to work, they didn't even come to a conclusion, he verbally abused his wife and went to work and that night to bed. The wife, who stayed up all night in another room, could not understand her husband who went to bed without any words. The next day ready to go to work he carefully opened the wife's door and went in. And without saying anything, he bowed to her and left the room. She felt the emotions accumulated all night disappear like snow.

In what ways are we dealing with stress and negative emotions every day? Just as money is needed to live in the world, we need our own emotional secrets to love and be loved as human beings. How good it would be if we could be mentally and spiritually healthy even when angry.

Practice of Love in Spirituality

 

 A pastor in the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times gives us the feelings he had on seeing the Korean Documentary on the Carthusian Cloistered Monastery that was screened in a TV series last year.

The documentary gives comfort and hope to those living with anxiety and depression due to Corona 19.  It shows the lives of 11 Carthusian friars of various nationalities viewed with great emotion and attention. A life of daily poverty of their own choosing in strict silence and solitude.

However, what made this video in the series even more attractive was the bishop emeritus, the first head of the Andong Diocese, explaining each scene of the video about the lives of the monks. You can get a glimpse of the faith of the bishop, over 90 years old, with a deep experience in life.

The most impressive thing in the series was the theme  "the practice of love in spirituality". A monk in his solitary cell finds a small bird outside and whistles through the window. A bird flies in and sits naturally on his finger. The bird plays on the monk's fingers eating the food. Then the bird flies off to the forest.

Bishop confesses he was greatly moved to see the monk and a small bird playing together. It is unusual for a bird to fly over to sit on a person's finger. You don't call out to a bird and it comes to sit on your hand. The little bird feels loved by the monk, so he flies to him and plays with ease feeling loved.  The bishop wants us to show this kind of love and invites  us all to become a "life that exudes love."

If you love animals to the point where they feel loved, of course, you will love God and your neighbors. If a person is affectionate to a dog but doesn't love the family or neighbors, the love for the dog is just a "self-centered love." If one is completely indifferent to the pain and suffering of their neighbors and turns a blind eye to them, the love is "selfish love". Cain loved God as much as Abel and offered his own sacrifice with all his heart, but it was a "possessive love" that killed his younger brother Abel. The recent 16-month-old death of an adopted child is the result of a "fake love" for the child of the adoptive parent. A person who exudes real love that even a small bird can feel, practices "agape love" that willingly gives themselves away always and anywhere.

Persons who show true love in this time of suffering from Corona 19, can endure this ordeal and live with hope. However, the reality seems to be that true love is disappearing as human relationships have become barren since our relationships because masks and distancing have promoted disconnection, division, confrontation, discrimination, and exclusion.

How can we have more people who show true love? Our little acts of charity and concern for others can be like the small mustard seed metaphor used by Jesus, a seed small and insignificant but later becomes a tree large enough for birds to dwell in.

One of the new items to be implemented in the parish this year the writer mentions the "Let's Praise!" program. Praise is a very good way to shape God's love for neighbor. We listen to Jesus countless times, "Love each other" (John 13,34), but we are not doing well in this area of life. He believes that smiling and greeting the other person first, caring for the other person's situation, and praising him/her for doing well, itself is a concrete expression of love. It is hoped the praise program will be means of experiencing the joy of the gospel at a time when we are struggling with "Corona Blue", like the " Butterfly Effect," where butterfly flaps can bring about big changes but these for the good.

What Comes Easily Also Disappears Easily

 

A psychiatric doctor writes in Bible & Life Magazine about the value of being a 'Life Gardener' for mental health.

He recalls a middle-aged man pressured to retire as a patient back in 2013. The patient tried to overcome his difficulties for his young children but it was too much, he became depressed and looked miserable. The doctor began therapy and medication but there was no change.

After a couple of months, he stopped coming. Some 10 months later he met the man unexpectedly. His face was completely transformed. The doctor asked what happened since they last met. He was at the same workplace but his work had changed. Every Saturday he goes to a workshop to learn to make furniture. Working with his hands, time just flies. His work at the workshop was a consolation and gave him the vitality to accept his tiring daily work. It was the cure for his depression.

After meeting this man the doctor thought much about the problems people faced and the harm to their mental health. He had worked to decrease the pain persons were experiencing but more important than therapy and medication was to find something that would bring joy into their life. This was his answer for a cure.

Many are those who come for a consultation. They express the difficulties in the life they are leading. It's not only that the pain is great but there is no consolation from any direction and plenty of criticism.

They find themselves licking their wounds over and over again. But we also have those with pain but find consolation and go on with their life. What enables them to find consolation? Is it food, liquor, shopping, and the like that puts to sleep the pain? No, this is addiction.

True consolation comes from 'activities that bring joy'. A person knows deep down in their soul what will bring joy. With these efforts, they are putting a shield in place against pain and gives them strength. Confucius called this 樂以忘憂: (we forget pain with joy).

How and when can we with our efforts encounter joy in our lives? It's not easy to do this while we are at work. Leisure is not what is leftover but doing what one wants to do with the free time one has. The tragedy of our age is not only the burnt-out situation in which many find themselves but rather in their free time they can't rid themselves of stress and enjoy invigoration and peace.

How does one enjoy leisure? The doctor takes the Chinese characters for leisure:休息 and explains that the first character shows a person under the shade of a tree resting and the second character has the person in control of his feeling (heart). Leisure means to be at rest, fulfilling oneself, both actions are necessary for true leisure. It is then we are renewed.

'Otium' is the word in Latin that signifies that our soul is joyfully at rest. This may be different for each person but for the doctor, it is some action. He sees it as accompanied by some degree of uncomfortableness and goes on to say that if the joy comes easy it will also disappear easily.

Will the person change or not change? The doctor has written a book on the 'Otium Effect' and heard the results of his words in those who have lived in this way and they were many. He considers it like falling in love without any object of love and this was the way those who experienced this expressed themselves. It need not be a person, it may be some art form, nature, a personal interest, study and it may even bring you to a closer relationship with God.

In conclusion in this time of the pandemic, many are having a difficult time. He recommends we look for this 'otium'. Life is worth living. He considers us to be 'Life Gardeners' going about cultivating the beautiful garden and hopes those reading the article will see themselves in this situation even in these difficult times.

Democracy and Falsehood

In the Peace Weekly the Peace Column  gives us some ways to distinguish between Lies and Truth.

How do we know a politician lies? It is a question that comes to mind whenever righteous words are shouted out that are later revealed as lies. The writer doesn't know it's a lie right away, and feels deceived. We can see this to be the case by looking at political debates on 'prosecution reform' and 'denuclearization'. At least one of the two is clearly false as conflicting claims are in opposition to each other. Are those in the right those who speak the loudest?

Wouldn't a false politician look like a spy? In his childhood, he was raised with a strong anti-communist education, spies were considered to be horny monsters. But those who lie look the same as we do. Even false politician are hard to notice. "Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but are ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7,15).
 

Politics are not the only place where lies are encountered. False religious people lure believers into giving of their wealth with smooth words, false civic activists who grasp power, and even false adoptive parents. In particular, false politicians should be identified as they drive out sincere politicians and have a negative impact on society as a whole.

These days, false politicians pass themselves off as knowledgeable in science. They may comment on long-standing research results or present statistics. Intentional manipulation of research results is a falsehood under the mask of science. The falsehood of these politicians and their abuse of science and statistics, destroys the trust of those who believe in science.
 

False politicians also often pass themselves as angels. They hug the poor, show their tears and emotion.   False politicians come even with the flag of justice. Shout out confidently to intimidate their opponents and join the power groups of society. It makes a mockery of justice as a tool of the strong.

The media can restrain and check the lies of politicians. If we have concern about politicians' lies, it is time to examine whether freedom of speech works properly. The media is necessary for a transparent society. However, some irresponsible and extreme YouTube-like media deserve to be criticized and ignored. Falsehood needs to be filtered out from the information that is open to everyone.

Only when you defeat lies can society be transparent. Everything must be transparent to protect a democratic society. Journalists should have courage, and the public should look at it with their eyes wide open. "False Christs and false prophets will arise and produce great signs and portents, enough to deceive even the chosen" (Matthew 24, 24).

Faith, Hope And Love with Continued Admonition

 

Integrity, transparency, and anti-corruption are the qualities we want in our public officials. So begins an article in the  Reconciliation and Unity   column of the Catholic Times. 

 

Many are the words used to express these qualities but these principles are the basic virtues we demand of politics and society. The power to allocate resources, observance of given laws, institutions and norms justly managed are seen as major steps in the development of democracy. 

 

Power can be expressed not only in state affairs but also in relationships that appear in everyday work or group life. The degree of fairness and justice are also key indicators for assessing the development of democracy in a particular country. 

 

When discussing North Korea, it is not easy to argue whether the system is fair and just. The anti-smoking law was adopted in North Korea, but it became a hot topic when a photograph of the head of the Labor Party Kim Jong-un had a cigarette in his hand despite the law.

 

It is the testimony of a large number of North Korean defectors that bribes in the relationship between the bureaucrat who manages the marketplace and the intelligence agency that monitors the residents and the market trader are prevalent. Even at the high level of politics, the main elites who assist the present leader are often inherited from the past. 

 

The basic order of democracy aims for an open society where everyone gets equal opportunities, the process is fair, and the results are just. North Korea is a closed society where social status is determined by birth and the system operated by the leader's desires rather than the rule of law, corruption and unreasonableness continue to spread.

 

For this reason, our gaze on North Korea is focused on how and when North Korea will enter the liberalization that must accompany growth and development, and how long the North Koreans will endure the present system? Furthermore, the authoritarian regime in North Korea needs to change. Some even fall into matters where there may be justification for punishment and sanctions to be imposed.

 

Regarding how to lead others in a good direction, the Gospel of Luke recommends that "if your brother sins, enlighten him" (Lk 17:3). Blame is not a basis for hate and exclusion, but when it comes with a willingness to help until it changes, it becomes a good act. Until North Korea turns to the path of an open society little by little, what we need will be faith towards them, hope not to give up, and ultimately love.

Difficulties In Listening

 

Professional Counseling programs have been present in Korea for many years. Counselors are in all areas of society. Because of the rapid social changes in South Korea: high suicide rate, divorce, age gap problems, educational system, unemployment, etc. counseling services have spread and diversified within society.

Consequently, the training for professional counselors has increased as also associations that are involved in the discussion on the practice and training of counseling professionals, one of the fastest-growing fields in Korea. This is also seen in the training of pastoral workers and especially clerics who want more than the training they received in the seminary.
A priest writes in a bulletin about his experience in training in counseling and his felt need for knowledge in this field.

He had some big dreams for his sabbatical year but had to return home due to corona19. He returned to live with a senior priest, living in a small attic room, and decided to continue studying counseling, from which he took a leave of absence for the sabbatical year.

The housekeeper only comes twice a week. He had to do everyday things that he thought weren't his job for the past 50 years— washing, cleaning, cooking and washing dishes, and even maintaining the refrigerator. The pastor told him: "The daily routine of eating, washing dishes, and cleaning is holy."

The pastor suggested counseling—intern training along with graduate school classes; he didn't know what to expect and accepted it. After registering for the internship, the pastor gave him a terrifying warning: "Now you will be in the race of death." It really was a race of death.

At the end of the second semester, the pastor asked: "What do you think you learned?" "When the consultation was over, recorded, and written, there were many times that I wanted to sew my mouth shut," he answered. He didn't realize how much he talked about himself without listening to others. And coming across as a self-important braggart. The pastor told him: I have been studying for the last 8 years, and have been able to fix little. But knowing that we're not listening to others is an important lesson."

In counseling 'listening with empathy' is important. The writer learned that listening is the most important thing in pastoral ministry with believers. In fact, his sabbatical once in his life became of great significance to him. Isn't  listening also the most important factor that separates the bishop and priest?

Usually, bishops think they know everything, and when priests share their concerns or opinions, they only try to judge, direct and teach them. After experiencing this a few times, the priest seems to give up speaking in front of the bishop. It's not just himself, the bishop has little experience in listening sincerely. The bishop seems to want the priest to follow and obey rather than to listen. It will be difficult for us to create a warm church atmosphere with this way of relating, in which the bishop and the priest run endlessly along parallel paths.

When looking at the conflict that society is experiencing recently, usually it is only one's own story without listening to other people's stories. This is also due to asserting only stories related to the interests and capabilities of their own group and unconditionally opposed to others. Doing what his own group did. Our society is now uneasy about what to integrate and create for the future.

This year, he was appointed as a parish priest after the sabbatical year. He wants to continue studying counseling. It is his desire to become more aware of himself and to listen and empathize with the pain of others more so than he has done in the past.