The Strength of Faith

 

An article in the Catholic Times considers the situation of many believers who are enjoying a vacation from their Sunday attendance and participation in parish societies. Many have regarded their faith life as a burden and these days they feel relieved and relaxed because of the Corona 19.

The priest columnist in his article hearing these words of a believer felt great sadness. The faith life is a burden. Even if it's not because of Corona 19, he has heard a lot of similar difficulties from believers. There are times when religious life is burdensome and annoying. "If I hadn't known God, I wouldn't have the Sunday observance, time and effort spent in the community, able to overlook the dark side of the world and make more comfortable choices. That's right, it might be exactly as she expressed it. When there comes a time too burdensome the writer recommends we remember the contents of the pledge we made at Baptism.

+ What do you ask of God's church? ● Faith

+ What does faith give you? ● Eternal life.
 
You should be able to trust God with your whole heart, entrusting your life to God every day. This is the way of faith. Christ will lead you to love so that you can have eternal life which begins here and now.

There must be many people who don't remember well because it was a long time ago. But what's clear is that our faith began with this response. Once again, let's slowly meditate on the priest's prayer. The way of faith is to trust God every day, with our lives, and all our hearts. Of course, it's not an easy path. It's a long path, a path of the pilgrim. However, the prayer is not a lonely road that has to be walked alone, but rather that Christ will "lead you to love" and lead us on to life eternal.
 
When our lives are happy, it is not easy to realize the joy of walking on the path of faith. The sweet joy of happiness that I feel now is a self-fulfilling experience. When life goes smoothly without big problems, many people forget God. But there is no life full of joy. Pain and sadness, frustration and betrayal, despair and anguish are also part of life. When the dark moments of life come, what keeps us from falling into despair? To those who want an answer, he wants to tell you the story from one of the Korean poets: 'Thanks Stone'.

In some villages in Africa, there is a river that is not deep but has a very strong current. People in the village cross the river carrying heavy stones. It must be hard just to get through the strong current, but why in the world do they also carry a heavy stone?  It's very puzzling, but there was a reason for their behavior. Because if you misstep and stumble and get swept away by the current, the heavy stone will take the center of gravity and protect your life.

Maybe it's the same with our faith that sometimes feels burdensome. As you go through various paths in life, there are days when you encounter problems that cannot be dealt with by your own ability and strength. At that time, faith is the motive-power that gives strength so that we don't get swept away in the dark. Faith teaches us that God is with us at that moment, that he is walking along the painful path with us, so cheer up.

Parents are crossing through the high seas of life holding onto the little hands of a child. Taking precarious and small steps. One may lose their balance for a while become distracted, the child's hand may slip away. A moment of carelessness may come when you are in danger. If one possessed the heavy stone of faith, one would never be washed away by the current of the harsh world. Adults need to put the weight of faith in the arms of the children so that they may move easily in the world.

At this moment, he hopes that the words of Chapter 43 of Isaiah will encourage those who are struggling on the path of faith and help parents to continue to present this path to their children.

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine. Should you pass through the sea, I will be with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up (Isaiah 43: 1-2). 

Dying Alone And Its Prevention

 

                           Dying Alone

 

A scholar in the field of ethics writes in the Diagnosis of the Times column of the Catholic Peace Weekly on the problem of people dying alone in society. 

From April 1, 2021, "The Dying Alone Prevention Act" has been in effect. Loneliness, when one is cut off from family and socially isolated, is emerging as a social problem in Korea. 

 

The reason for the enactment of this Law is the need to carry out a systematic policy at the national level— investigating the exact status of persons dying alone and establishing a support system through systematic investigation and research, to prevent persons from dying alone and promote the welfare of the citizens. 

 

How bad was the situation that required a law to prevent people from dying alone? What surprised the columnist was when she searched the data dying alone occurred frequently not only among the elderly but also among the young and the middle-aged. The increase in the incidence of persons dying alone is related to changes in the make-up of the family.

 

The number of single-person households in Korea increases every year, and according to the Ministry of Public Administration, an analysis of the current status of the resident population at the end of June 2020, single-person households account for 38.5% (8,768,414 households). Single-person households have increased by nearly 3 million in about two years.

Single-person households are increasing due as delayed employment and late marriage for young people, and relatively high divorce rates for middle-aged people, family breakdown, a spouse taking care of children studying overseas. As Korea becomes an aging society, the number of single-person households aged 65 or older is increasing by 70,000 every year, and the number of dying alone will increase rapidly.

It is said that 31% of the deaths of persons without relations in Seoul in October 2020 were found in small single rooms and places of study. The causes for dying alone are the breakdown of the family network, which leads to divorce, non-marriage, death of a spouse resulting in psychological loneliness, depression, due to social interruption, and isolation.

Economic poverty and increased burden of medical expenses are also reasons for dying alone. Before the death, there was a life of 'poverty and 'isolation'. Therefore, the national and local governments' plan to establish policies necessary to actively protect those at risk from dying alone, laying the foundation for public care. She hopes many will be interested in how to prevent those who are dying alone.

Isolation occurs on a personal level, but also between generations. Pope Francis announced on January 31 this year the institution of a Church-wide celebration of a World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. Starting this year, it will be held on the fourth Sunday of July, close to the liturgical memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus. This gives us even in the church the need to be concerned for the elderly and to do so immediately. In the non-face-to-face era, she hopes that specific, practical, and creative plans will begin to increase within the church.

Pursuit of Truth Keeps One Young

In the Catholic Peace Weekly Believer's Platform, the columnist gives us his thoughts on the pursuit of truth and the results. He has for the last 26 years worked in consulting and one of the important things for a counselor is to have a mentor who sees that he's doing his work correctly and always ready to give him advice.

His teacher is a psychiatrist who is there to help in the consulting when needed; he considers this a great blessing. His teacher is a unique person who hasn't aged for 26 years. What's the secret to not getting old?

The secret to not getting old was work. His teacher is nearing the 90s and is still working. He learned from his teacher that people do not work because they are old, but because they do not work, they grow old. 

 

Even now, at 8 am each morning he leaves home with his wife and comes to the lab of the Family Academy. He spends a busy day writing in the lab, teaching students, and welcoming guests until 5:00 pm. 

 

After retirement, he has come to the academy daily and has published three or four books a year. There's a variety of things that he does, but all of them are brought together into one: the pursuit of truth. There's no time for one to get old when behaving in this way.

Bertrand Russell's maternal grandmother, a leading intellectual in her eighties spent time reading popular science books as a habit from midnight to 3 am when it became hard to fall asleep. Russell said he knew this was the secret to staying young by looking at his maternal grandmother. If you live like this, you won't have time to realize that you're getting old. It is a life of truth-seeking.

The secret to living young without getting old is like the grandmother and his teacher to maintain one's activities and exert their energies with a wide and sensitive interest in the pursuit of truth. 

 

A lifespan is just a number. The retired psychiatrist spent his whole life trying to find out the truth about a person's way of thinking and acting and has written about what he found, and used it in his lectures, counseling, and various activities. 

 

Recently, with interest in the mental health of people in the Corona era, the doctor started a YouTube program to inform the public about the research on coronavirus and trauma that will occur after Corona. Looking for solutions with a lifelong interest in things that people struggle with and suffer, his face always has a childlike curiosity and youth-like passion.

In the words of "The Truth Will Make You Free" (John 8,32), we find that there is a driving force in the pursuit of truth that makes one's heartbeat and helps one retain a youthful spirit. Even when we get older, the life of pursuing truth through what one does, and spreading it, is the secret of staying young of heart. In the age of living to the 100s, the writer wants to continue his interest and activities in the field of truth-seeking, and live like a young person full of curiosity— The pursuit of truth keeps us from getting old.

 

To Be With Those Who Are Suffering

To be on the side of those suffering is always a sign of sensitivity and as a Christian our default position. A director of a research institute brings her ideas to the readers of the Catholic Times on the subject.

As you pass through the area where the capital building in Seoul is located, the cherry blossoms are flowering in all their splendor but for the writer, pain comes before the freshness of these spring days.
 
The day of the Sewol Ferry disaster seven years ago was Wednesday, just before the Paschal Triduum. She recalls the memory of the time when she prayed for the children in the disaster and every year around the great feast of the Lord's Resurrection, feelings of sadness come before joy. Reminding her of the words of Sewol's bereaved family: "What we fear the most is to be forgotten." It's unlikely for them to find joy in the Resurrection and spring until the Sewol fact-finding is carried out properly.
 
The heart is heavier this spring also filled with blood-colored news from Myanmar. The day after Myanmar's military opened fire on protesters dozens of people were killed and wounded. A senior member of the research Institute was sent pictures from friends in Myanmar, showing countless numbers of citizens kneeling in front of troops and police, bleeding. It was a terrible scene that reminded her of Gwangju in May 1980.
 
A senior member suggested that the research institute should respond to the decision of the Malaysian bishops in their campaign in support of Myanmar people who are resisting the coup. So he hurriedly organized an online emergency forum to listen to the reality directly from Myanmar's local activists.
 
Two activists from the institute were representatives of two minority religious groups in Myanmar: Catholicism and Islam. Myanmar is mostly Buddhist. She was very worried that a few religious people, who had always faced hostility and threats, would be asked to convey the situation to them but they wanted to reveal their real names and faces to the Korean community. She worried about their safety, but also that the response to the terrible reality would be blocked.
 
Most emergency aid and aid channels to Myanmar were blocked, and even if they tried to contact Korean priests and monks working as missioners in Myanmar to discuss specific ways of support, foreign missionaries were monitored more severely, so they were careful. There is no way to help, she felt sorry when she thought about the urgent situation while preparing for the debate.

However, local Myanmar activists and local Myanmar people who participated as debaters were very grateful to Koreans for their interest in the reality of their own country. The fact that there are witnesses who listen to their voices, watch the scenes of injustice, and support them in prayer and solidarity when there is a growing sense of silence and neglect due to international affairs and political dynamics gives them courage. She felt once again that just being by their side, listening to those who suffer, and praying together were a means of consolation and solidarity.
 
Sewol families and the people of Myanmar expect us to remember them and not turn a blind eye, but to speak out to those responsible so that they can behave properly.
 
During this Easter season after experiencing in the liturgy the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord, she is asking for God's mercy and hope for change, the least but the most important thing that she can do as a Christian.

Results of Praise

 

 

A pastor writing in the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times explains the campaign among the believers of the parish in sharing words of praise within the parish community.

"You're good at your job." "You have good sense." In recent days, these and similar words of praise are exchanged among believers after Mass is over. These words of praise don't amount to much but the ripple effect is large. After the Mass, he greeted some of the believers, and a believer passing by said, "You are working hard." Very few words but it made him feel better, and he said thanks and greeted the giver of the compliment. The power of praise is great enough to make you feel "up" with few words. 

This campaign is not unfamiliar because it has been done in many places for a long time, but there are several reasons why it was implemented at this time in the parish. 

First of all, as Corona 19 is prolonged, many people are complaining of anxiety and depression due to 'Corona Blue'. They spend a lot of time with the family at home, they show stress and lethargy, and in severe cases, it expands to 'Corona Red', where is found anger and irritation, and often spreads to conflicts with others. In this situation, the pastor wondered, "What was the church able to do?" 

He thought it would be helpful to create an atmosphere of praising each other within the community. A compliment often makes one laugh but also feel better. And the atmosphere extends to the home and workplace without stopping there. 

American author Mark Twain once said, "I can live two months on a good compliment." Praise not only serves as an energizer to overcome the difficulties of Covid-19 for oneself but also for those around.

The second reason why the Praise Campaign was launched was the reality of our society—widespread in recent years. In our society, we see a lot of aversion and hate, spreading beyond to violence of those seen as opponents. The reality is the culture of death: child abuse, power abuse, bullying, sexual violence with a deepening of disgust, exclusion, and violence. Under these circumstances, the church should make a prophetic effort to read the signs of the times and identify the culture of death inherent in our lives and society to transform it into a culture of love and life. (We should acknowledge the place of Acedia in our lives)

This is considered to be the 'new evangelization' given to the church today. There may be many ways to practice the new gospel, but the easiest is praise. Praise is a very good way to shape God's love into neighbor's love. Even the slightest act of greeting the other person, and calling the baptismal name is an expression of love. To praise is to be interested in the other person and to acknowledge and respect his existence. A person who is praised feels the value and meaning of his existence, and furthermore, they are helped to praise others. 

Praise leads a rich customs officer, to repent." (Luke 19:1-10) This man felt alienated, found it difficult to be with others, was considered a sinner, conscious of his short stature, but Jesus called out his name, an act of praise that recognizes and accepted his presence. As a result, Zacchaeus transforms himself into a new human being by promising to share half of his wealth with the poor. Here we have the religious and spiritual dimensions of praise shown to resemble God's mercy and love. He invites all of us who have celebrated the Easter liturgy to join the 'Praise Campaign'.

Happy Easter

In the Catholic Times were a number of articles that commemorated the Feast of Easter. It is the center of the liturgical year and gives meaning to the life of faith.

The miracle of death  and being brought back to life are found in the Scriptures. That's not only one or two cases either.
 

These miracles of calling the dead back to life reveal the power of God, but death was postponed  only briefly, and must be distinguished from the resurrection of Jesus. All baptized Christians must live a life of resurrection day by day and move toward the coming completion.

 
On this Easter, as all those of the past, we are not only celebrating the resurrection of Jesus in a most important and grand manner in the liturgy  but also  confessing and hoping in faith in our own resurrection.

Some might say that Christ resurrected himself, and the rest were revived by God, so it was different. Of course, that's right. In fact, there is a description in the Bible that prophets and apostles prayed before doing such miracles, and the subject of miracles is not a prophet or an apostle, but God.

But the resurrection of Christ is more than just a death and resurrection. It is essentially different from other coming back to life seen in the Scriptures.These certainly are miraculous events, but only by the power of God or the power of Jesus that restored life. Simply put, they will eventually die again when the time comes.

On the other hand, the resurrection of Christ is a "spirited body" that "went from death to another world of life beyond time and space." Jesus' body is not only filled with the power of the Holy Spirit through resurrection, but also participates in God's life in its glorious state. So, many theologians describe the event of the dead in the Bible as "resuscitation."
 

"Resuscitation has only escaped death for a while, not overcome death."  These words of a theologian express well what is meant and he  goes on: "Jesus resurrection is to gain eternal life.The resuscitation event conducted by prophets or apostles is a miracle to reveal God's glory through God's power, and the resurrection miracles caused by Jesus can be seen as a prediction of Jesus' resurrection."

The calling back to life stories  of the Bible are great miracles, but they are only resuscitation. But no one  except Jesus who have risen from the dead to a new life. The Bible however does say there are other people who are resurrected like Christ. It is the story of each and every one of us who have been baptized. 

 

"You have been taught that when we were baptized in Christ Jesus we were baptized in his death; in other words, when we were baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too might life a new life" (Roman 6:3-4).

As Paul mentioned, the church teaches, "Through baptism, people are bound to the Pascal Mystery of Christ, die with Christ, buried together, and resurrect together."(Article 6 of the 2nd Vatican Council) That's why Christians spend "Sunday," the eighth day of Christ's resurrection, as a holy day as a Sunday, and make the day of the Lord's resurrection the greatest example. In the same vein, the reason for lighting the resurrection plant during the baptismal sacrament is in the same vein.

The resurrection of Christ continues on the great feast of the Lord's resurrection. Of course, the resurrection through Christ has already been achieved, but we are waiting for the completion that has not yet come. As the Bible says, "I have tasted the power of the world to come" (Heb, 6,5). Christians who are new in Christ at baptism can remember the words in 2 Cor. 5:15, "And the reason Jesus died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves but for him who died and was raised to life for them."

 

For Priests Who Do Not Know What to Change in Life

 

            An Open Letter to Priests

A priest writing for priests makes some very strong points, on what we should be sorry if up to now we did not know. It's an article for only certain members of the clergy. Therefore, if you think you know what you need to change, don't waste your time, and energy reading this article to the end. He wants to emphasize that this short article does not mean to criticize or attack anyone in any way. What a lost priest needs is encouragement and consolation from love, and not nagging.

However, he would like to make clear that he doesn't include himself among those who have not lost their way. He would like to mention some areas where some of the priests who feel lost may find their way back. He hopes his proposal will not be a reason for controversy. You don't have to agree, hopes you will listen with a generous heart.
 
First, he wants to emphasize the principle of solidarity. He wants to address the patriarchal ideology which we deal with now and continue to do so in the future. The more you think it has nothing to do with oneself, the more suspicious we should be of our attitude. It's spread in our society, in the church, like the air around us.
 
Second, the more likely we are to misinterpret the reality we live in, the more likely it is that the gospel is not being declared. Consequently the need to emphasize the importance of recognizing one's historical view.
 
Third, observe how you go about your pastoral work, and clearly recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your own private life. We will then be open to hearing with our ears and heart the words of the believers.
 
Fourth, make a list of what you think is natural and look at it over and over again. For example, the question: 'Is it natural for me to be healthy?' If you think so, write 'health'. The more of these obvious things you have that are listed the less you will have to be grateful for in life.
 
Fifth, he thinks it important to continue learning and training oneself on how to love God and the world more, and is this the way I am living? A priest who is captivated by himself may be able to speak of the love of the Lord, shown to us by the death on the cross, but will not be giving testimony with his life.
 
As a Christian, living as a priest of Christ we should with time grow happier and more grateful. It doesn't mean there's no pain or hardship.
 
Today is Good Friday remembering the death of our Lord on the Cross. During this pandemic, everything is influenced greatly by the virus and in Korea, all will be far from normal but we all make the effort to live wisely— changing what we can and  humbly acknowledge our failings and ask for the strength and courage to begin working on what we can't do.