The life of a missionary is like drawing water from a deep well. I have nothing and I can't do anything by myself. Nevertheless, I am renewed, empowered, enlivened, and transformed into a new being little by little.
Clearly, it is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me as Saint Paul
confessed long ago. This spiritual witness gives me hope, vision, and
inspiration to go on this mysterious journey. In spite of my limitations and
the lack of communication, a hope-filled new year has been opened wide.
All of us want to be better, much better than before in many ways. Nobody will
deny that each of us hopes to improve our lives not only physically and
materially, but spiritually.
Hope lets me go on and on. All of us have hope for fraternity and solidarity
among people in the world as Pope Francis mentioned in his message for the new
year.
Nature here and there reveals much hope. Newly blooming sprouts, leaves and
flowers, the dawn and the rising sun, babies, and children are all symbols of
hope. In fact, every moment of our lives is filled with hopes and dreams. That
is why we can smile and be positive and grateful beyond problems and obstacles.
One good example of giving hope to society would be the life of Father Cyril
Axelrod. Since I read his story, I feel he keeps saying, “Never give up! Do not
be afraid. Have a dream. Cheer up!"
Cyril Axelrod, a deaf-blind priest, constantly encourages us to go beyond the
situation. Doing eight indigenous sign languages and speaking nine languages,
Cyril Axelrod is a living example and witness to going beyond obstacles and
limitations.
He was born almost deaf in an Orthodox Jewish family in South Africa in 1942.
So he attended St. Vincent's School for the Deaf in Johannesburg. His father
passed away when he was 19 years old. He became a Roman Catholic in 1965,
entered the Redemptorists, and studied philosophy and psychology.
One day at Mass, he noticed some deaf people didn't understand what the priest
was saying. So he decided to become a priest to help others understand the
message more easily and clearly. Then, he studied at St. John Vianney's
Seminary in Pretoria and was finally ordained in 1970.
Nevertheless, he began to go blind in 1979 because of Usher syndrome and
had lost all his sight by 2001. As a modern hermit, he does cooking and
housework by himself. With braille communications, he also makes use of his
phone, computer, doorbell, Internet, email, and text message services.
He now lives in London but travels around the world doing his mission, training, and consulting with his vision and insight.
His life and faith in God is a touching miracle. He is blind but he has an
inner vision, insight, inspiration, compassion, and goodwill for people. He is
deaf, but he is willing to communicate, share and collaborate with others.
Like Nick Vujicic, he believes disabled people are angels who help others to learn
and experience valuable lessons of unconditional love, trust, hope, faith, inner peace, perseverance, motivation, and integration. To him, deaf-blindness
is a blessing and a powerful means to help others.
He went far beyond his personal needs. His mission is to give hope and faith to
the deaf and blind so that they can receive God's message and enjoy the gift of
communication.
He set up a hostel for homeless deaf people and a training center to teach
skills to enable deaf people to find work. He also wrote, “And the Journey
Begins".
Whenever he meets people, he is willing to smile and share a joke. To people
suffering from depression, he gives an encouraging message. “Try again and
again. Do your best to overcome obstacles. Go beyond limitations and challenges.
Have courage. Have a vision."
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2014/01/162_149771.html
The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ January 15, 2014
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