Relying on the wheelchair or rolling chair for about a month, I noticed two interesting things that I did not realize before.
One thing is that the wheelchair can rotate 365 degrees in its position without deviating. That is, the wheelchair can turn around at an all-around angle in one position, handling the push rim to move the front two small wheels. Turning two caster wheels at the front, the two larger rear wheels just go along for the ride.
In the beginning, without knowing the possibility of turning all-around in one
position, I tried to push the wheelchair ahead to make a turn. As time went on,
I realized how not to waste energy but to just handle the chair easily
according to my intention.
The second
thing I realized is the importance of the front wheels, which are much smaller
than the two wheels at the back. The two much larger wheels at the back just
follow the direction handled by the small front wheels. Everything depends on
the two front caster wheels. How crucial the frontier role and spirit of the
front wheels is!
If the front wheels are filled with selfish desire and instinctive ambition to
go faster than others, what would happen to the cart? The cart will just enjoy
a speedy rapidity, and it might result in a tragic accident in the end. The car
is the same.
On the other
hand, the car will move ahead and go around with serenity, peace, integrality,
joy, composure, and solidarity, especially when the four wheels are properly arranged
to go on while keeping the car's balance when the driver of the car has
prophetic and sensible vision, and when she or he practices the examination of
self-consciences constantly to discern and work for the common good.
When our founder, Beatified Fr. James Alberione (1884-1971) founded the Pauline
Family which consists of five religious Congregations (Society of St. Paul,
Daughters of St. Paul, Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, Sister of Jesus
the Good Shepherd, Sisters of Mary Queen of the Apostles), four aggregated
Institutes (St. Gabriel the Archangel for lay consecrated men, Mary of the
Annunciation for lay consecrated women, Jesus the Priest for diocesan clergy,
the Holy Family for married couples) and the Association of Pauline
Cooperators, he created the concept of "four wheels of the cart" to
educate the importance of the integration of life to the whole members.
According to Fr. Alberione, the four wheels of the cart are piety, study, poverty,
and apostolate. Keeping the balance among those four spiritual elements is essential to living the truthful messages of Christ and giving those happy
messages to others for the glory of God and the peace of people.
Among the four wheels, the two front wheels are prayer and study. The most
important wheel is, of course, prayer life, in other words, piety that includes
various forms of prayer life such as Mass, Sacrament, Eucharistic adoration,
Confession, Examination of conscience, Reflection, Contemplation, and so on.
Without prayer, nothing can be sustained. Even though the cart goes forward, it
will arrive at the place out of the goal.
Studying means learning something from every situation. The study prepares us to be an
instrument of the truth, and study requires constant self-discipline,
moderation, and ongoing self-formation.
The future of the personal and communal life of poverty and apostolate totally
depends on the quality of prayer life and study. Thus, our Founder always
emphasized the priority of prayer, saying "Pray first, pray above all,
pray among others, pray anytime and everywhere…"
The whole world will be transformed marvelously if each of us reflects and
contemplates even some minutes a day. What a mysterious and concrete idea of the four wheels of the cart in our life!
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2018/09/162_255042.html
The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ Sept 4(online)/ Sept 5(offline), 2018.
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