A prayer meeting 기도 모임

                                                        
       (written in 1998)

Our country is suffering from serious problems such as overproduction, consumerism, foreign debt, and unemployment…. What shall I do for the country? What can I do for the country… About 1,000 religious people gathered together at Myeongdong Cathedral to participate in a prayer meeting for the country facing a critical economic problem on Jan. 7, 1998. I was one of the participants in that meeting. Representing 8,000 religious figures who feel a sense of responsibility for the current crisis in Korea, all of us in this prayer meeting could clear our identities as religious people and try to find a way to overcome our troubles with a special intention to make this gloomy reality for the future. Above all, we came together to examine our own religious living attitudes and styles as concerned people in this contemporary era of material consumerism.

 Prof. Um Kil-chong spoke about our present national economic situation – its problems and the future for about an hour. After explaining several social and economic phenomena such as market economy, overproduction, extravagance, expansion of domestic consumption, advanced science and technology, earth speculation, information, and globalization, he humbly emphasized the importance and necessity of the hidden hands, which symbolically means the spiritual role and assistance of religious people. Listening to his fluent talks, I could understand more about our economic situation. Then, we celebrated a Mass with a united heart for our country.

 As a part of presenting our resolution, we made up our minds to witness the life of poverty, sharing, and hope at the end of Mass. First of all, we proclaimed to witness the life of poverty. On the basis of Jesus’ teachings, we are eager to pursue a life of poverty which is very crucial and fundamental in the consecrated life. By the time we made the first profession after several years of initial education in the congregation, we profess three virtues of poverty, obedience, and chastity. This solemn promise comes from our profound longing to seek and do God’s will above anything else. Coming out of self-satisfaction and self-achievement, we promise to control and empty our personal instinctive desire and passion ultimately leading a simple and frugal life. We don’t possess many things for ourselves only. We perpetually make an effort to have the most necessary things needed for our consecrated life. If we have something, it is for the public goodness and sharing with others. Nevertheless, it’s true that some of us, if not all, have also been tempted to live luxuriously in some way. That’s why we are renewing our lives to witness the life of poverty.

 Second, we proclaimed to witness the life of sharing. Living a life of sharing is the fruit of brotherly love, and it creates solidarity in our society. Sharing is the surest way to witness our brotherly affection opened to all people. By pulling down the wall of egoism and generously giving ourselves out to neighbors, we can share what we have with whom we are living together, especially with those who are in need both spiritually and materially.

 Third, we proclaimed to witness the life of hope. We are never disappointed in troublesome and even painful circumstances because we firmly believe in Christ our savior. Rather, we are willing to encourage and console those who suffer from broken-hearted memory and despair. The gradual destruction of moral and ethical values has made people give more priority to money and power than human beings. By being a person of hope, we dare to pursue respect for the rights of human beings instead of material omnipotence, a virtue of self-control instead of over-consumerism, a spirit of service and sacrifice instead of selfish power and honor, and the joy of human development instead of epicureanism. We earnestly hope and pray that our country would be better than before through our constant efforts to reconstruct our points of view and values step by step.

 Faithfully proclaiming ourselves to witness the life of poverty, sharing, and hope, we decided to pray the rosary every day and to practice several practical points, especially for a better economic and frugal life. For example, we are constantly making efforts to save more water and electricity in the community by using cold water if possible and pulling unneeded plugs from the outlet. When the opportunity to dine out or to travel abroad is given, we have decided to say “no” as much as we can. We also reduced our individual budget to a minimum. In my case, I canceled buying new shoes for an outing; I have only one pair of shoes and sandals for summer. Besides, there are many ways to put our resolution into practice by means of using the inside of the paper, less photocopying, not giving material gifts and sending letters without special purpose, not buying foreign goods, et. “Simplify, simplify… Our life is frittered away by detail,” Henry David Thoreau said long ago.

 

The Korea Times /Thoughts of the Times/ Jan 14, 1998