Candies of the Words 말씀 사탕

            (written in 1997)

 So many kinds of candy are displayed in the supermarket nowadays. Do you want some candy? Do you like candy? Some of you would probably like to have candy. Not only children but adults like candy. Especially, children are happy and satisfied with their grandparents or parents giving them sweet candy.

 My childhood memory of candy lets me smile sheepishly. As almost everybody did, I liked candy very much when I was a child. I used to fret when my mother wasn't aware of my childish desire to eat more candy. Living in the countryside without any convenient transportation at that time, I had to walk a long way for about an hour and a half to go to Sunday Mass.

 My body followed after my mother, but my heart often imagined candy and other sweet things to eat. Eating was so important to me. When my mother didn't care about me on the way to the church, I either closed my mouth and kept silent all the way as if I was angry, or I asked her directly to buy me something to eat. I even stole some coins from a closet in my home to buy candy by myself. What a troublesome daughter I was! Almost like a flashlight, candy was something that instantly brightened my gloomy and dark face.

 By the time I entered high school, however, I forgot the fact that I liked candy. It was not a concern in my life anymore. My adolescent life itself was too much for me to endure. Later on, friends took the place of candy. And when friends went away, the study was everything.

 When I studied at the University of the Philippines, one of my professors used to give us chocolates and other sweet things in class. She called the first stage of our study a romantic period to enjoy studying itself. Studying in the Philippines was such a heartfelt experience for me.

   Leaving the Philippines behind, I entered the Daughters of St. Paul. I was so cheered to find a glass bottle of candy in several recreation rooms of the community. I unconsciously liked to pick up some candy from time to time to release my tension during the initial formation periods such as aspirancy and postulancy. Little by little, I began to think of my delight for candy when I was trained in the Novitiate. I realized that eating too many sweets was not good for my teeth or my body as well. So I have tried not to enjoy too much candy from then on. Now, candy is not something to eat for me alone with pleasure but something to give and share with others with joy.

 One day, I was amazed to see "candies of the Words" that several sisters were making. They roll each little piece of computerized paper about 3 inches containing the memorable and inspiring Words of God to make it like a candy, and they wrap it in a colorful packing sheet. Simple but intuitive words about two or three lines are written bilingually in Korean and English on each paper.

 Of course, these productions are on sale in the Daughters of St. Paul Media Centers. In fact, the purpose of making these candies of the Words is to help people become familiar with the Biblical words day in and day out. It's really necessary for the religious to meditate and live on the words of the Bible every day. I like to read and contemplate the words. And I hope all the people in the world in suffering and joy could take a look at the Bible as often as possible. My childhood sweet candies have become lovely and spiritual candies of Words helping with the conflicts of life and encouraging love between people.

 I believe in Jesus saying "People can't live on bread alone, they need every word that God speaks."(Mt 4,1)  Truly, "the Words of the  Lord are much sweeter than honey and drippings from the honeycomb."(Psalms 18,11)

The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ March 14, 1997