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Seed and Flower - 15th Ordinary Sunday

(Story about a spiritual teacher and his disciple who asks a puzzling question—“Is what makes the tree move either tree or wind?” The teacher answers, “It is neither the tree nor the wind. It is your heart!” Let anyone with ears listen!)

Suppose you meet God who is willing to fulfill your three wishes whatever you ask for. What would you like to ask?
Paul is the one who was asked three wished by God. Without hesitation, Paul asked God to make him a superstar so that he would become very popular and every body would love him. God did so, but soon he found that being famous was extremely hard: people called him all the time day and night, asked for his autograph waiting outside his home whole night, paparazzi followed him every where, many people became stokers. So Paul reluctantly asked God the second wish, asking all the people bothered him to be taken away. God did so. He found he had only one wish left. He thought day and night what he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t make one wish because he didn’t want to lose other things like being successful, athletic, famous, rich and so on. Totally exhausted, he finally asked God, “My God, tell me what I need to ask for my wishes?” God answered, “If I were you, I would ask wisdom to know the truth, courage to follow the truth and love to live the truth.” “But I already lost my three wishes,” he said. God responded, “Don’t worry. I already planted wisdom, courage and love within you. The only thing you need to know is that all good things are given as seeds planted in you, so you strive to nourish and develop the seeds in you to bear much fruit.”

Today, we heard many seeds in the gospel.
In ancient time, Israelites sowed seed very differently. They just threw the seed in the air and the wind blew it anywhere. That’s why some seed fell on the path, other seed on rocky ground, other among thorns, others on rich soil. What happened to them? The bird ate it up, the other were withered or choked, but some seed on the rich soil produced fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.

Think about any seed. What do you expect to come out of the seed? Flowers! How do you know that? Can you see flowers in the seed? No, but we know the seeds grow to become flowers. How come? It is natural as well as supernatural because no human beings can make little flowers even though they can make computers and satellites. Only God can make the seed grow, become flowers and bear fruit. Think about any seed. Can you see flowers in the seed? Yes, we know that all life belongs to God who makes things grow, become flowers and bear fruits.

Likewise, I think all of us are seed planted on the earth by God. No one is without God’s purpose just like nothing is accidental. God has a special plan for each of us. In other words, we all are going to be flowers. What kind of flowers do you want to be?

Karen was thirteen, her father declared bankruptcy. That was the year they all made their Christmas presents. She remembers waiting for Christmas with more than the usual anticipation because she had secretly knit a sweater for her father. On the Christmas morning, there was a box not likely to contain something homemade. She looked at it with suspicion. Her father smiled, “it’s for you.” Inside were a pair of twenty-four-karat gold earrings. They were exquisite. “Aren’t you going to try them on?” So she took them into the bathroom, closed the door, and put them on her ears. Cautiously she looked into the mirror. The earrings looked weird. Tearing them from her ears, she rushed back into the living room and flung them on the floor. “How could you do this?” she resented, “Why are you making fun of me? Take them back. They look stupid. I’m too ugly to wear them. How could you waste all this money?” Then she burst into tears. Waiting for her tears dried out, her father said, “I know they don’t look right now. But I bought them because someday they will suit you perfectly.” After years passed by, she is truly grateful to have survived her adolescence. At some of its lowest moments, she would get out the box and look at the earrings. Her father had spent a hundred dollars he didn’t have because he believed in the person she was becoming. It was something to hold on to.

Human being is more a verb than a noun. Each of us is unfinished, a work in progress. We are seeds that would become beautiful flowers someday. If life is process the process to grow, all judgments are provisional. We can’t judge something until it is finished. No one has won or lost until the race is over. When I was working at the social welfare facility called New Directions that helps the adolescents who are addicted to drug and alcohol, I kept talking to myself, “These boys were addicted and yet they would be someone whom I admire someday.” I just don’t know God’s plan for them and what kind of flower they would be. Simply trusting process of life has a great power.

Now let the seed, that is God’s gift in us, grow and not to be taken, withered, and choked by Satan. Think about whatever God’s gifts in you. What kind of flower would you want to be? How do you want to praise God’s name with your beauty? If you know you are not finished yet, you would be more patient on others and yourself, trusting God’s special plan for all of us. You will become a beautiful flower someday, and will bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold. Now in silence, look at God’s gifts in you, thanking for them and letting it grow.

Rest for Your Summer Vacation (14th Ordinary Sunday)

Where are you going to spend your summer vacation? Around the Fourth of July, we often hear the question about our plans for summer vacation. It is a general leave of absence from a regular occupation, so it is a special time in which we want to find recreation, relax and opportunities to bond friends and family. In order to do that, we have to make some decisions: Where are we going to go? When do we take off? How much money do we plan to spend? What kind of activities are we going to do? Once our plans come along with these questions, we are ready to go. Go away for fun and relax.

However, the reality is sometimes different because people need more time after the vacation—the real time for rest! Many are usually occupied with plans and activities that cause people to become exhausted in the hustle and bustle of doing something, eventually hoping for some time for quietness and peace. In other words, we often stay in the surface of vacation by being away and enjoying the ability to afford to do something not found in the routine of life. But in the deeper level of vacation, we are eager to be refreshed so that we can come back to the normal life with renewed spirit. For this spiritual rest, Jesus says today, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Jesus promises us rest. But this does not mean some time off, less work and more sleep. Rather, this invitation goes out to all who are weary, who can no longer find pleasure in life, whose backs are bent with the burdens of each day. This is an invitation to all of suffering humanity, especially those whose suffering has caused them to lose heart. And this spiritual rest happens when our true nature is realized because our hearts are restless until they rest in God as St. Augustine said. Thus Jesus introduces us to the God who will restore to us the goodness of creation and this inner realization of rest happens when we live in harmony with ourselves, our neighbor, our nature and God.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” The way to this spiritual rest is to yoke ourselves to Jesus. This means we must undertake Jesus’ disciplines and learn from him. To me, this is the loving invitation that has shaped my vocation to the priesthood. The scripture passage I chose for the priestly ordination is not just for the ceremony but for the life of service to the end of my life. My heart was restless when I was trying to find “my way” in college. When I began my business career in China, the restless heart intensified, and weariness afflicted the mind with a labor and a burden. I couldn’t sleep much and couldn’t eat well. The lasting fatigue lingered within me. Ideas and distractions captured the mind and they whipped it night and day and finally blew me away to the miserable situation. All I wanted was rest.

Many Catholics say that they come to the church to look for peace of soul. This is the fundamental desire in us to rest in God, finding ourselves in the right place so that we feel secured and loved by the one who is not changeable. My Lord and my God has done this for me. So I carry this scripture passage with the smiling Jesus. (Showing my holy card for the priestly ordination) I have finally found rest in God. No, the more accurate way to say is that God has found me, making me trust that everything will be all right because this spiritual rest in God is allowing ourselves to be carried by life without strain or effort on our part. D.H. Lawrence pictures the spiritual rest as “a cat asleep on a chair/ at peace, in peace…Sleeping on the hearth of the living world/ yawning at home before the fire of life/ feeling the presence of the living God/ like a great reassurance/ a deep calm in the heart…”

The spiritual rest is trusting in the life that has been given as a gift, realizing that “All that matters is to be at one with the living God and to be a creature in the house of the God of life.” I hope you understand your vacation is already begun in this sense and, wherever you go for the vacation, celebrate your life in God, accepting Jesus’ invitation for the rest and learning the lesson of the cat.

Interdependence DAy

First of all, it is honor to preside the Eucharistic celebration for this special occasion called Independence Day. At the same time, I feel little burdened to be in the position to preach the gospel in light of American national holiday because there would be a certain gap between my knowledge of American history and your life built on it. Nevertheless, I see there would be a converged point where God has revealed the value of Independence and beyond.

Since I came to the United States, I have found something very different about the country which I would be never able to discover unless I came here. To many outsiders, the most affluent country could be not an ideal place to live because of its materialism, secularism and individualism. Celebrities in Hollywood that many people outside believe that they represent the country has given a wrong impression such as hedonism. No wonder why many outside the country often see the country in the negative point of view because of the bad influence of the media. If we believe in the statement that no country is an island, it is not a problem for a country but for all.

However, it is not all true. I have met so many great people in America who are compassionate to other’s happiness and who are filled with zeal to build the faith-based country. These great people are not just satisfied with being Americans; rather, they strive to be world citizens. They have not just fought for independence; they live in accordance with interdependence—the new reality that has defined who we are, especially Catholics that literally means universal believers. 

When Pope Benedict 16^th visited the country and addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he emphasized the duty to protect, the responsibility to uphold human rights even if it means overriding national sovereignty, promoting solidarity with most vulnerable regions of the world. In listening to the address, I realized that I could testify the universal believers who have already lived the duty to protect in the United States and live among us now. 

Dorothy Day founded the Catholic Worker that has dedicated themselves more than seventy-five years in New York City in serving the homeless with a soup and bread every day and advocating human rights in accordance with the social justice of Jesus Christ. They are truly Catholics who know their dependence on God as well as their interdependence on others while many celebrate their independence in self-satisfaction. And I have been also witnessing so many generous hearts that have helped the vulnerable of the other countries in case of Tsunami, the hurricane and the earthquake through Catholic Relief Services. I believe this is the power and the spirit of the United States. As the pope said, this is a land of great faith. So, on Independence Day, I invite you to celebrate something bigger and beyond to which we Catholics are called. Our independence will shine forth if we know our interdependence with one another and take a poignant role to lead others as the land of great faith. God bless America!

Who Do You Say I AM? (Sts. Peter & Paul Homily)

Let’s imagine that the disciples are traveling with Jesus. Suddenly Jesus turns around and asks them, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” First they mumble and try to say something that they have heard. “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Jesus doesn’t comment on these opinions at all, probably knowing what they are to say, rather, he intently looks at them and asks, “Who do you say that I am?”

Now I ask you in the name of Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” (Interacting with people, listening to their answers and asking ‘why do you say that?’)

 

“Who do you say that I am?” This is not only the ultimate question that we Christians must answer but also the challenging question that we Christians must find an answer on our own. In order to ratify this statement, let me invite St. Peter to our pulpit.

 

(St. Peter speaks) Good evening/morning, everyone. I am Peter the apostle for whom with St. Paul you celebrate the solemn feast today. I am truly honored to be remembered as the leader of the apostles and the rock upon which my Lord built the church. But today I would like to bring up something you never find in the gospel unless you understand my whole life with my Lord.

 

When my Lord asked, “Who do you say that I am?” unlikely many believe, I was not the one who gave the famous answer—“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” because the author of the gospel of Matthew wanted to describe me as the leader of the apostles, so he chose me to speak the poignant profession on Jesus. It didn’t actually matter whether I said it or not for you can find what I was thinking in the following passage of the gospel. Right after the profession, Jesus revealed the first prediction of the Passion to the apostles. And I took him aside and said to him “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Oh, how foolish I was, not trusting his words and putting my own agenda for the Lord! Now I become truly grateful to remember the Lord’s rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” And he continued on saying, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” It really took for a long time to understand these words. As you know, I ran away, leaving my Lord to the Romans who killed him, while betraying him tree times. I, once called Satan by the Lord, confess before you, this is truer about me. Although saved from the crucifixion, my life was not the same anymore. I was dead as well.

 

However, the resurrection came to me. When the Lord was raised from the dead, he didn’t forget me. One morning my Lord showed up on the seashore, saying to me, “Come, have breakfast.” My Lord took the bread and gave it to me, and in like manner the fish. It was the same peaceful regular breakfast we had all the time. We walked along the seashore after the breakfast. I had nothing to say, thinking about my betrayal. Thankfully, my Lord opened his mouth first, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” It was another challenging question I had to answer like “Who do you say that I am?” because it could be my last chance to express how much I loved my Lord. “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” But my Lord asked the same question again and again. My heart became numb. I instinctively knew I didn’t hit the nail and my Lord actually knew myself better than me. But what else could I say? “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

 

My dear friends, can you see why I started talking of Jesus’ question—“Who do you say that I am?” and my last encounter with him? My faith journey was nothing but to know the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus himself and to move from informative knowledge to transformative knowledge. I probably knew Jesus was special as a miracle worker, possibly the Son of God like many said. But that didn’t affect me at all because it was all about information with many ideas until I suffered with my own weakness and was transformed by confessing with humility, “You know everything, Lord, that I love you.” It was my personal encounter with the Lord nothing like what I heard. And the more important thing is that it was not ended in words. It entailed my action to prove as my Lord asked, “Follow me.” As my colleague St. Paul rightly put it, “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” It is all about life-long commitment in personal relationship with the Lord.

 

“Who do you say that I am?” You need to find your own answer for this question. And it will take a lot of courage on your part in trying to answer. You may mumble first and convey others’ answers. It is OK. However, only your own words can keep you steadfast in difficult times and lead you to the deeper encounter with the Lord. Thanking for his kind invitation for me, I hope Fr. H.Paul has found his own answer for this. Let us praise the name of the Lord for he is good always.

 

(After the final prayer) Peter’s faith journey was nothing but his personal discovery of who Jesus was to him. In this sense, we are all called to find our own answer for “Who do you say that I am?” To me, Jesus is my best friend because I truly believe that the core of priesthood is being a friend of Jesus Christ as Pope Benedict said and there is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with him. That’s why I need to pray to know him deeper and deeper and to encounter who the Father is through him.

Message from Madagascar!

Received the money and THANKS!

Dear Rev. H Paul 

We have received the money you had sent and we were able to buy  about two tons of rice!!

The school will be closing in the month of July and then two months holiday and will restart on September also will be reopening the center in Tsiazotafo in our home the center stopped for a year so we will have about more than 1000 children next term and as the world (food) crisis is affecting us we just trust and pray that God who created will provide and take care of the poor. It is the greed of some which make the poor suffer so God hears the cry of the poor too.

We THANK you and your companions who are struggling to get some money for the poor children. God will reward you 1000 times and more . We are continually praying for you.

Love and greetings to all.

Br. Emmanuel

Today I have received e-mail from Br. Emmanuel who is in charge of the orphanage in Madagascar. He said he has received the money and bought two tons of rice for the children! How wonderful it is! In fact, we have raised $837 in the name of the Living Man IV and wired it through Center for Pastoral Leadership in the diocese of Cleveland.

I wish to express my big thanks for all participants in the name of Living Man IV for this great occasion. We believe that we have been enriched as well by sharing our time, talent and treasure with the poor. 

May God continually cherish the zeal and compassion of Living Man!

Faithfully in Christ

Living Man Fr. H.Paul

Cancer - 12th Sunday Homily

“Cancer”, when we hear this word, entails many thoughts embedded in us—chemo, radiation, surgery, uncertainty, desperate fighting, despair, maybe hope, and sudden death. When we hear this word unexpectedly, while asking what kind of cancer and how bad it is, we usually find ourselves feeling powerless before the news. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do and how you have lived, cancer just comes and seems to take lives away from us. Although we make best efforts to prevent or avoid it, many of us are still vulnerable because we have experienced it either directly or indirectly anyway. We are afraid of cancer, even something cancerous!

Two weeks before my ordination last year, I got a call from my friend, a Benedictine sister, saying that my friend Sr. Paul was diagnosed with stomach cancer which was very malignant between the third or fourth stage. After hanging up the phone, I recalled my first encounter with Sr. Paul. When I was first year at the seminary in Korea, our archbishop invited all novitiates in the archdiocese and first and second year seminarians to dinner to encourage our vocations to the religious life and the priesthood. The novitiates and seminarians were mingled at the dinner table. I sat with a Benedictine sister. After the dinner, we talked to each other and were surprised to find out that we were classmates at the same parish. From then we became a companion, supporting and praying for each other. She took her final vow in 2005 and started working as a campus minister while I was studying in Cleveland. Anyway, the surgery was scheduled a week before my ordination. And when I prostrated on the sanctuary during the litany of saints, I prayed three wishes to God. One of them was asking God to heal my dear friend Sr. Paul from cancer which I believed unfair for such a young sister.

The first person, besides my parents, I met during my visit to Korea after the ordination was Sr. Paul in the hospital. She was in recuperation after the surgery and six straight chemos were on the way. Over a month, I often visited her and we talked about our vocation in God’s providence and sometimes death. No body knew how the treatment ended up. She seemed to be OK with chemo. In the midst of that, I planned a picnic with her and finally got the permission from the superior general. At that time, I thought about the Korean poem that says life is a picnic; we come and enjoy it for a while and then go back our eternal home, believing it could be our last chance to go on a picnic together. I had to come back to the United States when she was ready for her last chemo.

Jesus said today, “Do not be afraid” three times in the gospel, assuring us that God even knows all the hairs of our head. It deeply touches me because God knows how many hairs of those who in chemo and radiation are lost and would cry for their loss.

After one year from Sr. Paul’s surgery and treatment, she sent an e-mail to me, sharing her feeling and insight in life with cancer. The letter begins.

“I have lived a year given to me like a bonus. It seems nothing happened. Rather, I have enjoyed reading the books I wanted to read, praying without distraction, walking in nature, being loved by many and being happy in the knowledge of God’s presence. I sometimes feel sorry because I am the only comfortable one in the convent; nevertheless, the sisters thank me for I walk with smile. I don’t know why I become like this…but I am grateful anyway…

Cancer has enriched my life with beauty. Many become a part of my journey with prayer and love and I feel God’s unknown presence…I don’t know why cancer came to me. But I do know everything coming from God is a gift that reveals the heart of God who carefully chooses gift for his lover. I know God’s gift is always beneficial and good to me. If someone says the cancer came because of my sin, I am grateful to have a time to repent. If someone says it expiates sins on behalf of others, I am grateful to be a part of Christ’s redemptive suffering. If someone says it is for the glory of God, I am truly grateful for being chosen to be God’s instrument. So I am grateful all the time…

Someone asked me not long ago if I was afraid of dying. I said, ‘I don’t know exactly. But I wouldn’t be afraid’…I know everyone dies. It is a just matter of time. I think death would be fearful when we try to run away from it…But once I received it, I am not afraid anymore… Actually I have many dreams to come true: many works to do, many people to love and to be with. But I have seen one of my dreams come true these days. Some say to me that they see hope through me—the hope that Jesus has given to the despair. This is my happiness…I believe God has taught me through St. Paul’s words. ‘I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me’ (Phil. 4:11-13). It is really true to me. No one takes away my happiness because God is my happiness in me and the Lord is suffering with me.”

 

Also being grateful, I have been humbled to be a friend to the simple and holy sister. And now I have courage to say that cancer could be a part of our life and even welcomed as a gift from God who always gives us the best for us. As Job said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord! We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil?” (Job 1:21, 2:10) Once we accept death, there is nothing to be afraid of and, since Jesus Christ who freely accepted death and was raised from it is our Lord, what do we need to be afraid?