(photo taken from catholicculture.org)
“I urge you to
remain steadfast in faith; so that at last we will all reach heaven and here rejoice
together.” (Final exhortation of St. Andrew Kim Taegon)
Scripture for
meditation: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
We are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self
is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary
light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is
seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.
About St. Andrew
Kim Taegon and companions: This first native Korean priest was the son of
Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution
of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled
1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to
return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow
Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to
arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the
border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River
near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and married man,
aged 45.
Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion
in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese
soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with
the outside world except for bringing taxes to Beijing annually. On one of
these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in
China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a
Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000
Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were
10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.
When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 he
canonized, besides Andrew and Paul, 98 Koreans and three French missionaries
who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and
priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women, 45 men.
Today, there are almost 4.7 million Catholics in Korea.
"The Korean Church is unique because it was founded
entirely by lay people. This fledgling Church, so young and yet so strong in
faith, withstood wave after wave of fierce persecution. Thus, in less than a
century, it could boast of 10,000 martyrs. The death of these martyrs became
the leaven of the Church and led to today's splendid flowering of the Church in
Korea. Even today their undying spirit sustains the Christians in the Church of
silence in the north of this tragically divided land" (Pope John Paul II,
speaking at the canonization). http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1144
Prayer: Opening
prayer for the Mass for the Memorial of St. Andrew Kim Taegon and companions
O God, you have created all nations and you are their
salvation. In the land of Korea your call to Catholic faith formed a people of
adoption, whose growth you nurtured by the blood of Andrew, Paul, and their
companions. Through their martyrdom and their intercession grant us strength
that we too may remain faithful to your commandments even until death. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
My thoughts: The
story of the Korean martyrs is surely an inspiration to us all. To begin with,
the Korean Christians kept the faith alive for a dozen years without one priest
to give them the sacraments and say a Mass! They simply lived on the bread of desire since they had no access to the Eucharist. Now there are over 4 million
Catholics in Korea! For another thing, the Korean martyrs were fearless in
their desire to keep their faith, even in the face of cruel and extreme
torture. How quickly many of us today disavow our faith when a conversation
turns against us or when we want something the Church says we can’t have! We
must look to the Korean martyrs to see the face of a people in love with God
first and foremost, the face of a people we must become today in order for the
faith to survive. God is calling us today to be brave and fearless as we stand
up for the truths He has taught us. Let us look to the Korean martyrs for
inspiration and courage as we begin the battle of our faith lives.
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