Wanting No Share in Comfort (8)

[Weedy]

Wanting No Share in Comfort (8)

I have never met a man so religious and devout that he has not
experienced at some time a withdrawal of grace and felt a lessening of
fervor. No saint was so sublimely rapt and enlightened as not to be
tempted before and after. He, indeed, is not worthy of the sublime
contemplation of God who has not been tried by some tribulation for
the sake of God. For temptation is usually the sign preceding the
consolation that is to follow, and heavenly consolation is promised to
all those proved by temptation. "To him that overcometh," says Christ,
"I will give to eat of the Tree of Life." Apoc. 2:7. Divine
consolation, then, is given in order to make a man braver in enduring
adversity, and temptation follows in order that he may not pride
himself on the good he has done.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ-- Book 2, Chapter 9

============
September 20th – The 103 Martyrs of Korea

The 103 Martyrs of Korea were men, women and children who risked and
gave their lives in defense of the faith of the Church. The spread of
Christianity throughout Asia was not without its share of blood and
persecution. All these gave their lives, as Saint Agatha Yi said, “for
the Lord of Heaven, whom we will always serve.” We have previously
read about the Martyrs of China and Japan and the growth of
Christianity in Korea is no exception to this difficult history.
However, Korea is unique in the manner in which Christianity
originated and spread.

Long a closed country, the scholars of Korea were eager to learn about
the world, and after the discovery of some Christian books obtained
from Korea’s embassy to the Chinese capital, developed an interest in
the theology and philosophy of the faith. Ni-seung-houn, a Korean
native, traveled to Beijing in 1784 to study Catholicism and was
baptized with the new name, Peter Ri. Upon returning to Korea, he
converted many, but several years later, the martyrdom of Christians
began. In 1791, the government declared that Christians were “foreign
traitors,” and two of Peter Ri’s recent converts were martyred: Paul
Youn and Jacques Kuen.

This was not the end of the faith in Korea, but only the beginning. As
in many cases, the persecution of the faithful only fanned the flames
of religious conviction. In 1794, Father James Tsiou, a Chinese
priest, entered Korea. Upon his arrival, he found 4000 Catholics
living in fear and practicing in secret, never having seen or
interacted with a priest! Father Tsiou worked in Korea for 7 years,
after which he was slain by authorities.

Only three decades later, the Prefecture Apostolic of Korea was
established by Pope Leo XII, after he received a letter smuggled out
of Korea by faithful Catholics. In 1836, Monsignor Lawrence Imbert
smuggled himself into Korea to continue the work of the Lord. Soon
after, others arrived, and they worked until 1839, when a full
persecution started. First, three European priests were martyred,
followed by native Korean Catholics. This did not stop the training
and faith of the congregations established, however. Young Korean
candidates for the priesthood were sent to Macao for ordination, a
both risky and difficult process.

The first native priest, Andrew Kim Taegon, returned to Korea in 1845
and was martyred the following year with his lay apostle, Paul Chong
Hasang. The son of Korean converts, Father Andrew’s 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, returning six years later 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. His last words, to his torturers,
were:

“This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively: if I have
held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and
for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point
of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death,
because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have
refused to know Him.”

While awaiting death, Father Andrew wrote a number of letters to his
congregation. This is excerpted from the last letter smuggled out of
prison:

"My dear brothers and sisters, know this: Our Lord Jesus Christ upon
descending into the world took innumerable pains upon and constituted
the holy Church through his own passion and increases it through the
passion of its faithful....

Now, however, some 50 or 60 years since the holy Church entered into
our Korea, the faithful suffer persecutions again. Even today
persecution rages, so that many of our friends of the same faith,
among whom I am myself, have been thrown into prison. just as you also
remain in the midst of persecution. Since we have formed one body, how
can we not be saddened in our innermost hearts? How can we not
experience the pain of separation in our human faculties?

However, as Scripture says, God cares for the least hair of our heads,
and indeed he cares with his omniscience; therefore, how can
persecution be considered as anything other than the command of God,
or his prize, or precisely his punishment?...

We are twenty here, and thanks be to God all are still well. If anyone
is killed, I beg you not to forget his family. I have many more things
to say, but how can I express them with pen and paper? I make an end
to this letter. Since we are now close to the struggle, I pray you to
walk in faith, so that when you have finally entered into Heaven, we
may greet one another. I leave you my kiss of love.”

Paul Chong Hasang was a seminarian. He was 45 years old, and a lay
apostle of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon. As a layman, Paul was one of the
great founders of the Catholic Church in Korea. He was persecuted
before he could be ordained. Paul was captured and gave the judge a
written thesis defending Catholicism. The judge, after reading it,
said, “You are right in what you have written; but the king forbids
this religion, it is your duty to renounce it.”

Hasang replied, “I have told you that I am a Christian, and will be
one until my death.”

After this Hasang endured a series of tortures but with remarkable
serenity. He was thereafter bound to a cross on a cart and went to his
death, at the age of 45, with extraordinary good cheer.

Severe persecution followed, and Catholics fled to the mountains,
still spreading the faith. In 1864, a new persecution claimed the
lives of two bishops, six French missionaries, another Korean priest,
and 8000 Korean Catholics (men and women, married and unmarried,
children, young people, and the elderly). Among the martyrs was
Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced
with hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes
were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned
criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the
indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded.
A boy of 13, Peter Ryou, had his flesh so badly torn that he could
pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by
strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old noble, apostatized under
torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was
tortured to death.

Religious freedom was granted to Koreans in 1883, and today, nearly
4.7 million Catholics practice throughout the country. The Korean
Martyrs of 1839, 1846, and 1867 were canonized in Korea in 1984 by
Pope John Paul II. During his Homily of Canonization, the Holy Father
said:

"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."
by Jacob

Saint Quote:
"We have received baptism, entrance into the Church, and the honor of
being called Christians. Yet what good will this do us if we are
Christians in name only and not in fact?" (Saint Andrew Kim Taegon)

Bible Quote:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your
own doing, it is the gift of God-- 9 not because of works, lest any
man should boast. [Ephesians 2:8-9] RSVCE

<><><><>
PRAYER
O God our Holy Father, 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. Amen