[김애란] 'Ever onward!'

'Ever onward!'

By Kim Ae-ran 

“Ever onward!” was one of catchphrases of our founder, Fr. James Alberione and co-founder Sr. Tecla Merlo. Always keeping going forward with the most effective and rapid means of social communications is a never-ending task to those who follow the footsteps of St. Paul.

 So the Pauline Family has come into being since 1914 throughout the world. Like our history of the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Paul, our countries [North and South Korea] have made much effort, sacrifice, prayers, and initiatives with an urgent and constant dream to realize the unification through 70 years of struggles and suffering due to separation. 

 Day in and day out, how have we prayed desperately for the reconciliation and the unity of two divided parts of one peninsula!

 Truly, dreams come true. As a person whose parents escaped from the North Korea during the Korean War in 1950, our President Moon Jae-in had a life-long dream to climb Mount Paektu. As a mountain trekker who visited the Himalayas twice, he longed to go to Mount Paektu. At last, one of the things on his bucket list came true on September 20, 2018.

 By the help of this celebration, I am happy to dream to climb Mount Paektu someday. I do believe my dream will come true in the near future. Going beyond the limits is always challenging but worth trying.

 “Arise and go on a journey” is an evangelical call to every Christian. In fact, this urgent call has been realized throughout the whole history of human beings. Reading and facing the signs of the times, not only nations but also the whole Church keep going on a journey to create a better world, living with an integral conscience. 

 In the Bible, God always invites his beloved people to arise and go forward. In the New Testament, Mary Magdalen is a symbolic figure who was transformed drastically after rising from the prodigal person to go forward as a repentant apostle. She once seriously suffered from seven devils but fortunately met Jesus who changed her life entirely.

 According to “Apostolorum Apostola” meaning the apostle of the Apostles, the Decree published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Holy See on June 10, 2016, the celebration of Mary Magdalen was ascended from the obligatory memorial day to the universal feast day on July 22.

 In “Mulieris Dignitatem,” the apostolic letter on the dignity and vocation of women published in 1988, St. John Paul II mentioned that Mary Magdalen was “the first witness of the risen Jesus and the first communicator who proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord to the Apostles.”

 St. Gregorius I mentioned in his homily that Mary Magdalen was “the first witness of God’s mercy,” but some people argued and protested against the authenticity of Mary Magdalen as the apostle. 

 In fact, Mary Magdalen accompanied Jesus during his public life; she received his teachings and witnessed his activities; she was also present on the very spot of the passion and the glorification of Jesus. She truly witnessed the cross and first discovered the resurrection of Christ. 

 In the end, with the advice of Jesus, saying “Don’t hold on to me… Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father’”(Jn 20:17), she was assigned with the mission to proclaim what she had seen and experienced. Thus, she became an evangelist announcing the central joyful message of Easter. “I have seen the Lord!”(Jn 20:18) What a joyful and consoling witness it is! “Ever onward to witness the presence of God among us!”