RSCJ International - Living our Spirituality through Retreat Giving

Living our Spirituality through Retreat Giving

02-11-06

In prayer at the chapel at Jesu Maum Baeumto Retreat House, Paju, Korea

Kwon Min Ja rscj

Gardening

The chapel

Photos by In Myoung Hee rscj and
Lolín Menéndez rscj

Korea has witnessed the development of many religions among them, Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity. This plurality has influenced the way of life of Koreans, and naturally has also made an impact in my life, as a Korean and as an RSCJ. The methods of prayer of Buddhism, for instance, have influenced me. The aim of Buddhism is to attain enlightenment, and in order to attain it, the followers are expected to do spiritual practice eight hours a day and for at least eight years. This discipline and way of life is very much part of the lives of ordinary people as the way to develop a deep relationship with God. This is one aspect that shaped my way of prayer later on in my religious life.

The years of my formation in the Society of the Sacred Heart have formed me not just in my relationship with God but also in recognizing my dignity as a person and my sense of respect to others as children of God. Because of this experience I have been able to give others the same amount of respect and dignity. Furthermore, as an RSCJ I have developed my own prayer life by adopting the Ignatian prayer method which I find helpful for me to develop my relationship with God. This was my way of prayer and discernment for a number of years as an RSCJ.

When I experienced the reality of transition or what we call now mid-life crisis, I was confronted with the question of what is really the essence of life. I had to deal with my own physical weakness, spiritual dryness, and an experience of "darkness" and meaninglessness. I met a Buddhist Monk who guided me in a 30-day retreat. Something deep happened in me in this retreat. I consider this as my major turning point in my own spiritual journey. In this retreat I was told to pray at the present moment, which is a Buddhist discipline of prayer. I was very much helped to confront myself in a deeper way. Because of this experience, I realize that this particular discipline of prayer enriches me and it highlighted more the Ignatian way of discernment, which I had practiced over the years.

The discipline of 'being present in the present moment' became part of my way of life of prayer. Letting go this time became easy because I meet God in a concrete and real way. Because I felt so much at ease in this method, I developed eventually the “Jesumaum Prayer” (Prayer of the Heart of Jesus), which is a prayer using the Litany of the Sacred Heart. In this prayer I unite myself to Jesus who is in union with the Father. This has been the very method I had developed in my own prayer over the past years. And I realize I have been sharing this way of prayer with people who come to me for direction and guidance. I find this very helpful and nourishing, not just to people I am accompanying but personally to me and my life of prayer.

The Jesumaum Prayer follows this pattern:

take one verse of the Litany of the Sacred Heart.
repeat this chosen verse for 50 minutes.
read a text from Scripture three times during the next 10 minutes.

This method of prayer is centered on the Jesus in the Gospels.

If inner disturbances come, categorize then as past, present, future. If the distraction concerns the past and future, let it go and to revisit it after the prayer period. When past memories come, be attentive to them, and if there are unpleasant feelings that accompany the remembering, talk to Jesus about it so that healing will be experienced. An authentic encounter with Jesus is the moment of self transformation.

Input/Lecture on

How to pray the Jesumaum Prayer
How God can heal us
The different transitions in life
To follow Jesus in one's experience of deep pain and to pray the way Jesus prayed during his suffering
To recognize the voice that does not come from the Spirit and to recognize the one that comes from the Spirit
To give blessing to people

This is the method followed with persons who would like to have a 5 or 8-day retreat. The actual spiritual exercise constitutes of six hours of prayer daily, one hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a visit with the director, 30 minutes of gardening, and one hour of walking prayer, daily mass and confession. On the other hand, the 40-day retreatant will have 8 hours of prayer daily. Both retreats are always done in a group setting.

Kwon Min Ja rscj
Province of Korea

Talk given at the RSCJ Spirituality Meeting
August 10-20, 2006,
Taipei