22/08/2023

Yesterday's Gospel prompted me to consider how I had spent my life comparing it with the heroic faith  shown by Fr Schwartz. I am still the young man who crumbled at the thought of embracing poverty by rejecting all my worldly goods. He is with Father, Son and Holy Ghost, with Our Lady and All the Saints completely out of human time.

A lot of my human time is spent watching Korean TV. During Fr Schwartz time there, Korea began the turn around which has resulted in it becoming one of the  world's greatest producers of wealth. The sanctity of poverty, which Fr Schwartz saw and grasped in the manner of the "Poverello" of Assisi, has now become  maybe even more hidden than the poverty that was present in his own world at the same time his eyes were opened in Pusan. The world of "Korean Drama"has little in it of the holiness with which Fr Schwartz and his first converts lived. It does however follow aimlessly every "social trend" ( sins of the flesh ) of the West.

I may be the "young man" of yesterday's Gospel. But I have not wandered away. I cling to my mornings' devotions and try to fit the Mass readings into my own Act of Faith. The opportunity to follow Fr Schwartz has long gone. The naked poverty, the Jesus, he found in Korea, however, is still with us on the migrant trails that criss-cross our world and in the countries which cannot provide a home for their people.

Let us pray that the Migrant Jesus will inspire the "least important" among us and through them achieve what  Fr. Schwartz was instrumental in doing in Korea. "For God everything is possible".

Dear Lord may this day be filled with only love for you and kindness to those around me. Help me to remain true to my Baptism and at all times be ready for your final call. "For God nothing is impossible" please save me Lord Jesus. May Mary and all the saints of heaven join in praying that the work of Fr Schwartz is not corrupted by Mammon as much of the Church founded by Jesus has been.