What kind of soil do I provide for God’s good news?
Today is the Memorial of Korean martyrs Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang and their companions. The establishment of the Church in Korea was largely a lay-led endeavor, beginning in the 16th century and heavily persecuted in the 19th century. St. Paul Chŏng Ha-sang was a lay man and a catechist, who contributed to the strong roots already grown in the 19th century Korean Church. St. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn was the first native-Korean born ordained a priest. Both Paul and Andrew, like their apostolic namesakes and many of their martyred contemporaries, worked to strengthen and cultivate the seeds that had been planted in their homeland. The soil was difficult in many ways. They worked to nourish and enrich it through the faith formation and sacramental access for which that young Church thirsted. It was this cultivation of the soil that led ultimately to their arrest and martyrdom.
What does this mean for me as I consider the kind of soil I cultivate? I do not live in a time and place where my faith is a matter of persecution as it was for these holy ones. It is possible that the absence of struggle has made me lazy in my co-responsibility of soil preparation both in my own heart and in my immediate world. I am not pining for martyrdom, but I am perhaps too inured to comfort. The dangers to the Christian faith in my time and place are much more subtle and difficult to notice. That doesn’t mean they are absent.
I need to learn to pay attention to how the seeds of the Word are stolen, choked, withered in me and the world around me today, and how I might cooperate with God’s grace in creating good soil. The first is to name some of those threats to the seeds of Good News—isolation, excessive social media consumption, consumerism, and a superficial identification with the faith. I find some of these in myself, and I observe some of them in the world around me. They can be so subtle that they are easy to miss. It is easier to go with the flow. After all, there are consequences for being counter-cultural. They may not be literal martyrdom, but they are costs nonetheless.
This is where examples like Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang can be important. They knew what they faced, and they persisted in their work even to death. Their strength and courage can aid me in the important work of self-examination and prophetic witness. If I learn to pay attention, I can begin to see where the soil needs to be worked in my heart and my world. If I draw on their witness, I can persist, even when it brings a cost
Sara Schulte-Bukowinski
Originally from central Nebraska, where my home diocese of Grand Island nurtured vocations to lay ministry, I pursued Divinity studies and completed my M.Div. at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 2007. After 12 years doing formation and education in Catholic schools I was able to respond to my vocation in a different way by stepping into my current role as a lay pastoral minister (Parish Life Director) at St. John’s Church on Creighton’s campus. I live in Omaha with my husband Adam, our dog Lilly, and as of 2022 my parents-in-law Ann and George.
In graduate school I was fortunate to take a course from the illustrious theologian and Johannine scholar, Saundra Schneiders. I still remember her talking about the location where ongoing scriptural revelation occurs—in the space between the page and the eyes of the reader. This is where the Divine meets the realities of our lives, in our time and place. I look forward to sharing this encounter together as part of this reflection team.
