Jaya: Her Gift Is Reverence
More than a few years ago, Bishop John McRaith of the Diocese of Owensboro led a day of prayer for employees at the Diocese of Evansville Catholic Center, and one of his comments has stayed with me. He talked about the different gifts offered by Irish Catholics and German Catholics and Italian Catholics and Spanish Catholics. I perked up a bit during his talk because I’m Irish Catholic.
Memories of his comments came flooding back recently when I had the opportunity to sit with my friend, Jaya, at Sunday Mass.
She’s Korean Catholic, born and raised in Pusan, a large port city in South Korea.
When you sit next to Jaya at the celebration of the Mass, if you look closely, you get a glimpse of her faith. Her bows are lower and longer, and she radiates deep reverence.
She grew up the youngest of seven children in what she calls a “non-denominational” family. Members had the option of “being Christian, Buddhist or Catholic,” and she studied each faith tradition when she was a young woman. When she started dating her husband, Tim, she chose Catholicism for herself.
She already knew many Catholic nuns and priests, and she admired them for their “sacrifice to God” and for their service to the poor. She felt a connection to them because even as a young girl, she also had a heart for the poor.
As she grew and developed in her Catholic faith, her belief system progressed until the very core of her knew two things: “we are all God’s children,” and “everything we have belongs to God.”
She began to live out the words “it’s not mine. I have to share what I have.”
Jaya lives in southern Indiana now; and years after her conversion to Catholicism, she still struggles with the inequality that she sees in society. “I really don’t like to complain about things. I’m very happy with what I have, but I want one thing more. I would like to see other people have a better life.”
Sundays are special days for her. They are the days when she closes her downtown Evansville restaurant and goes to morning Mass. And while she is in her parish church she talks to God. “I am so thankful for what I have, and I thank God for my existence. I ask Him for strength, to help me be good to people.
“And I always pray for peace.”
Jaya says that being at Mass on Sunday gives her a lot of peace. “Being in God’s house, you don’t have to worry about anything else. In God’s house you are really safe. When I go home, I feel so great that I went to church and talked to God.”
Her celebration at Mass is an internal one. There is a quiet joyfulness as she lives this prayer: “I worship you. I glorify you. I adore you. I magnify you.”
It’s inspirational to listen to Jaya speak about her faith. It’s even better to attend Mass with her.
When the two of us sit together, I am reminded of the words, “We are many parts, we are all one body, and the gifts we have we were given to share.”
Jaya’s gift is reverence. I’m so happy that she shares it.
