SarangHamNida! This Korean phrase, which means “I love you,” was a greeting that we found ourselves repeating over and over in the community of love that is Kkottongnae nestled high up in the mountains of Chungcheongbuk-do.
When I decided to join the retreat, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I had been advised by Fr. Rodel Paulino, the spiritual leader of our band of pilgrims, that Kkottongnae will not exactly be the usual leisurely and comfortable setting like the modern Seoul hotels where a guest is typically pampered and treated to fine dining at one’s beck and call, with shopping galore and yummy street food just outside in the streets of Myeongdong.
He said it would require personal sacrifice and that I should be ready to be uncomfortable, to wash dishes, to feed the hungry, and to comfort the lonely in between talks, prayers and meditations. True enough, the experience was indeed not a walk in the park, and it entailed personal sacrifice — and an exercise in spiritual poverty.
For starters, upon entering the dormitory, to my surprise, I was unceremoniously greeted by a horde of black spiders crawling all over the entrance and I had to quickly make sure they weren’t going to creep up my legs or inside my luggage. Then I was shown my sparse bedroom and a literally iron-hard bed that would not allow me to have a decent night’s sleep during the retreat.
Next was the food, edible and surprisingly actually very okay after a while but certainly not five-star variety fare that consisted mainly of vegetables planted and grown by the lay volunteers of the community.
Early the next morning, after a sleepless night and with an aching body, I was roused from bed by a bouncy Korean love song for all that blared over the loudspeakers that reminded me where I was. After a breakfast of boiled eggs and cereal, the first order of the day was an orientation and lecture about the spirituality of Kkottongnae — which is to love your neighbor, particularly the poor and the abandoned to the point of disregarding one’s convenience and comfort.
We were then toured around the facility, a training center, the Kkottongnae hospital where we met the residents, mostly bedridden elderly and some young ones afflicted with various ailments, and a cemetery adorned with simple white crosses of long gone residents that reminded us of our inevitable mortality.
After Mass at Kkottongnae’s House of Charity came what I thought was the highlight of the retreat. We departed for Seoul to have a hearty meal of tasty and super soft boiled beef that reminded me of our own bulalo. Nourished, we then headed to the train station to feed a mass of about a hundred hungry homeless people, an ironic setting, I thought, for a modern, bustling, and unquestionably prosperous metropolis. As the beggars lined up for the food packages, we handed out along with a greeting of “SarangHamNida,” I couldn’t help but feel emotional and get somewhat teary-eyed as I saw their smiling faces, happy to receive some nourishment, muttering “Gamsahaminda,” or thank you, in return.
On retreat graduation day, the moving spirit behind the Kkottongnae spirituality of Love in Action, Fr. John Wong-Jin Oh, a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in recognition of the thousands of impoverished and abandoned beneficiaries who have been rescued and cared for by the Kkottongnae clergy and lay volunteers, regaled us with the philosophy behind his advocacy.
Although his voice was barely audible because of his advanced years, Fr. John’s words nevertheless resonated in our hearts as I unerringly sensed that I was in the presence of someone holy and deserving of all the respect, accolades and admiration that he has been accorded over the years, including by no less than Pope Francis during his visit to Kkottongnae.
Our brief but meaningful retreat culminated in a healing mass topped off by the community’s rendering of the melodic Korean love song, “Arirang,” that will remind me always of my immersion in the Kkottongnae spirituality of Love in Action.
As a footnote, should you be interested in experiencing the Kkottongnae Love in Action spirituality, there are few locations you may visit in the Philippines, the first and largest is the Pope Francis Complex in Palo, Leyte, another in Bicutan, and also in Parañaque.
Until next week… OBF!