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1 October: Day of Older Persons

Established by the UN General Assembly on 14 December 1990, this Day recognizes the contributions of older persons. After all, they are the one who built up all that we enjoy.

It also raises awareness of the opportunities and challenges of ageing in today’s world and about issues affecting them. The elderly are highly vulnerable, with many falling into poverty, becoming disabled or facing discrimination. Neglect and abuse of older persons is sadly becoming an acceptable social norm.

As health care improves, the population of older people also grows. Between 2017 and 2030, the number of persons over sixty years is projected to grow by 46 per cent (from 962 million to 1.4 billion), globally outnumbering youth, as well as children under the age of ten.

This increase will be the greatest and most rapid in the developing world. The World Health Organization promotes public awareness and attention on the ageing populations and the provision of adequate healthcare for aged persons. Their needs are growing, but so are their contributions to the world.

There is need to encourage volunteer work, social care and ways to be more inclusive of older persons in the workforce and to promote the development of a society that is hospitable to people of all ages.

In our country, the social fabric of joint families is breaking down with urbanisation and smaller housing facilities. Instead, the trend is towards forming nuclear families. Moreover, younger people increasingly leave home in search of greener pastures abroad or in urban areas. Aged parents are left to fend for themselves. Homes for senior citizens are not only seen as acceptable, but as an unavoidable reality.  Thus persons, who dedicated their best years and resources to the upbringing of their children, may be abandoned in their own hour of need.

The theme of the 2020 commemoration is “Pandemics: Do They Change How We Address Age and Ageing?”

24 October: United Nations Day

One of the treaties to formally end World War I was signed in Versailles, France, on June 28, 1919. It laid the foundation for a “League of Nations” meant at prevent outbreaks of war, encourage disarmament, negotiations and diplomatic measures to settle international disputes and to improve the quality of life around the world. However, the outbreak of World War II showed that the League needed to take on a more effective form.

The ideas around the United Nations were developed in the last years of World War II, particularly during the UN Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, beginning on April 25, 1945. The UN was officially created when its Charter was ratified on October 24 that year, by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council.

The purposes of the UN, as identified in its Charter, include maintaining international peace and security, solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and protecting human rights around the world. In 1948, they created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Another aim is promoting sustainable development. The member nations deliver humanitarian aid to populations in crisis. The first aid delivered was an immediate response to the devastation following World War II.

Today the UN consists of 193 member states and two observer states. Each Member State has one seat in the General Assembly. The main organs of the UN are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. All these were established in 1945, when the UN was founded.

The UN does not work alone, but together with many specialized agencies, including: the World Health Organization (WHO); the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); International Labour Organization (ILO); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

UN Day was first observed on October 24, 1948.  This year marks the 75th anniversary of the UNO. The theme is: “2020 and Beyond—Shaping Our Future Together.”

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Sr Esme da Cunha FDCC

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Tortured for Christ (2018, 65 minutes)
Director: John Grooters. Cast: Emil Mandanac, Raluca Botez, Stefan Ruxanda, Relu Poalelungi, Alexandra Ionita

This is the memoir of the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand who suffered heroically under Romanian Communism. Richard, a Jewish atheist and Communist, was converted by a humble carpenter. As pastor of the Lutheran Church in Romania, faith became his only resistance against Stalinism. Pretending to be tolerant, the Communists brutally persecuted Christians. Arrested underground preachers endured brutal torture, death and slave labour. Russian soldiers who became Christians suffered the same fate. A Christian named Forescu was forced to watch his son tortured before him to reveal the names of fellow Christians. He offered to reveal the names for his son’s sake, but the boy heroically forbade him and was murdered. When Wurmbrand wss caught, he took courage recalling that in the Bible there are 366 verses saying “do not fear!” –one for each day of the year! His wife Sabina, taken from her son, was forced to work in the labour camp. Her ribs were broken during torture.  In prison, defying torture and death, Christians never ceased praying. They sang hymns together when the “chains became musical instruments.” In between the torture sessions, they preached to the torturers. Constant beating tore Richard’s feet to the bones, maiming him for life. Once, when the torturer asked him why he should pray when there is nothing left to pray for, his answer stunned the torturer, “I am praying for you!” Infected with TB and falsely informed that his wife was dead, Richard was sent to a death ward in a prison. But he continued to preach and served the fellow patients, bringing many atheists to Christ on their death bed and even some prison doctors. Unimaginable cruelty did not break his spirit. He still loved his torturers. He saw a new kind of Christianity there. Wurmbrand recalls that it was a privilege for him to be in the same cell “with great saints,” “heroes of great faith” like the first Christians. “The supernatural became the natural.”  Ransomed in 1965, Wurmbrand and his family continued working for persecuted Christians around the world.

The African Doctor (2016, 96 minutes)
Director: Julien Rambaldi. Cast: Marc Zinga,  Aïssa Maïga, Bayron Lebli Médina Diarra, Jonathan Lambert,  Mata Gabin   Sylvestre Amoussou

    This is the delightful true story of a young African who struggles to establish a medical career in France triumphing over racial prejudice. In 1975, Seyolo Zantoko from Zaire graduates from medical school in Lille, the only African in the school. Declining the prestigious offer to be the personal physician of President Joseph Mobutu of Zaire, he declines, on account of the corrupt regime, and decides to raise his family in France. The mayor of Marly-Gomont offers  him a clinic in his obscure village away from Paris. His wife Anne and children, Sivi and Kamini, join him, hoping to live in Paris. However they are upset when they learn on arrival that it is a village. The all-white villagers are afraid and distrustful because of racial prejudice. They even suspect his qualification, preferring a native doctor in the neighboring village. His children face bullying at school. Debts pile up and his wife is unhappy. Seyolo is reduced to work as a farm hand to provide for the family. On Christmas day, when his visiting relatives take Seyolo to the church service, they sing hymns African style, surprising and delighting the local parishioners. That day, he gains reputation as a good doctor when he successfully attends an emergency delivery case. His career picks up. The mayor persuades him to stay on at the village.  Anne is infuriated and leaves the family for Brussels. His daughter Sivi becomes the local heroine when her soccer skills help the local team win. Anne returns to the family. When the school drama team presents the story of the African doctor’s family, the Seyolos come to realize that they are loved by the local people. They stay on. Seyolo was honoured by a medal of merit a year before his death in 2009.

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Prof Gigy Joseph

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All three traits are found among us religious.

How do we know?

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THIS IS THE 50^TH ISSUE OF MAGNET MAGAZINE.

The theme is special: RELIGIOUS LIFE TODAY. To prepare this issue, I asked eleven religious from different backgrounds—whose honesty and judgment I trust—to share what they know from personal experience. Just as mothers know more about raising children than I would by reading books on motherhood, each way of life is known best—in all its stark beauty and ugliness—by those living it. The responses of a Bishop, four Sisters, three Brothers, two Priests and one theology student make up our Cover Story 1.

Their frank feedback is supplemented by other direct witnesses: interview with a provincial who has been involved—and found God—in different ministries earlier; a junior sister highlighting the huge  (often untapped)potential of young religious, an experienced formator looking at the viruses threatening religious life; the key role of vision in leaders.

♦

Is religious life relevant and likely to last? The answer depends on whom you ask. We hardly ever have a fully objective view of anything. We are most influenced by our personal experience and the views of those we most associate with. For a quick look at the past, present and future of this way of life, see Cover Story 2.

♦

I have no illusions about the superiority of any state of life, or unrealistic expectations from any human group. Every walk of life will have ecstatic enthusiasts, bitter grumblers, and confused seekers. No setting (or “call”) guarantees fulfilment or fruitfulness. But life—any life—is such a lovely, priceless gift, which I receive every day. I don’t want to waste it. I want to build something beautiful with it. Whether I would have done better or worse as a married lay man, I do not know. What I do know—and have seen it repeatedly, and found strong agreement in others—is that we, religious, have many more chances to build a happy life and do good than most married couples have. I am not saying that we are better or our call is superior. I am speaking of opportunities, support systems, and the tremendous investment made in our training.

Rather than waste our life on “grass being greener on the other side of the fence,” or listening to prophets of doom, we can do something beautiful with our life, and with the tremendous opportunities that organized religious life offers. We should, of course, face and correct the negatives in our lives. (As the psychology article this month reminds, life is a messy journey.) But the good far outweighs the bad. What do you think?

♦

Messy. Meaningful. Beautiful. Tough. Something to struggle through and celebrate—not something to lament.

What is your favourite adjective for life? For religious life? For your personal life? What do you break into more spontaneously—a Magnificat or a Lamentation?

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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Managing life and relationships matters more than maintaining machines

What are soft skills? Why are they crucially important?

There is mounting evidence that soft skills matter much—for personal happiness, success and leadership. Most CEOs of large companies believe that, for success in business, especially in leadership roles, soft skills matter more than hard skills. In fact, according to the world-famous Forbes Magazine, “ninety-four per cent of recruiters believe that top-notch soft skills outweigh experience when it comes to promotion to leadership positions.”

Here is a surprising example.

When Ratan Tata, one of India’s most esteemed and successful business tycoons,  was asked what struck him most in his mentor, the legendary JRD Tata, he gave a totally unexpected reply. He did not refer to JRD’s phenomenal grasp of steel production or finance. The trait he most admired in him was humility! This powerful, sophisticated and much-admired captain of industry was noted for his modest demeanour.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

Soft Skills are a combination of a person’s social, communication and personality skills, balanced with his/her attitude. Soft skills are interpersonal skills which are used to describe your approach to life, work, and relationships with other people

All of us are born with skills that are needed to live a good life, but some soft skills need our constant practice to lead a peaceful life with others also.

All skills can be practiced and learned if one goes through the life manual of the giants who have lived before us practicing soft skills unknowingly. We can learn soft skills from the giants who walked the earth before us practicing soft skills without knowing the word ‘soft skill.’ Let us take a stock of the life of Jesus, Mary, the saints, prophets and other religious leaders.

The word ‘soft skills’ can be traced back to the US Military between 1968 and 1972. The practice of soft skills existed, of course, before the word was coined.

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Dr K Alex

Yes, they do—in both our personal and professional lives

Over two hundred Catholic students from rural parishes of the Diocese of Tiruchirappalli came together twice in the year 2010-11 in Campion School, Trichy, for a two-week soft skills training program. The late Bishop Anthony Devotta showed keen interest and was present personally along with me for the inaugural and the valedictory functions. The rural Catholic Tamil medium students hopped onto the stage to speak in English, or to deliver a declamatory speech in Tamil. While some took the microphone confidently and stood in front of the screen, others placed on the board the poems they had penned in Tamil and English; one student showed her computer animation skills. Many parents attended. They were pleasantly shocked to see the confident performance of their children. A proud parent said, “Initially, I was reluctant to take up the parish priest’s invitation to send my child to Trichy for fifteen days. But now I feel that the fifteen days given were too short.”

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Brother Paul Raj SG

Reflecting on her experience of life, Sr Biviyana shares what experience has taught her—a more realistic awareness of the beauty and limitations of religious life, her mother’s example, the relative immaturity of young religious, the politics of division, the need of freedom and initiative, God’s nearness and guidance.–Editor

When I joined religious life, I thought that religious are like God and they do not struggle with problems, and must be holy at all times. Gradually, I realized this was not true; my experience taught me otherwise. I am still a religious, as I feel called to follow what my inmost heart feels called to do.

I get attracted by the way some religious live their life serving in the mission, especially the way they interact with people. But deep down, when I reflect, the attraction is mysterious, as I feel God attracts each one of us differently.  I am deeply attracted by the love I experienced from God though my daily living and interacting with people. As I experience my life as a religious, I feel blessed and humbled. I have also felt that I am blest a hundred-fold as the Lord promises. When I give myself totally, I have felt even more blest. I feel this blessing is also poured on my family.

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Sr Biviyana Lepcha IBVM

FOCUS: Religious life has a focus.  Superiors are guardians and guarantors of that focus. Religious life is a radical following of Jesus Christ.  This is true also of priestly life.  We become religious and priests in order to follow the lifestyle (chaste, poor, obedient) and mission (establishment of the Kingdom) of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, the religious superior is to personally strive to become Christ-like and act as a help for others to become more and more like Christ.  To be Christ-like is not something exotic or unusual.  It is to be a good human being, to be a person of simplicity and integrity, to be person of joy and hope.  The striving to be Christ-like is to be the chief priority of religious and priests.  The superior and the community make their own the following prayer of St Nicholas of Flue, a mystic and ascetic of Switzerland: “My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you; give me everything that brings me closer to you; detach me from myself to give my all to you.”

CONTACT WITH GOD: We cannot advance in becoming like Christ without continuous contact with God.  Therefore, superiors ensure that the community has sufficient time and opportunity for prayer.  When there are many things to be done, prayer time does not become the first thing to be sacrificed.  St Francis de Sales used to say: “Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy – then we need an hour.”

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Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB

Self Acceptance flows from Self-Compassion

To be emotionally healthy and lead a happy life, we need to look at our weaknesses and failures, get  healed, forgive ourselves and get involved in helping others.

According to Carl Gustav Jung, the journey of life is a movement towards wholeness. We can never be whole, unless we integrate the shadow side of ourselves with the positive traits we have. Self-acceptance means that we are comfortable with ourselves and embrace ourselves and our stories with all our imperfections.

Mark Twain was to say that the worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with ourselves. We are all fatally flawed. But, if we believe in ourselves, are content with what we have and are and accept ourselves, the more will the world accept us.

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Janina Gomes

KEVIN

Here is an intelligent look at the question: “Should we be more concerned to teach our children to pick up the skills to ‘get ahead’ (the hard skills), or to train them in the skills to ‘get along’ (the soft skills)? Where would technical competence lead without a good moral foundation? What do we want more—that our children be good or well-off?—Editor

 “Hard versus soft?”  This is a common question asked by restaurant waiters regarding how you might enjoy eating your eggs.  The fact of the matter is, whether prepared a little harder or a little softer, they will taste pretty much the same and be of the same nutritional value. Personal preference of how it is cooked doesn’t really change the egg or its value. If asked, most would say their preference is somewhere in between overcooked rubbery and undercooked runny. In the same way, I suspect that when it comes to educating our young people, most would agree that we don’t want our children to turn out too soft or too hard.   As we educate our young, whether that be at home or in the classroom, we want our children to be knowledgeable enough to be productive members of society, yet to be formed well enough to become good people who lead meaningful lives marked by love of God and love of neighbor.

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan