SooGyoung Heo, Teresa
Seoul, Korea
I cannot
remember if it was 7 or 8 years ago when I first read “The Way”, which was sent
to me by the Catholic Digest, a Catholic monthly magazine edited by the same
publishers that published “The Way” in Korean. I was captured by the book’s
contents at once.
Notwithstanding
the foreword of the author advising us to read one point each time in order to
meditate upon it, I could not stop. Each and every word was showing me the way
I am walking in right now, and precisely because of that, it made me realize what
was the way to go. From time to time, there were passages that made me think:
“Wow, this is too extreme, this is too much….how can anyone do like this …!,
but it showed the way to go without hesitations and without making excuses. I
could not keep such good messages and words only to myself.
So, I
ordered 100 copies of the book and gave it to the people I met, especially the
patients who came to my clinic. I also gave it to my sister, and when my nephew
was going to be baptized, I suggested that his Christian name be: Josemaria
Escriva. She agreed to the idea and this is how I could meet Josemaria from a
very close distance. I have not yet met other Josemarias around, but I am
always expecting it, since I have been giving prayercards of St. Josemaria when
I invite people to become Catholic.
I ordered
100 copies of the book two or three times and gave them away, but it is
infinitely insufficient. Last winter, I gave a copy of the book to a retired
man who had frequented a Christian church for some time in the past, telling
him to read not more than one point per day. On the following occasion
we met, I asked him whether he had read the whole thing in a row (thinking that
what happened to me might have happened to him, too). He replied that he was
not able to read more than one point per day, because those words touched him
deep inside his soul and made him stay long immersed in thought… He also added
that he wanted to pay back what I had done at least a little, even if it was
nothing compared to all that he had received. So, he bought 10 copies of “The
Way”, sent to me so I can give away more copies of this book.
How happy I am that I could meet St. Josemaria who showed us
the “way” of God firmly, with novelty as well as clarity, and that I could know
and share the way to come closer to God… May God receive thanks, praise, glory
and adoration through St. Josemaria Escriva, now and forever.