Columban Fr Noel O’Neill founded Emmaus Industries to help better the lives of the differently abled. He lives and works in South Korea.
Myeong Sek, Theresa, was special. She was special because she was differently-abled. She was special, because it was she who accompanied me as together we first began to walk the Road to Emmaus. After 25 years in the parish ministry I sought permission from my superiors to begin a new apostolate, a ministry to those people with special needs. Myeong Sek had been abandoned by her parents when she was a few years old and ended up in the Beggars Camp, a large institution which I frequently visited while in the parish ministry.
After much negotiation with the authorities at the institution, I succeeded in getting permission for Myeong Sek to leave the institution and to join with me and a volunteer as we moved into a two storey house in a residential part of the city. It was October 1981. This was the first attempt in Korea to offer people with special needs the opportunity of living in the local community.
Early last year Myeong Sek was diagnosed with cancer. She spent the last 10 days of her life in a hospice. A hospice and Emmaus have something in common. A hospice is for dying people whose ailment cannot be cured. Emmaus is a home for intellectually disabled people whose disability cannot be cured. A visit to either one alerts us to the preciousness of each moment of life. It arouses within us a sense of gratitude.
While Myeong Sek was in the hospice I visited her every day. As I sat beside her bedside and held her tiny hand, we reminisced on the funny incidents we shared together throughout the past 30 years. The times we used to sing Kaptori Wa Kapsoni (a Korean popular duet) and dance the ‘hokey pokey’. As she lay back on her bed she would break into a broad smile, a loving smile, sending me a message that no words could express. They were happy moments, happy days, happy years. That smile also hid the many wounds and hurts she had endured in her lifetime. I was only too well aware of those painful wounds. Watching the peaceful look on her face one felt she already sensed the heavenly welcome. She could almost make the dying words of St Theresa, the Little Flower, her own, “I am not dying, I am entering into life”.
Myeong Sek was waked for three days at the funeral home. Those who had lived with her in the group home were dressed in black mourning dress, and they greeted those who came to pay their respects, present staff members and former staff members who had known her for many years. Many Catholic friends and sponsors came who were touched and moved by their relationship with Myeong Sek. This tiny, fragile woman had the gift to make them feel loved and at peace with themselves as they struggled with their problems.
Myeong Sek often said, “when I die, those who come to the wake, feed them well.” They came in large numbers to pay their respects and all ate well. Before leaving as each one ate and departed one could almost sense the presence of Myeong Sek as she said "kamsahamnida" (thank you, thank you).
At the funeral Mass, I chose for the Gospel reading the story of the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. As the two disciples eyes were opened at seeing Jesus break the bread, so also my eyes were opened by my relationship with Myeong Sek. This tiny, fragile woman, who could not read or write, who had no concept of time or money, was my teacher, my professor. We need to invite and welcome more Myeong Seks into our society, because they will surprise us with the manner in which they can touch our inner selves and help us to welcome our weaknesses and our old age with graceful and peaceful courage. Yes, Myeong Sek, was differently-abled.
Columban Fr Noel O’Neill founded Emmaus Industries to help better the lives of the differently abled. He lives and works in South Korea.
Read more from The Far East, May 2016