South Korean organist finds strength in disabilities

Despite the severe physical consequences of a hydrocephalus that has left her wheelchair bound , a woman who has been accompanying her community's hymns at Sunday Mass for 30 years never fails to do so. She tells Catholic Times of Korea: "I discovered God's will for me through this service".

Seoul (AsiaNews) - Since being hit by hydrocephalus as a child she has lived with a cannula in her brain. In 2004 a paralysis resulting from a second operation also forced her into a wheelchair. But for 30 years, every Sunday morning, she has never missed her service as organist to accompany the Mass in the cathedral. Because, she explains, "God gave me a talent and I have to give it back to Him."

This extraordinary story of how even a disability can become a testimony of faith was published this week in the Catholic Times of Korea. The protagonist is Jae-soon Lee, a 55-year-old woman from Suwon who, since 1990, despite the many difficulties caused by her physical condition, has been serving by animating the liturgy with music and song.

Today - thanks to a long and hard rehabilitation process - she can only move a few small steps from her wheelchair, leaning on a cane. The disease in her brain causes short-term amnesia which makes it impossible for her to remember many events in her daily life. She often forgets what she did the day before or who she met, so she takes notes on everything to preserve her memories. But there is one thing she does not forget: the hymns of the liturgy, which she had learnt by heart. "I've always liked to sing," she says, "and through song and music I meet the Lord."

So every Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and every Friday at 10 a.m. she comes to church to accompany the hymns at Mass. Even when it rains or snows, she still gets ready and goes out with her wheelchair. The Catholic Times of Korea, reports that she did "not even stop during the Covid-19 which  blocked the use of the lift: with her cane she started to slowly climb the stairs. She explains that being able to accompany the organ at Mass is a great gift from God and the very reason she lives.

"If I had been healthy like everyone else," she adds, "I would probably never have thought of doing this voluntary work. In the beginning I complained a lot about my condition, but slowly I discovered God's will in my life as a disabled person.

Before playing, Lee always prays that her music will be acceptable to God and will please those attending Mass: "Even though it is hard for me, when people say to me, 'The choir accompaniment was very nice', I am grateful for the gift that God has given me to share. It is thanks to his strength that I do not stop".

Today she hopes that "the pandemic will end soon and we can take off our masks and sing the songs out loud in church". But her greatest wish remains to "live every day with faith".

 
"ECCLESIA IN ASIA" IS THE NEWSLETTER OF ASIANEWS DEDICATED TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN ASIA
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE IT EVERY SUNDAY IN YOUR EMAIL? CLICK ON THIS LINK.

• Seoul
• South Korea
• disabled
• music
• liturgy