Starting the story

I.
To us who look ahead in loneliness and pain

In the beginning was the Word / For when I am weak, then I am strong / What you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven / I came to set the earth on fire / My soul is so sorrowful that I almost die / I rejoice in God my Savior / Life is not measured by the number of years / Not by seven times, but by seventy-seven times / Whoever has, more will be given, and they will have an abundance / No one knows the day or the hour / Could not watch for one hour? / He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly / Jesus, weary, sat down by the well / I am not worthy to have you under my roof / It is impossible that I should not cause others to sin / Now is the time / It is good for us to stay here / He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back / You have been faithful in a few things / Holy, holy, holy is He / Do you want to be healed? / What are you seeking? / For in the future you will be called Cephas / Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation / Do you love Me? / Do not be afraid / You too must be holy / No, I am not / The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us / How cramped it is and few find it / When an unclean spirit comes out of a person / Believe that you have received it / Rejoice, you who are full of grace

II.
For us who are creating a better world

Rise, let us go / The seventh day is for rest / No one should separate / Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her / A prophet is held in high esteem everywhere / But a little while longer and you will see me / He is a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners / As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth / A city set on a hill cannot be hidden / Give them something to eat / With all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind / Who are my mother, and who are my brothers? / You will never wash my feet / Do not be discouraged / If salt has lost its saltiness, how can its flavor be restored? / If even a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores / Should acknowledge me before the people / For this very purpose I have come / For what is hidden must be made known / 'Ephphatha!' That is, 'Be opened!'

In closing

After Han Dong-il, author of "Latin Lessons," gave up his priestly status,
The images of ourselves and ourselves encountered in the Bible

Author Han Dong-il, author of the best-selling book “Latin Lessons” and well-known as the first Korean lawyer in East Asia in the 700-year history of the Vatican’s Supreme Court, the “Rota Romana,” was also a Catholic priest in the past.
However, he has been a scholar rather than a priest for a long time, and he has described himself as a 'studying worker'.
And in 2021, after much deliberation, the author resigned from the priesthood he had held for 21 years.
This new work is a reflection of his new identity as an ordinary person, in which he once again looks into the Bible and writes down his thoughts and feelings.


The author says about the Bible, “The Bible is a book written from around 1,000 BC to the 2nd century AD. Before it was a scripture of a specific religion, it was a document that allowed us to look deeply into humans, communities, and society. The stories in the Bible are not stories limited to a specific religion, but stories for me, us, and human society living today.”
He also confesses, “Personally, looking at Jesus, his disciples, and other figures in the Bible was like looking into a mirror.”
The Bible verses he held in his heart and the stories he told are not only his own but also reach us as we endure and live in this harsh world.


“Now that I am living the life of an ordinary person, I feel that if I do not have the will to change, the world will not change either.
And through prayer, I realize that it is not others who change, but myself.
So I pray.
I have been running breathlessly for a long time without even resting, so I want to be able to walk slowly and look around and observe.
“Conscious of that, I take slow, sluggish steps today as well.” (p. 202)

To us who endure today in pain and loneliness
The comfort and encouragement he conveys in the Bible

The thirty-three Bible verses and stories contained in Chapter 1 are stories of author Han Dong-il reflecting on himself as a human being, looking back on his past and present.
As he has revealed in several of his books, his family was not well-off during his childhood, and he had a difficult time in pain and loneliness when he went to study in Rome and prepared for the Rota Romana bar exam, the Vatican's Supreme Court, which has a pass rate of only 5-6%, when he stepped down from the Catholic priesthood in 2021, and when he faced the unfamiliar world again as a layperson.
He says that in every moment of his wandering, he found comfort in Jesus, who was tormented by the words, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to death” (Matthew 26:38), and “How heavy will I be until all this is accomplished?” (Luke 12:50).
Note that in the Bible, Jesus, like himself, was a mere human being, wandering and struggling.


“My heart was in great pain as I wandered and hovered on the edge of frustration.
To me, the Bible verse, “My heart is so sorrowful that I could die,” was a great comfort.
“The fact that he, like me, suffered and was in pain ‘ad mortem’ has comforted me countless times” (p. 36)

Moreover, looking at Peter, an imperfect being, he talks about how he was a human being who constantly reflected despite trials, failures, and mistakes, and what meaning that can convey to us.
Through the stories of Jesus and other figures in the Bible, the author reflects on the origins of human existence and how we can make good choices.
I share the message of reconciliation with others and with myself, and the strength to move forward despite repeated failures.


“I see that failure is not over just because it has passed.
It leaves a trace as it passes by.
“It is up to us whether we accept those traces as wounds or as growth.” (p. 124)

In a world where the words of the powerful overflow but do not reach
What does a voice that transcends time and boundaries say?

The 20 verses in Chapter 2 are about what the faith community, the church, and our society should consider and move forward.
The first verse that opens that door is “Rise and let us go” (Matthew 26:46), where he speaks of the “connected suffering” that forms the basis of chapter 2.
When the author visited Jacob's Well in 1999, he witnessed the manager driving out a rich man with his sick son because he was Muslim.
As the author observes this scene, he is reminded of the story in the Bible about the Jews persecuting the Samaritans, and laments the fact that the way humans differentiate and guard against each other remains the same now as it did two thousand years ago.
And then ask again.
What if the well-keeper had seen the suffering of a father who wanted his son to be better than religion, and had connected his suffering to his own?
Through this story, author Han Dong-il says that if we want to become better people and create a better society, we must experience pain connected to the suffering of others.


“From the moment I opened my eyes from my own loneliness and pain to see the loneliness and pain of others, the room of my loneliness and pain began to shrink.
“It wasn’t that I could see how happy I was by looking at the misfortune of others, but rather that I could see, hear, and understand the suffering of others, and a sense of empathy and sympathy arose in my heart, and my pain connected to them was gradually healed little by little.” (p. 181)

According to the author, “For six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall rest.
“This is so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your bondwoman and the foreigner may breathe” (Exodus 23:12) What Jesus was trying to say is that the reason why modern people need rest in their daily lives is because of the ‘humility’ of humbling oneself and elevating others.
He also points out that the 'woman caught in adultery' in the Gospel of John makes us think about how humans should treat each other through Jesus' attitude toward a person full of shame.


Going further, through verses like “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14) and “But if salt has lost its saltiness, how can its flavor be restored?” (Mark 9:50), it speaks of the need for religion and the church in modern society to reflect on what they should do for people and how they should do it.


In a time when the words of the powerful overflow but fail to reach people's hearts and bring about even the slightest change, author Han Dong-il's new book makes us consider why the words of Jesus, a young man of humble origins, remain relevant today, transcending time.