The Movie Night Family
I miss my family in Korea—my parents, two brothers and sister-in-laws, and a nephew and two nieces. The youngest niece is just ten-month old and I have not seen her in person.
Loneliness is a part of life in the foreign country and the celibate life of the priest. Looking back, I have been spared by God’s grace and God’s family, especially the movie night family.
The movie night family began about three years ago. They are young Korean couples that have children ranging from five to sixteen years old. We gather one of the family’s houses and share good meals—absolutely authentic Korean food—and watch movies once a month. At the beginning, I chose the movies—Mission, St. Ralph, etc. and later the hosts chose their favorite movies from a Korean drama to a Hong Kong comic to an American suspense. During summer, the family went camping in Punderson State Park and had a campfire together.
I always wait for the movie night not only because of the wonderful food but also of the time to share the familial love. Being with the children and the friends has an evidence that I am loved and I love them. This emotional and spiritual bond helps me to serve God’s people with overflowing mutual affection.
As I leave the movie night family, I think of Jesus’ praying, “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours…Holy Father, keep them in you name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them…But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely…Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world…I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (John 17:9-26).
The movie night family is the twenty-eighth Christ.