✏️ A Letter to My Children (4) - Shema and My Grandfather

 This photo was taken in 1985 at Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju. I took my grandfather there after he expressed his wish to visit Dongguk University, where I was studying Oriental Medicine.

 My dear children, something came to mind today that I wanted to share with you.

Recently, I’ve come to understand the deeper meaning of "Shema." It refers to the "Word of God's Command." To give you a simple analogy, it’s like saying:

📢 "Kids, come and eat!"

It originates from the passage: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." It is a call not just to listen, but to hear, perceive, and practice ("Ouvir, Perceber e Praticar").

To use another example:

📢 "Fire! Evacuate immediately!" ("Fogo! Evacuem imediatamente!")

If you heard this and just sat still, it would be a disaster, wouldn't it? Just as you must run to save your life, Shema means hearing God’s word, realizing its truth, and applying it to your daily life.

🙂 Honestly, I’m not writing this letter just to explain the definition. I’ve been thinking since yesterday about putting up "Shema" verses by the door of our home. 💡 This sparked a memory from the past that I wanted to tell you about.

When I was studying in Korea, my top priority was visiting your great-grandparents. I felt it was my duty to visit them on behalf of my father, and also because he was my grandfather. To see them, I had to travel 4.5 hours by train followed by an hour on a bus. I made that trip once every month.

I remember clearly... on the walls next to their room in my uncle's clean house, there were papers stuck everywhere. At the time, they looked a bit messy to me, and I wondered why he had pasted Bible verses all over the place. But now, I finally realize those were his "Shema." He was striving to apply the Word of God to his very life.

My grandfather hand-wrote the entire New Testament for each of his grandchildren. Even at the age of 90, during the year or two he stayed in Brazil, he knelt down once more to transcribe the scriptures for me.

📍 My grandfather was born on September 21, 1901 (Lunar calendar). 

📍 The New Testament he hand-wrote and gave to me.

I once saw him writing the Bible with In-gun tied to his waist. Thinking back on that moment now makes me feel very emotional. Looking at the records I have, I see he even wrote "Grandfather of Park In-gun" on it. ✔️

I also remember seeing my own father occasionally sticking Bible verses around the house, though not as much as my grandfather did. 🙂 I’m leaving this record here because I wanted to share these stories with you.

Looking back, I believe my grandfather was already living the life of Shema.

➡️ I remember how he used to stick these handwritten verses in a long row next to his door. He would write two lines at a time and put them up. In the old days, the Bible was written vertically, from top to bottom and right to left.

— April 18, 2026 —