Pain shows you’re alive!
Before the Bethlehem Mission Society made a name for itself in Taiwan, its big-eared priest Father Josef Eugster, whose name in Taiwan is synonymous with reflexology foot massage, became widely known to Taiwan’s public.
Now aged 78, Fr. Eugster is the youngest member of the mission.
He arrived in Taiwan in 1970, and his parish now spans from Changbin all the way south to Yongfu. Every Sunday, he rises at 6 a.m. and begins a day of traveling: First he delivers a sermon at the church in Yongfu. Then he scurries to the church in Changguang before finally heading for Changbin to deliver his last mass of the day. Although he ends up spending more than two hours all told delivering mass in three separate places, Eugster doesn’t show even the faintest hint of fatigue.
Perhaps his faith is sustaining him, or perhaps his health has been bolstered by the foot massage therapy he developed to treat his rheumatoid arthritis while training as a young priest in Hsinchu.
Eugster learned the technique from an old German medical book. Though its pages were yellowed and its cover beat up, the book, whose therapies he first used to treat himself, became a treasured conduit for establishing deeper links to the community. He has spent several decades widely disseminating this method of therapeutic foot massage.
Mastering the foot massage technique requires 136 hours of rigorous training. From focusing simply on treating people, he has moved to teaching the technique to rural residents, thereby providing a vocation with which they can make ends meet.
Those coming to study under him have changed from Aborigines initially to Southeast-Asian immigrant brides living in Taitung today.
These “new immigrants” account for most of his current 20 students. Swiss, Germans and Africans also number among them.
Nevertheless, Eugster reveals that when he arrived with this skill, many locals didn’t appreciate it, and he first provided the therapy to people from elsewhere in Taiwan or even foreign travelers. “A temple’s neighbors take the deities for granted,” says Eugster, quoting a Taiwanese idiom. “It’s travelers from afar who show it the proper respect.” The mission’s secretary Lin Sufei notes: “The father has better Mandarin than the locals, and better Taiwanese than the Taiwanese. Likewise, he speaks Amis better than the Amis!”
In fact, mastering the three languages took a lot of hard work. Along the way, he often played the fool and elicited much laughter, such when confusing the Taiwanese word for “butt” with the word for “countryside.” But he had the courage not to be bothered by losing face. When he walked through the neighborhood, he would say hello and chat with those he encountered. As suspicious looks gave way to smiles, he knew that his Taiwanese was improving.
As a child, Eugster aspired to become a teacher or doctor. But he ended up fulfilling his dreams on the other side of the world. “The big boss gave me a mission!” He has been in Taiwan for 47 years now, and whenever anybody mentions him, they put the emphasis on his foot massage therapy. But Eugster always reminds them: “In fact, my calling is to be a priest. Reflexology is just a way of getting the message out, and of meeting people.”
“Eugster’s foot massage therapy” both rehabilitates people’s bodies and soothes their minds. Whenever he hears people crying in pain like babies, Eugster laughs and responds with a line he never tires of: “If you feel pain, that means you’re still alive!”
In remote areas of Taitung, the Bethlehem Mission has built schools and hospitals, working to educate people’s minds and save their bodies and souls. The photo shows the Training Center East, which was established in 1965. (courtesy of the Bethlehem Mission Society in Taiwan)