Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
GospelJohn 1:29-34(English Standard Version, Anglicised)
At that time: John saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, ‘Behold, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said,
“After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” I myself
did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptising with water, that he
might be revealed to Israel.’ And John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend
from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but
he who sent me to baptise with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain, this is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit.” And I have
seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.
Fr Barry Cairns, a Columban priest born in New Zealand in 1931 who is still enthusiastically testifying in Japan that this is the Son of God tells a story in a number of our Columban magazines of one of his parishioners, Mr Dismas Shigeru Kato, who is doing the same in his 90s.He became a Catholic as an adult. Only about one person out of 200 in Japan is a Catholic. Father Barry tells us about his parishioner when they were both younger.
I would like to introduce Mr Dismas Shigeru Kato. He was born 91 years ago in a small fishing village called Kushimoto in Wakayama Province of Japan. In his youth and when drafted into the wartime army he built up a massive debt for alcohol at different bars.
Then he got married. His wife was very patient with him. Mr Kato worked for the Kansai Electric Power Company. He cared for external power lines. He was paying off his debts bit by bit.
Then Mr Kato became a Christian, first with the local Protestant Church and later the Catholic Church where he was baptized. He chose as his baptismal name Dismas, which is the traditional name of the penitent brigand on a cross beside Jesus at his crucifixion.
At this time I was pastor of Kushimoto which was one of the smallest parishes in Japan. It was definitely a mission of primary contact to the un-evangelized! At Sunday Mass we had 5-10 people attending. However after Mass, 50 non-Christian children from the village came for Sunday school. Mr Kato's daughter, Majimi, was the only Christian.
It was here that Mr Dismas Shigeru Kato really shone in the darkness. For the children we used a projector showing a film strip about a small Catholic boy in Africa. Remember this was before TV came into the village. The film strip was in colour and most extensive with many episodes. Mr Kato would study each episode during the week and in the darkness needed for the projector could tell the story without looking at the script. Each character in the story was given in its own distinctive voice. It was a masterful and captivating presentation. I often heard the children discussing both the developing story and its Christian message.
At this time too Mr Kato was giving witness in another field. The Kansai Electric Company had a trade union seminar. The subject was traffic safety. During the open discussion Mr Kato stood up and said: ‘As many of you know I am a Christian. You have probably heard that Christ 2,000 years ago was strong on love of others. A modern aspect of love of neighbour is safe driving. Let the driver be concerned and respectful for others who use the road. Aggressive, dangerous driving can be a form of self-centredness. Careful, considerate driving is a form of love of neighbor. Let this be our motive for safe driving.’
A moment of spontaneous reflective silence was followed by massive applause. This was a new, different, and appealing approach.
The provincial section of the newspaper featured Mr Kato and his talk emphasising motivation for safe driving instead of just keeping rules for their own sake.
At 91 Shigeru Kato has moved into a Catholic-run retirement home. Here he is a leader of a group who pray the Rosary together.
I pray for more like Mr Kato to evangelize this nation of Japan.
+++
Mr Kato's life, where his Catholic Christian faith permeates everything he does, reflects the spirit of the Letter to Diognetus, written in the second century, which speaks of how we Christians are meant to live in the world. We can get a flavour of it here.
For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe . . . They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed.
People in many countries, and many here in Ireland itself, were utterly shocked and disheartened at the many voters here in recent referendums - one in 2015 that re-defined marriage as no longer necessarily involving a man and a woman, the other in 2018 to do with the sacredness of the life of the unborn child - who saw no connection between their faith and the way they voted. We can never separate the reality that through our baptism we become the beloved sons and daughters of God the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and of one another, from the reality of our daily lives and our lives as citizens. Everything is meant to be permeated by that marvellous truth in which we find our deepest identity, the truth that by baptism we are the beloved sons and daughters of God the Father.
Kinasai-omoniwo-oumono
Composed by Saburo Takada
This Japanese hymn is based on Matthew 11:28-30.Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Traditional
Latin Mass
Second
Sunday After the Epiphany
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 1-18-2026 if necessary).
The steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now' (John 2:9-10; Gospel).
GospelMark 6:1-6(English Standard Version, Anglicised)
Jesus went away from there and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him.And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offence at him.And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour, except in his home town and among his relatives and in his own household.”And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.And he marvelled because of their unbelief.
I have used this material a number of times before but it never fails to move me. It shows how young people can lead us to Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel above, using the English Standard translation, which will be used in the Lectionary for England & Wales and of Scotland from Advent this year, we read that Jesus marvelled because of their unbelief. Both the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible lectionaries read, He was amazed at their lack of faith. Jesus was among his own people, in the town where his brothers and sisters, i.e., his cousins, lived. Perhaps his amazement was a form of frustration. Missionaries are men and women who are often 'amazed' at what seems to be their lack of 'success' in changing the situation, whether it is leading people to faith in Jesus Christ or working among baptised people for the justice that the Gospel demands but evidently isn't there.
Yet Jesus laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. In other words, he found some who responded in faith.
One Columban priest who found faith in Keiko, a very sick 14-year-old girl in Japan, was Fr James Norris, a New Zealander who died on 6 October 2007. Japan is still a country where fewer than one in two hundred are Catholics. He wrote about his experience in Far East, the magazine of the Columbans in Ireland and Britain, in 1973. Father Jim's article made a profound impact on me and is a story that moves me each time I think about it. Maybe the few who believed and were healed consoled Jesus in his humanity. Maybe he felt something of what Father Norris describes in the closing paragraph of his article.
The story of Keiko and her parents shows us that our Catholic Christian faith is a gift from God, a gift for which we should thank him every day. It is a story that highlights what the mission of the Church is, i.e. the mission of each baptized person: to prepare the way for others to know Jesus Christ.
And Keiko in a very real sense was and continues to be a prophet, though not at first recognised as such by those around her. Her radiant smile in the photo above, taken in 1971, still touches my heart because it reveals God's love for her and for each of us.
There is a high school in our parish for nearly 2,000 girls conducted by the Sisters of the Infant of Jesus. Very few of these girls are baptized Christians. As a means of contact, I teach English to the junior high school pupils three times a week. My classes are very informal and I am afraid the young ladies don’t take me very seriously, possibly because I give them no homework or exams. My specialty is supposed to be pronunciation and intonation.
One day, early in November 1971, I received a summons from one of my little pupils, Keiko Uemura, aged 14. She was very sick in the hospital and wished to be baptized. I hadn’t noticed her absence at school. The nuns were full of apologies for not letting me know, but they hadn’t thought her illness was serious; moreover, she had never shown any real interest in religion but on the contrary, during religious classes seemed to take a delight in trying to tie the Sister up in knots with embarrassing questions.
When I visited her she seemed in good spirits. After ascertaining that she really did believe and had sufficient knowledge to realize what she was doing, I baptized her. A few days later I returned to the hospital with several books that explained the faith simply and would help her to pray. She began to prepare for her first Holy Communion. I discovered that despite her seemingly frivolous behavior during religion classes, she had retained quite a lot and what was more, in her present crisis could believe, simply and totally, with no reservations.
In December she was moved to the University hospital, the largest in town and the best equipped. Keiko herself was not aware of it, but she was suffering from a rare type of bone cancer that sometimes afflicted children. The doctor gave her three months to live. Her parents were wonderful. One of them was always near her, day and night. In her case this devoted warm parental love was an actual grace that served to open out and expand her soul to receive the grace of God’s love. As Keiko responded to God’s love, the change in her thinking and outlook, her values, could not fail to impress her parents who in turn were drawn along by the girl towards God.
About Christmas time she made her first Holy Communion. She was radiantly happy that day, as is evident from the photo. Present for the occasion were her parents and some of the Sisters from the school. I made a tape recording for future use. Each week I took her Holy Communion. Her mother prepared the altar and with Keiko read the book on doctrine explaining the faith.
Home for the New Year
The girl was permitted to return home for three days over the New Year. As a result of an operation she had recovered so well that she could walk about slowly with the aid of crutches. She believed she was on the way to complete recovery; she was full of roseate plans for her future, a trip to Lourdes followed by a life of service as a nurse to crippled children. Her father hoped against hope for a miracle, but on the quiet he assured me that it was only a question of time.
Spiritual progress
During the next three months she made tremendous spiritual progress. Her mother told me that she herself was sometimes concerned by the flood of visitors, who often outstayed their welcome, even when Keiko was in pain. But the girl never showed it; she always put on a cheerful front and showed her gratitude to all-comers. Later when her mother grumbled about the inconsiderateness of some people, the girl stopped her with: ‘Mother, it may be alright for you to complain because you are not a Christian, but I am one now and must love everybody. Besides, the visitors come because they are interested in me and I am grateful for this.’ Apart from the occasional sigh or moan that escaped her lips, she never complained of the pain.
As the long winter faded, the cherry blossom trees along the Shirakawa River responded to the warm April sun and flooded the banks with a soft pink mist. I could see the blossoms from the window of her room, but the girl was too young to appreciate the pathos of their beauty – those petals whose destiny was to diffuse their delicate beauty for a brief span, only to be caught by the slightest breeze and flutter to the earth from which they sprang. Keiko never saw her own life and destiny in those blossoms.
About the middle of April she began to weaken. Within a week, she had lost consciousness and was given oxygen. She died peacefully on 27 April. The church was filled at her funeral. Her classmates were heartbroken and inconsolable, far more emotionally upset than her family. Indeed, I was surprised at how calmly her parents bore their great loss. I discovered it was because they had received the grace of the faith through the girl’s influence, even before they had begun any formal instructions. They were convinced that she still lived on in God and that they would meet her again.
Whole family converted
A
week after the funeral her parents and her brother began their study of the
doctrine. They were model catechumens. Every night before the family altar,
united to Keiko in spirit, they said the rosary and read a chapter from the
Scriptures. I baptized them on 6 November, the anniversary of Keiko’s baptism.
There were tears of joy in their eyes that day as they realized they were
united to their daughter by grace within the bosom of God the Father.
One of Keiko’s closest
friends who was shattered by her death but very impressed by the spiritual
change in the girl before her death, has resolved to follow in her footsteps
and pursue the ideal of service Keiko set for herself had she lived. She is now
under instructions and intends to become a nurse.
Fr James Norris after officiating at the joint wedding ceremony of three brothers in Japan.
Testimony of her faith
There
was nothing sensational about this girl’s short life. She did nothing that
would merit notice in the mass media; her life created no more of a stir in
society than a petal falling to the ground. But I am convinced her story is
real news and a genuine success story. In these days of superficial
sensationalism, even we Christians tend to forget that the real battles of life
are won or lost within the depths of the heart where a man meets his God and
says yes or no.
Moreover,
in a country like Japan, a missioner seldom sees the grace of God’s action
working so powerfully and swiftly in a soul. Such tangible evidence of God’s
presence is almost a physical sign of His love which bolsters one’s hope no
end, enabling the missioner to keep going. This slip of a girl was a candle in
the darkness, a spring flower in the desert.
Gospel Mark 1:40-45 (English Standard Version
Anglicised, India)
And a leper came to
him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can
make me clean.”Moved with pity, he stretched out his
hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be
clean.”And immediately the leprosy left him, and
he was made clean.And Jesus sternly
charged him and sent him away at once,and said to
him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but
go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what
Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”But he
went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that
Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate
places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.
'The
Impressionistic brushstrokes and Japanese style accentuated outline of the iris
leaves . . .' (WGA notes).
Two things jumped out at me from the Gospel reading: And a leper came to Jesus, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean” and people were coming to him from every quarter. Jesus was moved with pity for the leper and, we can be sure, with pity for the crowds who came looking for him. The gospels are full of stories of Jesus healing individuals and of healing many.
This week I read an article by my Columban confrere Fr Joe Brooder who was two classes behind me in the seminary and who has worked in Japan since 1970, apart from some years in Britain in the 1990s when he visited many parishes there on behalf of the Columbans.
Father Joe's story is about Hiroko, a middle-aged parishioner of his some years ago whose husband was a Protestant. (Only 1.5% of the population is Christian.) They had one daughter who had left the family home. Father Joe wrote: Hiroko had the glorious habit of coming into Mass just as I was starting, sit down in the back pew and as I would be imparting the final blessing at the end of Mass she would dart out of the church with the speed of a swallow leaving her nest after feeding her young and disappear into city air. Hiroko usually went to Sunday Mass but sometimes would not be there for months.
One Monday morning Hiroko turned up at Mass wearing huge sunglasses, which Father Joe saw as some kind of fashion. However, she stayed after Mass and Father Joe approached her, thinking that she wanted to go to confession. However, she told him that her husband was a drunkard who often beat her up. She took of her glasses and the proof was there. Her long periods of absence from Sunday Mass were due to her recovering from ordeals like this. And the abuse of her mother by her father was the reason their adult daughter had left the home.
Father Joe asked Hiroko if she had remembered what the First Reading at the Mass that Monday was about. She did. It was about God's call to Abram to leave his country and to go to the land that He would show him. Hiroko found this comforting. She had already contacted her sister in another part of Japan who had invited her to come and stay. Father Joe, in his own words, 'ordered her' to do just that, as Abram had followed God's call. She said she would.
To Father Joe's astonishment Hiroko returned the following Friday. She told him that she had bought a ticket, packed her bags, called a taxi and put her bags in it. But before she got in she went back to the house and went to look at her husband for the last time. I went into his room, she told the priest. The stench of drink, urine and feces was overwhelming. I looked at him snoring away and turned around to leave the house for good. That was the moment I saw the crucifix on the wall. I could swear that Jesus on the cross was looking down directly on my husband and there was deep compassion and love in His gaze. I fell on my knees and cried out, ‘Oh Jesus, you suffered so much for me and for him here. You died out of love and did not abandon us in our misery. Here I am going to abandon him and seek my own comfort.'
Hiroko went back to the taxi, apologised to the driver, gave him some money and took her bags back into the house where she cleaned up her husband, changed him into fresh clothes and washed all the soiled linen. She spent the night watching over her husband. Now and again I would look up at the crucifix and I swear, Father, that the gaze that came out of the face of Jesus was no longer pity and compassion but that of a serene joy.
Next day her husband of 30 years asked her to take him to hospital. After unburdening herself Hiroko told Father Joe that she had to go back to the hospital as her husband needed her. The priest wrote: She left me in
a daze. I was ashamed
that I had
not the courage to tell her to
take up her cross and follow Jesus. I told her to dump her cross and seek her
own comfort. At the same moment I knew I was blessed because I knew that I had
just met a living saint and a living martyr called Hiroko. I knew I had met
love in the flesh. I knew that Hiroko had left me with an example that was
divine.
Not long after, Hiroko's estranged daughter, who had left home disgusted with 'Christianity', unexpectedly contacted her mother. When she heard that her father was in hospital she came with her daughter, the grandchild her father didn't know he had. Then something wonderful happened. Hiroko's husband, like the leper who approached Jesus, got down on his knees and apologized for all the
pain that he had caused his wife and the brutal example he gave to his
daughter. He asked for forgiveness and swore to never take a drop again, a vow
he never broke. I was able to visit him in hospital and that brute of a husband
became a reformed alcoholic, a reformed husband, a reformed father, a reformed
Christian, a
reformed human and
all became a reformed family. The
beast had become a lamb. The hot temper he once owned became a kind and gentle
temper. He knew he was loved by God, by Jesus, by his wife and daughter. But
his health never recovered. He died surrounded by love some months later and
was buried out of his own Protestant Church. I am sure he got the surprise of
his life when he got past St Peter
and was
smothered by the
mother he never knew he had - the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
One of the verses in today's Responsorial Psalm sums this up: But now I have acknowledged my sins; I said: 'I will confess my offence to the Lord.' And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin.'
As it happens, this Sunday is World Day of the Sick, observed each year on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, not observed this year as it falls on Sunday.
Father Joe's article,which touched me very deeply as an expression of the Gospel, the Good News, ends with these words: Time passed. One day Hiroko came to me and said, ‘I am
leaving this area’.
I presumed she was going
to live with
her daughter. I said ‘Have a good time in Tokyo with your newly-found
daughter’. She looked at me and said gently, ‘Father, you once ordered me to
leave my country and go like Abram to the land that God was showing me. Now I
will obey you. This afternoon I am finally going off to live with my loving big
sister far away from here. Goodbye’. I lost all contact with her. But I know where
she lives. She lives in my heart still inspiring me, guiding and hopefully
praying for me.
+++
The impact of the story of Hiroko on me is that it points me towards Jesus and I want to be among the people coming to him from every quarter.
Hail Mary in Japanese
courage to tell her to take up her cross and follow Jesus. I
told her to dump her cross and seek her own comfort. At the
same moment I knew I was blessed because I knew that I
had just met a living saint and a living martyr called Hiroko. I
knew I had met love in the esh. I knew that Hiroko had le
me with an example that was divine
just as I was starng, sit down in the back pew and as I would
be imparng the nal blessing at the end of Mass she would
dart out of the church with the speed of a swallow leaving her nest aer feeding her young and disappear into city air.used to come to Sunday Mass just as it had begun and left just before it ended. There were long periods when she didn't attend. One Sunday she arrived wearing very large sunglasses, which Father Joe attributed to some fashion fad.
Traditional Latin Mass
Quinquagesima Sunday
The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 2-11-2024 if necessary).
