St. Paul Miki and Companiions

The Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, the first of the Japanese martyrs who gave their lives for their faith in the 16th and 17th century as Japanese authorities attempted to eliminate Christianity, which had take root from the days of St. Francis Xavier, comes this year when Martin Scorcese's telling film, SILENCE is still playing in theaters. The film,// depicts the physical as well as the emotional brutality that apparently succeeded in eliminating Christianity entirely from Japan, whose doors remained closed to the world for nearly 200 years.  When Commodore Perry arrived and Japan gingerly accepted contact with the West and allowed a priest to enter the country, hundreds of Catholics who had kept the faith in secret for these two centuries emerged and formed the nucleus of a new Christian community, mainly centered in Nagasaki.  Half this Catholic population was eliminated by the Atom Bomb in August of 1945,  but even that could not wipe out the faith that was so deeply rooted in the hearts of simple people from the beginning.  May we remember the courage and tenacity of these Japanese Faithful when find ourselves wavering.
Bro. Rene