Japanese Conversion & Vocation Stories

I was looking at the Daughters of St Paul`s website here and in their section titled who are we they have their vocation stories.    Each story is quite short and can be read in two or so minutes.

St. Damien of Molokai

He was Fr. Damien then Blessed Damien and today, October 11, he is Saint Damien.  EWTN aired the canonization mass which I remembered half an hour after it was over

Here is one of many articles covering the event.

Here is an article about a painting of Fr … I mean Saint Damien that was given to the Pope.   The late artist had Lou Gehrig`s disease but she did an amazing job.

Feast of St Therese of Lisieux

In January of 2008 I found a prayer card with a novena to St Therese on it while cleaning up some stuff one day.  I thought it would be fun to pray because I had heard that sometimes people receive roses and I wanted to see if that would happen to me too, so I prayed the novena.  I got roses and on my birthday no less   It was also the first time I had ever said a novena.  I also seemed to have gained the interest of St Therese who keeps trying to make herself known to me for almost the past two years now.  I keep encountering her in quotes from her mostly but also by seeing her picture and statue.  Later in 2008 I started to read a free copy of her book Story of a Soul on Project Gutenberg which you can read here but gave up since it`s not very easy to read that much at the computer.  A couple of months later while visiting my family I found a copy on my Mom`s bookshelf and so read the entire book very comfortably.

Her relics have toured the world but have never been to Japan and currently they are in England for a month.  If they ever do come here, and Im still here, I will definitely go say hi.  I also found out that another favorite Catholic of mine, and likely future saint, Archbishop Fulton Sheen`s talks about her have been compiled into a book see here

I found this video which shows the public areas of her convent as well as some of her personal items.

Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan

Imprisoned under the Communists for thirteen years, nine of which were in solitary confinement, this Cardinal who passed away in 2002 is now on the road to beatification.  Wikipedia article here with a good selection of links.

There is also a documentary about him and you can see a preview here

and the first five minutes here however I am unable to find a complete video of it so far.

St. Francis Xavier`s Relative

From japanprobe

Did you know that a blood relative of the Saint Francis Xavier is currently living in Japan? Saturday night’s episode of Sekai Ichi Uketai Jyugyou introduced him to television viewers in a short trivia segment:

click to go to their site to watch the video and read a short summary of it.  I had never heard of Fr Izumi before and think it is amazing as well as very daunting for him.  I cant imagine what it would be like to have a saint among my ancestors!

Japanese Sculptor Found the Faith by Studying Antoni Gaudí

I saw Mr Sotoo on tv around a year ago on a show about Sagrada Familia so although this article is a couple of years old I thought it was interesting.

RIMINI, Italy, AUG. 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Fascinated by the works of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, Japanese sculptor Etsuro Sotoo discovered the Catholic faith while working in the Church of the Holy Family, in Barcelona.

On a visit to Barcelona in 1978, Sotoo was fascinated by the expiatory Church of the Holy Family, the unfinished masterpiece of Gaudí (1852-1926), and requested permission to remain in the Catalan city to work as a sculptor. Gaudí’s cause for beatification is under way.

“To understand Gaudí, it was necessary to know what he wanted to do with those sculptures, with that marvelous building, which was not just a work of art,” explained Sotoo.

“I tried to get inside him and I questioned the stones,” the Japanese sculptor said. “I wondered what Gaudí would have done in my place. It was necessary to discover what was behind this stone.”

God’s collaborator

Sotoo did not find answers to these questions until he understood that he did not have to “look at Gaudí, but in the direction in which Gaudí looked.”

article here

This site has a couple of rough video interview with Mr Sotoo in English that will play on real player.

Feast day of St Paul Miki and Companions all Martyrs

Today is the feast day of St Paul Miki パウロ三木 and twenty five other Catholics who were crucified in Nagasaki in 1597.
This day causes me to think, as all who call themselves Catholic should,  if the time came and someone said “renounce your faith or die” what would I do?  Even in my daily life can I admit I am a Catholic to others even  though it may mean losing friends?  Will I keep saying yes to Jesus even when it is not comfortable for me?  Am I in a state of grace so that I need not fear death as we know not the day nor the hour.

26 Martyrs memorial official site

Bishop Sheen on Temptation

If you have never heard of Bishop Fulton Sheen, or have heard of him but never watched any of his talks that is about to change.  I encourage you to watch the three part series on temptation as a start.  I will post the first video then if you double click on it it will take you to you tube and on the right hand side of the page you can click to watch parts 2&3.  Hopefully you will want to watch more videos of his talks just keep in mind don’t judge the video by the title.  You may think the title sounds boring  that its about something you aren’t really interested in but try watching it anyway because he talks about much more than just what the title may say.  His cause for sainthood is before the
Vatican as well so it might interest you to watch someone who might be declared a saint

Fr. Riccardo Magrin

The PIME missionary from Italy died at the end of November after 54 years in Japan.

TOKYO (AsiaNews) – Bishop Dominic Miyahara did not hesitate to compare Father Riccardo’s character to that of the 188 Japanese martyrs, who were beatified last 24 November. In its original meaning, “martyrdom” meant giving one’s life totally for the love of Christ. And this, according to the bishop, was the sense of Fr Riccardo Magrin’s life. The PIME missionary passed away on 26 November at the age of 84.

article here

I would like to highlight one point.

If people in Saga Prefecture learnt anything about European culture, it was not through TV shows but by observing the life of a small and humble missionary.

In order to achieve such a high level of cultural communication Father Magrin required a great deal of moral energy which he got from high above through constant prayer.

An example to all of us.  We each may be the only Catholic someone meets so should we not then be the best example of a Catholic to those around us?  And we are even given the answer in the next sentence  as to where we can find help for that and that is in prayer. I would also add in going to Confession, and in the Eucharist.

For any Protestants, Atheists, Agnostics etc who may be reading this being the best example of whoever you are while in Japan applies to you too.  Leave the country better than when you found it by leaving a good impression of who you are and where you are from with the Japanese and foreigners you meet.   And not just a good impression but help others become better people than when you first met them.  I know of some foreigners who treat others around them and Japan itself as a piece of garbage with no respect for anyone or anything other than what good it is to themselves.  I’m asking anyone who reads this to not be like that.

Feast of St Francis Xavier

Japanese portrait of Francis Xavier
with Monoyama Inscription Kobe Museum, Kobe Japan

Since today December 3 is the feast day of St Francis Xavier a blog like mine can not let the day go unnoticed.  And since it is a FEAST day you should do just that.  Ok you dont have to go cook a turkey but have something nice to eat or drink to celebrate this day.  To learn more about St Francis start here.