Im Alive and Well

My posts ended because I left Japan in April of 2010 after ten years.  I am working in my home country, and am still Catholic though a very imperfect one.

Shinto priest’s wife, daughter ready for baptism

Miyuki Ito, 38, and her five-year-old daughter, Kotone, are scheduled to be baptized as Catholics at the April 3 Easter Vigil at the Yonezawa Church in Yamagata Prefecture, 290 kilometers north of Tokyo.

What makes them unusual? “My home is a Shinto shrine. My current job is as a miko,” or female shrine attendant, she explains. Her husband is a Shinto priest.

Full article  here

Divine Mercy Sunday

About the feast

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm

How to say the chaplet (it takes only about five minutes)

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm

Good Friday

Looking for Easter Mass?

For those who have found your way to my blog looking for Good Friday & Easter masses in Tokyo two churches with English masses can be found in my blogroll on the right of the page.  They are the Franciscan Chapel Center Roppongi, and St Ignatius in Yotsuya next to the campus of Sophia University.  I suggest St Ignatius as they have far more capacity than the FCC.  There are plenty of churches with mass in Japanese which I encourage anyone to try because if I can you can too.

Sharper Than a Katana?

I have watched shows on tv, and clips on youtube that like to demonstrate how sharp a katana is.  I have even watch an Iaido demonstration where the treated straw they cut through three times in a  split second is said to be equal to the density of a human body.  Sounds pretty sharp huh, a sword that can cut through bullets, bamboo, and bodies so what can be sharper than that?  I found the answer by accident in Hebrews 4:12  Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow;  it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Now THAT is sharp 😀

Happy Feast of St Joseph

As I said before this is the first year I’m paying attention to this feast because I’ve finally stopped ignoring this wonderful saint.  I also recommended him to my Mom and she said he has done some good things for my family but she didn’t say what yet.

I met with my spiritual director this past Monday and feel so incredibly blessed to have him to talk to.  I know there are people out there who don’t have  a director because it can be hard to find one and that really makes me appreciate mine all the more.   I’m guessing Teresa of Avila might have had some role in arranging this because, and I think I’ve said this before my director is a great admirer of her even more than I am, and he is everything she writes a good director should be. .  This shared admiration usually means our conversations include a few minutes of talking about how great she is 😛  This past meeting didn’t include that though because I made a good confession instead which reminded me of how much I like that sacrament.  I’ve never had a regular confessor that knew me so well until now and it is actually kind of a relief because he can give me better advice and so on, so hooray for confession and good confessors!

Novena to St Joseph

As March 19 is the feast day of St Joseph this is a reminder to start your novena to him.

EWTN has one and there are many others out there so take your pick.  This is my first year to do this novena because in the past I’m ashamed to say I ignored St Joseph but that has changed!

Yamaguchi Carmel

According to the Order of Discalced Carmelites` website there are nine Carmels in Japan.  I managed to find photos of the one in Yamaguchi which I am posting below.

They also make slippers which are sold around Christmas time and can be ordered through your parish office.  This past Advent I saw a notice for this in my church bulletin but I did not order any.  Here are photos from people who did order a pair though.  I think they cost around 2000 yen.

Thief returns money stolen from shrine 10 years ago + interest

Tadashi Sunaga stands in front of the donation box at Yama Jinja shrine in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, on Monday. (Mainichi)

UTSUNOMIYA — “There is something I have to apologize to this shrine for.” Those were the opening words of a letter found in the donation box at Yama Jinja shrine here along with 30,000 yen.

The letter was a confession from someone who 10 years before, when still in primary school, had stolen 10,000 yen from the box. “When I became an adult, I realized how hard it is to make money, and I remembered stealing from the box,” the letter continued.

The extra 20,000 yen, the mysterious writer said, was to make up for all the time that had gone by, as a kind of interest payment.

“It’s good this person didn’t continue down a bad road,” said the shrine’s manager, 76-year-old Tadashi Sunaga. “I’m happy.”

That is the full story but here is the source