Dearest Ones,
How hard it is to see God in everything. But if we do He will calm us. It may be that the circumstances of our sorrow cannot be removed, but if Christ is brought into our grief, He will give us peace.
His love can never change. Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those things that trouble us. We may even be able to find ourselves inwardly thanking God for the blessings our sorrows bring. Nothing else will completely put an end to all our rebellious thoughts.
SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS, big and small, and you will be able to give Him thanks for even the worst things. It is the only way to overcome the power of the evil one. When heavy loads are given us to bear, His love and peace will calm our mind. As each day holds some new obstacles, if we walk by faith and not by sight, we will see all things as blessings. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING.
Recently, I read about Takashi Nagai, a Catholic doctor in Japan, during World War 11. In 1945, he was working in his office in Nagasaki, Japan. Suddenly, he saw a flash of light and then heard a crashing roar, as his building collapsed around him. He escaped and received treatment for minor injuries, then began to minister to the dying. The atom bomb killed 80,000 people. His two children survived, but his beloved wife he found dead with a rosary clasped in her hand.
How does one make sense of such a tragedy? Such circumstances cause people to display all kinds of reactions - despair, hunger for revenge, etc. The doctor expressed an unexpected attitude - it was gratitude to God that his Catholic city, Nagasaki, had been chosen to atone for the sins of humanity - for the sins of all the nations during World War 11. He gathered as many people as he could into the Cathedral and led the people in prayer, encouraging them to thank God for this blessing, where they would have a chance to make up to God for all the sins of the war. What a powerful witness he was!
Since the time of the early Jesuit missionaries, Nagasaki had been the center of Japanese Catholics. They had endured great persecution because of this. As a consequence, Japanese Catholics had found a deep devotion to the cross of Christ and atonement, which means making up for the sins of others, which comes at the price of suffering. That's why it seemed the right thing for Dr. Nagai to give thanks to God for the blessing of being able to atone for the sins of others. He could only find meaning in this terrible catastrophe in relation to the cross.
The doctor was diagnosed with leukemia because of his work with x-rays, and died at the age of 54. His life had a powerful influence in helping to heal the wounds inflicted by the bomb.
In His love,
Sister Francelle
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