went to Japan in 1951, and now I have returned. It has been 50 years! As I greeted them goodbye, I told them: “Peace to these people of good will!” Over the years, I saw them make progress because of the exceptional qualities in them: a patriotic love, a spirit of sacrifice, a love for education, and openness to human values. I found them surprisingly interested and opened to the message of the Gospel, notwithstanding their antique journeys of faith. Shintoism is their state religion, with a particular attraction to creation and a full calendar of feasts and activities throughout the year. But these do not stop them in their interest and participation in Christian Feasts such as Christmas, weddings and blessings of the dead.
As I traveled the streets of the city, they would approach me and ask, “Do you remember me? Do you remember the prayers you taught me when I was in the hospital? I still say them every day.” These statements gave me courage and trust in the goodness of the Lord.
The gongs of the pagodas tell the daily time, at 6:00 am, at noon, and at 6:00 pm. In our industrialized cities of the West, church bells are too often silent. As I look at my experience in Japan, I noticed that the people did not need me for material things, for they lack nothing. I met many small Christian communities, friends and sympathizers of the Gospel. As the years passed, my physical strength diminished, but I thought of the things that I could have done. The two bishops of Osaka asked me to come along to visit some patients in the local hospitals, and I continued to do it with all the energy I had. They were men and women of the working force of Japan who, when they got sick, would lose everything, even the support of family members and friends. And so I kept touring the various hospitals of the city, getting to know about 900 of sick people, most of them non-Christians. A few of them accepted baptism, and others were able to get back to their jobs, but kept in touch with me through the years. They understood true friendship, and we often prayed together, and they wanted me to share some stories and miracles of the man called Jesus.
As I traveled the streets of the city, they would approach me and ask, “Do you remember me? Do you remember the prayers you taught me when I was in the hospital? I still say them every day.” These statements gave me courage and trust in the goodness of the Lord. The hospital personnel were ever kind, even when they did not know what a Christian missionary was doing in that place. Moreover, I was able to invite a few Christians of the community to come along with me and be present to the sick. They took turns in visiting the patients. To my surprise, this initiative is a model for the Bishops’ pastoral plan in the dioceses of Japan.
I had many good experiences in these 50 years of mission work in Japan, and I thank God every day for the joy the Lord provided in my life. I remember when I entered the Xaverian Seminary, some 60 years ago. The merchant who accompanied my mother and I to the seminary stated: “If I were to be born again, I would be a missionary.” Today, at the sunset of my life, I can say with joy in my heart “If I were to be born again, I would have no doubt: I would be a missionary again, with the Xaverians.”
(From Missionari Saveriani)