A Catholic pilgrimage in Nagasaki

Nagasaki — It’s starting to get cold in Nagasaki and we had an early Japanese breakfast. Our tour bus then took us to an area for a climb to the Nishizaka Hill. It was a hard climb for me especially that I haven’t been having an honest-to-goodness exercise. The total walk I had yesterday was nearly five kilometers and it was slightly raining. So the bus dropped us below Nishizaka Hill and we had to climb up, but as I said, I had to take this pilgrimage since I prayed for St. Paul Miki before my kidney transplant operation and I came here to thank him.

We have to thank the Catholic Church in Japan because right behind the monument of the 26 martyrs is the statue of San Lorenzo Ruiz. Later we visited the Nakamachi Church, which also has a lot of statues, including that of San Lorenzo Ruiz. Nakamachi Church is a huge church about the size of the Redemptorist Church in Cebu. At this church we had a totally Japanese lunch, which meant we had to remove our shoes and our feet were on the table.

Back into the Jesuit museum, which there’s nothing new there except that photo of Pope Francis thanking Director Martin Scorsese for the movie he made entitled “Silence” created during the time of the persecution of Christians in Japan. In one story that I’ve read before, a Samurai was asked by the Daimyo to renounce his Christian faith but he refused, even when threatened with death. So they killed him. They then asked his 10-year old son if he would renounce his Christian faith. The boy refused and told his executioners: “If my father would refuse to renounce his faith, I should not renounce mine too.” So they also killed the boy.

St. Paul Miki, one of the 26 martyrs crucified in Nishizaka Hill was already hanging on the cross when he said, “All of you who are here, please listen to me. I did not come from the Philippines. I am a Japanese by birth and a brother of the Society of Jesus. I have committed no crime, and the only reason why I’m put to death is that I have been teaching the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am very happy to die for such a cause, and see my death as a great blessing from the Lord.

At this critical time, when you can rest assured that I will not try to deceive you, I want to stress and make it unmistakably clear that man can find no way of salvation other than the Christian way. The Christian law commands that we forgive our enemies and those who have wronged us. I must therefore say that I forgive Taikosama Hideyoshi. I would rather have all the Japanese become Christians.” This was St. Paul Miki’s last sermon while hanging on the cross. He was a son of a warrior and was about to be ordained priest when they captured him and asked that he renounced his faith. He did not!

After the museum visit, we went to the church next door to pray and see the authenticated relics of St. Paul Miki, St. John Goto and St. Jacob Kisoi, all part of the 26 martyrs. By the way, San Lorenzo Ruiz was not amongst the 26 martyrs who were crucified, but he was also tortured and killed in Nishizaka Hill and his body was burned and his ashes thrown into the sea. San Lorenzo Ruiz was asked by his captors to renounce his faith and he said to them, “That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him I will give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so, do with me as you please.”

We left the pilgrimage sight to see another famous Nagasaki landmark, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. (Nagasaki Gombak) The museum is a remembrance to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the United States of America on August 9, 1945 at 11:02:35 am. The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum covers the history of the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. It portrays scenes of World War II, the dropping of the atomic bomb, the reconstruction of Nagasaki, and present day. Additionally, the museum exhibits the history of nuclear weapons development.

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