Vatican City, 20 March 2015 (VIS) –
“Though the Catholic community is small, your local Churches are
esteemed by Japanese society for your many contributions, born of
your Christian identity, which serve people regardless of religion. I
commend your many efforts in the fields of education, healthcare,
service to the elderly, infirm, and handicapped, and your charitable
works which have been especially important in response to the tragic
devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami four years ago. So
too I express deep appreciation for your initiatives in favour of
peace, especially your efforts to keep before the world the immense
suffering experienced by the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the
end of the Second World War seventy years ago. In all of these works,
you not only meet the needs of the community, but you also create
opportunities for dialogue between the Church and society”.
The Holy Father thus addressed the
prelates of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan at the end of
their “ad Limina” visit, who this month celebrate the “discovery”
fifty years ago of the “hidden Christians” of Japan, a central
theme of the written discourse the Pope handed to them this morning.
He writes, “The Church in Japan has
experienced abundant blessings but has equally known suffering. From
those joys and sorrows, your ancestors in the faith have bequeathed
to you a living heritage that adorns the Church today and encourages
her journey toward the future. This heritage is rooted in the
missionaries who first reached your shores and proclaimed the Word of
God, Jesus Christ. We think especially of Saint Francis Xavier. ...
For many of these missionaries, as well as for some of the first
members of the Japanese Catholic community, their witness to Christ
led to the shedding of their blood. … We recall especially Saint
Paul Miki and companions whose steadfast faith in the midst of
persecution became an encouragement for the small Christian community
to persevere in every trial”.
Another aspect of this rich patrimony
is the discovery of the “hidden Christians” - those who conserved
the Christian faith after all the lay missionaries and priests had
been expelled from the country. “The embers of faith which the Holy
Spirit ignited through the preaching of these evangelisers and
sustained by the witness of the martyrs were kept safe, through the
care of the lay faithful who maintained the Catholic community’s
life of prayer and catechesis in the midst of great danger and
persecution”.
“These two pillars of Catholic
history in Japan, missionary activity and the 'hidden
Christians',continue to support the life of the Church today, and
offer a guide to living the faith. In every age and land, the Church
remains a missionary Church, seeking to evangelise and make disciples
of all nations, while continually enriching the faith of the
community of believers and instilling in them the responsibility to
nurture this faith in the home and society”.
The work of evangelisation, however,
“is not the sole responsibility of those who leave their homes and
go to distant lands to preach the Gospel. In fact, by our baptism, we
are all called to be evangelisers and to witness to the Good News of
Jesus wherever we are. We are called to go forth, to be an
evangelising community, even if that simply means opening the front
door of our homes and stepping out into our own neighbourhoods. …
If our missionary efforts are to bear fruit, the example of the
'hidden Christians' has much to teach us. Though small in number and
daily facing persecution, these believers were able to preserve the
faith by being attentive to their personal relationship with Jesus, a
relationship built on a solid prayer life and a sincere commitment to
the welfare of the community. … The 'hidden Christians' of Japan
remind us that the work of fostering the life of the Church and of
evangelising require the full and active participation of the lay
faithful. Their mission is twofold: to engage in the life of the
parish and local Church, and to permeate the social order with their
Christian witness”.
Through the witness of faith of the
Japanese faithful, “the Church expresses her genuine catholicity
and shows the ‘beauty of her varied face’”, the Pope concludes,
citing his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”. “So
often, when we find this witness lacking, it is not because the
faithful do not want to be missionary disciples, but rather because
they think themselves incapable of the task. I encourage you as
Pastors to instil in them a deep appreciation of their calling and to
offer them concrete expressions of support and guidance so that they
may answer this call with generosity and courage”.
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