{"id":1530,"date":"2016-05-07T15:18:02","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T15:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/todaysmartyrs.org\/?page_id=1530"},"modified":"2019-06-10T05:02:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T05:02:23","slug":"meditations-all-that-remains","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/todaysmartyrs.org\/index.php\/meditations-all-that-remains\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditations – All That Remains"},"content":{"rendered":"

You shall love your neighbor as yourself <\/em>– Matthew 22:39<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.<\/em> – 1 Corinthians 13:13<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christianity is all about God’s revelation of mystery. – Fr. Moriyama during his first catechesis lesson with Dr. Takashi Nagai<\/strong><\/p>\n

We said before we married, and before you went to China the second time, that if our lives are spent for the glory of God, then life and death are beautiful. – Marina Nagai Midori, after her husband told her of his terminal illness<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Urakami Cathedral at the moment of nuclear detonation, August 9, 1945<\/strong><\/p>\n

All that Remains<\/em><\/strong>, the first English-language movie that depicts the life of Dr. Paul Takashi Nagai,\u00a0has been released on DVD (click here for a review of the movie<\/a>).\u00a0 Dr. Nagai was a Christian martyr more than once.\u00a0 He elected to become a radiologist just prior to his baptism at a time when radiology was not well understood and often claimed the lives of its practitioners.\u00a0 During the Second World War a shortage of photographic film and the increase of war causalities led him to spend long hours\u00a0using a fluoroscope, which gave him a massive cumulative radiation exposure and led to a diagnosis of terminal cancer in June of 1945, at age 37.\u00a0 At the same time the Japanese authorities doubted his patriotism, as they did with all Japanese Christians, and he underwent questioning by the Kenpeitai secret police despite his heroic wartime service.\u00a0 After the war he was defamed by Japanese Communists for his Christian writings.<\/p>\n

Dr. Nagai was also a Christian mystic.\u00a0 He had been shaken by\u00a0a ‘presentment’ of the destruction of Nagasaki on the day his country announced it was at war with the United States.\u00a0 When Hiroshima was destroyed he was sure that a nuclear attack on Nagasaki was imminent, and he sent his children to the countryside.\u00a0 He was almost killed in the attack on Nagasaki, and miraculously recovered thanks to intercessory prayer, but lost his beloved wife Midori in the attack.\u00a0 Dr. Nagai was invited by his bishop after the attack to give a speech in front of the ruined cathedral, and he made controversial remarks to the effect that the Christians of Nagasaki should be honored because they\u00a0were sacrificed so that millions would not die in a future war. He lived three years beyond that given to him in his June 1945 diagnosis.\u00a0 During that time he lived in a hermitage he built\u00a0near Ground Zero and called Nyokodo – As Yourself Hall – where he wrote books and essays on Christianity, love,\u00a0and the mystery of suffering.<\/p>\n

The most currently available book on the lives of Dr. Paul Takashi Nagai and Marina Nagai Midori\u00a0is A Song for Nagasaki<\/a> by Fr. Paul Glynn.\u00a0 Many scenes from the video below can be found in this book.<\/p>\n

Finally, below is a link to the movie trailer.\u00a0 Please be warned that it contains a few moments of the graphic scenes that one would expect in such a film.\u00a0 However, the majority of the trailer, like A\u00a0Song for Nagasaki<\/strong>, is\u00a0an inspirational depiction of the conversion of hearts,\u00a0of the love that people of faith\u00a0have for one another, and of the application and relevance\u00a0of the fullness of Christianity\u00a0in times of great distress. Please watch it with these thoughts in mind.<\/p>\n