O MORNING STAR

 

O ORIENS

Latin:

O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

English: O Morning Star, splendor of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

KEY OF DAVID

 

Tweet

O CLAVIS DAVID

Latin: O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris et umbra mortis.

English; O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no one can shut; you shut and no one can open: Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

In the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 22, it is God who will place the key of David as a sign of authority. Of course, we know this authority is given to Jesus who will save us by opening the gates of “hell”, freeing us from the prison of sin that we might enter into His Kingdom.  

SORROWFUL BACK MADONNA

 

My one regret when I visited Poland in the late 1980s, was that I did not get to see the shrine at Czestochowa. We stayed in Krakow, where I attended Mass in the great Cathedral and we visited Auschwitz, but the back roads through the countryside were so narrow and winding that travel was slow. Hard to believe, but the Velvet Revolution in what is now the Czech Republic (where I was staying) was only ten years prior.  The Berlin Wall had come down, but the peoples of these countries were still poor and none more so than the Poles. But of all the Eastern countries, they had kept their faith alive through the era of Communism- and paid for it dearly.

OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA, also known as the Black Madonna, is a famous painting of the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus.  This image of Our Lady is recognized throughout the entire world, largely due to the devotion shown by the Polish St. (Pope) John Paul II.

 

It is located in the monastery of Jasna Gora in Poland. The painting is a significant part of Polish culture and history, and is said to have been painted by St. Luke on a table built by St. Joseph. 

The painting is called the Black Madonna because of the soot that has built up on it over centuries from candles and votive lights that have been burned in front of it. 

The painting has two gashes on the face of the Virgin Mary, which are said to be the result of a soldier angrily slashing the image when it was thrown on the ground to lighten the load of a wagon.  The scars are said to be an integral part of the image, and even her face has the appearance of a gentle saddness, a reminder that Mary is the Mother of Sorrows.

The origin of this icon is known only in heaven. Its history before it arrived in Poland 600 years ago is shrouded in numerous legends that trace the icon's origin to St. Luke the Evangelist, who painted it on a cedar table top from the Holy Family house. Or that the painting was discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by St. Helena, who brought it back to Constantinople and presented it to her son, Constantine the Great.

The oldest documents from Jasna Góra state that the picture traveled from Constantinople via Belz. Eventually, it came into the possession of Władysław Opolczyk, Duke of Opole, and adviser to Louis of Anjou, King of Poland and Hungary.

Art historians say that the original painting was a Byzantine icon created around the sixth or ninth century. They agree that Prince Władysław brought it to the monastery in the 14th century. 

The Virgin Mary is shown as the "Hodegetria" version (meaning "One Who Shows the Way" or “Οδηγήτρια” in Greek). In it, Mary directs attention away from herself, gesturing with her right hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. In turn, the Child extends His right hand toward the viewer in blessing while holding a book of gospels in His left hand. 

 Ukrainians have a special devotion to the Madonna of Częstochowa. The icon is often mentioned in Ukrainian folk songs from the 16th and 17th centuries. 

The feast day of Our Lady of Częstochowa is celebrated on August 26.

MADONNAS OF PRAGUE

 

 

.

My favorite city in Europe is Prague, but unfortunately so many religious sites are now museums, since Communism took over this great city. One is the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia (formerly a monastery of the Poor Clares), which now houses the medieval collection (1200-1550) of the National Gallery in Prague. 

Unlike so many Black Madonnas,  the MADONNA OF BREZNICE cannot be attributed to the Byzantine style, candle smoke, or the 'saponification of the white lead' in the paint. For around her halo reads: "Nigra sum sed formosa filia Jerusalem)." ("I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem.”)  from the Song of Songs 1:4-5.

The painting bears a Latin inscription on the back, which reads in English: "This image of the glorious Virgin, commissioned by (…) the most illustrious King of Bohemia, was painted to resemble the image in Roudnice, which Saint Luke painted with his own hand. A.D. 1396".

There are at least half dozen other Black Madonnas in Prague.

The Black Madonna on the House of the Black Madonna.

The17th century wood Madonna stands inside a gilded cage on the corner edge of a Cubist-style house which now houses an art museum dedicated to cubism.  The statue at the House of the Black Madonna today is actually a copy from the late 1990s when the building underwent restoration. The original is in the possession of the Prague City Gallery and is sometimes displayed at the House of the Stone Bell at Old Town Square.The exact origin of the hardwood statue isn’t clear, but it dates to at least the 17th century. (Below)  

Another Black Madonna statue sits in the Santa Casa (Holy House) at the Loreta in the Prague Castle district. The shrine, a free-standing elaborately decorated house in the middle of the monastery complex, has several depictions of Mary including a dark wooden statue behind a golden fence.

The house is a full-scale copy of the Basilica della Santa Casa in the town of Loreto in the hills of the Marche region of Italy. The shrine is supposedly the house where Mary lived and home to Our Lady of Loreto, a highly venerated Black Madonna. The Christian legend holds that angels transported the house from Nazareth to Italy.

Painted and framed Black Madonna icons with gilding and jewels can be seen in the back of the Church of St. Thomas Church in the Malá Strana district. The origin is lost in time. (Right)

There is also one above the doorway to  a residential building on Truhlářská Street, though this one actually may be simply due to pollution darkening the stonework. When the rest of the building was cleaned, the Madonna was left black, though. (Below)

ANOTHER MORENITA

 

OUR LADY OF MONTSERRAT is one of the Black Madonnas of Europe, and given the familiar Catalan name, La Moreneta ("the little dark-skinned one" or "the little dark one"). Believed by some to have been carved in Jerusalem in the early days of the Church, it is more likely a Romanesque sculpture in wood from the late 12th century. Pope Leo XIII granted the image a canonical coronation on 11 September 1881

The mountain of Montserrat has been of religious significance since pre-Christian times, when the Romans built a temple to honor the Roman goddess Venus.

By one account, the image of the Madonna was moved to Montserrat in 718, to avoid the danger posed by invading Saracens.

 Legend says the Benedictine monks could not move the statue to construct their monastery, choosing to instead build around it. The statue's sanctuary is located at the rear of the chapel, where an altar of gold surrounds the icon, and is now a site of pilgrimage.

 In 2001, renovators working for the government observed that the black hands and face of La Moreneta had over the centuries undergone a change in color. They attribute the change—from a lighter tone to black—either to prolonged exposure to candle smoke or a chemical reaction caused by a varnish used as a paint sealant.

 The statue was repainted black by successive generations of restorers. A series of tests, including X-rays, revealed the statue's original color and also showed that the last repainting took place at the turn of the 19th century.

This statue has always been considered one of the most celebrated images in Spain. However, like Our Lady of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, its popularity is limited to a regional rather than a universal scope. The shrine has received innumerable pilgrims over the years, currently at the rate of at least one million per year. This multitude includes secular and ecclesial rulers as well as a number of canonized Saints. The most notable of these was St. Ignatius of Loyola, who laid down his sword and embarked on his religious mission "after spending a night praying before the image."

The hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat, known as "el Virolai" and sung at noon each day by the Escolania de Montserrat boys' choir, begins with the words: "Rosa d’abril, Morena de la serra..." (Rose of April, dark-skinned lady of the mountain...). Therefore, this virgin is sometimes also known as the "Rosa d'abril". Her feast is kept on April 27.

 

LA MORENITA

 

In our first Blog on Black Madonnas, we mentioned that the dark skin color is often due to smoke from candles lit by pilgrims, as well as oil lamps.  It can also be due to the effects of oxidation on the original colors. In Byzantine art, especially in icons, the oxidation of the silver leaf, used for the face of the Madonna, darkens the pigments, making them black.

But in some cases, especially in countries such as Africa or South America, the Virgin has been depicted with features close to those of the local people. For me the best example is OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, who Hispanics refer to as “La Morenita”- the dark-faced one. Her complexion is mestiza (i.e., mixed races), a combination of Mexican and Spanish. She is not black, like so many of the famous madonnas. Rather her brown skin tone reflects the peoples in the land in which she appeared.

The apparitions  to Juan Diego in 1531 were seen only ten years after the conquest of central Mexico by the Spanish, at a time when the indigenous people of the Americas were devastated.

The idea of a brown-skinned Mother of God, was critical to the eventual conversion of millions of indigenous people to the faith.

Unlike most Black Madonnas, she is not holding the Christ Child, but rather is pregnant with Him. Is this why we keep her feast in the middle of Advent? With us today, she is awaiting the birth of the Savior.

 Her basilica in Mexico City is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, and the world’s third most-visited sacred site. Hers is one of the most iconic images associated with Catholicism. St. (Pope) John Paul II declared Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the Patroness of all the Americas.

Guadalupe: The Miracle and the Message” (2015): A TV special produced by the Knights of Columbus. 

“The message of Our Lady of Guadalupe helped to build bridges between cultures and worlds and began the transformation of our continent into a Christian continent of hope,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, executive producer of the film. “The apparition helped to unite the entire continent in a way that didn’t exist before. Through her intercession, then and now, those throughout this hemisphere have found a deep and shared sense of faith, hope and identity.”

THE TREE OF JESSE

 O RADIX JESSE  (December 19)

Latin: O radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,] super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

English O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples; before you kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer: Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

From Isaah  11:1  we read:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;  

 from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

The above illuminated manuscript from the 13 century depicts the genealogy of Jesus, as Jesse reclines at the base of the tree. Some of Jesus’ ancestors appear up the tree, King David is among them. The Virgin Mother is above him and Jesus and the Holy Spirit appear at the top. Often the Virgin is seen holding the Child Jesus as seen below in the lovely wood panel from the lectern at Lourdes.

 

O ADONAI

 

 

 

 

O ADONAI *    (December 18)

Latin: O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

English: O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush, and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

                    Exodus 3:2  & Nehemiah 9:13

 *Adonai is the plural of the Hebrew word Adon, which means “lord” or “master.” It was first used as God's title before it was used as God's name. The plural and capitalized Adonai is used because, according to beliefs, God is the lord of all humanity and thus is the “lord of all lords.”

It was Adonai who led the Chosen People out of captivity in Egypt “by the mighty arm of his power” and gave them His law on Mount Sinai. It refers to God’s absolute sovereignty over creation. In the New Testament, the Hebrew adonai becomes the Greek kyrios, but the meaning—Lord—is the same, and it still carries that sense of God's complete sovereignty over all creation.

OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA, also known as the Black Madonna, is a famous painting of the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus.  This image of Our Lady is recognized throughout the entire world, largely due to the devotion shown by the Polish St. (Pope) John Paul II.

 

It is located in the monastery of Jasna Gora in Poland. The painting is a significant part of Polish culture and history, and is said to have been painted by St. Luke on a table built by St. Joseph. 

The painting is called the Black Madonna because of the soot that has built up on it over centuries from candles and votive lights that have been burned in front of it. 

The painting has two gashes on the face of the Virgin Mary, which are said to be the result of a soldier angrily slashing the image when it was thrown on the ground to lighten the load of a wagon.  The scars are said to be an integral part of the image, and even her face has the appearance of a gentle saddness, a reminder that Mary is the Mother of Sorrows.

The origin of this icon is known only in heaven. Its history before it arrived in Poland 600 years ago is shrouded in numerous legends that trace the icon's origin to St. Luke the Evangelist, who painted it on a cedar table top from the Holy Family house. Or that the painting was discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by St. Helena, who brought it back to Constantinople and presented it to her son, Constantine the Great.

The oldest documents from Jasna Góra state that the picture traveled from Constantinople via Belz. Eventually, it came into the possession of Władysław Opolczyk, Duke of Opole, and adviser to Louis of Anjou, King of Poland and Hungary.

Art historians say that the original painting was a Byzantine icon created around the sixth or ninth century. They agree that Prince Władysław brought it to the monastery in the 14th century. 

The Virgin Mary is shown as the "Hodegetria" version (meaning "One Who Shows the Way" or “Οδηγήτρια” in Greek). In it, Mary directs attention away from herself, gesturing with her right hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. In turn, the Child extends His right hand toward the viewer in blessing while holding a book of gospels in His left hand. 

 Ukrainians have a special devotion to the Madonna of Częstochowa. The icon is often mentioned in Ukrainian folk songs from the 16th and 17th centuries. 

The feast day of Our Lady of Częstochowa is celebrated on August 26.

THE GREAT Os- ADVENT

 

The O ANTIPHONS (also known as the Great Advent Antiphons or Great Os) are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers on the last seven days (17 to 23 December) of Advent in Western Christian traditions. They likely date to sixth-century Italy, when Boethius refers to the text in The Consolation of Philosophy. For us they are one of the key musical features of the days leading up to Christmas.

The texts are best known in the English-speaking world in their paraphrased form in the hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel".

 Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah. They are verses extracted from the Old Testament prophets, namely Isaiah.

 Each text, in the original Latin, begins with the vocative particle "O". Each antiphon is a title of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:

 17 December: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

18 December: O Adonai

19 December: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

20 December: O Clavis David (O Key of David)

21 December: O Oriens (O Dawn of the East)

22 December: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)

23 December: O Emmanuel

 The first letters of the titles, from last to first, appear to form a Latin acrostic, Ero cras, meaning 'Tomorrow, I will be [there]', mirroring the theme of the antiphons. This is formed from the first letter of each title –Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia.

O SAPIENTIA

Latin: O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.   Ecclesiasticus 24:3 & Wisdom 8:1

English: O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.   Icon: Sophia the Wisdom of God, Novgorod 15th Century

BLACK MADONNAS

 

For Advent, I thought it would be interesting to see some of the BLACK MADONNAS from around the world.  We will also consider the GREAT Os  (Antophons sung at Vespers during the last days of Advent).

I think the first Black Madonna I can remember encountering was at the beautiful Abbey in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. The term Black Madonna refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin, examples of which can be found both in Catholic and Orthodox countries.

The paintings are often icons, which are Byzantine in origin or style, some of which were produced in 13th or 14th-century Italy. Other examples from the Middle East, Caucasus or Africa, mainly Egypt and Ethiopia, are even older.

Statues are often made of wood and painted, though occasionally are made of stone. About 400–500 Black Madonnas have been recorded in Europe, with the number related to how they are classified. There are at least 180 Vierges Noires in Southern France alone. Years ago, while staying in the French countryside, I can't remember how many small village churches had a Black Madonna.

There are hundreds of copies made since the medieval era. While some are displayed in museums, most are in churches or shrines and are venerated by the faithfiul. Some are associated with miracles, attracting substantial numbers of pilgrims.

One of the oldest Black Madonnas is in the great Benedictine Abbey at EINSIEDELN in Switzerland. In 853, while living in seclusion near a small lake, St. Meinrad (d. 861) had a small chapel built near his cell in which he placed a statue of the Blessed Virgin with the Infant resting on her arm. This statue had been given to him by the Abbess Hildegard, Superior of a monastery in Zurich.

In 948, after a church had been built on the site of St. Meinrad's little cell and chapel,and  just before the ecclesial dedication ceremony for the building, Our Lord appeared and was seen to perform the Mass of Consecration. When Bishop Conrad of Constance arrived for the service, an unknown voice was heard to say: "Stop, brother, the church has been consecrated by God." 

Over the centuries, the church and monastery have been damaged by fire several times, but the statue has remained unharmed. The lineage of the present Black Madonna statue at Einsiedeln is not entirely clear. Today's holy figure is not St. Meinrad's original Virgin from the ninth century, but most likely is a statue carved in the fifteenth century and restored in the eighteenth.

This Madonna did not start out as black, but the faces of the Virgin and Child have been darkened by the smoke and fumes of the many votive candles.

Einsiedeln has evolved into a healing shrine, where for many centuries people have found relief from their mental and physical ailments.

The Black Madonna of Einsiedeln in the Chapel of Grace attracts around 800,000 pilgrims and tourists every year. The feast of Our Lady of Einsiedeln is July 16 and is greatly celebrated in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

ADVENT SAINTS

 

Last Advent, we focused on SAINTS- the main topic of the Blog. Our future is even less uncertain than it was last year.  Wars have not ceased, our climate is even more unstable with hurricanes, fires, floods, etc., and our political leaders are crazier than ever!  We certainly cannot count on them for leadership, and pop stars, sports heroes are turning out to have clay feet, so they are not examples to look up to.  This is why, more than ever, we need our spiritual friends to show us the way. They have been through what we experience in our suffering, our pain and our joys.

St. Josemaría Escrivá is called the saint of the ordinary” for emphasizing what our lives as Christians today is about: making ordinary everyday life something extraordinary.

 “God doesn’t pull you out of your environment, He doesn’t remove you from the world, nor from your state in life, nor from your noble human ambitions, nor from your professional work... but, there, He wants you to be holy!” 

We are all inspired by people we admire who have admirable qualities, be it members of our own family, friends or even just people we read about. We admire their strength of character, their faithfulness to what they believe, and their courage to forge ahead in difficulties. So should it be for our saints, which the Church has placed before us as examples to learn from- their gifts as well as their frailties. 

Friendship with them gives us a sense of human comfort, self worth, connection with others and meaning in our lives. May we this Advent, as we prepare for the birth of our Savior, ask them to intercede for us, that we too may one day reach the "heavenly homeland".

Art:  John Nava, Ojai, California - Los Angeles Cathedral Tapestries

FALLING IN LOVE WITH GOD

 

Fall in Love

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.

It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read,
whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in Love,
stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

— Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Those who read my Blog, know I have a special love for the Jesuits, having been educated by them. One man in particular has always caught my attention due to his being Jesuit, but also Basque.  One of my grammar school friends was 100% Basque. I was the only one of her friends who loved going to the annual Basque festival. Some of the shepherds could not even speak English, but that did not stop us from enjoying the festivities.  It would start with Mass, a picnic and then dance. From Rita and her parents, I learned to love the culture.

 Last week it was announced that the canonization process for PEDRO ARRUPE, S.J. was going ahead, so he is now Servant of God.

 He was born in Bilbao, Spain in 1907. After receiving his bachelor’s degree with the Piarists, he began his studies of medicine in Madrid for four years. At the same time, he visited the poor quarters of the city, getting to know firsthand situations of the need and misery.

 After a profound spiritual experience in Lourdes, France, he came to understand that the best way for him to respond to these realities was to abandon his earlier plans and to enter the Society of Jesus, which he did in 1927. These were difficult times for him, as the Order was expelled from Spain, necessitating his continuing formation in Belgium, Holland, and the United States at St. Louis University. He was ordained in 1936, and two year later sent to Japan, where he lived for 27 years as a missionary. 

When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, it was  December 8 in Japan. Father Arrupe was celebrating the Eucharist for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception when he was arrested and imprisoned for a time, being suspected of espionage. On Christmas Eve,  he heard people gathering outside his cell door and presumed that the time for him to be executed had arrived. 

However, to his utter surprise, he discovered that some fellow Catholics, ignoring all danger, had come to sing Christmas carols to him. Upon this realization, Father Arrupe recalled that he burst into tears. His attitude of profound prayer and his lack of offensive behaviour gained him the respect of his jailers and judges, and he was set free within a month.

Father Arrupe was appointed Jesuit superior and novice master in Japan in 1942, and was living in suburban Hiroshima when the atomic bomb fell in August 1945. He was one of eight Jesuits who were within the blast zone of the bomb, and all eight survived the destruction, protected by a hillock which separated the novitiate from the center of Hiroshima. He later described that event as "a permanent experience outside of history, engraved on my memory."

 He used his medical skills to help those who were wounded or dying. The Jesuit novitiate was converted into a makeshift hospital where between 150 and 200 people received care. He recalled, "The chapel, half destroyed, was overflowing with the wounded, who were lying on the floor very near to one another, suffering terribly, twisted with pain." In 1958, Father Arrupe was appointed the first Jesuit provincial for Japan, a position he held until being elected Father General in 1965.

 After World War II,  as Superior of the Jesuits in Japan, he traveled all over the world inviting Jesuits from about thirty countries to join this mission. He became well-known because of his sympathetic personality, and his direct concern for each person, and his humility and his dynamism.

 In 1965 the Jesuits elected him Superior General of the order. They saw in him a man of God who was able to understand and face the difficult situation that the Church and civil society were passing through. He was known to be a man profoundly united to Jesus Christ. Father Arrupe spent long hours in prayer every day. When he was asked where he found the time to do so, he usually replied that “it’s simply a matter of priorities.”

He was praised for his efforts to put the Second Vatican Council into practice as well as his profound obedience and fidelity to the Church and the popes.

He also highlighted his evangelizing mission and his “preferential option” for the poor and needy, resulting in the Jesuit Refugee Service that he founded in 1980.

He encouraged and proposed modes of moving forward to a Church that was seeking to live out the teachings of Vatican II. He was a pioneer who entered heretofore unexplored terrain, such as that of secularized and pluralist society and the plight of refugees. He led former students of Jesuits schools to follow these paths, and he invited intellectuals to study the causes of injustice and lack of faith. 

During those years, a good number of Jesuits experienced martyrdom, especially in Central and South America, as a consequence of attitudes promoted by Father Arrupe: serving without distinguishing race or class; living with those who were suffering, to the point of giving one’s life and defending their rights to the very end. As a good friend and guide, he accompanied others in their journey.

Seeing Father Arrupe as "the right man for our time", he was elected five times as the Superior of the Jesuits.

In 1981, during a trip from Asia, he suffered a stroke as a result of cerebral thrombosis. In the midst of his illness, which continued to worsen, he experienced an even greater surrender of himself to God, until his death in Rome on February 5, 1991, the anniversary of the 26 Martyrs of Japan. His final words had been: "For the present, Amen; for the future, Alleluia

"More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God's hands.