5 FEBRUARY
FR PEDRO ARRUPE (1907-1991)
Fr Arrupe was the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, and probably the most admired General after the founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola After many years as a missionary in Japan (including doing medical service among the victims of the atom bomb in Nagasaki), he was elected General. He led the Jesuits on the path of a “faith that does justice.” He took a firm stand for the poor, and refused to yield to those who threatened to kill the Jesuits who worked for justice in places like El Salvador. A mystic who combined a deep sense of God with a courageous stand for justice, he was much loved and admired.
Here are two much-quoted statements of his that all of us can learn from:
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a 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 mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who 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.”
“Today’s prime educational objective must be to form men and women for others who cannot even conceive of the love of God that does not include the love of the least of their neighbours.”
After he had a stroke, he could no longer function as General of the Jesuits. At the next General Congregation, he was wheeled into the hall, and a prayer written by him was read out: “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 this 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.”
Fr Arrupe died in Rome on February 5, 1991.
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6 FEBRUARY
SAINTS PAUL MIKKI, GONSALO GARCIA & COMPANIONS (+1597)
Paul Mikki was a Japanese Jesuit and Gonsalo a Franciscan Brother from Bassein, who were martyred during the persecution of Christians in Japan in the sixteenth century. In fact, Gonsalo Garcia is the first canonized Indian saint.
They, as well as many other Christians after them, were crucified. The persecution was severe and ruthless. To identify Christians in hiding, government functionaries would round up whole villages and ask each one to stamp on a picture of Jesus or Mary. Those who refused, and their families, were executed. Some denied the faith to escape death, but many others professed their faith and died for it.
Christianity had no public face in Japan for the next two hundred years. But a number of Christians remained faithful, in secret. When a French priest was allowed into Japan in the 19th century as the chaplain for the French community, a group of Japanese approached him and told him they were Christians.
The cross marked the history of Christianity in Japan. After the nineteenth century, the number of Christians grew. A large centre of Catholicism in Japan was Nagasaki. About ten thousand of them were killed when the Americans dropped an atom bomb over that city.
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21 FEBRUARY (BIRTHDAY)
CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (1801-1890)
Newman belonged to the Anglican Church, studied and held a prestigious post at Oxford University. In investigating Church history to defend the position of the Anglican Church, he was led more and more to the truth of the Catholic faith. He finally took a step that shocked his Anglican community: He became a Catholic. He later became a priest and well-known theological writer. His writings, The Grammar of Assent (about how one makes a faith commitment) and The Idea of a University (about the nature of university education) became much-quoted classics. Being ahead of his time, he was criticised in some influential church settings. Ideas which we find normal today were considered wrong or dangerous in the nineteenth century: The role of the laity, the importance of the intellectual in the church, the development of doctrine, separation between church and state, the key role of conscience. Only at the Second Vatican Council (1963-65) were Newman’s ideas really accepted by many in the Catholic Church, so much so that Pope Paul VI called the Council “Newman’s council.”
Much better known than his theological writings is a hymn Newman wrote, as he prayed for God’s guidance: “Lead, Kindly Light.” Its popular text includes these touching words: “The night is dark, and I am far from home. Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.”
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22 FEBRUARY
HANS & SOPHIE SCHOLL (+1943)
When Nazi power was at its height, and its murderous policies at their worst, a small group of students in Munich, inspired by their Christian faith, decided to resist. They started distributing pamphlets exposing what Hitler and Nazism were doing—the murder of Jews, the suppression of dissent, the destructive military policies.
Hans was a 23-year old medical student. His sister Sophie, 21, studied philosophy.
They were caught and interrogated.
At the interrogation, the police officer told Sophie that the government and the law came first. Sophie insisted that God and conscience should come first. At this, the officer lost his temper and shouted: “There is no God. And what is conscience?”
When they realized that the police had found them guilty, Hans and Sophie tried to take the whole responsibility on themselves, to save their other friends from the same fate. But the secret police rounded up everyone in the group.
Hans and Sophie were condemned to death.
There are at three movies about them. In the award-winning film, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, one of the most moving scenes is when their parents are allowed to meet them for a few minutes. The father tells Sophie and Hans: “You did the right thing. I am proud of both of you.” Their mother, stroking Sophie’s cheek tenderly, tells her, “Child, you will not come through my door again. We will meet in heaven. Remember Jesus.” Sophie responds, “You, too, mom.”
Hans and Sophie and a friend of theirs were beheaded on February 22.
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