What We Can Do Now

The pandemic has had a strong influence on our faith. In Japan, the number of people who participated in the Mass was limited, and the daily church management meetings were stopped. So our movement was slowed down by about 50%. Now, it is settled down a bit and looking back over the past year, I find that there has been little evidence of growth.

In 2019, I had thought about how much we might be able to do in 2020, and how much we could grow. What I had envisioned for the year was, "Let's do things like this; let's do things like that." But it did not happen and it made me sad.

But then I was given the opportunity to look back on what it means to be a Marianist and what is required of me in such a situation. I asked myself, what is the standard of "being a Marianist" who supports religious life? And how is my faith expressed as a concrete action in the church?

I realized that I did not have many opportunities to dig into these deep problems by myself. So I used “zoom” to create a gathering to exchange opinions between Marianists in search of hints for new thinking.

One Marianist said: "The Marianist is by no means doing the apostolic activity alone. There is always support and encouragement from other Marianists—first the members of our own community, then the members of other Marianist communities.

"In this way, we have looked back on the roots that made us exist, and now we have broadened our horizons toward a more community-oriented direction. We have endeavored to look to tomorrow with greater hope. We Marianists are by no means alone. We are with Mary!"

This person's opinion is one answer. I think that the community created by Father Chaminade and Adele was about expanding the connection between people, and would be a strong weapon for overcoming difficult situations.

It was the past year that made me fully aware of this kind of reflection. In 2021, we must strive to take these ideas even further.

The pandemic gave us an unexpected opportunity. One of them was a study group called "Let's read Lumen Gentium again."

The impetus was one of our Marianist members learning about Mary's work in the church in Chapter 8 of Lumen Gentium. Reading about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the mystery of Christ and the church made her want to know more. Several members agreed with that opinion and set up this group.

We met once a month for about two hours at the Monastery of the Maria-kai. The priest of Maria-kai explained Lumen Gentium. Of course, the Japanese translation was used, but some members said that English was easier to understand. So they were able to exchange opinions from their respective standpoints.

In fact, as we read on, what impressed everyone strongly was what was said in Lumen Gentium was very similar to what Chaminade repeatedly spoke about in his documents. In particular, as I read about Mary's role and her role in the church in Chapter 8, I was amazed at Father Chaminade's foresight and his creativity about rebuilding the church. I cannot talk about it in detail here, but I think that Father Chaminade's message contains a lot of things that need to be deeply understood now.

The pandemic forced our other actions to almost zero. In order to move forward with hope again, in order to advance our lives more optimistically, there must be a guideline that can be used as a basis. So it was in "Rereading Lumen Gentium" that I was strongly convinced it was to "reread the words of Father Chaminade!"

Once again, I think that the role of MLCs in today's society is to give us a deeper understanding of the church.

Japan experienced an 6.5 magnitude earthquake and follow-up tsunami on February 12 & 13. Kiyoshi sent me a news release about the damage.

Let us Pray that Spring and the coming Easter Season brings relief from climate episodes like this, especially as we Renew our Life in Christ!

Prayer from The Circle of Life

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