Remember...Do Not Ever Forget...

“God, who is everywhere, never leaves us. Yet, He seems sometimes to be present, sometimes absent. If we do not know Him well, we do not realize that He may be more present to us when He is absent than when He is present.”

– Thomas Merton

Today, the skies seem gloomy as I journal this blog.  A storm seems to be approaching...I can hear the sounds of thunder and see flashes of lightning from a distance. 

Nevertheless, my thoughts go back to the many innocent lives lost in Sendai and its vicinity in Japan...the cruelty of the earthquake and tsunami.

Flashback: Smoke and fire rose on 6 August 1945 when the US dropped the first atomic bomb, destructing the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Flashback: 9 August, 1945 marks the day American forces dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan, in Nagasaki; again completely destroying the city.

Such were the selfish capacity of humanity in destroying itself and ending life as if God had given them authority - without an iota of thought for the loving God that created and breathe life to mankind.

Following the recent massive devastation of Japan by the most catastrophic earthquake and tsunami (does not the scenes of destruction today look so similar to Hiroshima and Nagasaki?), US President Barack Obama 'reminded', “Today's events remind us of just how fragile life can be.”  Yes, if only the entire humanity constantly remember this.

Japan, rocked by the earthquake and swept by the tsunami, once again comes to a sudden standstill; the whole world watches in shock, mourns from afar and becomes united in prayer…  Yes, life is indeed fragile.

If only, the entire human race walk the talk and passionately live life (and manage nations) with this simple motto, then the world would be stripped of poverty, hunger, discrimination, corruption, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction...everything else that promotes the culture of death!

As emergency aid and military support rush in from all over the world into Japan, the global community is again cruelly jolted to remember our solidarity as ONE human race, ONE people of God - to remember the Divine, the ONE Creator, the ONE Source of Life…who lovingly sustains us as we go about living, journeying…more often than not, without even a flicker of thought with regards to God.

History is filled with such events, feeding the culture of death, as a consequence of man's quest for power and sometimes, natural disasters.  The initial reaction of our human condition is always...


“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22: 2, NAB)


Perhaps, a hint of wisdom can be found, further on in verse 28 of the same psalm, as to how we ought to live our lives, how we ought to journey.


“All the ends of the earth shall remember… the Lord…” (Douay-Rheims)


“…All the families of nations will bow low before you.” (NAB)


There is simply nothing more for me to write about today but I invite you to take a moment, this Lent, to maintain a reflective silence and light a candle for our fellow pilgrims in Japan who have returned to the Father and those who have suddenly lost their loved ones.  Theirs is now a new journey…

Our own journey, on the other hand, continues to be renewed this Lent…as we ‘remember’ and ‘bow low’ before the God who loves us - in preparation to meet Him…whenever He calls us home.  Life is truly precious...

“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Therefore, whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's.”

(Romans 14:8, Douay-Rheims)