Photo: Japanese man: canva.com/FilippoBacci Photo: Red and Gray Pagoda Temple: canva.com/Tomáš Malík
There are some incidents in life, sometimes trivial, that make a deep impression. Here is one that stays forever vivid in my memory.
It happened 36 years ago, but the details are with me as if it happened yesterday. It was early in the New Year of 1986. It was in the parish of Chigasaki in the Diocese of Yokohama, Japan. I was the parish assistant priest and chaplain to the men’s group. We were having a New Year party during which a new president of the group would be elected for a one-year term.
To my surprise and initial dismay, the men elected the oldest man in the group. He was Paul Taro Wakita. After the election, he was called upon to say a few words. This is what he said: “Thank you for electing me. I give thanks for the grace of God and my wife that I am a Christian. Since my baptism, God has been at work in me. For example, I now strongly believe that it is vital for a follower of Jesus to acknowledge one’s own human weakness. But that is not easy, especially for we older Japanese people. Take me as an example. I was born in the southern city of Kumamoto and my family was connected to the Hosokawa daimyo family.
"My pre-war schooling followed the Imperial Rescript on Education. We were trained in the very Spartan atmosphere of bushido - the way of the warrior. To acknowledge that one was weak was unthinkable and almost unpatriotic! Rather, strength, power and endurance were emphasised. During the war, I was in the navy and I lived this code. After the war, I married and was later baptised. But, you see, my problem! I had this deeply embedded emphasis on doing things with my own strength. But, as I said, God has been at work in me.
"The older I get, the more I am convinced that to be a follower of Jesus, the first step, and many later steps, is to acknowledge our human frailty. I need to say to myself, again and again: ‘I am weak’. This takes courage.
"The more we acknowledge our powerlessness, the closer we get to Christ, who gives us strength in weakness. And so, with that in mind, I accept and thank you for your nomination of me as your leader”.
As often happens after a sharing like this, there was a moment of pregnant silence and then, enthusiastic applause. We were all touched. I still am!
Columban Fr Barry Cairns lives and works in Japan.
Listen to "Meet Mr Wakita"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - January/February 2022
