Hiroko – Part 2

Photo: canva.com/Perseomed

Let us continue with the story of Hiroko from the last edition of The Far East magazine as we hear why she stayed with her husband…

This is what she said: “Thanks for being so kind to me the other day, Father. After speaking to you, I went down to the local travel agent and booked my flight ticket to where my sister lives. Then I went home, packed a few belongings, and called for a taxi, which soon arrived. I put my bags into the taxi trunk and decided to go back and look at my drunkard of a husband for the last time. I went into his room. The stench of drink, urine and faeces was overwhelming.

"I looked at him snoring away and turned around to leave the house for good. That was the moment I saw the crucifix on the wall. I could swear that Jesus on the cross was looking down directly at my husband, and there was deep compassion and love in His gaze. I fell on my knees and cried out, ‘Oh Jesus, you suffered so much for me and for him here. You died out of love and did not abandon us in our misery. Here I am, going to abandon him and seek my own comfort.

“I knew at that moment I could not leave my husband. I went back to the taxi, apologised, gave the driver some money, took out my bags and returned to my house. I placed my bags in my bedroom and then returned to my husband. Somehow or other I was given the strength to take off all his soiled clothes, wash him, re-clothe him, replace the bed sheets and reeking blankets, prepare hot milk and a little food for him, which he took and soon fell into a deep sleep and slept like an angel.

“Then, I washed all the soiled sheets and blankets and spent the night keeping watch over him. Now and again, I would look up at the crucifix, and I swear, Father, that the gaze that came out of the face of Jesus was no longer pity and compassion but that of a serene joy.

"The next morning, he woke up and told me to take him to the hospital for treatment. Now, Father, that was a miracle. I was married to him for thirty years and he did not once go to a hospital or to anybody for help. He did not believe in such people. He was his own doctor. He would look after himself. I brought him to the hospital last night, and that is where he is now. Now that I have reported to you, I must go back to him. He needs me.”

She left me in a daze. I was ashamed that I had not had the courage to tell her to take up her cross and follow Jesus. Instead, I had told her to dump her cross and seek her own comfort. At the same time, I knew I was blessed because I had just met a living saint and a living martyr called Hiroko. I knew I had met love in the flesh. I knew that Hiroko had left me with an example that was divine.

Other miracles soon followed. Their only daughter had for years cut off all contact with her parents because of all the abuse she saw in her home. “Christianity, my hat!” she said and had never darkened a church door since. She ran away, made no contact with her parents and, in due course, got married and had a daughter of her own. One day, she got the sudden urge to call her mother. She did, and her mother told her that her father was in hospital and not in good shape as his body was shattered because of the booze.

The daughter, with her own young daughter, made the long journey to visit and fell into the arms of her mother. Then they went to the hospital to see the father. He was so happy to see his estranged daughter and the grandchild he never knew he had. Then he got down on his knees and apologised for all the pain that he had caused his wife and the brutal example he had given to his daughter.

He asked for forgiveness and swore to never take a drop again, a vow he never broke. I was able to visit him in hospital and that brute of a husband had become a reformed alcoholic, a reformed husband, a reformed father, a reformed Christian, a reformed human, and we had become a reformed family. The beast had become a lamb. The hot temper he once owned had become a kind and gentle temper. He knew he was loved by God, by Jesus, by his wife and daughter. But his health never recovered.

He died surrounded by love some months later and was buried out of his own Protestant Church. I am sure he got the surprise of his life when he got past St Peter and was smothered by the mother that he never knew he had - the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Time passed. One day, Hiroko came to me and said, “I am leaving this area.” Presuming she was going to live with her daughter, I said, “Have a good time in Tokyo with your newly found daughter.” She looked at me and said gently, “Father, you once ordered me to leave my country and go like Abram to the land that God was showing me. Now, I will obey you. This afternoon, I am finally going off to live with my loving big sister far away from here. Goodbye.” I lost all contact with her. I know where she lives. She lives in my heart, still inspiring me, guiding me, and hopefully praying for me. 

Columban Fr Joe Brooder lives and works in Japan.