Deus in adjutorium meum intende.
Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

Our parish bulletin contained a very interesting article about Nagasaki. I am sharing it here because the last part is profound.  The title is "Hansai" or Holocaust.

   On August 9, 1945 the Mass for the Vigil of St. Lawrence was celebrated in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in the Urakami district of Nagasaki, Japan. After the Mass, two of the parish priests began hearing confessions, with a dozen or so parishioners waiting in line to receive the Sacrament. At 11:20 AM, an atomic bomb - the second and last ever used in an act of war - detonated directly over the cathedral, killing everyone inside. Of the 12,000 Catholics in the Urakami neighborhood, 8,500 died.
    The American B-29, nicknamed "Bockscar," was supposed to drop its deadly payload on the city of Kokura, but cloud cover over Kokura made it impossible for the bombardier to find his target; so the plane moved on to its backup target of Nagasaki. At Nagasaki, too the clouds made accurate bombing impossible, but with engine trouble and with fuel running low the crew decided to drop the bomb more or less at random over the city.
    Was it merely a cruel accident that the doomsday weapon that ended the most brutal war in history fell on the largest Catholic church in Asia? At the Requiem Mass for the victims, Urakami Cathedral parishioner, Dr. Takashi Nagai had this to say:
   
    "Our cathedral suddenly burst into flames and was consumed. At exactly the same time in the Imperial Palace, His Majesty the Emperor made known his sacred decision to end the war. On August 15, the Imperial Rescript, which put an end to the fighting, was formally promulgated, and the whole world saw the light of peace. August 15 is also the great feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is significant, I believe, that the Urakami cathedral was dedicated to her. We must ask: was this convergence of events the end of the war and the celebration of her feast day, merely coincidental, or was it the mysterious Providence of God?
    "...It was not the American crew I believe, who chose our suburb. God's Providence chose Urakami and carried the bomb right above our homes. Is there not a profound relationship between the annihilation of Nagasaki and the end of the war? Was not Nagasaki the chosen victim, the lamb without blemish, slain as a whole burnt offering on the altar of sacrifice, atoning for the sins of all the nations during World War II?
    "We are inheritors of Adam's sin...of Cain's sin...Hating one another, killing one another, joyfully killing one another!...but mere repentance was not enough for peace...We had to offer a stupendous sacrifice...Cities had been leveled, but that was not enough...Only this hansai (holocaust) in Nagasaki sufficed, and at that moment God inspired our Emperor to issue the sacred proclamation that ended the war. The Christian flock of Nagasaki was true to the Faith through three centuries of persecution. During the recent war it prayed ceaselessly for a lasting peace. Here was the one pure lamb that had to be sacrificed as hansai on His altar...so that many millions of lives might be saved...Let us be thankful that Nagasaki was chosen for the whole burnt sacrifice! Let us be thankful that through this sacrifice, peace was granted to the world and religious freedom to Japan,"

I make just one comment. The Emperor Hirohito was prevented from immediately carrying out his intention by his military. It was after further bombings by B-29s over Japan that he defied them and on August 15 went on the radio to proclaim surrender. It was the first time his subjects had ever heard the voice of their god-emperor.

08/09/2017