May 4 – Pius XII establishes the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1944)
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Who will help me cleanse my soul?
A-bomb surviving statues, Urakami Catholic Church, Nagasaki, Japan
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Takashi
Nagai died on May 1, 1951, at the age of 43 in Nagasaki, Japan. He was a
Japanese radiologist, a convert to Catholicism and a courageous
survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing which killed 38,000 in this
small town on August 9, 1945. He himself died of the consequences of
irradiation from the bomb. He was also an author. The following lines
were written by him on the Immaculate Virgin Mary:
"We had a white
towel, but it has yellowed with age. No matter how much we wash it, we
cannot restore its original luster. Every time someone from the hospital
comes for my treatments, they always ask the same question: ‘Don’t you
have a cleaner towel?’ This made me think that my soul has been imbued
with original sin since my birth, and although it was purified at
baptism, it has turned rather grey with time. And I wondered: ‘Who will
help me cleanse my soul?’
I found the answer in the bottom of my
heart. The Virgin Mary, the Immaculate, who does not have original sin,
will intercede for me. So now I often turn to her: Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners.” |
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Takashi Nagai,
In Une lumière dans Nagasaki, Nouvelle Cité, 2006
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