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| Urakami Cathedral ~ Nagasaki |
THIS IS SAINT MARY'S CATHEDRAL, often called the Urakami Cathedral, which was destroyed by the atomic blast over Nagasaki, Japan this day 1945. The church, the largest in the Orient, had 14,000 parishioners. The building was destroyed past recognition, however, the haunting face of this wooden statue of the Virgin Mary survived.
This is an apt question then as we prepare for the Feast of Mary's Easter. What does Mary do in her Assumption? She lives her Son's new commandment, "Love one another," (John 15:12). And she does this as Mother - Mother of all of us. She models the new lifestyle that says we don't have to hate people. We don't have to kill people with the weapons of words and thoughts: stereotyping, obstructing, ignoring, cheating, mocking, punishing people.
All around the world people claim to see and receive messages from Mary. Often the messages are silly: Mary telling women to cover their heads in church and to stop wearing pants. But there's really only one message that Mary would want to share with us, isn't there? If you're going to follow my Son, it isn't okay to hate people.
