Rediscovering my Jesuit identity
|
0
Jody Magtoto SJ was in Japan in May, helping in the relief effort for victims of the tsunami. He reflects on how he rediscovered his Jesuit identity in the midst of the rubble.
I had been in Kamaishi for two days by then. Because I had taken some courses in Japanese, I could sort of understand what was going on. But I came to realize that because my words and thoughts were in English, I could not articulate what I wanted to say. I decided then to keep my words to a minimum lest I offend or be misunderstood.
When the rector of the Jesuit scholasticate in Tokyo, Fr Juan Haidar, asked me whether I was interested in volunteering for relief efforts of Caritas Japan, I initially hesitated since my command of the Japanese language is not good. Yet I felt moved to respond despite this disability and despite the risks.
She sat quietly at the corner bench. The crowd was pressing in that small omise (a videoke snack bar which draws memories from times past when entertainers/ talents came in droves to almost all corners of Japan to earn a living, in an illusive quest for a dream, most of which turned to a nightmare). But, these are different times. The omise was not for “happy hour”, rather to break the sad news that not much of control is being gained over the nuclear reactors affected by the tsunami.