Interfaith Journeys
  • Home
  • Interfaith Journeys
  • Stella Reekie

The Silence of God

12/1/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The silence of God can be frightening and deafening. Perhaps it’s the reason people don’t like silence.  This is particularly so in the face of great suffering and evil. Shusako Endo’s book ‘Silence’, now made into a major film by Martin Scorsese, deals with this very problem. The film is profound, an experience which lingers on well after the film is over and the silence of the audience as the credits rolled was evidence, I think, how moved they were by it.

The story is of two young Jesuits who go to Japan to find their teacher Fr Ferreira.  They cannot believe the news that he has betrayed his faith, become Buddhist and is working with the Japanese government. This man has been their teacher, their inspiration and model of what it means to be a good Jesuit. They go off to Japan sure that the information is wrong and wanting to support what had been a flourishing  Christian community  before the 17th century’s edicts ordering all foreigners and their influence, especially their religion, out of the country and isolating Japan from the rest of the world for 200 years. At the time of the film the Christian community is in hiding, being faithful to their beliefs and willing to suffer for them.  The two young missionaries tend some of these small communities, amazed at how they have kept the faith, before they are tracked down, captured and tortured. 

Several themes are explored in the book and the film – ones which continue to raise their heads in today’s interfaith journey. I had heard from a friend who translated ‘Silence’ into English, that Endo constantly struggled with the question of how easily Christianity fitted the Japanese character and mind. Certainly there’s a common refrain in Silence that ‘Japan is a swamp in which Christianity cannot flourish’.  This would not have been the case in the previous century when the Jesuit mission had flourished in the country and Christianity was seen to be beneficial for foreign trade.  But did it sit happily in the Japanese way of life? All religions have their own cultural expression and it is often difficult to separate what is religious and what is cultural. How far Catholicism can adopt other cultural expressions has been controversial over the centuries. In the17th century the Church opposed it but now it’s accepted in what we call acculturation and I have experienced Catholic liturgies which have used Hindu and Buddhist rituals which were very moving.  However for some religions conversion means adopting their culture and language and I’ve always felt I would have difficulty taking on and sitting comfortably in other cultural expressions even if I were to accept the faith.

The major theme of the book and the film are the fearful and horrific tortures and executions meted out on Christians unwilling to give up their faith by refusing to stand on metal pictures of Jesus on the Cross.  To die quickly for one’s faith is heroic but to suffer awful punishments is something else. What was it that gave these faithful Japanese the courage and strength to be true to their  beliefs and faith in the face of these terrible punishments?  One thing seemed to be the promise of Paradise – a better reward and a better life – something we’re used to hearing with regard to Muslim suicide bombers.  What does suffering matter if the reward is eternal life with God?  I must say there is nothing of the martyr in me and I think I would be denying my faith very quickly when faced with horrific torture.  Of course none of us know how we would react in such circumstances but I’d hope, I think, that it would be an external act with no real conviction and at one point in the film one of the Jesuits does tell the Christians being tortured to do just that – apostasise, stand on the tablet of Jesus on the Cross, save yourself and your village.  Some do take this way out but others are faithful to the end –their integrity intact.

 We say in the Christian tradition that there is no greater love that anyone can have than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  This is true but I wonder if there is not an even greater love and that is to watch other people suffer and die, be discriminated against, to have one’s heart broken and be powerless to do anything about it – to live with unrequited love, misunderstandings in relationships, powerlessness to help or solve another’s problem. This can be like a living death, protracted over time. And this is the pain of the young Jesuit looking on at the torture of others. Where is God amid the struggle to apostasise, to deny one’s truth and firmly held faith, not to save one’s own skin, though torture would make that understandable but to save others from terrible torture and execution. Where is God in all of this? Why does God not speak, not act? This is the dilemma of the central character in the film as he struggles with his faith and the consequences of his fidelity or his betrayal.  Why does God not help?  How can he continue to live while others have died and sacrificed themselves for their faith?  How can he bear the shame and the guilt?  What meaning will there be in his future life?
​
The film does not answer these questions but it takes us into the struggle of Fr Sebastiao and his final denial of his faith, believing that at last God had spoken and told him to do so.  Whether he found peace in this decision is not clear. While, thank God, we are not faced with such suffering and terror, many of us will understand the silence of God in the face of contemporary world events and past events such as the Holocaust that we’ll be remembering at the end of this month. How often do we not wish and long for an answer that would take away our sense of powerlessness and helplessness in the face of evil, injustice and suffering and how hard it is sometimes to live with the silence of God?

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories
    Religious Performances
    ​​

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.