This year,
6 August 2015, is the 70th year anniversary of the bombing of
Hiroshima, Japan. May the souls of all the victims rest in peace.
Below is a typewritten version of a photocopy given to me by my father a very long time ago. It is a testimony about the power of praying the Holy Rosary as written by Father Hubert Schiffer, SJ. The source of this testimony is unknown. However, I have found some links which are related to this story as below.
Here are some excerpts/messages from the Blessed Virgin Mary via Fr. Gobbi's blue book (Marian Movement of Priests) during our novena to Our Lady of Banneux (also known as "Our Lady of the Poor") last year. These readings were done by randomly cutting the book open:
--- "...offer each day the flowers of love and prayer to your heavenly Mother. I ask you to spread more and more the cenacles which I have requested of you so many times. ... The rosary which you recite has a very great power against evil and against numerous enticements of my Adversary. To the reign of Satan which is spreading; ...to evil which is instilling its venom in hearts; to the snares of the Evil One which have become subtle and dangerous; to the powerful force of Freemasonry which has succeeded in insinuating itself everywhere; to the cult of Satan which is spreading, respond with the prayer of the holy rosary. This is my prayer; it is your prayer. ... The hour of Calvary has arrived for the Church..." (#519)
--- "...Prostrate yourselves with me in an act of profound adoration before the eucharistic Jesus. His real presence among you in the Eucharist, kept with love in all tabernacles of the earth, is a light upon your path; ... it is a balm upon every wound; it is joy in all your sorrows; it is peace which calms every anxiety... Prostrate yourselves with me in prayer of adoration, of thanksgiving and of reparation, to obtain from the Father, from the Son and from the Holy Spirit that there may be a shortening of the time of the great tribulation in which you are now living, in order to enter into the new era which now awaits you. ..." (#463)
--- "... In so many ways have I spoken, but my words have not been harkened to. In many ways I have manifested myself, but my signs have not been given no credence. My interventions, even the most extraordinary, have been contested. O New Jerusalem, Church of Jesus, true Israel of God! ...But now, great tribulations will come upon you. You will be buffeted by the wind of a tempest and a hurricane; ...not a stone will remain upon a stone. O New Jerusalem, accept today my invitation to conversion and interior purification. And thus the new era of justice and holiness can shine forth upon you; your light will spread to all the nations of the earth. And my Son Jesus will establish in your midst the glorious reign of love and peace. ..." (#242)
--- "...Jesus is present in the sacrament of the Eucharist to help you build this unity of yours, to give you an example of how one must love, in total giving to all one's brothers. Come to me together...that I may bring you to Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist, awaiting you in his silent immolation, really present among you in all the tabernacles of the world. ..." (#259)
--- "...I want to spread everywhere...my urgent and heartfelt message, so that it may reach all my children. ...Be converted and return to your God. ..." (#298)
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"Hiroshima!" by Father Hubert Schiffer, SJ
Early
on August 6, 1945, a lone American B-29 super-fortress bomber circled in a
vividly blue sky over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The unsuspecting
inhabitants on the ground barely glanced at the plane. They were unaware of the
deadly payload it was about to unleash on them, ushering in the atomic age with
unimaginable death and destruction.
As
a single bomb near the ground, a city died in an instant. Houses crumbled;
people evaporated; an immense ball of fire shot skywards; and a terrible wave
of super heated gas bulged out from ground zero, flattening buildings for miles.
Among
the unsuspecting inhabitants of Hiroshima was Father Schiffer, a Jesuit
missionary assisting the many Catholics of that city. On the morning of August
6, 1945, he had just finished mass and sat down at the breakfast table, when
there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that a fuel tanker had
exploded in the harbor, as Hiroshima was a major port where the Japanese
refueled their submarines.
Then,
in the words of Father Schiffer:
"suddenly,
a horrible explosion filled the air with one
bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me
from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me,
battered me, whirled me round and round like a
leaf in a gust of autumn wind."
Next
thing
he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself on the
ground. He looked around, and saw there was nothing left in any
direction. The railroad
stations and buildings in all directions were gone.
Yet,
the only harm to him was a few slight cuts in the back of his neck from shards
of glass. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with
him. The
small community of Jesuits to which Father Schiffer belonged lived in a house
near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from the center of the
blast. When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of
the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person within
radius of one and a half kilometers from ground zero died immediately.
The
house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while buildings in every
direction from it were leveled. Father Hubert Schiffer was thirty years old when
the atomic bomb exploded right over his head at Hiroshima. He not only survived
but also lived a healthy life for another thirty-three years!
Even
more astonishing is that the story was to be repeated a few days later at
Nagasaki, the second Japanese city to be hit by an atomic bomb. In both
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the survivors were Catholic religious. Most other
buildings were leveled to the ground even at three times the distance, but in
both cases their houses stood--even with some windows intact!
All
other people--bar a handful of scattered mutilated survivors--even at thrice
the distance from the distance of the Jesuits from the explosion were exposed
to fierce radiation and died within days.
After
the American conquest of Japan, U.S. army doctors explained to Father Schiffer
that his body would soon begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the
doctors' amazement, Father Schiffer's body showed no radiation or ill effects
from the bomb.
All
who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation
to be dead within a matter of minutes.
Scientists
examined the group of Hiroshima Jesuits 200 times during the next thirty years, and no ill effects were ever found.
The
Jesuit say: "We believe that we survived because we were living the
message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that house."
Father
Schiffer
feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Virgin,
which protected him from all radiation and ill effects. Father Schiffer
attributes
this to his devotion to Our Lady and his daily Fatima rosary. He said:
"In
that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.".
Secular
scientist are dumbfounded and incredulous at his explanation. They are sure
there is some "real" explanation. However, over sixty years later the
scientists still have not been able to explain it.
From
a scientific standpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still
defies all the laws of physics.
Dr.
Stephen
Rinehart of the U.S. Department of Defense is widely recognized as an
international expert in the field of atomic blasts. He said: "No way
could
a human have survived nor should anything have been left standing at one
kilometer.
At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers, I saw the
brick
walls standing from an elementary school, and there were a few badly
burned
survivors. All died within fifteen years of some form of cancer."
For
God, who made all matter and energy, it is simply a matter of willing and the
laws that govern them are suspended. This is what happened at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
It
also happened in ancient times to the loyal servants of God-- Sidrach, Misach
and Abdenago. The story is told in the Book of Daniel:
"Sidrach,
Misach and Abdenago were bound and
cast into the furnace of burning fire.... The
furnace was heated exceedingly.... The
flame of the fire slew those men who cast them into the fire.... But Sidrach, Misach and
Abdenago walked in the midst of the flame,
praising God and blessing the Lord."
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to learn more about this story, please visit:
- Hiroshima Bombing pictures and other details - http://www.shrineofsaintjude.net/home1345.html
- "Fr.
Schiffer and seven other priests survived Hiroshima by praying the Rosary
daily..." - http://www.tldm.org/news7/schiffer.htm
- "A Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima" - http://www.christian-miracles.com/arosarymiracle.htm
- about Father Hubert Schiffer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Schiffer