To know who Jesus is

Momoko Nishimura´s testimony

I was baptized at the age of three. It was during my senior year of high school, for the first time in my life, I began to think seriously about the meaning of life. Among the many things that I was thought, I remembered that I was baptized as Catholic, which is not that common in Japan (in Japan, Catholics are 0.3% of the population). I noticed that although I believed in God, I didn’t know who He was. There, came my desire to know who Jesus is.

One of the Catholic youth activities that I participated was of the missionary community that I am now a member of. I was invited to participate in an Encounter during the Holy Week in the Philippines. At the Encounter, consecrated missionaries who dedicated their lives to Evangelization and local youth shared about the meaning of Holy Week and shared their experience of God’s Love.

It was Good Friday when a missionary priest was speaking of his own experience of God’s love. He pointed to a wall where Jesus was Crucified and said, “Don’t you feel anything seeing Jesus on the Cross? He is there out of love for us.” I thought: “Honestly, I don’t feel anything” since seeing a Crucifix on the wall had been familiar to me.

There, I realized that I believe in God, but had never known or experienced God’s Love.

It was at the Easter Vigil, that a moment of receiving the Sacrament of Forgiveness was held. I decided to speak my honest thoughts to God through the priest, no matter how embarrassed I was. So, I said, “If God’s love exists, and if He has loved me all this time, then forgive me for not knowing that love.”

After receiving the absolution, it was as if Jesus was telling me from the Cross, “The love you are looking for is here”. Jesus is wounded because I was looking for His Love in other things and people but he is happy that I experienced His love.

When I experienced this, I felt a deep peace as if I was renewed through this Love. At the same time, I wanted to share this Love. 25 years have passed since that time.

Momoko Nishimura SEMD Japan