Earlier this year Martin Scorcese's film version of the novel Silence was released around the world. The historically based story is a demanding one of 17th century Jesuit priests who suffer for his commitment to sharing the gospel in Japan at a time when the nation was hostile to foreigners, particularly those attempting to evangelize. It explores suffering and the silence of God. The novel was written 50 years ago by Shusako Endo, a Japanese Catholic who experienced discrimination because of his faith. Scorcese, a Catholic, worked for decades to bring this story to the screen.
The novel won an award in Japan but it wasn't immediately embraced by Japanese Catholics. The film adaptation was generally well reviewed and I do want to see it. One of the stars, Andrew Garfield, was profoundly affected by his role. He enlisted a Jesuit priest to introduce him to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. In an interview Garfield said “What was really easy was falling in love with this person, was falling in love with Jesus Christ. That was the most surprising thing.” I was interested to see that Liam Neeson, who was a Jesuit in The Mission is in this film as well.
The other day I came upon an article about a new three-part documentary called Keeping the Faith about Christians who essentially went underground on the Japanese island of Kyushu for nearly four centuries. The stories told in Silence and Keeping the Faith serve as reminders that Christians have been persecuted and shunned over time for remaining faithful to Christ.
There are Christians in North America who huff and grumble about being persecuted because of the limitations around Christian imagery in the public square in the Christmas season. They use silly phrases such as "the war on Christmas."Not being able to display a Nativity scene in front of a government building does not count as martyrdom. In truth, we know nothing about persecution compared to sisters and brothers in Christ around the world.
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