It is an odd juxtaposition that the Feast of the Transfiguration and the annihilation of Hiroshima occur on the same day, August 6th. For those of us who pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day, I find it difficult to pray the psalms, readings, and intercessions of the feast while holding within myself the memory of those who died, many of them innocent Japanese men, women, and children, and Korean prisoners of war in that atomic blast. I end up praying the morning prayer of the feast of the Transfiguration and evening prayer for martyrs to honor those whose lives were incinerated in the blast of the atomic bomb.
The Transfiguration of Jesus not only supports the theological fact that Jesus is the Son of God, but that Jesus, as the Logos, the Word of God, is the mouthpiece of God “par excellence.” The command for the three apostles who accompanied Jesus up that mountain was to “LISTEN TO HIM.” Initially, in the early Church, disciples of Jesus did do exactly that, not only listening to the Christ, but living those words. When Christianity had the misfortune of becoming the “religion” of the Roman Empire under Constantine, Christians listened less to Christ and more to Imperial Rome. With the exception of a few Christians, many of those who call themselves Christian completely ignore the Divine command to listen to Christ.
At the Transfiguration, God exalted Jesus above all power in creation, however, the way many Christians live their lives, we prefer to exalt power, wealth, weapons, position over that of Christ. The bombing of Hiroshima and the obliteration of life in the time of a second is an example of humanity, many of whom are Christians, completely ignoring God’s voice to listen to Christ.
I have heard all the arguments justifying the bombing of Hiroshima. While it is true that the Japanese were guilty of war crimes and mass deaths, still what gives us the moral permission to do the same? Do two wrongs make a right? The last I was taught, the answer is a resounding, “NO!” It is calculated that 80,000 lives were instantly vaporized in the blast, consumed in a massive fire storm. The shadows of those souls forever impeded in the few remaining structures that survived the blast. It is calculated that radiation sickness brought on by the blast raised that death toll to 135,000 people. Add, the death total from Nagasaki, we arrive at 350,000 human souls obliterated by the two atomic bombs.
I remember as a high school student reading John Hershey’s book, Hiroshima. It was required reading at my Catholic high school (I am sure it has been banned in Florida and many other Bible Belt states these days). Hershey was an American correspondent who wrote about the dropping of the atomic bomb and the aftereffects of that bombing. He described women and children with skin hanging from their bodies in shreds. He wrote of the severe destruction of human life following the dropping of that bomb. Even as an “American gung-ho” teenager, I was shocked by what I read and questioned whether the argument that so many American lives were saved by this utter destruction of Japanese men, women and children was a valid argument. This argument was seen by me as morally askewed and twisted.
On this day that we honor the Transfiguration of Jesus, the United States ushered in the horror of nuclear holocaust and the complete obliteration of humankind and all life, with the exception of cockroaches and rats (we conducted atomic blast experimentation on Bikini Beach. Cockroaches and rats survived the blasts.). We ushered in the madness in which we continue to live, balancing life on the edge of a razor using the policy of MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction. The day will come when some despot in some nation will say, “What the Hell!” and usher in the age of final human extinction.
Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another as he loved us. On this feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, if we call ourselves disciples of Christ, let us renew our efforts to serve not destroy, and to love one another as Christ loved us! And to always devote ourselves to peace for all humankind.
