Anniversary of Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
Reflection
It is eighty years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. More people on the earth were born after those tragic moments in 1945 than were alive at the time of the atomic blast. Most of the world leaders who discuss nuclear bombing as an option of war were not born or were infants at the time. They have no memory of the horror of what happened. Yet those who died still cry out to heaven and earth, even to those who do not remember the headlines or the news from that day.
Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.
These words are inscribed on a stone block at the site of the blast. *
Prayer
God, the keeper of the atoms and stars:
You made us collaborators in creation,
but we have pilfered the secrets of ordered existence
and justified their immoral use in the name of “security” and “peace.”
We could say then that we didn’t know the consequences.
Now we do know, but we are complacent and silent.
Lord, have mercy.
We have abused the glue of the universe.
We have made and stockpiled weapons of mass destruction
instead of saying “No” to their use for evil.
Fear and presumption have driven us
to be ready to annihilate untold lives and
make areas of the earth uninhabitable.
Christ, have mercy.
Open our eyes to see how small and fragile the planet is and
how the destruction of any human being diminishes all.
Heal the wounds opened with the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mend the fabric of the human family.
Will in us never to repeat this evil.
Lord, have mercy.
Action
Read about the bombings and their results. Reflect on the fact that our country is the only one who actually did this. Search your own heart with regard to war, the violence of war, and the acceptability of weapons of mass destruction. Read John Hershey’s book Hiroshima.
Suggested Reading
Why do the nations plan evil together?
Why do they make useless plans?
Psalm 2:1-12
What kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives.
Peter3:11
You can be sure that I will comfort Zion’s people.
I will look with loving concern on all of their destroyed buildings.
I will make their deserts like Eden.
I will make their dry and empty land like my very own garden.
Joy and gladness will be there.
People will sing and give thanks to me.
“Listen to me, my people.
Pay attention, my nation.
My law will go out to the nations.
I make everything right.
Isaiah 51:3-4
The use of nuclear weapons, as well as their mere possession, is immoral.
Pope Francis
The world must resist the allure of modern weapons which threaten to give conflicts a ferocity surpassing that of previous wars.
Pope Leo XIV
Every positive value has its price in negative terms… the genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.
Pablo Picasso
Of thousands of others, nearer the center of the explosion, there was no trace. They vanished. The theory in Hiroshima is that the atomic heat was so great that they burned instantly to ashes – except that there were no ashes.
Wilfred Burchett
Nagasaki and Hiroshima remind us to put peace first every day; to work on conflict prevention and resolution, reconciliation, and dialogue; and to tackle the roots of conflict and violence.
Antonio Guterres
The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are frightening. My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.
William Leahy, I Was There
As the bomb fell over Hiroshima and exploded, we saw an entire city disappear. I wrote in my log the words: “My God, what have we done?”
Capt. Robert Lewis
*Total deaths from the bombings, including both immediate and long-term ffects, are estimated to be between 150,000 and 246,000. The city of Hiroshima has estimated that 237,000 people were killed directly or indirectly by the bomb’s effect. 92% of the structures in Hiroshima were either destroyed or damaged by the blast and subsequent fires.
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