The true meaning of LOVE

On March 11 at 2:46 p.m. I was preparing snacks in the kindergarten where I work in Tokyo. When I felt the earth shake beneath me, I gathered the children and we took cover, waiting for the quake to end. I’m used to earthquakes, but I felt frightened when the tremors didn’t stop.

It was evening when parents arrived to pick up their children. Many of them had been forced to come on foot and cried tears of joy when they saw their children safe and sound. Only later, when I watched the news, I heard about the tsunami. When my hometown Miyako was hit, my brother-in-law would have been at work in the city’s big warehouse and my nephew at school near the port.

For six days I tried calling my family. The more news reports I heard, the more I felt the spiritual and physical pain of the victims.
At the same time, I felt a strong call from God from within: “Do you really love me? Do you really believe in my love?” “Yes Lord,” I replied, and I understood that the moment had arrived to live the virtues of faith, hope and love with courage; I had to love everyone, to live reciprocal love in its fullness.

With the faith that everything God allows is part of a plan of love, I entrusted him with all my worries about my family and decided to do his will moment by moment. I tried to create a peaceful atmosphere at work by supporting my colleague who arrived tired after a three-hour journey due to train delays; by lending warm clothes to colleagues who were cold because of energy saving; and by dedicating myself to the children. I felt peace.

I kept trying to contact my family without success. In moments of anxiety I always received an email or a phone call from friends that comforted me. My colleagues were also close to me.

On March 17, the 250th anniversary of the end of the persecution of Christians in Nagasaki, the Gospel read: “Ask and you will receive.” I asked Our Lady to let me know where my family was. The phone rang. It was my father. “We are all well and the house is intact,” he said in a calm voice.

— Keiko Oto