O Meishu-sama, I acknowledge that suffering is indeed salvation!

   
Meishu-sama
In life, you encounter various things like illness and suffering, right? They, themselves, are salvation. What I mean is this: to suffer is to be saved.

   
Sermon, April 4, 1949

   
Kyoshu-sama
Those who have fallen victim to severe storms or typhoons as well as other calamities like earthquakes; their family members and friends who are grieving or suffering, who are anxious or worried, who are lost or in doubt; and we who are seeing and hearing all the developments—I acknowledge, O God, that You use all of them, all of us, in Your work of forgiving and saving all humanity.

O God, allow us to pray for the following: If You so wish, may the damage caused by all the calamities be contained to a minimum and may the recovery work advance as quickly as possible. If You so wish, may You heal grieving hearts and alleviate people’s anxiety. Allow us, O God, to move forward with hope and courage to live.

O God, please welcome all humanity, all its paternal and maternal ancestors and all creation into Your heaven as ones who are forgiven, saved and alive. In the name of Messiah, which is one with Meishu-sama, I surrender everything into Your hand.

May You use us so that Your will be done. I will serve in Your work.

   
September 9, 2018
Shikoku Membership Meeting

   
Masaaki-sama
What each one of us can do is limited, and the life each one of us has seems to be so petty and mundane. In this seemingly insignificant life of ours, we suffer and are troubled. In our relationships with the people around us, we suffer and are troubled. But actually, the fact that you suffer and are troubled is the very sign that God is shedding His light upon us, saying, “Come back to Me.” That is, through your suffering, you are serving in God’s great work of salvation.

   
September 8, 2019
Membership Meeting in Kanagawa

   
Published in Glory, no. 20, September 1, 2021