Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991) was the Superior General of the Jesuits between 1965 and 1983. He was in Hiroshima when the atom bomb was dropped there in 1945 as well as in Nagasaki. Miraculously both him and the other Jesuits survived the nuclear bomb and nothing happened to them, not even any side effects. One day he saw a little Japanese girl in church looking at the tabernacle for a long time. And Fr Arrupe approached her and asked her ‘What do you do in front of the Blessed Sacrament for such a long time?’ Her answer was ‘Nothing !’ He asked her again ‘How come, you just stay here and say nothing, do nothing ?’ Then she finally told him ‘Pokan.’ In Japanese Pokan means ’staring, looking glaringly with mouth open, as if admiring something spectacular.’ How often do we sit quietly to admire the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the One who keeps us going, day after day, without asking anything in return ?
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