Imagine reading a newsletter from your Honolulu church
dated December 14, 1941. Just a week before, your city experienced
destruction on an unimaginable scale. You’re now
living under martial law and news is severely restricted. It’s
easy to fear that another attack will come.
Imagine reading the lament of your priest, Rev. Edward
Brown: “The bombs dropped as we were celebrating Mass
last Sunday, the Lord’s own service.” He adds, “At that very
moment the bodies of His children were broken and their
blood poured out.”
You take comfort in Brown’s assertion that while much is
uncertain, “some things we do know.” We know the value of
light, and nightly blackouts teach that “there must be no
blackout of the Cross.” We know sympathy for all who’ve
suffered from the attack. And we know the value of faith.
“God still has charge of this world,” Brown writes, and God
“will ultimately triumph. Sin seems today to have the upper
hand . . . but in spite of all appearances God cannot be defeated
and you and your loved ones are in his keeping.”
Brown’s words reflect the rainbow sign set before Noah,
affirmation and promise of God’s covenant with his people.
Times of great destruction will come, natural disasters and
those made by human beings. Even Jesus experienced times
of desolation and temptation, and surely he knew that both
he and John the Baptist were facing imminent death. But
God’s covenant cannot be broken. Our world is a place of
many rainbows.

Kathleen Norris