A Love Story against the Backdrop of War

PAUL GLYNN 

A Song for Nagasaki 

The Story of Takashi Nagai Scientist, 

Convert and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb 

Foreword by Shusaku Endo 

Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition (2009). 

A dear friend recommended this book to me and I gladly do the same for one and all. It is beautifully written and offers much material for personal reflection.

For me, the most touching part of the book is the description of his conversion and the part played by Nagasaki's Catholic community in leading him to the fullness of life and faith within the communion of the Church.

The virtues of filial piety and married love are well described in the book. Maybe you have to have lived your life to comprehend the beauty of such virtue, but I'd risk exposing young people to this book as a way of preparing them for chaste, married love.

I'm sure the author would complain that such a review as mine sells short his message about the true meaning of just and lasting peace. I'm sorry, but he did too good of a job on describing marriage and family as I would wish them lived within the Church and for the sake of our world. I'll hold on to the treasure I found without denying others what marvels they might find.

Takashi and Midori Nagai are another one of those Catholic couples who should be raised to the altars for the sake of the inspiration to be gained from their heroic witness to Christ.