Sr. M. Paola Kurosaki
Laying the foundations of something is the result of hard work that is not always possible to see, you can imitate it but, the result depends on much sacrifice and hidden effort.
It was like this for our first sisters, those who started from nothing and placed their hopes in something that was not visible and yet, they went forward with courage and without ever ceasing to dreaming.
Kane Maria was born on May 25, 1930 in Hirado, Nagasaki (Japan). She received the great gift of Baptism a few days after her birth, on 28 May. From childhood she was educated with Christian formation, both within the family and actively participating in the life of the parish, especially in the choir, where she contributed with her beautiful voice.
She entered the Congregation on July 17, 1950 in Ozasa, Fukuoka, joining the growing nucleus of disciples who arrived in the land of the Rising Sun on May 2nd of the same year.
When Fr Alberione asked Mother Maestra to send some sisters to Japan, he wrote:
“Let the Sister Disciples go and worship among the seventy million Shintoists and Buddhists. It is a source of great confidence to have begun our mission in Japan at dawn in the month of May, when the whole Church praises Our Lady. She will be able to help the first Sisters to overcome the inevitable difficulties at every beginning and will make these difficulties precious for their apostolate” (Divine Master Bulletin, June 1950).
She entered the novitiate on May 4, 1953 in Kawaguchi, Saitama DM, and was part of the first Japanese novitiate:
“The Primo Maestro himself began our first Novitiate. There is a need to pray, there is the possibility of work, so that the Divine Master may be known, followed, and loved. The way that guides us and ensures the achievement of the goal is always the same, the most beautiful: Maria SS. ma, per Mariam ad Jesum” (Divine Master Bulletin, May 1953).
She made her First Profession on May 5, 1954 in Kawaguchi, Saitama and Perpetual Vows on May 5, 1959 in Mitaka, Tokyo DM. Her journey of life and consecration was marked by the presence of Mary, our Mother and Teacher.
With professional preparation in tailoring, she put this skill at the service of the apostolate, taking care of the perfection and beauty of the sacred vestments and clerical garments, which she made with diligent precision. She worked with intelligence and creativity, but also with meticulous attention to the needs of priests and bishops; she had learned to offer the labor of her work for those who would wear those vestments, therefore she ministered with a extensive apostolic spirit.
It can be said that the charity, a gift of the Spirit, was present in her heart. She was very generous and hardworking and used the skill of her creative hands. She nourished her interior life with an intense life of Eucharistic prayer, giving priority to hours in the early morning.
The sisters testify that it was not uncommon to find her in the chapel even at midnight. She used her time well and expressed a deep love for the Congregation.
We have a beautiful memory of the ordination of Don Luca Kuwashima, the first Japanese priest of the SSP. On that occasion, all the sisters worked together to prepare cassocks and vestments. Sr. M. Paola founded a community in Mitaka to begin the liturgical apostolate and, after moving there, received requests for stoles and vestments from foreigners from Yokohama, so she began to work seriously on the production of liturgical objects.
There was also much demand on orders from New Zealand, which often required her to carry out her apostolate even until midnight. Not only did she possess excellent tailoring skills, but also an aesthetic sense of painting, making sure that whatever passed from her creative hands, in addition to being beautiful, was also simple to wear and easily adaptable to all.
Even if there were fabrics that were difficult to sew, she was able to finish the garment down to the smallest detail, She always made something elegant. So many aspirants and postulants have learned how to sew from her!
She contributed a great deal to the development of our mission, at the beginning of the foundation in Japan and in Korea (1968-1970). Her main apostolate was that of sewing and she was very well known around the world for the fine work she produced.
In February 2015, her physical condition declined, and she was transferred to the Komatsubara-en Nursing Home in Tokyo (Japan) where she received the necessary care for her health. The sisters were able to visit her regularly and whenever she was offered the opportunity to receive the sacraments, she expressed her joy with great enthusiasm.
She died on May 20, 2018, on the Solemnity of Pentecost, at 4.30 am (local time) in the place where she had been hospitalized since 2015. She offered everything in preparation for the decisive meeting with the Divine Master. In the last two weeks, strengthened by Communion, the Body of the Lord, she repeated to everyone:
“Arigatō (thank you!)” and always sang, praising God to the end. She heard the words of Saint Paul and made them her own and she lived them as her own personal covenant:
“All of us, with uncovered faces, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into that same image, from glory to glory, according to the action of the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18).
In the presence of Sr. M. Fiorella Asaho, Provincial Superior and the sisters, she professed and renewed her vows for the last time, giving her last breath and her whole self to the Father. Shortly before her death Sr. M. Fiorella asked her: “What do you see? Jesus?“.
She replied in a loud and clear voice: “Jesus is always with me, why do you ask me?“.
The sisters of Japan repeat with her and for her: “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,” and entrust themselves to her intercession for the mission in their land and in the immense Asia!