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The Dynamic Catholic Ambassadors Club.

You're awesome.

Do you believe in miracles?

Miracles are present.

Amazing.

Transformative.

Possible.

You are a miracle.

Hiroshima. The word itself is heavy with emotion. It doesn't need an adjective. It represents unimaginable devastation. It doesn't need embellishment. It just hangs in the air, Hiroshima, like a bell that keeps ringing across history. We think we know what happened, and yet, from the middle of that unimaginable suffering, there is a quieter story that most people have never heard. I'd never heard of it before I started the research for this book. This story isn't about destruction. It's about the power of presence. It's a story about faith that refuses to abandon love when everything else collapses.

On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The world changed forever in that moment when a weapon capable of tearing apart the fabric of creation erupted over the city. A blinding flash, a deafening roar, a mushroom cloud rising like a pillar of fire. Nearly everything within a mile of ground zero was annihilated. The city was devastated. Lives were erased in an instant, and survivors found themselves in a landscape that resembled the end of the world. There were 350,000 people living in Hiroshima the morning the bomb was dropped. 75,000 died instantly. Another 65,000 died from radiation sickness and other injuries in the months following the blast, bringing the total death toll to 140,000 people. That's 40% of the city's population. The rest of the population dealt with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, long-term cancer, and chronic illness. And of course, the trauma the blast inflicted.

Just eight blocks from Ground Zero, four Jesuit priests were going quietly about their day. At seven-tenths of a mile from the hypocenter, they were well within the zone where almost everything living was vaporized. After celebrating Mass in the early morning, they were sitting down to breakfast in their small rectory by the Noboricho Catholic Church. Father Schiffer], who was only 30 years old, had just sliced into a grapefruit when there was a flash, a bright, bright flash of light. The bomb exploded, they heard the blast, windows shattered, walls shook, doors splintered, and they heard a sound, an awful crashing like the whole world was collapsing. In that instant, they were thrust into a moment that would redefine the modern world. All four priests miraculously survived the blast. The four priests didn't retreat out of self-preservation. They emerged from their residence to discover the church was destroyed. They searched for survivors. They tended to the wounded. They comforted anyone they could find. They just loved. How? I mean, how? You've just experienced that. How?

Their world had been decimated Yet somehow they were able to set all of that aside and pour themselves out for others. Again, I got to ask the question, how? The Jesuits of Hiroshima remind us that spiritual life is not a hobby. It is not a blanket we use to comfort ourselves. It isn't a sentimental soundtrack in the background of our lives. The spiritual life involves rigorous formation. It is a training of the heart. It's a complete surrender to God. It's a slow, steady building of interior strength so that when life becomes unthinkable, love is still possible. The unexpected is inevitable. And that is when our love is tested the most. We may not know the shape or form or substance or timing, but we can prepare for the inevitable, unexpected moments of our lives. We can prepare for them. Your Hiroshima moment will probably not be a bomb. It might be a diagnosis, a broken heart, the death of someone you love, a betrayal, a phone call that changes everything, a marriage that feels like it's coming apart, a challenge your child is facing, a grief you didn't see coming, financial hardship, you may not know what it is, but nonetheless, you can start preparing for it. Spiritual formation is the best preparation for whatever may come. The measure of our spirituality is not what we believe on good days. It's who we become on our worst days.

What are you doing to strengthen your interior life? Is prayer the center of your day, or do you give prayer the leftovers of your day? Do you have spiritual habits sturdy enough to hold through the unexpected trials life will inevitably bring? Are you becoming the kind of person who runs towards suffering with love?

Trust, surrender.

Believe.

Receive. Don't let the world steal your wonder.

So what's today's lesson? There is a presence that is stronger than panic. When crisis comes, all we can think of is escape. And we are tempted to try to control. But the real goal is presence. God's presence within you and your presence to others. Spiritual habits are not decorative. Prayer forms the heart to remain steady when everything else is collapsing. Start small, a decade of the rosary, a few minutes of silence. One honest surrender each day. You are training for the day you hope never comes. But when crisis does come, be present. And today's virtue, courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is choosing love while fear screams for you to choose yourself. Courage is fidelity under pressure. It is the strength to serve when it would be easier to retreat. Courage, courage doesn't always look heroic. Sometimes it is simply staying. Staying with God. Staying with others. Staying to love. Even when everything in you wants to run. Stay to love. Today I want to invite you to become a Dynamic Catholic ambassador. It's the Ambassadors giving $10 a month, $20 a month. That's made everything here at Dynamic Catholic possible. We touch millions and millions of people every year. We serve thousands and thousands of parishes every year. And we do it because of our Ambassadors. So if you are already an Ambassador, you are awesome. We love you. Thank you. If you're not, click the button below and become an Ambassador today. God bless you. Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

God of miracles, wonders, and grace. I thank you for all the good you have done in my life.

For the miracles I recognize, and the many graces I so often overlook.

I open my heart completely to you today, inviting you to completely inhabit my soul.

So that through me.

Others may encounter your love.

Your mercy,

Your compassion.

Your kindness.

And your staggering generosity. Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Ambassadors. You are changing the world. Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day!