MEDITATION TIPS 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time,
July 13, 2025

“Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)

　Edith Cavell (1865–1915), who said, “As long as there is a life in need, I shall continue to work,” was a British wartime nurse who acted as a Good Samaritan, tending to wounded soldiers without distinction between friend or foe. She was later executed by firing squad on charges of espionage.

　Initially invited as a teacher to Belgium’s first nursing school in Brussels, she began with just four students, but in six years, trained over 400 nurses. However, with the outbreak of World War I and the German invasion of Belgium, the nursing school was quickly converted into a Red Cross hospital. However, in German-occupied Belgium, she cared for wounded soldiers of both the Allied and German armies alike. She instructed her fellow nurses to accept enemy soldiers, saying, “They too are someone’s father, husband, or child. Let us provide care without discrimination.” Her aspiration was always to embody the spirit of the Good Samaritan.

　Cavell also secretly collaborated with the resistance, helping to hide French and British soldiers left behind in Brussels and aiding over 200 of them in escaping. For this, she was accused of espionage and sentenced to execution by the Germans. Despite continuous appeals for clemency from the U.S. and Spanish envoys in Brussels, citing her care even for German soldiers, Edith Cavell was executed by firing squad on October 12, 1915, at the age of 49. Her execution immediately drew international condemnation and shocked the world.

　Throughout her life, she sought to be a neighbor to all who needed her help. A devout Anglican, on the day before her execution, she said to the visiting Anglican chaplain, Rev. Sterling Gahan, “Standing before God and eternity, I want to say just this: I have learned that patriotism alone is not enough. I must not harbor hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” Her words carry a timeless message to a world still plagued by wars in the name of patriotism.

　After the war, her remains were transferred to Norwich Cathedral in England. A memorial to Edith Cavell stands at Trafalgar Square in London, inscribed with her words: “Patriotism is not enough. I must not hate or bear any bitterness towards anyone.” She was later canonized as a saint in the Anglican Church, with October 12 marked as her feast day.

　Incidentally, in the same year as her execution, Edith Piaf, the French chanson singer famous for songs like “Hymn to Love,” was born on December 19. Her name, still deeply beloved today, comes from the French pronunciation of Edith, which served to uplift spirits in France at the time.

 　　　　　(Contributed by Rev. Yutaka Akabae)