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The Golden Rule

Edgar Gacutan, C.I.C.M.
Bishop
Catholic Diocese of Sendai

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy New Year. We spent the year 2025 as a Jubilee Year. As we start a new milestone, let us entrust our journey anew to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

“Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior.”

Those words come from the November 10, 2025 letter of Mr. Warren Buffett to his co-shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. Also known as the “Sage of Omaha”, Mr. Buffet served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the same company from 1965 till the end of 2025. For several years now, I have been reading his annual letters to shareholders. While I understand very little of the investment advice of Mr. Buffett, I always find a phrase or two in his letters that I like to repeat to myself. [Link]

What is commonly known as The Golden Rule says: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” It is a teaching found in many religions. To that rule, our Lord Jesus adds: “For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:31-32). He did not call it as such, but for us Christians the commandment of love taught by our Lord Jesus is our golden rule: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Preaching about love is difficult. Last November 8, I talked about love to three deacons whom I ordained to the priesthood on that day at the church of Nodamachi parish.

In my homily, I recalled that in October 2024, six months before he died, Pope Francis issued his last Encyclical Letter entitled “The Lord Has Loved Us” (Dilexit Nos). We bishops of Japan shared about this encyclical during our general assembly held last February. We felt that the words and actions of Pope Francis flow from his experience of being loved by the Lord and that his last encyclical encapsulates his entire pontificate. [Link]

The encyclical begins by emphasizing the importance of the heart, tracing how our Lord’s love is expressed in the Bible and how it developed within the Church’s tradition as the “Sacred Heart of Jesus.” It concludes by speaking of Mission, saying that its core is the love of our Lord Jesus:

“Mission, as a radiation of the love of the heart of Christ, requires missionaries who are themselves in love and who, enthralled by Christ, feel bound to share this love that has changed their lives.” (paragraph 209)

After reading those words of Pope Francis, I told the three deacons about to be ordained priests: “As missionaries and as priests, above all, become people enthralled or captivated by Christ. This is the most important thing. If you have this, people will recognize you as priests.” That was the first point of my homily, which I addressed first of all to myself.

As the second point of my homily, while delineating the roles of priests, I urged everyone that we “build together communities filled with the love of Jesus.” Priests from Sendai diocese, Tokyo archdiocese, Vietnam, the Philippines, Spain, Rome, and the U.S.A. concelebrated. The countries of origin of the faithful were even more diverse. I delivered my homily in Japanese and English.

Presiding the Eucharist, granting God’s forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and administering the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick are reserved to priests. The responsibility to make decisions for the parish community and to implement them rests with the parish priest. This does not mean, however, that the parish priest has a monopoly on all tasks in the community and that he does not need assistance when he exercises his roles. In the Second Reading of the Mass of Ordination held last November 8, from the Letter to the Ephesians (4:1-7, 11-13), Saint Paul urges Christians to complement each other in building the Christian community:

“⁷ But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. … ¹¹And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,…”

“Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman,” wrote Mr. Buffet in his last letter. We can say the same thing about our church. The parish secretary, the elderly nun, the parish priest, the choir, and the council president are as much a part of the Body of Christ.

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In my 2025 New Year Message, I asked that we exert effort in knowing more about our Liturgy and in preparing our worship and prayers. On our part as priests, we talked several times about “Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest.” I will issue this year an Instruction on the conditions and preparations needed for holding “Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest” in our diocese.

Short of a life-threatening disaster, nothing can prevent the community from gathering in order to praise God, pray for our needs, and listen to the word of God. The Host of the gathering is ever present. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our gracious host. He tells us: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

During the past year, five priests belonging respectively to the Quebec Foreign Mission Society, the Little Brothers of Jesus, the Missionaries of Guadalupe (M.G.), the Diocese of Kyoto, and the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (C.I.C.M.) finished their ministry in Sendai at different times. As of today, the Diocese of Sendai has 14 diocesan priests and 14 priests sent by different dioceses and congregations: 1 from the Archdiocese of Tokyo, 1 from the Archdiocese of Gwangju, South Korea, 1 Dominican (O.P.), 1 Jesuit (S.J.), 1 Divine Word Missionary (S.V.D.), 2 Piarists (or Escolapios, Sch.P.), 3 from the M.G., and 4 from the C.I.C.M.

In February 2024, the Piarists sent for the first time their members (two priests) to Sendai diocese. The church of Nodamachi Parish is their base. The three who were ordained there last year, one Korean and two Vietnamese, are Piarists. I hope one of them will be sent to serve in Sendai.

A deacon sent from the Archdiocese of Gwangju has been studying Japanese at a language school in Sendai City since April last year. Also, two seminarians of Sendai diocese are studying in their home country Vietnam. One is in his third year of theology; the other in first year of philosophy. Let us prayerfully look forward to the day these three are ordained as priests.

Most of the diocese’s current 52 churches and 5 mission stations were established by missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, the Dominican Order, the Bethlehem Mission Society, and the Quebec Foreign Mission Society. At various times, many dioceses, religious orders, and missionary societies sent priests to Sendai, who engaged in diverse ministries. We do not forget the work of Sisters, Catechists, and Brothers. As Saint Paul says, they served as one who planted or one who watered (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).

Thanks to everyone’s labors, the Diocese of Sendai celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. Let us take this occasion to begin preparations for our 100th anniversary in 2036. Let us also plan for the participation of our diocese in the World Youth Day to be held in Seoul, South Korea, in August 2027.

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Pope Leo XIV issued his Apostolic Exhortation “I Have Loved You” (Dilexi Te) on October 9, 2025. After reading the exhortation, I felt its continuity with the final encyclical of Pope Francis, “The Lord Has Loved Us.” Here is a very short excerpt from Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Exhortation:

“Christian love breaks down every barrier, brings close those who were distant, unites strangers, and reconciles enemies… A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today.” (Paragraph 120) [Link]

Let us show our care for one another through small acts of kindness like guiding newcomers, encouraging the weary, giving alms to the needy, or listening attentively to someone when they speak.

“We may not be perfect, but we can always be better.” This too is from Mr. Buffett’s 2025 letter. May God bless our journey. May we grow into mature human beings every step of the way. May we know our Lord Jesus more deeply through His Story. Let us keep on journeying with Him.

♰Edgar Gacutan

January 1, 2026
My Fourth New Year’s Message as Bishop of Sendai