Salute a woman who happily risked her life to save others
The Universe
(January 08, 2006)
For the journey into 2006, we need the inspiration and courage of empowered women. We have just seen the Christmas story and the incredible resilience of the teenage mother of Jesus.
She endured the embarrassment, rejection and shame of the terrible misunderstanding of her pregnancy before the formal marriage to Joseph. Her courage in the face of death threats by King Herod and her life as a refugee makes her a powerful example of a n woman empowered by the Spirit. She has inspired countless women throughout the ages including non-Christians.
Elizabeth Masue Masuda Almazan, a migrant from Japan and a mother of eight children, is remembers for her life of simplicity, bravery and courage modeled on that of Mary. She was a woman filled with courage and committed to peace and risk taking to save others. Her amazing life story is now emerging in the Philippines.
Masay, as she is affectionately known, joined her parents in Davao, the Philippines, where they had migrated in 1929. She married a Filipino teacher, Vicente Almazan, against the wishes of her parents and they moved to San Narciso (Home of Vicente) in Zambales. There they worked the family farm.
When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941 they quickly took control and set up a garrison in San Narciso. Masay was compelled to work for them as an interpreter. Her true heart was with the many Filipino prisoners brought to military stockade to be to tortured and interrogated. Many of them were her neighbours or relatives.
One neighbour, Elizabeth Fontilla, was suspected by the Japanese of helping the insurgents flee to the mountains with her husband. They were fired on; Elizabeth was wounded in the back and her husband in the foot and they were forced to return to San Narciso. They faced a terrible fate until Masay suddenly appeared like a fighting angel and strongly interceded for them, taking an incredible risk herself.
The commander was infuriated at being thwarted when she took their side. Suck outspokenness was unheard of in Japanese society. Women were expected to be docile, submissive and exist n silent servitude to men who had the power of life and death. To challenge them took incredible courage. It went against her own culture and the elite class and smacked of treason to take the side of the “enemy”. She willingly put herself in the line of fire.
Masay calmed the commander and Elizabeth and her husband were spared and put under house arrest. Indeed she was the saviour of countless Filipinos - she traveled for hours to another garrison in Iba to save a group about to be executed. Dozens of petrified families came to her for help when their family members were arrested. Nevertheless some Filipino guerillas viewed her as a collaborator. Her husband Vincent made her life all the more precarious by teaming up with a Japanese civilian photographer and trading throughout the province.
He was shot to death on September 10, 1942 by the guerillas. Masay lived in danger from both sides yet she continued peacemaking and pleading for the lives of the captured Filipinos. To this day, hundreds of Filipinos, their children and grandchildren owe their lives to her.
What greater love can anyone have than to give their life for another? Masay was baptized on December 7, 1948, soon after having a vision of Our Lady. She is a heroine for our day. [End]
