Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of Silence.
Ferreira: They not only did not apostatize, but they asked to be tortured, [partly to demonstrate the power of their faith].
Kichijiro: I am not Christian. Christians die in Nagasaki.
Rodrigues: Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel. To the whole world, even to one such as this.
Garupe: We have trusted that man with our lives.
Rodrigues: Jesus trusted even worse.
Rodrigues (or Garupe?): How do you live as Christians when the danger is so great?
Villager: We pray in secret.
Rodrigues: You do not eat? Villager: It is you who feed us.
Rodrigues: Long years of secrecy has turned their faces into masks. Why did they have to bear such a burden? Why did He pick them to suffer so much?
Rodrigues: Finally they had priests to forgive their sins.
Rodrigues: The promise that their suffering would not end in nothingness.
Rodrigues: God hears us then and He hears us now.
About Kichijiro: It’s true he renounced God. His whole family was put to death but he still believes.
Rodrigues: The fear I’d felt on the journey faded away because their joy was so great. Almost as great as my own.
Rodrigues: They live like beasts and die like beasts but Christ did not die for the good and beautiful. That is easy enough…
Rodrigues: They are desperate for tangible signs of faith. I worry they value these signs of faith more than faith itself, but how could we deny them?
Kichijiro: I started to believe that God might take me back because in my dreams the fire [that burned my family] was not so bright when I saw you and Father Garupe.
Villager: We would not be in such danger if the Padres had not come.
Villager: No, we will protect the padres. Now we must find two more who will join us.
Old woman to Kichijiro: Please, go in our place.
Rodrigues: Your faith gives me strength.
Rodrigues: These people are the most devoted men of God on earth.
Rodrigues: Why must their trials be so terrible? …And why when I look in my heart, do the answers I give them seem so weak?
Rodrigues: Surely God heard their prayers as they died, but did he hear their screams?
Garupe: Are we running away? … They died for us.
Rodrigues: They did not die for us, Garupe. They did not die for us.
Garupe: I feel like a coward.
Rodrigues: I imagine Your son nailed to the cross. My mouth tastes like vinegar.
Rodrigues: Father in Heaven, praise be Your name. I’m just a foreigner who brought disaster. That’s what they think of me now.
Rodrigues: What happened to all the glorious possibilities we found here? What have I done for Christ? What will I do for Christ?
Rodrigues: I’m tempted to despair. The weight of your silence is terrible. Or am I just praying to nothing because you are not there?
Rodrigues: If my report stops abruptly, do not think that we are dead. If Garupe and I die, the church dies with us.
Rodrigues: 300 [pieces of silver]? Judas got only 30.
Kichijiro: Where is the place for a weak man?
Rodrigues: What you will do, do quickly. Your words to Judas at the last supper. Did it come from anger or love?
Christian girl: Isn’t it good to die? It is so much better than here. No more sickness…taxes…
Rodrigues: The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.
Inquisitor: Killing the priest and killing the peasants only makes it worse.
Inquisitor: The price for your glory is their suffering.
Inquisitor’s soldier: Arrogant man—like all of them—which means he will eventually fall.
Rodrigues: I thought martyrdom would be my salvation. Please God, don’t let it be my fall.
Inquisitor: We find [your doctrine] is of no use and no value in Japan. We have concluded that it is a danger.
Rodrigues: But we believe we have brought you a truth and a truth is universal. If it wasn’t true in Japan, we can’t call it the truth.
Inquisitor: [A tree that grows in one climate will not grow in the soil of another.]
Rodrigues: The soil was poisoned.
Rodrigues: You will never change my heart and it seems I will never change yours.
Kichijiro: I want to confess again so the Lord can wash me clean.
Kichijiro: Years ago, I could’ve died a good Christian—there was no persecution. This is so unfair.
Rodrigues: But do you still believe?
Rodrigues: Father, how could Christ love a wretch like this? … He is not worthy to be called evil.
Rodrigues: I fear, Christ forgive me, I may not be worthy of you.
Inquisitor: I don’t really care. Just touch it lightly. It’s only a picture. Put your foot on it. You don’t really have to renounce your faith. Just do it quickly so we can get out of the sun.
Rodrigues: He treats me kindly—3 meals a day so my body will betray my heart.
Inquisitor’s Soldier: We don’t care about the peasants… We want the padre to deny Christ to be an example to them.
Ferreira: It is fulfilling to finally be of use in this country.
Rodrigues: You use the truth like poison.
Rodrigues: It is cruel, worse than any torture, to thirst a man’s soul like this.
Ferreira: Our religion does not take root in this country.
Rodrigues: Because the roots were torn up.
Rodrigues: They did not die for nothing.
Ferreira: They died for you!
Rodrigues: You’re a disgrace. You’re a disgrace, Father.
Inquisitor’s soldier: Padre, you came here for them and now they just hate you.
Ferreira: Do you have the right to make them suffer?
Ferreira: What would you do for them? Pray???
Ferreira: They are here for you, Rodriguez, as long as you are here. They die for you. Show Christ you love Him; act as He would; save their lives. You are about to perform the most painful act of love that has even been fulfilled [- denying Christ].
Inquisitor’s soldier about apostatizing: It is just a formality.
Rodrigues about God: He’s here; I just can’t hear him.
Jesus in Rodrigues’ mind: Come on now; step on me. I understand your pain… I carried this cross for your pain. Your life is with me now. Step.
Inquisitor: You were not defeated by me; you were defeated by this swamp of Japan.
Rodrigues: Lord, I fought against your silence.
God: I suffered beside you. I was never silent.
Rodrigues: Even if God had been silent, my whole life to this very day, everything I know, everything I’ve done, speaks of Him. It was in the silence that I heard your voice.
Dutch trader/narrator: The man who was once Rodrigues ended as they wanted him, and as I first saw him, lost to God. But as to that, only God can answer.
