An Inspiration

     Today the Church celebrates the feast of one of her heroes, Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka'i in Hawaii.  Damien, who ministered in the mid 1800's  to those suffering from Hansen's disease (leprosy), is remembered for his love and compassion, his courage and determination, and his gift of priesthood and presence.  He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

     I remember as a kid reading the story of Damien and being inspired.  He was born in Tremelo, Belgium on June 3, 1840 and died on Moloka'i, Hawaii on April 15, 1889 at the age of 49.  In between he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Heart in Louvain, Belgium, and was sent to Hawaii, were he was ordained in Honolulu on May 21, 1864.  In 1873 he volunteered to go to Kalaupapa, the leper colony on the island of Moloka'i.  People lived in fear of leprosy (now treatable and no threat) because of contagion, so those who were incurable they sent to this isolated colony of over 800.  He fought for improvements in sanitation and living conditions, food and medicine, and provided for their spiritual guidance as well as trying to establish some law and order.  He suffered rejection and hostility from the outside, but became much loved by his people.  In 1885 as he was preaching at Mass, he began by using the phrase "we lepers ...", thus indicating to his people that he too suffered as they did.  He died in 1889.  He said: "I make myself a leper with the lepers, to gain all for Jesus Christ."

     In Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, each state is permitted two statues of famous individuals.  Damien's statue has stood there since 1969 representing the state of Hawaii.  The new collect at Mass today reads:

Father of mercy, in Saint Damien
you have given a shining witness of love
for the poorest and most abandoned.
Grant that, by his intercession,
as faithful witness of the heart of your Son, Jesus,
we  too may be servants of the most needy and rejected.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.  Amen

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FYI
     After having posted today, I viewed Rocco Palmo's Whispers in the Loggia, who has a great piece of Father Damien.  His blog is linked on the right side of the page.  It is one of my favorites.