SAINT OF THE DAY -- May 10 - Blessed Damien of Molokai
May 10
Blessed Damien of Molokai(1840-1889)
Patron Saint of Lepers, Outcasts, HIV/AIDS and Hawaii
When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few
people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen's
disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the
world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human
compassion could soften the ravages of this disease.
Forced
to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, six years later
Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his
brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was
unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly
volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his
new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to
the island of Hawaii.
In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian
government's leper colony on the island of Molokai, set up seven years
earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for
three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently,
caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time,
he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government
support.
Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church,
school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later
he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by
Mother Marianne Kope, to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.
Damien
contracted Hansen's disease and died of its complications. As
requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian
government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of
Damien's body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters
after his beatification in 1995.
When Hawaii became a state in
1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the
Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
Comment:
Some
people thought Damien was a hero for going to Molokai and others
thought he was crazy. When a Protestant clergyman wrote that Damien was
guilty of immoral behavior, Robert Louis Stevenson vigorously defended
him in an "Open Letter to Dr. Hyde."
Quote:During
the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said: "Holiness is not
perfection according to human criteria; it is not reserved for a small
number of exceptional persons. It is for everyone; it is the Lord who
brings us to holiness, when we are willing to collaborate in the
salvation of the world for the glory of God, despite our sin and our
sometimes rebellious temperament."
Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Damien:
Our Father, while your Son Jesus walked among us on earth, He taught us
by work and example to love one another. We pray that you glorify your
servant Damien, in order that inspired by the example of his love for
you, and for his fellow human beings, we too, might live your great
commandment and reach out to our brothers and sisters in their
spiritual and temporal needs.
Inspired by your love, Damien gave his life for the most wretched of his brothers and sisters.
May we, in your goodness, soon see him honored as Saint.
Grant
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your son, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Source: American Catholic Organization
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Miracles continue to the present day!
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If you are a victim of domestic or sexual violence, please know that my husband and I pray for you every single night.
If you need immediate assistance, dial 911.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline:
1-800-799-SAFE OR (1-800-799-7233)
SIGNS OF AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP
Do you:
feel afraid of your partner much of the time?
avoid certain topics fear of angering your partner?
feel that you can’t do anything right for your partner?
believe that you deserve to be hurt or mistreated?
wonder if you’re the one who is crazy?
feel emotionally numb or helpless?
Does your partner:
- humiliate, criticize, or yell at you?
- treat you so badly that you’re embarrassed for your friends or family to see?
- ignore or put down your opinions or accomplishments?
- blame you for his own abusive behavior?
- see you as property or a sex object, rather than as a person?
Does your partner:
have a bad and unpredictable temper?
hurt you, or threaten to hurt or kill you?
threaten to take your children away or harm them?
threaten to commit suicide if you leave?
force you to have sex?
destroy your belongings?
Does your partner:
- act excessively jealous and possessive?
- control where you go or what you do?
- keep you from seeing your friends or family?
- limit your access to money, the phone, or the car?
- constantly check up on you?