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Isaiah 55: 10-11
Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
The Word of the Lord.
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One of my favorite Saints is Damian of Molokai.
Damian was a priest from Belgium, born in 1840. After his ordination, he felt the call to move from his native country, half-way across the globe to the deserted Hawaiian island known as Molokai.
It was home to hundreds of lepers – including children. At that time, when someone contracted leprosy, they were immediately removed from the community, often sent to Molokai, where they’d live and die in despair.
Somehow, word of this hellish island’s existence made its way from Hawaii to Belgium, into Damian’s heart.
He thought of Christ’s final sermon – the Judgment of the Nations – and was deeply moved by those words, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.”
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So, Damian left his parish, his family, his native language – his entire life behind – and moved to Molokai, where he ministered to lepers for 16 years.
He built a school, taught the children, celebrated Mass, assembled a choir to worship on Sundays, broke bread with the broken, even dug their graves – 600 in all.
Damian loved and served them as if they were Christ until he contracted leprosy himself, dying from it at the tender age of 49.
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What does his life say to us today?
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That we should be receptive to – and challenged by – the Word of God.
“Thus say the LORD,” the prophet Isaiah proclaims in our first reading, “Just as from the heavens, the rain and snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void.”
Like Father Damian, how has the Word of God changed me?
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May God’s Word take deep root, changing each of us for the better today.
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Image credits: (1) X.com (2) Teaching Catholic Kids (3) Catholic World Report