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John 16: 20-23
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When I was a boy, my grandfather was my hero.
He was six feet tall, had a beard, owned a boat, and bought me ice cream. He might as well have hung the moon and all the stars in the sky.
He died when I was ten.
I suppose my idea of a super hero died then, too. All of a sudden, my giant, hairy, forever generous grandpa was human. Too human. He didn’t hang either the stars or the moon.
But he did teach me what it felt like to be loved.
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Today we celebrate another hero – my long-standing, saintly hero – Father Damian of Molokai.
Damian was born in 19th century Belgium. Early in life, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest. With the gift of his vocation, the Lord also placed a desire in his heart to love the unlovable; to touch the untouchable; to comfort the abandoned.
In particular, to care for lepers.
Leprosy was a mysterious disease that ripped families and entire communities apart. No one knew how it was contracted; only that leprosy disfigured your limbs, boiled your skin, and painfully pulled your body in all directions until it gave up in exhaustion.
There was a leper colony thousands of miles away from Belgium known as Molokai, where communities discarded their lepers. It was a place of incredible darkness, until Damian felt called to be the light.
He set sail, leaving the shores of Europe and made his way to Molokai, where he would spend the rest of his life ministering to those dying in despair.
Over the years, he built a school, celebrated Sunday Mass, grew a church choir, fed the hungry, bandaged wounds covered in pus, and dug over 600 graves by hand.
Damian eventually contracted leprosy himself and died from it, just like those whom he served.
His legacy is that of love.
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Every time I see his picture, I also see another face looking back at me – Jesus, “who has loved us and given himself for us.”
That’s who heroes reflect, each in their own way, just as my grandfather did.
Be the face of Christ.
Love another person and you’ll be a hero, too.
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Image credits: (1) Superhero Wiki, Fandom (2) Catholic World Report, Damian of Molokai (3) Sunshine Child and Family Counseling