My wife and I have just returned from a trip to the Hawaiian Islands. Aside from taking in the peace and beauty of this amazing place and its lovely people, we also wanted to visit the leper colony on Molokai, made famous by the recently canonized Fr. Damien Veuster. It turns out that patients still live there, and you can only get in by invitation. Even then, it’s a hair-raising mule ride down a sheer cliff.
The story of the leper colony is too long and distressing to relate here. Suffice it to say that it’s a stunningly beautiful yet haunting place, with tales of hidden suffering calling out to you as you walk past unmarked graves or take in the rock offshore where patients were thrown off ships to swim to shore, if they could. Under no circumstances can you take pictures of the patients.
Fr. Damien was sent from Belgium to minister to the outcasts at Kalawao and Kalaupapa. At first, the patients rejected him, angry about their own rejection, viewing his compassion as mere condescension. On his part, he was revolted by the shocking disfigurement of the patients and the appalling smell, not sure at all that he wanted to stay.
In time, as he began to learn the Hawaiian language and the patients’ stories, treated the wounds of those who would let him approach, and prayed for guidance, he began to see that it was not only lepers that he was serving, but Jesus. He went on to build cisterns for water, farms for food and other such works. As I heard the guide relate Damien’s story, I recalled the words of today’s gospel:
“…I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you gave me welcome, naked and you gave me clothing, ill and in prison, and you cared for me….”
Fr. Damien was only supposed to stay for a few weeks, but ended up staying sixteen years. How could a good shepherd abandon his flock, anyway? Eventually he succumbed to the same disease as those to whom he ministered. He would have it no other way.
We’re home now and the experience lingers. It’s not unlike the way it felt returning from Haiti, too. No one can see suffering like that and remain unmoved. To see Jesus in other people, care about their suffering; to share our own suffering and allow it to be healed in the sharing lies at the heart of the compassion to which God draws us. He would have it no other way.
Deacon Tim’s Emergency Recipe #6 – Applesauce
1 tree apples, sugar, cinnamon
Pick apples. Get rid of nasty ones. Wash and core the remainder. Put them in a pot with about ½” on water, to keep the apples from burning. Add ¾ cup sugar per gallon and maybe a tablespoon or two of cinnamon. Cover and cook until the apples are soft. Strain into containers. Eat or give away. Repeat until contents of tree is gone.
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