Who We Are - Formation 2003

FORMATION 2006

Foreword & Segments

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session NO 7

topic: “Damian of Molokai”

Priest of Molokai, Saint of the lepers.

opening prayer:   As for the Order Prayers

introduction:

On May 11, 1873, the steamer Kilauea deposited thirty-three-year-old Father Joseph Damien de Veuster on the landing at Molokai. Bishop Maigret told the disease-ridden crowd gathered there that he had brought them “one who will be a father to you, and who loves you so much that . . . he does not hesitate to become one of you; to live and die with you.”

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 behaviour, Robert Louis Stevenson vigorously defended him in an "Open Letter to Dr. Hyde." 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."

word of god

      & The Gospel according to Luke 17: 12-19

The Word of God is now read aloud slowly and prayerfully

As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Allow a few moments reflective silence and then read the following:

word of reflection

Blessed Damien of Molokai   (1840-1889)

Feastday – May 10

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.

For the next five minutes silently read and reflect on the readings.

Underline what you consider to be key words and/or phrases for you.

the sharing

� Share your insights in discussion of the following:                                             (10 mins)

v     Who are the ‘lepers’ in your world and how do you relate to them?

v     As a group of Knights, how do we reach out to people from other cultures?

conclusion

Leader:         Eighty years after Damien’s death, Pope Paul VI said of him: “Love expresses itself in giving. Saints have not only given of themselves, but they have given of themselves in the service of God and their brethren. Father Damien is certainly in that category. He lived his life of love and dedication in the most heroic yet unassuming way. He lived for others: those whose needs were the greatest” and so we pray:

All:                  Lord God,

May our service in your name reach all who need to know of your love. Help us to serve with generosity and joy.   Amen



The meeting proceeds

closing prayer: As for the Order Prayers at the Closing of the Meeting

Last updated: 12/02/2006