This Sunday’s Gospel reading ends with a very astounding verse: “Whoever believes in me will do the works I do, and greater far than these.” What does he mean? How can we do the same — and greater — miracles than Jesus himself did?

The answer is found in the context of the entire chapter. Jesus is explaining his close relationship with the Father. Remember, Jesus was (and still is) both human and divine. We need to look at these verses with that in mind. How did he serve the Father as the Son of Man? And how did he serve the Father as the Son of God?

The “works I do” come from his human nature: He loved, he taught, he conversed with a listening heart, he dined with others, he worked hard at his job, he took his ministry very seriously. “Whoever believes in me will do the works I do” — he is our example of what it means to be a holy human. We will love others as he loves them, teach the faith to others, listen to those who need someone to understand them, work hard at our jobs, offer a helping hand when we see a need, etc. There’s nothing supernatural about it. It’s being who we are: human children of a loving Father.

The “greater” works come from his divine nature: He did the supernatural works of his Father. “Whoever believes in me will do the works of the Father.” We are called to be the Father’s conduits of miracles in our world today.

When Jesus united himself to us as a human, he showed us how to rise above our human limitations. Now, through the Sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation, we are united to Christ’s divine nature so that we can continue the works of the Father. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, any disunity is removed. We can love the unlovable after they’ve pushed us past our human limits. We can be conduits of the supernatural. We can do everything that God asks of us, despite our inadequacies.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
Make a list of your gifts and talents. Then reflect on how each of these are the human works of Jesus for the world today. How has the Father also worked through you supernaturally?

Questions for Group Faith Sharing:
Name some of the good works being done in your parish or group: How do these reflect the human nature of Jesus? Name some of the ways that your parish or group shows the Father’s supernatural nature to the world. How can we become better able to do the “greater works” of the Father? – Read the source: http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2017-05-13

Reflection 17 – Lord, show us the Father

Do you allow any troubles to rob you of God’s gift of peace? As much as we try to avoid it, we inevitably encounter challenges and trials that can shake our confidence and our trust in God. Jesus knew that his disciples would be put to the test when their Master was taken from them during his suffering and passion – his arrest, trial, and rejection by the leaders of his own people, and crucifixion by the Romans. Jesus encouraged his disciples to put their faith and hope in God the Father and also in himself.

When adversity or trouble comes your way, does it make you lose hope or give into fear and despair, or does it press you closer to the Lord Jesus and to the strength and help he offers you? When the people of Israel became discouraged and grew weary during their 40 years in the wilderness, the Lord assured them that he would personally bring them safely into the promised land.

“It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).

This land of promise was a sign that prefigured and pointed to the true heavenly homeland which God offers to all who accept his gift of salvation through his Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, through his victory on the cross and his resurrection, has opened the way for each one of us to live in peace and friendship with our heavenly Father.

A place for you in my Father’s house
During Jesus’ last supper meal with his apostles, he spoke in plain words to them about his approaching departure. He tells them that he is returning to his Father to prepare a place for them in the Father’s house. Jesus not only goes to secure for his disciples a place of refuge, peace, and security, he secures for them the best the Father has to offer – intimate communion, friendship, and joy with the Father at his table (Luke 12:37, Matthew 8:11) and place of rest and refreshment.

Jesus promised his disciples – and each one of us – that he would return again to personally bring us to the Father’s house. Are you ready to follow the Lord Jesus wherever he wishes to lead you now and in the future? And do you trust him to bring you safely to your home with the Father in his kingdom? Paul the Apostle reminds us that nothing in this world can compare with the glory of feasting with the Father in his house. “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Is your hope securely placed in Jesus and his promise to raise you up in glory with him?

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life
The disciples were surprised that Jesus was going to his Father’s house and would return to take them with him. And they were even more surprised when Jesus said he expected them to know the way to the Father’s house. Jesus’ answer to there question, “show us the way”, was both a reminder that his disciples should trust their Master and Teacher to show them the way, and a challenge for them to recognize that Jesus had intimate knowledge of God and where God came from. Jesus made a statement that invoked the very name which God had revealed to Moses, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14), and he made three claims which only God could make. He stated unequivocally to his disciples: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6)

Jesus proclaims: I am the Way (John 14:6). He alone knows the way to the Father because he has been with the Father from the beginning – before time and creation ever existed. The Lord Jesus gives us more than a road map and guide book. He personally is the way to the Father’s kingdom, and we cannot miss it if we follow him. He accompanies us on our daily journey and watches over us as the good shepherd who leads and sustains us each and every step of the way. Are you in step with the Lord and do you trust in his guiding hand for your life?

Jesus proclaims that he is the Truth (John 14:6). Many can say, “I have taught you the truth.” Only Jesus can say, I am the Truth. He posseses in himself the fulness of truth. Jesus claims to be one with the Father and to speak the truth which proceeds from the Father. Jesus promised his disciples that if they continued in his word, they would learn the truth and the  truth would set them free” (John 8:31). The truth which Jesus proclaims has power to set us free from ignorance, deception, and sin. The words which Jesus speaks are true because there is no lie or falsehood in him. Moral truth requires more than mere words or ideas because the person who speaks them must be true – true in thought, speech, deed, example, and action. Jesus embodies the truth in his person.

Jesus proclaims that he is the Life (John 14:6). He not only shows us the path of life (Psalm 16:11); he gives the kind of life which only God can give – abundant life that lasts forever. Is there any trouble, fear, or distracton that keeps you from the perfect peace and joy of a life surrendered to Jesus Christ?

Knowing God personally
One of the greatest truths of the Christian faith is that we can know the living God. Our knowledge of God is not simply limited to knowing something about God, but we can know God personally. The essence of Christianity, and what makes it distinct from Judaism and other religions, is the knowledge of God as our Father. Jesus makes it possible for each of us to personally know God as our Father. To see Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, is to see what God is like. In Jesus we see the perfect love of God – a God who cares intensely and who yearns over men and women, loving them to the point of laying down his life for them upon the Cross. Jesus is the revelation of God – a God who loves us completely, unconditionally, and perfectly for our good. Jesus also promises that God the Father will hear our prayers when we pray in his name. That is why Jesus taught his followers to pray with confidence, Our Father who art in heaven… give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:9). Do you pray to your Father in heaven with joy and confidence in his love and care for you?

Doing the works that Jesus did
Jesus told his disciples that they would do the same works which he had done – and even greater works! While Jesus was physically present to his disciples in Galilee and Jerusalem, he was subject to the physical limitations of time, space, and circumstances. Now as the Risen Savior who is glorified and seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, the Lord Jesus makes his presence and power known to every place on earth through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit who lives and works through all the members of the body of Christ on earth.

Theresa of Avila (1515-1582) wrote:  “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

Wherever we go the Lord Jesus wants us to bring the good news and blessings of his kingdom to as many people as we can. The Lord Jesus calls us the salt of the earth. He wants us to bring the flavor of his goodness and holiness into every area of society we are engaged in. Christ calls us the light of the world. He wants us to make him known and loved by helping people to see the radiance of his love and truth and the beauty of his kingdom. That is why Jesus continues to commission his followers throughout every age to “make disciples of all nations”(John 17:18, Matthew 28:19).

“Lord Jesus, you fill us with the joy of your saving presence and you give us the hope of everlasting life with the Father in Heaven. Show me the Father that I may know and glorify him more fully.” – Read the source:  http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2020/may10.htm

Reflection 18 – The true way of life 

1) You live where you are loved.

The Gospel of this Fifth Sunday of Easter begins with the invitation of Jesus not to be frightened: “Do not let your heart be troubled” (Jn 14: 1). To the disciples, worried because they are going to witness his passion and death, Christ tells not to be afraid and to have faith in God and in Him. He, with his being with them (and with us), showed the Father and opened the way to the paternal home. With his departure, he gives us the strength to follow him. He who believes in him finds the way of returning home, participates in his life as Son and knows the truth of God as Father. As a response to the fear of suffering and death and to the uncertainty of the future, the Redeemer Messiah says that there is only one way to overcome this fear: faith in God and faith in Him. He is right: only God is the rock. Other certainties disappoint. The love of God is faithful and never abandons us: this is the great certainty that gives comfort to the believer.

Accepting the invitation: “Have faith in God and have faith in me” (Jn 14: 1), is not an abstract adherence to a message, but a loving and confident adherence to a person, Christ, who must be followed on a daily basis in the simple acts that make up our day.

This loving trust allows the words that Jesus says in the following verses: “In my Father’s house there are many dwellings. If not, would I ever say “I’m going to prepare you for a place”? And if I go and prepare you for a place, I will come again, and I will take you to myself, for where I am you also may be“(Jn 14: 2-3) to enter our heart and be understood. What sense do these words have? The meaning of these words is that the real question is not where the Father’s home is, but who the Father’s home is, The Son, his body.

This is why to the question: where does the Father live and where the Son lives? Jesus answers us: “The Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 14:11) because one lives where he is loved. The Father lives fully in the Son who welcomes him, as the Son dwells fully in the Father. Now, in this house of the Father there is place for many, and there are many dwellings. How many dwellings are there in the Father? As many as are the children, because if there was not a place for each of us, he would not be a just and merciful Father.

For this, to the question, where do we live? The answer is: our home is in the heart of the Father.

This answer raises another question: in what sense does Christ, our Brother, prepare us for a place in our “home”? He prepares it in the sense that he makes it known to us, because we did not know that we were children in the Son. Christ reveals to us that we are children and therefore we have a place in the Father. He not only reveals it to us but gives us his love, forgiving and making himself food for us so that through love we also live in the Father and the Father in us. 

2) The Way to the home of True Life.

Already in the Old Testament the believer prayed: “One thing I have asked the Lord, this alone I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to taste the sweetness of the Lord and to admire his sanctuary” (Sal 26 / 27, 4). It must be said that this request for happiness and true love is in the heart of every human being, everywhere and at all times. To the man who seeks the meaning of life, a life that lasts and lives in love, Christ answers “I am the way.” In this regard, Saint Augustine commented: “Before telling you where to go, he has told you through where you have to go and said, ‘I’m the way’. The way to get where? To truth and to life. First, he tells you the way to go then, where you want to go. ‘I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life’. By staying with the Father, He was truth and life; by taking our flesh, He has become the way. ”

Jesus is the way to come to life, indeed He himself is the life. First of all, He is the life: in fact, it is said “in him was life”, and then that he is the truth because “he was the light of men” (Jn 1: 4). Light is truth. Therefore, if we search where to pass, let us accept Christ because He is the way: “This is the way, go through it” (Is 30, 2).

He is the way to get to the knowledge of truth, indeed he is the truth: Guide me, Lord, into truth and I will walk in your way (see Ps 86, 11). Similarly, he is the way to come to life, indeed, he himself is life: “You have made me know the path (the way) of life” (Ps 16, 11 vulgata).

This way is the way of the accomplished love, the way of the washing of the feet, of the piece of bread given to Judas, of the gift and of forgiveness; it is the way of the Cross, the way that leads us back to the Father’s house. It is the only way, the way of love that makes us to be with him and like Him who loves us.

To walk on the Way of Truth and Life let’s ​​take seriously the invitation of Saint Paul when he wrote: “Have among ourselves the same attitude that is yours in Christ Jesus(Phil 2: 5[1]), “He did not stripped any of the constitutive parts of its divine nature, yet it saved me as a healer who is bent on the fetid sores. He was of the lineage of David, but he was the creator of Adam. He carried the flesh, but he was also alien to the body. He was generated by a mother, but by a virgin mother, he was circumscribed, but he was also immense. And he was welcomed into a manger, but a star led the Magi, who came bringing gifts, and bowed his knees before him. He was a victim, but also a high priest. He made a sacrifice, yet he was God. He offered his blood to God, and thus purified the whole world. A cross held him up from the ground, but sin remained nailed. The Immortal Son assumed the earthly form on himself, for He loves you “(see St. Gregory of Nazianzus).

To answer and respond to this fraternal “being loved”, we need to feel as Christ felt. We have to conform our way of thinking to the feelings of Jesus, who had feelings of love and compassion, of humility and of donation, of detachment and of generosity.

That’s not enough. To truly love Christ and to have true love we must keep his commandments. These are the works that testify the feelings. 

3) The consecrated life is work and life of love.

All believers are called to witness this love, which is true and vital to the Father’s House, but the consecrated virgins are a special testimony. With the total gift of themselves to Christ, they are particularly grafted in his Heart and made able to love with His love, to give with His heart, to serve with His light, and to work with His gifts. With the full offer of themselves and the joy of their lives these women testify that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life of the world. The consecrated ones are witnesses to this by the eloquent language of a transfigured existence capable of surprise the world. These women respond to the astonishment of men by announcing the wonders of grace that the Lord does in those whom He loves, and humbly respond to Him by accepting Him as a Bridegroom.

These women demonstrate that Jesus is the way because he is the freedom that knows how to give life, and remind us that witnessing is not so much a good example but how to convey the Christian message “by the way” of the example, “by the way” of the word, “by way of” works, and “by way of” a life lived in favor of a truth taken as a value superior to one’s own well-being and life.

Furthermore, they testify that by giving unconditionally to Christ, it is possible to receive true life (the life of God), and that Christ has given us the love of God as our life. In fact, “It is not enough for Christ to be the way, it is not enough to be the truth, He must be the life” (Benedict XVI). Jesus, the Word of the Father, is the Way to find the final objective, Truth so that we do not confuse good with evil, and Life so not to remain slaves of death (Pope Francis).

In short, these consecrated women, by experiencing a personal relationship with Christ, show that He-the Bridegroom- is not only a master from whom one learns something. He is the truth. It is necessary to have a personal relationship with him. Going that way and building a relationship with that truth will bring us to a life thanks to which we are with the Father in his and our house.

Patristic Reading: Saint Augustine of Hippo

Sermon 141

On the words of the Gospel, Jn 14,6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

1). Amongst other things, when the Holy Gospel was being read, ye heard what the Lord Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”1 Truth and life doth every man desire; but not every man doth find the way. That God is a certain Life Eternal, Unchangeable, Intelligible, Intelligent, Wise, Making wise, some philosophers even of this world have seen. The fixed, settled, unwavering truth, wherein are all the principles2 of all things created, they saw indeed, but afar off; they saw, but amid the error in which they were placed; and therefore what way to attain to that so great, and ineffable, and beatific a possession they formed not. For that even they saw (as far as can be seen by man) the Creator by means of the creature, the Worker by His work, the Framer of the world by the world, the Apostle Paul is wireless, whom Christians ought surely to believe. For he said when he was speaking of such; “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.”3 These are, as ye recognise, the words of the Apostle Paul; “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men; who detain the truth in unrighteousness.” Did he say that they do not detain truth? No: but, “They detained the truth in unrighteousness.” What they detain, is good; but wherein they detain it, is bad. “They detain the truth in unrighteousness.”

2. Now it occurred to him that it might be said to him, “Whence do these ungodly men detain the truth? Hath God spoken to any one of them? Have they received the Law as the people of the Israelites by Moses? Whence then do they detain the truth, though it be even in this unrighteousness?” Hear what follows, and he shows. “Because that which can be known of God,” he says, “is manifest in them; for God hath manifested it unto them.”4 Manifested it unto them to whom He hath not given the Law? Hear how He hath manifested it. “For the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.”5 Ask the world, the beauty of the heaven, the brilliancy and ordering of the stars, the sun, that sufficeth for the day, the moon, the solace of the night; ask the earth fruitful in herbs, and trees, full of animals, adorned with men; ask the sea, with how great and what kind of fishes filled; ask the air, with how great birds stocked;6 ask all things, and see if they do not as if it were by a language7 of their own make answer to thee, “God made us.” These things have illustrious philosophers sought out, and by the art have come to know the Artificer. “What then? Why is the wrath of God revealed against this ungodliness? “Because they detain the truth in unrighteousness?” Let him come, let him show how. For how they came to know Him, he hath said already. “The invisible things of Him,” that is God, “are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; His eternal Power also and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”8 They are the Apostle’s words, not mine: “And their foolish heart was darkened; for professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”9 What by curious search they found, by pride they lost. “Professing themselves to be wise,” attributing, that is, the gift of God to themselves, “they became fools.” They are the Apostle’s words, I say; “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

3. Show, prove their foolishness. Show, O Apostle, and as thou hast shown us whereby they were able to attain to the knowledge of God, for that “the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by those things that are made;” so now show how, “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Hear; Because “they changed,” he says, “the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things.”10 For of figures of these animals, the Pagans made themselves gods. Thou hast found out God, and thou worshippest an idol. Thou hast formal out the truth, and this very truth dost thou detain in unrighteousness. And what by the works of God thou hast come to know, by the works of man thou losest. Thou hast considered the universe,11 hast collected the order of the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all the elements; thou wilt not take heed to this, that the world is the work of God, an idol is the work of a carpenter. If the carpenter as he has given the figure, could also give a heart, the carpenter would be worshipped by his own idol. For, O man, as God is thy Framer, so the idol’s framer is a man. Who is thy God? He That made thee. Who is the carpenter’s god? He That made him. Who is the idol’s god? He that made it. If then the idol had a heart, would he not worship the carpenter who made it? See in what unrighteousness they detained the truth, and found not the way that leadeth to that possession which they saw.

4. But Christ, for that He is with the Father, the Truth, and Life the Word of God, of whom it is said, “The Life was the Light of men;”12 for that I say He is with the Father, the Truth, and Life, and we had no way whereby to go to the Truth, the Son of God, who is ever in the Father the Truth and Life, by assuming man’s nature became the Way. Walk by Him as Man, and thou comest to God. By Him thou goest, to Him thou goest. Look not out for any way whereby to come to Him, besides Himself. For if He had not vouchsafed to be the Way, we should have always gone astray. He then became the Way Whereby thou shouldest come; I do not say to thee, seek the Way. The Way Itself hath come to thee, arise and walk. Walk, with the life,13 not with the feet. For many walk well with the feet, and with their lives walk ill. For sometimes even those who walk well, run outside the way. Thus you will find men living well, and not Christians. They run well; but they run not in the way. The more they run, the more they go astray; because they are out of the Way. But if such men as these come to the Way, and hold on the Way, O how great is their security, because they both walk well, and do not go astray! But if they do not hold on the Way, however well they walk, alas! how are they to be bewailed! For better is it to halt in the way, than to walk on stoutly outside the way. Let this suffice for you, Beloved.

***

With the wish to understand that the Way to the Father is to allow ourselves to be led by Christ, by his word of Truth, and to accept the gift of his Life.

Don Franco

@DonFrancoFollo

1 (Jn 14,6
2 Rationes.
3 (Rm 1,18
4 (Rm 1,19
5 (Rm 1,20
6 Viget.
7 Sensu.
8 (Rm 1,21
9 (Rm 1,22
10 (Rm 1,23
11 Totum).
12 (Jn 1,4
13 Moribus.
a

[1] This sentence is followed by these words “… Jesus, Who,^* though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him And bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “(Phil 2: 5-11) – Read the source: https://zenit.org/articles/the-true-way-to-life/

Reflection 19 – Jesus is the way of charity, word of truth, food for life

With the wish to understand more and more that Christ, Way, Truth, and Life, is the rock of our heart.

1 ) Nothing shell upset you[1] .

During Holy Week we contemplated the pastoral charity of Christ that was revealed during the Last Supper with two gestures that express the meaning of his life and of his death: the act of washing the feet – a sign of putting his life at service to others – and that one of giving a morsel of bread to Judah that reveals His love to the extreme.

He gave himself to the one who betrayed him and delivered Himself to the cross for the sinners, for every one of us. The death on the Cross is the way Jesus opens the way to our Father. This is how Jesus reveals his glory of absolute love that gives itself unreservedly and without limits.

The speech of Jesus, which the liturgy of this Sunday proposes to us (Jn 14, 1-12), opens with an invitation to overcome fear: “Do not let your heart be troubled. “ It is a deep fear that has taken the hearts of the Apostles in the Cenacle: the fear of suffering, of death and of the future. Jesus suggests that there is only one way to overcome the many and deep fears that beset us. It is that of faith in God and faith in Him. He suffices, only God is the rock on which to build life, He alone is the safe haven. The other safeties disappoint. The love of God is faithful and never abandons us: this is the great certainty that comforts the believer.

At Easter this certainty will dwell in the Apostles including St. Thomas.

This Apostle, who was willing to believe only if he saw, in the picture of the Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci with the finger up to the sky because that finger has indeed touched the sky. It has touched the concrete love of God who gives His life for him. In fact, in the Gospel of John, Thomas represents the transition from unbelief to faith as an experience of love in which to believe and to trust.

This Apostle, who today is still scared and upset, asks the Messiah “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I AM the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him. “(John 14: 5-7)

The answer given by Jesus to Thomas will make him understand which the way is but not immediately. Thomas now does not understand, he will understand when – meeting the Risen Jesus – he puts his finger in the holes of the divine pierced hands and sees which is the way, what is the truth, what is the life and indicates it to the others, including us.

Jesus’ answer to Thomas is first of all “I -AM” that is the name by which God revealed himself to Moses. In the Gospel of St. John it is the way in which Jesus speaks of himself and says “I-AM” absolutely and ” I-Am” with specifications. Today it gives the three basic “the Way, the Truth and the Life”.  At other times He said I- AM the Bread, I- AM the Shepherd, I-AM the door.

 2) I- AM the way, the road to get home, to God, to the heart, to others.

Last Sunday we meditated on Christ, who says of himself: “I AM the Door; I AM the Shepherd”, today he says about himself: “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. ”

First, Jesus Christ is the Way.

What is the way? The road was almost always a reference to the home: it is where you are when you leave home or when you come back. Jesus is the way because the Son, who was with the Father, came to us and returned to the Father showing us the way to our house, where we are at home.

The whole earthly life of Jesus is a journey back to the Father, therefore he is the way. In Jewish tradition the way is the law that starts life, the life of God. The new law is Jesus the Son, but the law of the Son is no longer something or someone that ties, his is the law of freedom: the freedom of the Son, who is the way because he is the truth that sets us free. It is a freedom that is able to give freely life as an offer of communion.

Only Christ is the way to the realization of the deepest desires of the human heart, and Christ does not save us in spite of our humanity, but through it, taking into account also our fear and our uneasiness. And while recognizing that our life is a struggle, he teaches us that life is a battle for the good, for the truth known not with the mind but met in Christ who embraces us from the Cross, feeds us with the Eucharist, and forgives us in the sacrament of Confession. He does not say to each of us: “Strive to seek the way to reach the truth and the life; you have not been told this. Lazy, get up! The way itself is coming to you and shook you from sleep; and if it has able to shake you, get up and walk! “(St. Augustine of Hippo) He is the way of love accomplished, He is the way of washing the feet, He  is the way of the morsel given to Judah,  He is the way of  the gift, He  is the way of forgiveness, He  is the only way, that one of love that makes us be with him and like him .

Secondly, Jesus says: I AM the truth. He is the Way because He is the truth that makes us free and allows us to live. The truth is that God is our Father and we are his children in the Son. Jesus revealed the Father as love and freedom and absolute gift to the Son. This is the truth.

Our truth is the truth of God who is our Father and loves us so infinitely to give His Son for us. This makes us understand our infinite dignity. Then Jesus is the truth and reveals to us the great dignity of God and of man. How has He revealed this truth? Becoming our brother. And that is why He is life.

Finally, let us ask ourselves: “What is Life?” It is the love between the Father and the Son; it is the life of God. Let also ask ourselves what is a man alive? It is the one that knows how to love and to give life. And Jesus gave us life, the life of God; He has given us the love of God as our life.

Only with the encounter with the risen Christ the disciples understood that He IS the way, and that His offered love is the way, that His love IS the “embodied truth ” (Florenski), that His love IS the life.

Why does Jesus say these words at the Last Supper? To make it clear to his disciples that they should not be distressed by the fact that he leaves and goes away dying infamously. Just going away He becomes the way, the truth and the life and gives meaning to our journey because we all walk and we’ll go away. However our leave and our return to our home will be in the way of truth and life.

The Truth that is Christ unites us to the life of love of God, who welcomes us as a merciful Father.

One way to follow the Way is offered to us by the consecrated Virgins. These women walk the path of holiness, keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus and putting themselves at the service of the Church and of the world as in the model proposed for the homily in the rite of the Roman Pontifical Consecration of Virgins. The Bishop says: “Remember that you are connected to the service of the Church and the brethren: therefore, exercising your apostolate in the Church and in the world, in the spiritual and material order, let your light shine before men that they may glorify our Father who is in heaven, and his plan of unite all things in Christ be fulfilled ” (RCV, n 29).

The virginal consecration grows in these women a constant attitude of discipleship to Christ, Shepherd and Spouse. It grows also confidence in the world, in humanity and a way of listening to the history as well as to the human problems. These women, by habits of work and life, are united to every man and woman for whom they become traveling companions, mean of communion and witness of love. Even when in the course of their existence the consecrated Virgins go through suffering, illness and inactivity, they experience and witness the union with the Lord.  They participate in the creative work of God through the work that allows them to provide for themselves and to be open to the sharing of goods.

THEOLOGICAL READING: From “Exposition of John”

St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church (Chapter 14 , lect . 2 )

 The way, as has been said, is Christ himself; so he says, I am the way. This is indeed true, for it is through him that we have access to the Father. Because this way is not separated from its destination but united to it, he adds, and the truth, and the life. So Christ is at once both the way and the destination. He is the way by reason of his human nature and the destination because of his divinity. Therefore, as human, he says, I am the way; as God, he adds, and the truth, and the life. These last two appropriately indicate the destination of the way. For the destination of this way is the end of human desire. Now human beings especially desire two things: first a knowledge of the truth, and this is characteristic of them; secondly, that they continue to exist, and this is common to all things. In fact, Christ is the way to arrive at the knowledge of the truth, while still being the truth itself: “Teach me thy way O Lord that I may walk in thy truth” (Ps 85:11). Christ is also the way to arrive at life, while still being life itself: “Thou couldst show me the path of life” (Ps 16:11). And so he indicated the destination or end of this way as truth and life. These two were already applied to Christ: first, he is life: “In him was life” (1:4); then, he is truth, because “the life is the light of men” (1:45), and light is truth.

If you ask where to go, cling to Christ, for he is the truth which we desire to reach: “My mouth will utter truth” (Prv 8:7). If you ask where to remain, remain in Christ because he is the life: “He who finds me finds life and shall have salvation from the Lord” [Prv 8:35]

If then, you ask which way to go, accept Christ, for he is the way: “This is the way, walk in it” (Is 30:21). And Augustine says: “Walk like this human being and you will come to God. It is better to limp along on the way than to walk briskly off the way.” For one who limps on the way, even though he makes just a little progress, is approaching his destination; but if one walks off the way, the faster he goes the further he gets from his destination.

 Therefore, cling to Christ if you wish to be secure, for you cannot get off the road because he is the way. And so those who hold on to him are not walking off the road but on the right road. Again, those who hold on to Christ cannot be deceived, because he is the truth and teaches all truth: “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (18:37). Further, they cannot be troubled, because he is the life and the giver of life: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. – Read the source:  https://zenit.org/articles/archbishop-follo-jesus-is-way-of-charity-word-of-truth-food-for-life/

________

[1] Let’s think of and let’s recite often this beautiful prayer of St. Teresa of Avila: ” Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you, all things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices! Your desire is to see God; your fear to lose Him; your pain not to own Him; your joy may be what can bring you to Him and you will live in a great Peace. “

Reflection 20 – St. Damien de Veuster of Moloka’I (1840-1889 A.D.)

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, Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six years later, 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 Cope (January 23), 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.

Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.

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 canonization homily, Pope Benedict XVI said: “Let us remember before this noble figure that it is charity which makes unity, brings it forth and makes it desirable. Following in Saint Paul’s footsteps, Saint Damien prompts us to choose the good warfare (1 Tm 1:18), not the kind that brings division but the kind that gathers people together. He invites us to open our eyes to the forms of leprosy that disfigure the humanity of our brethren and still today call for the charity of our presence as servants, beyond that of our generosity.”

Read the source:   http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1379

SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Click here to receive Saint of the Day in your email.

For other people with similar names, see Father Damien (disambiguation) or Saint Damien (disambiguation).

FATHER DAMIEN, SS.CC. SAINT DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI
A photograph of Father Damien taken shortly before his death
RELIGIOUS PRIEST AND MISSIONARY
BORN	3 January 1840 Tremelo, Belgium
DIED	15 April 1889 (aged 49) Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi
VENERATED IN	Roman Catholic Church,Eastern Catholic Churches,Episcopal Church; some churches of Anglican Communion; individual Lutheran Churches
BEATIFIED	4 June 1995, Basilica of the Sacred Heart(Koekelberg),Brussels, by Pope John Paul II
CANONIZED	11 October 2009, Vatican City, by Pope Benedict XVI
MAJOR SHRINE	Leuven, Belgium (bodily relics) Molokaʻi, Hawaii (relics of his hand)
FEAST	10 May (Catholic Church; obligatory in Hawaii, option in the rest of the United States);[1]15 April (Episcopal Church of the United States)
PATRONAGE	people with leprosy

Father Damien’s signature

Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, SS.CC. or Saint Damien de Veuster (Dutch: Pater Damiaan or Heilige Damiaan van Molokai; 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889),^[2] born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest fromBelgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,^[3] a missionary religious institute. He won recognition for his ministry from 1873 to 1889 in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to people with leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease), who were required to live under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island ofMolokaʻi.^[4]

After sixteen years’ caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damien died of leprosy. He has been described as a “martyr of charity“.^[5] He was the tenth person in what is now the United States to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.^[6]

In both the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, Damien is venerated as a saint. In the Anglicancommunion, as well as other denominations of Christianity, Damien is considered the spiritual patron for leprosy and outcasts. As he is the patron saint of the Diocese of Honolulu and of Hawaii, Father Damien Day is celebrated statewide on 15 April.

Upon his beatification by Pope John Paul II in Rome on 4 June 1995, Blessed Damien was granted a memorial feast day, which is celebrated on 10 May. Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday, 11 October 2009.^[7][8] The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him “the Apostle of the Lepers.”^[9]

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1Early life
• 2Mission to Hawaii
• 3Illness and death
• 4Order of Kalākaua
• 5Criticism and commentary
• 6Canonization
• 7In arts and media
• 8Legacy and honors
• 9See also
• 10References
• 11Sources
• 12Further reading
• 13External links

Early life[edit]

Damien was born Jozef (“Jef”) De Veuster, the seventh child and fourth son of the Flemish corn merchant Joannes Franciscus (“Frans”) De Veuster and his wife Anne-Catherine (“Cato”) Wouters in the village of Tremelo in Flemish Brabant. He attended college in Braine-le-Comte, then entered the novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Leuven. He took the name of Brother Damianus (Damiaan in Dutch, Damien in French) in his first vows, presumably in reference to the first Saint Damian.^[10]

Following in the footsteps of his sisters Eugénie and Pauline (who became nuns) and brother Auguste (Father Pamphile), Damien became a “Picpus” Brother (another name for members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary) on 7 October 1860. His superiors thought that he was not a good candidate for the priesthood because he lacked education. However, he was not considered unintelligent. Because he learned Latin well from his brother, his superiors decided to allow him to become a priest. During his ecclesiastical studies, Damien prayed daily before a picture of St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionaries, to be sent on a mission.^[11][12]Three years later when Damien’s brother Father Pamphile could not travel to Hawaiʻi as a missionary because of illness, Damien was allowed to take his place.

Mission to Hawaii[edit]

Father Damien in 1873 before he sailed for Hawaii

On 19 March 1864, Damien landed at Honolulu Harbor on Oahu. He was ordained into the priesthood on 21 May 1864, at what is now the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, a church founded by his religious institute. Today it serves as the Cathedral of the Bishop of Honolulu.^[13]

In 1865 Father Damien was assigned to the Catholic Mission in North Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi. While Father Damien was serving in several parishes on Oʻahu, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was struggling with a labor shortage, as identified by planters.^[14] Native Hawaiians had high mortality rates to such Eurasian infectious diseases as smallpox, cholera, and whooping cough, brought to theHawaiian Islands by foreign traders, sailors and immigrants. Thousands of Hawaiians died of such diseases, to which they had no acquired immunity.

It is believed that Chinese workers carried leprosy (later known as Hansen’s disease) to the islands in the 1830s and 1840s. At that time, leprosy was thought to be highly contagious and incurable. Later the medical community determined that roughly 95% of human beings are immune to it and, in the 20th century, developed effective treatment. In 1865, out of fear of this contagious disease, theHawaiian Legislature passed the “Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy”. This law quarantined the lepers of Hawaii, requiring the most serious cases to be moved to a settlement colony of Kalawao on the eastern end of the Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Molokaʻi. Later the settlement of Kalaupapa was developed. Kalawao County, where the two villages are located, is separated from the rest of Molokaʻi by a steep mountain ridge. Even in the 21st century, the only land access is by a mule trail. From 1866 through 1969, a total of about 8,000 Hawaiians were sent to the Kalaupapa peninsula for medical quarantine.

The Royal Board of Health initially provided the quarantined people with food and other supplies, but it did not have the resources to offer proper health care. According to documents of that time, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi did not intend for the settlements to be penal colonies, but the Kingdom did not provide enough resources to support them.^[4] The Kingdom planned for the inhabitants to grow their own crops but, because of the local environment and the effects of leprosy, this was impractical.

According to Penny Moblo, accounts about the colony from the 19th well into the 20th century have overstated its poor condition, adding to the myth of the European saviors for the colony and the island, whose government was eventually controlled by European Americans. For instance, most of the houses and other buildings were constructed and owned by the residents, even after the change of government and increased investment by the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

There is evidence that lay volunteers offered to help on the island, and that the Hawaiians would have preferred a native priest, if one were available.^[15]

By 1868, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), “Drunken and lewd conduct prevailed. The easy-going, good-natured people seemed wholly changed.”^[16]This seems to be an account fulfilling the contemporary European ideas about the Hawaiians more than an accurate record of conditions.^[15]

Father Damien, seen here with the Kalawao Girls Choir during the 1870s.

While Bishop Louis Désiré Maigret, the vicar apostolic of the Honolulu diocese, believed that the lepers needed a Catholic priest to assist them, he realized that this assignment had high risk. He did not want to send any one person “in the name of obedience”. After much prayer, four priests volunteered to go. The bishop planned for the volunteers to take turns in rotation assisting the inhabitants.

Father Damien was the first priest to volunteer and, on 10 May 1873, he arrived at the secluded settlement at Kalaupapa, where 816 lepers then lived. Damien worked with them to build a church and establish the Parish of Saint Philomena. In addition to serving as a priest, he dressed residents’ ulcers, built a reservoir, built homes and furniture, made coffins, and dug graves.^[10] Six months after his arrival at Kalawao, he wrote to his brother, Pamphile, in Europe:

…I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to JesusChrist.

Some historians believed that Father Damien was a catalyst for a turning point for the community. Under his leadership, basic laws were enforced, shacks were upgraded and improved as painted houses, working farms were organized, and schools were established. At his own request and of the lepers, Father Damien remained on Molokaʻi.^[4] Many such accounts completely overlooked the roles of superintendents who were Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. Until the late 20th century, most historic accounts of Damien’s ministry revealed biases of Europeans and Americans, and nearly completely discounted the roles of the native residents on Molokaʻi.^[15]

William P. Ragsdale was a highly popular and effective mixed-raceattorney and politician who was part Hawaiian; he had served as an interpreter and in other government posts. After finding that he had contracted leprosy, he “gave himself up to the law”, and was appointed to serve as superintendent at Kalaupapa in 1873. He led it until his death in 1877. His popularity led to his being called “Governor.” Father Damien succeeded him briefly as superintendent, but he gave that up after three months in February 1878 in favor of another appointee. His superiors did not want priests serving in government posts.^[17]

Illness and death[edit]

Father Damien on his deathbed

St. Marianne Cope standing beside Father Damien’s funeral bier (image reversed)

The leprosy patients of Molokaʻi gathered around Father Damien’s grave in mourning

In December 1884 while preparing to bathe, Damien inadvertently put his foot into scalding water, causing his skin to blister. He felt nothing and realized he had contracted leprosy after 11 years of working in the colony.^[4] Residents said that Damien worked vigorously to build as many homes as he could and planned for the future of programs he had established.^[who?]

In 1885 Masanao Goto, a Japanese leprologist, came to Honoluluand treated Damien. He believed that leprosy was caused by a diminution of the blood. His treatment consisted of nourishing food, moderate exercise, frequent friction to the benumbed parts, special ointments, and medical baths. The treatments did relieve some of the symptoms and were very popular with the Hawaiian patients. Damien had faith in the treatments and said he wanted to be treated by no one but Goto,^[18][19][20] who became a good friend.^[21]

In his last years, Damien engaged in a flurry of activity. While continuing his care of patients, he tried to complete several building projects and enlarge the orphanages, and organize the work. Four volunteers arrived at Kalaupapa to help the ailing missionary: a priest, a soldier, a male nurse, and a Religious Sister.^[22] Louis Lambert Conrardy was a Belgian priest. Joseph Dutton was an American Civil War soldier who left behind a marriage broken by alcoholism. James Sinnett was a nurse fromChicago. Mother (now also Saint) Marianne Cope had been the head of the Franciscan-run St Joseph’s Hospital inSyracuse, New York.^[22]

Conrardy took up pastoral duties; Cope organized a working hospital; Dutton attended to the construction and maintenance of the community’s buildings; Sinnett nursed Damien in the last phases of illness. With an arm in a sling, a foot in bandages and his leg dragging, Damien knew death was near. He was bedridden on 23 March 1889, and on 30 March he made a general confession.^[23] Damien died of leprosy at 8:00 a.m. on 15 April 1889, at the age of 49.^[24]The next day, after Massby Father Moellers at St. Philomena’s, the whole settlement followed the funeral cortège to the cemetery. Damien was laid to rest under the same pandanus tree where he first slept upon his arrival on Molokaʻi.^[25]

In January 1936, at the request of King Leopold III of Belgium and the Belgian government, Damien’s body was returned to his native land. It was transported aboard the Belgian ship Mercator. He was buried in Leuven, the historic university city close to the village where Damien was born. After his beatification in June 1995, the remains of his right hand were returned to Hawaii and re-interred in his original grave on Molokaʻi.^[26][27]

Order of Kalākaua[edit]

In the waning days of the Kingdom, before it was overthrown by European Americans, King David Kalākaua bestowed on Damien the honor of “Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalākaua“.^[28]When Crown Princess Lydia Liliʻuokalanivisited the settlement to present the medal, she was reported as having been too distraught and heartbroken at the sight of the residents to read her speech. The princess shared her experience, acclaiming Damien’s efforts.^[29]Consequently, Damien became internationally known in the United States and Europe. American Protestants raised large sums of money for the missionary’s work. The Church of England sent food, medicine, clothing, and supplies to the settlement. It is believed that Damien never wore the royal medal, although it was placed by his side at his funeral.

Criticism and commentary[edit]

Father Damien had become internationally known before his death, seen as a symbolic Christian figure caring for the afflicted natives. His superiors thought Damien lacking in education and finesse, but knew him as “an earnest peasant hard at work in his own way for God.”^[30] News of his death on 15 April was quickly carried across the globe by the modern communications of the time, by steamship to Honolulu and California, telegraph to the East Coast of the United States, and cable to England, reaching London on 11 May.^[31] Following an outpouring of praise for his work, other voices began to be heard in Hawaiʻi.

Representatives of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in Hawaii criticized his approach. Reverend Charles McEwen Hyde, a Presbyterian minister in Honolulu, wrote in August to fellow pastor, Reverend H. B. Gage of San Francisco. Hyde referred to Father Damien as “a coarse, dirty man,” who contracted leprosy due to “carelessness”.^[32][33] Hyde said that Damien was mistakenly being given credit for reforms that were made by the Board of Health. Without consulting with Hyde, Gage had the letter published in a San Francisco newspaper, generating comment and controversy in the US and Hawaiʻi. People of the period consistently overlooked the role of Hawaiians themselves, among whom several had prominent roles of leadership on the island.^[34]

Later in 1889 Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and his family arrived in Hawaii for an extended stay. He had tuberculosis, then also incurable, and was seeking some relief. Moved by Damien’s story, he became interested in the controversy about the priest and went to Molokaʻi for eight days and seven nights.^[32]Stevenson wanted to learn more about Damien at the place where he had worked. He spoke with residents of varying religious backgrounds to learn more about Damien’s work. Based on his conversations and observations, he wrote an open letter to Hyde that addressed the minister’s criticisms and had it printed at his own expense. This became the most famous account of Damien, featuring him in the role of a European aiding a benighted native people.^[32][35]

In his “6,000-word polemic,”^[35] Stevenson praised Damien extensively, writing to Hyde:

If that world at all remember you, on the day when Damien of Molokai shall be named a Saint, it will be in virtue of one work: your letter to the Reverend H. B. Gage.^[32]

Stevenson referred to his journal entries in his letter:

…I have set down these private passages, as you perceive, without correction; thanks to you, the public has them in their bluntness. They are almost a list of the man’s faults, for it is rather these that I was seeking: with his virtues, with the heroic profile of his life, I and the world were already sufficiently acquainted. I was besides a little suspicious of Catholic testimony; in no ill sense, but merely because Damien’s admirers and disciples were the least likely to be critical. I know you will be more suspicious still; and the facts set down above were one and all collected from the lips of Protestants who had opposed the father in his life. Yet I am strangely deceived, or they build up the image of a man, with all his weakness, essentially heroic, and alive with rugged honesty, generosity, and mirth.^[32]

Since then historians and ethnologists have also studied Damien’s work and the life of residents on Molokaʻi. For example, Penny Moblo assesses the myth and controversy about the priest in the context not of religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, but of changes in relations in Hawaiʻi between the royal house, European-American planters and missionaries, and native residents, in the years of the overthrow of the government and assumption of power by Americans.^[14]Among the facts left out of early accounts praising Father Damien was that the residents of the leper colony wanted a native priest, that lay volunteers were rejected, and that residents asked in 1878 that the priest be replaced. As Hawai’ians were literate, they spoke for themselves. In this period, Damien had patient J.K. Kahuila, a Hawaiian Protestant minister, put in irons and deported to Oahu because he believed the man was too rebellious. Kahuila got a lawyer and demanded investigation of Damien.^[14]Moblo concludes that in most 19th and 20th-century accounts, “the focus on Damien eclipses the active role played by Hawaiians and preserves a colonially biased history.”^[14]

Mahatma Gandhi, the important political leader of India, said that Father Damien’s work had inspired his own social campaigns in India, leading to independence for his people and also securing aid for those who needed it. Gandhi was quoted in T.N. Jagadisan’s 1965 publication, Mahatma Gandhi Answers the Challenge of Leprosy, as saying,

The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Molokai. The Catholic Church, on the contrary, counts by the thousands those who after the example of Fr. Damien have devoted themselves to the victims of leprosy. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism.^[36]

Canonization[edit]

Original grave of Father Damien next to the St. Philomena Roman Catholic Church in Kalawao, Kalaupapa Peninsula, Molokaʻi, Hawaii (21°10′37″N 156°56′53.3″W)

Grave of Saint Damien in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Leuven, Belgium(50°52′33.4″N004°41′54.1″E)

In 1977 Pope Paul VI declared Father Damien to be venerable, the one of the initial steps that lead to sainthood. On 4 June 1995, Pope John Paul II beatified him and gave him his official spiritual title of Blessed. On 20 December 1999, Jorge Medina Estévez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the November 1999 decision of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to place Blessed Damien on the liturgical calendar with the rank of optional memorial. Father Damien was canonized on 11 October 2009, by Pope Benedict XVI. His feast Day is celebrated on 10 May. In Hawaii it is celebrated on the day of his death, 15 April.

Two miracles have been attributed to Father Damien’s posthumous intercession: On 13 June 1992, Pope John Paul II approved the cure of a nun in France in 1895 as a miracle attributed to Venerable Damien’s intercession. In that case, Sister Simplicia Hue began a novena to Father Damien as she lay dying of a lingering intestinal illness. It is stated that pain and symptoms of the illness disappeared overnight.^{[citation needed]}

In the second case, Audrey Toguchi, a Hawaiian woman who suffered from a rare form of cancer, had remission after having prayed at the grave of Father Damien on Molokaʻi. There was no medical explanation as her prognosis was terminal.^[37][38]In 1997 Toguchi was diagnosed with liposarcoma, a cancer that arises in fat cells. She underwent surgery a year later and a tumor was removed, but the cancer metastasized to her lungs. Her physician, Dr. Walter Chang, told her, “Nobody has ever survived this cancer. It’s going to take you.”^[37] Toguchi was surviving in 2008.^[37]

In April 2008 the Holy See accepted the two cures as evidence of Father Damien’s sanctity. On 2 June 2008, theCongregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican voted to recommend raising Father Damien of Molokaʻi to sainthood. The decree that officially notes and verifies the miracle needed for canonization was promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI andCardinal José Saraiva Martins on Thursday, 3 July 2008, with the ceremony taking place in Rome and celebrations in Belgium and Hawaii.^[39] On 21 February 2009, the Vatican announced that Father Damien would be canonized.^[7] The ceremony took place in Rome on Rosary Sunday, 11 October 2009, in the presence of King Albert II of the Belgians andQueen Paola as well as the Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy, and several cabinet ministers,^[8][40] completing the process of canonization. In Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama affirmed his deep admiration for St. Damien, saying that he gave voice to voiceless and dignity to the sick.^[41] Four other individuals were canonized with Father Damien at the same ceremony: Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Sister Jeanne Jugan, Father Francisco Coll Guitart and Rafael Arnáiz Barón.^[42]

Damien is honored, together with Marianne Cope, with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)on 15 April.

In arts and media[edit]

This reredos of Father Damien in the Episcopal St. Thomas the Apostle Hollywood shows cross-denominational veneration of the priest.

• The Father Damien Statue on the steps of the State Capitol Building honors him, and a replica is displayed in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol.^[2] Statues in memory of Damien can be found in many Belgian cathedrals, such as the Tournai Cathedral, St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent, and St Martin’s Cathedral, Ypres.
• Screenwriter and film director John Farrow wrote the 1937 biography, Damien the Leper.^[43] In 1939 RKO Pictures purchased the book for a feature film titled Father Damien, to be directed by Farrow and star Joseph Calleia.^[44][45] The project was not realized.
• Director David Miller made a short film of Father Damien’s life entitled The Great Heart (1938), released by MGM.
• The first full-length film on Father Damien was Molokai (1959), a Spanish production directed by Luis Lucia with Javier Escrivá, Roberto Camardiel, and Gerard Tichy playing the main roles.^[46]
• The one-man play Damien by Aldwyth Morris, commissioned and aired by PBS, portrays Damien’s life in the first person through a series of flashbacks.
• Ken Howard had the title role in the television film Father Damien: The Leper Priest (1980);^[47] he replaced David Janssen who died suddenly after a couple of days of shooting.
• Stephanie J. Castillo’s documentary Simple Courage (1992) explores Damien and his work, drawing parallels between the treatment of persons with leprosy and the stigma associated with those with AIDS. It repeated much of the 19th-20th-century myth of the Hawaiians as helpless victims.^[15]
• Belgian film producer Tharsi Vanhuysse produced and Paul Coxdirected the 1999 film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien.^[48]
• Interviews of former residents are featured in the documentary The Soul of Kalaupapa: Voices of Exile (2011).^[49] It focuses on the efforts in the 19th century of Belgian-born Father Damien and Hawaiian Jonatana Napela, an LDS convert, working with persons with leprosy in Kalaupapa and collaborating on ecumenical efforts.^[49]

Legacy and honors[edit]

Statue outside the Hawaii State Capitol Building

In 2005, Damien was honored with the title of De Grootste Belg, chosen as “The Greatest Belgian” throughout that country’s history, in polling conducted by the Flemish public broadcasting service, VRT.^[11] He ranked third on Le plus grand Belge (“The Greatest Belgian”) in a poll by the French-speaking public channel RTBF.

With canonization highlighting his ministry to persons with leprosy, Father Damien in his work has been cited as an example of how society should minister to HIV/AIDS patients.^[50] On the occasion of Damien’s canonization, President Barack Obama stated, “In our own time, as millions around the world suffer from disease, especially the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, we should draw on the example of Father Damien’s resolve in answering the urgent call to heal and care for the sick.”^[51] Several clinics and centers nationwide catering to HIV/AIDS patients bear his name.^[52] There is a chapel named for him and dedicated to people with HIV/AIDS, in St. Thomas the Apostle Hollywood, an Episcopal parish.^[53][54]

The Damien The Leper Society is among charities named after him that work to treat and control leprosy. Damien House, Ireland, is a centre for “peace for families and individuals affected by bereavement, stress, violence, and other difficulties with particular attention to Northern Ireland“.^[55] Saint Damien Advocates is a religious freedom organization that says it wants to carry on Father Damien’s work with orphans and others.^[56][57]

Schools named after him include Damien High School in Southern California and Damien Memorial School in Hawaii. The village of Saint-Damien, Quebec is also named after him. Churches worldwide are named after him.

St. Damien of Molokaʻi Catholic Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, dedicated in 2010, is believed to have been the first Roman Catholic church in the continental United States to be named for Saint Damien after his canonization. A Traditional Latin Mass church, it is operated by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) and was authorized in 2010 by Eusebius J. Beltran, Archbishop of Oklahoma City. The Catholic diocese of Pontiac, Michigan has a St. Damien parish.^[58]

The Damien and Marianne of Moloka’i Heritage Center was established at the St. Augustine by the Sea Catholic Church in Honolulu. Marianne of Molokaʻi was canonized in 2012. The center is open several hours every day except holidays.^[59]

See also[edit]

• Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement and National Historical Park
• American Catholic Servants of God, Venerables, Beatified, and Saints
• List of American saints and beatified people

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ Downes, Patrick (26 April 2013). “St. Damien’s feast day not the customary date of death”. Hawaii Catholic Herald (Honolulu, HI). Retrieved 4 September 2013.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Father Damien”. Capitol Campus/Art. The Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
3. Jump up^  De Broeck, William (1913). “Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar”. In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Tayman, John (2007). The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai. New York: Simon and Schuster.ISBN 978-0-7432-3301-9.
5. Jump up^ “Blessed Damien de Veuster, ss.cc.”. Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved2012-08-02.
6. Jump up^ See: List of American saints and beatified people#List of American saints.
7. ^ Jump up to:^a b “‘Apostle of the Lepers,’ Spanish mystic among 10 to be canonized”.Catholic News Agency. www.catholicnewsagency.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
8. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Pope Proclaims Five New Saints”. Radio Vaticana. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
9. Jump up^  Boeynaems, Libert H. (1913). “Father Damien (Joseph De Veuster)”. In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
10. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Saint Damien – Servant of God, Servant of Humanity”. Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Pater Damiaan “de Grootste Belg aller tijden”” (in Dutch). NOS. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
12. Jump up^ “Blessed Damian De Veuster”. Biography. Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
13. Jump up^ Eynikel, Hilde (1997). Damiaan: De Definitieve Biografie. Leuven: Davidsfond. p. 82. ISBN 978-90-6152-586-8.
14. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Pennie Moblo, “Blessed Damien of Moloka’i: The Critical Analysis of Contemporary Myth”, Ethnohistory Vol. 44, No. 4 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 691-726, Published by: Duke University Press, DOI: 10.2307/482885
15. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Moblo, “Blessed Damien of Molokaʻi: Critical Analysis of Contemporary Myth”, Ethnohistory Vol. 44, No. 4 (Autumn, 1997)(Full text via JSTOR.)
16. Jump up^  Dutton, Joseph (1913). “Molokai“. In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
17. Jump up^ Gavan Daws, Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984, pp. 89-92
18. Jump up^ “The lepers of Molokai”. The New York Times (New York: The New York Times Company). 26 May 1889. p. 13. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
19. Jump up^ Daws, Gavan (1984). Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai. University of Hawaii Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-8248-0920-1.
20. Jump up^ Edmond, Rod (2006). Leprosy and Empire: A Medical and Cultural History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86584-5.
21. Jump up^ “St. Damien of Molokai: Servant of God – Servant of Humanity”. St. Augustine by-the-sea Roman Catholic Church. St. Augustine-by-the-Sea. Retrieved2010-07-21.
22. ^ Jump up to:^a b Carr, Sherie (10 October 2009). “Hawaii’s Father Damien: From priesthood to sainthood”. Hawaii Magazine. Retrieved2012-08-02.
23. Jump up^ “Damien the Leper”, the Franciscans of St. Anthony’s Guild, Patterson, New Jersey, (1974)
24. Jump up^ PBS, 23 January 2009, Father Damien’s Legacy, Retrieved 11 September 2015
25. Jump up^ “Damien The Leper”. EWTN. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
26. Jump up^ “The Life of Father Damien”. The Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii). 7 October 2009.
27. Jump up^ [1]
28. Jump up^ “House Resolution 210”. Hawaii State Legislature. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
29. Jump up^ “St. Damien Day Hawaii October 11”. Hawaii Free Press. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
30. Jump up^ Daws (1984), Holy Man: Father Damien, p. 89
31. Jump up^ Daws (1984), Holy Man: Father Damien, p. 9
32. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e} Stevenson, Robert Lewis (1922). Father Damien – An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu. The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume 15 (W. Heinemann in association with Chatto and Windus, Cassell and Longmans, Green). pp. 479–501.
33. Jump up^ Moblo, “Blessed Damien of Molokai” (1997). Note: “Carelessness” was a reference to the association at the time of leprosy with syphilis as a sexually transmitted disease.
34. Jump up^ Daws (1984), Holy Man: Father Damien, p. 12
35. ^ Jump up to:^a b Daws (1984), Holy Man: Father Damien, p. 14
36. Jump up^ Jan De Volder, The Spirit of Father Damien (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2010) p.167
37. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Bernardo, Rosemarie (4 July 2008). “Aiea woman excited for her saint in making”. The Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
38. Jump up^ Downes, Patrick (28 March 2003). “Tribunal to examine Blessed Damien miracle claim”. Hawaii Catholic Herald (Honolulu, Hawaii: Diocese of Honolulu,). Retrieved 2010-07-21.
39. Jump up^ “Vatican Votes To Elevate Father Damien To Sainthood”.KITV Honolulu. www.kitv.com. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
40. Jump up^ “Le Père Damien proclamé saint”, Le Soir, 2009-10-11
41. Jump up^ Sweas, Megan. “Obama Says St. Damien Gave Voice to Voiceless, Dignity to the Sick.” Catholic News Service. 14 October 2009.
42. Jump up^ Donadio, Rachel (11 October 2009). “Benedict Canonizes 5 New Saints”. The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2009-10-13.
43. Jump up^ Farrow, John (1937). Damien the Leper. Camden, N.J.:Sheed and Ward.OCLC 8018072.
44. Jump up^ “‘Damien the Leper’ Purchased by RKO; Robert Sisk to Be the Producer — Joseph Calleia Has Been Assigned to Title Role”. The New York Times. 17 May 1939. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
45. Jump up^ “Hollywood Buys 45 More Stories to Add to 1940 Feature Programs”. Motion Picture Herald 136 (1): 34. 1 July 1939. Retrieved2015-11-27.
46. Jump up^ “Molokai, la isla maldita (Molokai, the cursed island, 1959)”. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
47. Jump up^ “Father Damien: The Leper Priest (1980) (TV)”. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
48. Jump up^ “Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)”. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
49. ^ Jump up to:^a b Welch, Rosalynde (21 April 2010). “The eighth circle of paradise: Father Damien of Molokai and Jonathan Napela in Kalaupapa”. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Religion blog. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
50. Jump up^ These include: “Father Damien, Aid to Lepers, Now a Saint”. Associated Press. 11 October 2009; De Volder, Jan and John L. Allen, Jr. (FRW). The Spirit of Father Damien: The Leper Priest. Ignatius Press, 2010. p. x; Haile, Beth.“Articulating a Comprehensive Moral Response to HIV/AIDS in the Spirit of St. Damian of Molokai”. CatholicMoralTheology.com. 10 May 2011; “Brief Biography of St. Damien of Molokai”. St. Damien Catholic Church, Oklahoma City, OK; “The Canonization of Father Damien”. FlandersHouse.org.
51. Jump up^ Donadio, Rachel. “Benedict Canonizes 5 New Saints”. New York Times. 11 October 2009.
52. Jump up^ These include: Damien Ministries – Washington, D.C.; Damien Center – Central Indiana; Albany Damien Center – Albany, New York; Schenectady Damien Center – Schenectady New York.
53. Jump up^ Damien Chapel – St. Thomas the Apostle Hollywood
54. Jump up^ St. Thomas the Apostle – History
55. Jump up^ “Damien House, Ireland”
56. Jump up^ “Home”. Saintdamienadvocates.org. 2012-06-08. Archived from the originalon 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
57. Jump up^ “On Second Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act Passage, Hawaii Residents Join 140 Cities Across the Nation to Rally Against Its Impact on Religious Freedom”. Hawaii Reporter. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
58. Jump up^ “St. Damien of Molokai Parish, Pontiac MI”. www.facebook.com. Retrieved2016-01-21.
59. Jump up^ “Museum | St. Augustine By The Sea Parish”. Staugustinebythesea.com. Retrieved 2014-04-15.

Sources[edit]

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Father Damien (Joseph de Veuster).

• Daws, Gavan (1984). Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. ISBN 0-8248-0920-3.
• Eynikel, Hilde (1999). Molokai: the Story of Father Damien. Staten Island: Alba House. ISBN 0-8189-0872-6.
• Stewart, Richard (2000). Leper Priest of Moloka’i. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. ISBN 0-8248-2322-2.

Further reading[