St. Damien of Molokai: Above and Beyond

For 15  years, Fr. Damien de Veuster, a Belgian missionary priest, lived and worked on the island of Molokai, Hawaii,  among people suffering from Hansen's Disease, popularly known as Leprosy, and dreaded as much as it was in the time of Jesus. The disease had reached epidemic proportions in Hawaii by 1873, and the only solution then known was to isolate the victims from the rest of the population. Molokai became synonymous with death, for not only were living conditions abominable, but no one ever emerged alive. Fr. Damien asked to be the chaplain for these victims, and not only provided spiritual nourishment, but also improved living conditions by building homes  and improving hygiene and sanitary care.  Knowing that he would most likely contract the disease, he nevertheless was not afraid to wash and treat infected areas and show his love by spending time visiting with his "patients'.  He build a little chapel, then a larger church to which the lepers flocked. He felt even more at one with them when he became a leper himself. "I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all for Christ," he wrote. His self- sacrifice and discipleship went above and beyond the ordinary and for this he was canonized in 2009.  He stands as a model for us who might think we have reached our limit and have nothing more to give.
Bro. Rene