Damien de Veuster

At thirty three
Damien de Veuster
left all he knew
for Molokai.
Now I see he
was but a child,
in many ways,
when he stepped onto
the shores of a
living hell.
He could not turn
away from the promise
made in the solitude
of his prayer,
for covenant and
his own body
were now one.
There were no miracles
on Molokai.
There were no healings or
bodily cures
to keep him from the
despair he touched daily.
There were no fellow apostles
to curb his volatile temper,
or to lighten the grief
of the apocalyptic vision
of falling limbs,
rotting flesh, and
burial after burial.
Yet I think one miracle
still reverberates
from that island
now cleansed
of the nightmare
of isolation.
The wonder is
Damien clothed himself
in degradation
and announced
the Gospel truth
one radiant June,
from his pulpit;

That Jesus Christ

- Emmanuel -

had visited Molokai

now and forever

as a leper

among lepers.

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This page is managed by Fr. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J. of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Creighton University. E-Mail: bucko@creighton.edu Page Last Updated: December 1, 2001

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