Feast Day Celebrated May 10

St. Damien longed to be a missionary but had no idea of the ordeal which would be set before him.  He was originally one of four religious who volunteered for the leper colony, but after being sent there on the “first shift”, he wrote his superior and asked to remain permanently.  Even though the work was difficult and spiritually draining, he felt a strong bond with these people, God’s people, who had become outcasts through no fault of their own.  He wrote:  “I wish to give myself   unconditionally to the poor lepers.  The harvest appears to be ripe here.  Pray, and ask others to pray both for me and for all.”  He relied strongly on prayer, both his own and others, for his strength.

Surrounded by death and dying, Fr.   Damien had sufficient reason to contemplate eternity, and this he did often.  “My greatest pleasure is to go there (the cemetery) to say my beads, and meditate on that unending happiness which so many of them are already enjoying.”