Good news to all: Damian of Molokai

But the man went away and began to spread the news everywhere. Indeed, he talked so much that Jesus could not go into a town publicly. Mark 1:45 

Despite the doom and gloom that regularly overwhelms our newspapers, there is good news aplenty. What we know is that bad news has much better currency. It reaches the front page in the blink of an eye. Good news on the other can wait, to be a filler for whenever it can be put in. Too much good news, on the other hand, brings the criticism of wearing rose-coloured glasses, being out of touch with the real world. Leprosy has, in various times and places, devastated communities. It is seldom heard of these days except in the context of the scriptures, or perhaps in the sense of social lepers, but it is, nevertheless, a formidable disease.

St Damian of Molokai, a missionary priest of the Picpus Fathers, spent 16 years with the lepers of Molokai (Hawaii) before contracting the disease himself. He was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. As a life-long admirer of Damian, I visited his tomb in Louvain (Belgium) and remain astonished at the impact that this quiet, holy man had – not only on the lives of the lepers whom he served – but on the world in which we live. Damian’s admirers include US President Obama who asserted that Damian gave voice to the voiceless and dignity to the sick.

And so often in life, we meet or hear of Damians who meet head on the challenges that being human provides, whether in flood-struck south eastern Queensland, in the local chapter of St Vinnie’s, in the care provided by families for their eldery, sick, the disabled and who do so with so little support. They may not be heroes in the classical sense, but they are good news worth spreading. While not confronted with the image of leprotic disability, we are surrounded by the invisibles: the homeless, the illegal refugee, the mentally ill, the obese and many others who are cast out, the anawim, the poor of God who have nowhere else to turn to.

And so now we see this clear image of the lonely disfigured man who begs Jesus to heal him: If you wish you, you can make me clean. Jesus replies, ‘Be made clean.’ After healing the leper, Jesus admonishes him not to tell others. Yet this is news too good not to tell and he proclaims his good fortune to all who will listen. While it is easy to be confused about who needs the healing, the leper or those who have cast him out – the good news is that Jesus continues to heal those who seek him, still challenges the forces that seek to separate us from the love of God and from community with one another. The message is: Tell the good news to all. Be a Damian. Live it.