May 10 2022 - St. Damien the leper - Our crosses open doors

 
For the first four weeks of the easter season, we’ve been reading from the book of Acts— how the Gospel was spread first in Jerusalem and then throughout Judea amongst the Jews.  But today, we hear of one of the great breakthroughs of human history.  

Last week, we heard how following the death of St. Stephen, Christians were scattered due to persecution. But the Christians took advantage of their scattering. They preached to the Jews, as we heard today, as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.

As some of the new Christians were Greek-speakers, they began to share the good news with some of the Gentiles in Antioch.  This may seem very natural and inevitable to us now, but this really was a breakthrough—the first time the Church became truly faithful to the Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations…not just the Jews of the Holy Land—but all nations.

Each of us are called to work for converts by sharing the Good News. So, where do the breakthroughs need to occur in your own life for that to happen? What do you need from the Lord do be able to share the faith more confidently with strangers?

Jesus says in the Gospel today, “my sheep hears my voice”.  He wants to use us as his mouthpiece.  There are people who long to hear the voice of Jesus calling them into the flock of the Church. They are waiting for us to share what we know of Jesus, of Catholicism, but they have no one to talk to. The internet can’t do our job for us.

Today, the Church celebrates St. Damien of Molokai, the apostle to the lepers. He spent sixteen years tending the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs on the island leper colony of Molokai of Hawaii.  And when he contracted leprosy himself, he continued to preach the Gospel. 

We aren’t just to preach the Gospel from a top an ivory tower, we are to enter into the world of the forgotten and the outcast, in order to show them, that they are not forgotten by God. 

For the Christians in the book of Acts, the persecution led them to preach to an entirely new group of people. For St. Damian, his leprosy enabled him to draw closer to the other lepers, to preach even more effectively by entering their world.

Our own crosses are keys that open doors into the lives of others who suffer, who are longing to hear the voice of the Shepherd. May we embrace those crosses, and enter through those doors, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 - - - - - - - 

That all Christians may be deeply committed to the spread of Christ’s Gospel, and for the success of the Church’s missionary activity. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those in public office: may they govern with wisdom and compassion for the most vulnerable among us—especially unborn children, the elderly, the indigent, and persons with disabilities.  Let us pray to the Lord.

That the isolated and abandoned may know the love of God through the labors of the Church. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.

Graciously grant our petitions, we beseech thee, O Lord; may your grace sustain us always in your service, through Christ Our Lord.