The Poor In Spirit

While away on holiday I read some books on St Damien of Moloka'i; books I had been meaning to read for some time, together with a biography of St Marianne Cope I had just bought. The more I read about Damien the more I admire him, what an extraordinary man and priest. He lived in the heart of the Church and in his ministry to the lepers of Moloka'i, cast out from the world, he brought them right into the heart of the Church with him. 

During his lifetime few really understood Damien, even his superior and the bishop in Honolulu failed to appreciate him. While the world admired him (safely from a distance) his superiors thought it had all gone to his head as he continued to plead for resources for his "poor lepers".  They thought he was heroic, but proud and committing these opinions to writing they held up his Cause for decades. The Church finally cleared Damien of pride when she discovered it was his superiors who failed to see the wonder of holiness that was unfolding in front of their eyes. Damien was the epitome of the poor in spirit, and one episode from his life gives us a glimpse of it: I would like to share it with you today.

The episode is recounted in the official biography of St Marianne Cope by Sr Mary Laurence Hanley OSF and O.A. Bushnell. It is taken from the account of Mother Marianne's life by one of her sisters, Sr Leopoldina who accompanied her to Moloka'i to run the Bishop Home for Girls. Sr Leopoldina's memoirs are a great first hand account of the sisters's first years on Moloka'i, though her spelling and punctuation are quite unorthodox this rawness actually adds to the vivacity of her story. She relates that one evening she went out into the backyard of the convent to hang out some clothes on the line when she had an encounter with Damien. She writes:

I was startled by a silent black figure kneeling in the bed of fresh dug ground with the face close to the wall...that is the back of the chapel. Poor Father Damien was on his sore swollen knees...adoring our Blessed Lord in the Sacrament of His Love, there was only a thin board wall between him and the alter [sic] and as there was no entrance to the chapel [except] through the house, and he would not do that...It seemed to me there was something so sad and pitiful about it I could not keep the tears back.

The image of poor Damien kneeling like a beggar outside the chapel adoring his Lord through the wall, unable, thanks to his leprosy, to enter the building, is heartbreaking. Leopoldina goes on to tell us that Damien saw the tears in her eyes and asked if she was alright, she couldn't answer, she said to herself he would not have understood. He did not see himself as pitiful, but rather as a poor disciple of Christ adoring his Lord. What love for Jesus, what respect for the Blessed Sacrament: what holiness!

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Shocking News

I was at a meeting in Dublin this evening when shocking news came through: the Blessed Sacrament has been desecrated in a suburban Dublin church. The Eucharist was reserved in an adoration chapel, the Host was taken out, torn apart and stamped into the ground, while satanic slogans were written on the altar cloths. It is a terrible turn of events, one which causes all of us deep distress. Please pray for the priests and parishioners of this parish, and for those responsible for this heinous act: for their conversion. Sadly, it is an extreme expression of a growing anti-Catholic hostility here in Ireland.

Could I ask you to offer a prayer in reparation for this incident. I include a lovely litany of reparation if you have a moment to pray it after reading this post. Such incidents are happening all over the world, it might be a good idea for us to make space in our prayer life for regular offerings of reparation be they prayers, holy hours or acts of charity. 

How much the Lord loves us, he becomes so vulnerable so as to be with us in the Holy Eucharist.

Litany of Reparation in honour of the Blessed Sacrament

Lord, have mercy on us;
Christ, have mercy on us;
Lord, have mercy on us;
God the Father of Mercy, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Mediator between God and man,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, the Enlightener of hearts,
Have mercy on us.
Holy and undivided Trinity, Have mercy on us.

O Sacred Host! Victim of reparation for the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
O Sacred Host! Annihilated on the altar for us and by us, Have mercy on us.
O Sacred Host! Despised and neglected, Have mercy on us.
O Sacred Host! Neglected and abandoned in Your temples, Have mercy on us.
Be merciful unto us: Spare us, O Lord.
Be merciful unto us: Hear us, O Lord.

                     (Response: We offer You our reparations, O Lord)

For so many unworthy Communions
For the irreverence of Christians,
For the continual blasphemies of the impious,
For the infamous discourses made in Your Holy Temples,
For the crimes of sinners,
For the sacrileges which profane Your sacrament of love,
For the coldness of the greater part of Your children,
For their contempt of Your loving invitations,
For the infidelity of those who call themselves Your
        friends,
For the abuse of Your grace,
For our unfaithfulness,
For our delay in loving You,
For our tepidity in Your Holy Service,
For Your bitter sadness at the loss of souls,
For Your long waiting at the door of our hearts,
For Your loving sighs,
For Your loving tears,
For Your loving imprisonment,
For Your loving death,

                      (Response: We sinners beseech You, hear us) 

That You spare us, that You hear us,
That You will make known Your love for us in this most
       Holy Sacrament,
That You will vouchsafe to accept our reparation, made in
       the spirit of humility.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world:
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world: Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world:
Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, Who has chosen to expose Yourself to all the outrages of the impious, rather than withdraw Your Sacred Body from our Churches, grant us the grace to bewail, with true bitterness of heart, the injuries and sacrileges committed against you, and to repair as far as lies in our power, and with sincere love, the many ignominies and contempts You have received, and still continue to receive, in this ineffable mystery, Who lives and reigns with God, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.