Molokai - Signpost of the Incarnation

Written by Mary Fleming

Anyone for HAWAII?  Why am I thinking of HAWAII?  It’s not what you think!  The beaches, the surfing, the whales, the culture, the luaus, the music, the people, the incredible vistas and powerful history.  HAWAII offers so much and is definitely on most people’s wish list.  There are super deals right now on 14 day circle cruises of HAWAII.  Or, we can customize your ideal tour of the 50th State.  Click here.  Please, keep reading!

But, none of those things above draws me first to HAWAII.  MOLOKAI!  That’s the place I would love to visit first!  Many years ago, a biography of Father Damien made a very deep impression.  Born Jozef DeVeuster in Belgium, this Roman Catholic priest heard the call to give his life for quarantined lepers on MOLOKAI, becoming one himself after 16 years of loving, servant leadership.  The lepers had been forcibly segregated by the Hawaiian Kingdom, leaving their families and homes behind to go into isolation for the remainder of their lives.  European diseases had already killed thousands of Hawaiians.  The government moved swiftly in this attempt to eliminate the Hansen’s disease threat.

Today, MOLOKAI, just 15 miles west of MAUI and part of Maui County, will take your breath away.  In the mid 1800’s, when Father Damien brought the unconditional love of Christ to the suffering outcasts, the leper community was isolated at the east end of the Kalaupapa peninsula.  A steep mountain range effectively cuts this area off from the rest of the island.  Just as then, the only way to visit now is by mule track.  So, don’t wait too much longer!  Let’s go riding!

MOLOKAI was recently in the news.  Fourteen activists on surfboards and small boats, in an attempt to resist commercial development, successfully kept a 36 passenger cruise vessel from docking.  They are not against tourists.  They are against much of modern-day development that spreads and tends to take over.  MOLOKAI is too much of an unblemished jewel to allow that to happen.  So, bravo to those who are taking a stand for MOLOKAI.

It is said, “Don’t try to change MOLOKAI; let MOLOKAI change you.”  This was certainly the case with Father Damien.  At his 1995 beatification, Pope John Paul II said “he showed forth Christ’s tenderness and mercy for every human being, revealing the beauty of that person’s inner self which no illness, no deformity, no weakness can totally disfigure….he became a leper for the lepers.  He suffered and died like them believing that he would rise again in Christ, for Christ is Lord.”

MOLOKAI is one of those year-round signposts of the Incarnation we celebrate at Christmas.  Christ became one of us that He might save us from our sins.  Father Damien was following His Lord’s pattern.  As the carol says, O COME TO US, ABIDE WITH US, OUR LORD, EMMANUEL

April 15 is celebrated as Father Damien Day in HAWAII.  But, don’t necessarily wait till then!  You can visit year-round.  Temperatures are moderate.  Come for 88 miles of unspoiled coastline.  Come for the pristine waterfalls and pine forests.  But, think most seriously of making a pilgrimage someday to Kalaupapa by mule.  It will be reminiscent of the journey to BETHLEHEM where Christ became one of us.

For more on Father Damien and his incredible ministry with the lepers of MOLOKAI, here are some resources you may enjoy for yourself or as gifts:
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (DVD);
Father Damien…A Bit of Taro, A Piece of Fish, and a Glass of Water;
The Spirit of Father Damien: The Leper Priest

Father Damien... A Bit of Taro, A Piece of Fish, and A Glass of Water By Anwei Skinsnes Law & Henry G. Law / Acta Publications The story of Father Damien has been told and retold hundreds of times in books and articles. However, these accounts have generally not included the voices and insights of the people who were most affected by Father Damien's presence-the people who lived and worked alongside him at Kalaupapa. The book contains numerous photographs, a number of which have never been published before, including one of Mother Marianne Cope and photographs taken by Dr. Eduard Arning in 1884 and 1885.