From Forward Day by Day
Mark 1:41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
In 1866, terror ran rampant in Hawaii about Hansen’s disease (then called leprosy). The Hawaiian government designated a quarantined area for its afflicted citizens on the island of Molokai.
In its early years, the colony’s residents suffered horribly. Adults and children alike were taken from their families, delivered to the island by boat, and left to die. The early residents had no homes; most lived in caves or in huts made of sticks and leaves.
When Father Damien DeVeuster came to Molokai in 1873, he helped the colonists establish a community, building homes and churches and arranging for health care. Other helpers followed Damien, and slowly life on Molokai improved.
All too often, when people have physical conditions or social problems that frighten us, we abandon them. Jesus touches the leper in order to heal him. Today’s society has plenty of its own lepers, and few people willing to touch them. Today’s Damiens and so many hurting people need all the support that we can muster.
