Hawaiian Sunset

Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places in the world, especially the non-commercialized areas. Interestingly, the island of Molokai was utilized as an exile for those with leprosy, one of the most "un-beautiful" diseases known to man.

Father Damien of Molokai saw through the outside of these poor disease victims, to the beauty of the souls within, and spent his life as a missionary among them.

Looking past the horror of their disease, he saw that these men and women could, with the help of God's grace, be prepared for everlasting joy in the hereafter. He volunteered to be the one to help their souls to that goal.

We are surrounded by terrible things in the world today: dreadful sins, the gruesome results of sin, physical tragedies, ISIS bombings, and natural disasters. The news sources on the Internet can't wait to shock us with the latest horror. Oh, that we could focus on God, grace, and eternal life, as Father Damien did, instead of the negative and awful things we see. Father Damien wrote:

"The cemetery, the church and rectory form one enclosure; thus at nighttime I am still keeper of this garden of the dead, where my spiritual children lie at rest. My greatest pleasure is to go there to say my beads and meditate on that unending happiness which so many of them are already enjoying."

(A Cemetery in Kona, Hawaii)