Meet our guest blogger, Damien O’Connor. Damien is the Senior Director of Evangelization and Faith Formation at KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS SUPREME COUNCIL Milford, Connecticut
Damien has studied the life of St. Damien throughout his life and has been the recipient of countless blessings attributed to his intercession. Damien passionately believes that we all must put our faith into action and that by surrendering our lives completely to God, we will know a joy that cannot be measured. Damien and his family lives in Connecticut although his favorite place to visit is Molokai.
Aloha! I am honored to contribute to this blog and sincerely hope that anyone who reads this grows closer to St. Damien of Molokai and ultimately, through his intercession, grow closer to our Lord.
My relationship with St. Damien began when I was a child. My mother was from Belgium and I was named after him, Damien Joseph O’Connor. Growing up, my mother instilled in me that I was to be very proud of my name. I certainly was but looking back, it was really because I liked the thought of having a unique name and someone cool that I was named after. I had no idea as a child the extent through which St. Damien would intercede for me throughout my life. I’ve studied his life since I can remember and turned to him for his intercession unceasingly. It is remarkable how often he responds to my prayers with very clear signs that cannot be explained away or considered coincidence. His signs are extremely generous and clear. Interpreted individually, they may seem like nothing more than luck, but I assure you, they are a blessing. To be honest, most of the ways in which I experience St. Damien’s presence are through subtle signs but there are certainly bold examples as well.
If I may, I’d like to share a relatively recent story. As I mentioned, my mother Nelly grew up in Belgium and moved to the United States when she was 18. Her entire adult life, she was a mental health nurse in Rochester, NY. She was the most selfless person I ever met and did everything possible to make sure she stayed out of the limelight. She was a person of deep faith and for many years, I thought that meant she confidently trusted in God. I was wrong, she prayed often and was a daily communicant because she depended on God; there’s a difference.
Mom’s “go-to” saints were the Blessed Mother and St. Damien (well before he was Beatified and Canonized). To be honest, they are my “go-to” saints as well. When the world received the awesome news that Blessed Damien would be Canonized, there was nothing that would keep me from going. St. Damien’s religious order, the Sacred Hearts Fathers of Jesus and Mary, whom we were very close to, organized a pilgrimage to the Canonization and Mom and I signed up. The experiences of that pilgrimage were overwhelming and can only be shared adequately in another blog. Enough to share for now that I experienced what I learned a long time ago: God is constantly present among us and desperately desires for us to accept His love. We must not only open our hearts to Him through intentional daily prayer, I believe we must also “name” the ways in which we experience Him. That said, we too often look for God in dramatic signs or experiences. While these things do happen, we are tragically missing the incredible blessings of God around us every moment of every day when we miss the simple signs.
St. Damien of Molokai was Canonized on October 11, 2009. I knew that this date and many other experiences we had, would culminate in profoundly deeper meanings if we but paid attention.
In 2012 my mother was not feeling well and soon we learned that the horrible cancer she had beaten ten years prior, came back with a vengeance. She was put on chemotherapy once a week and had the fourth week “off.” Mom lived this way for three years. It was horrible and, in the end, she was a shell of herself. During those three years we, in many ways, switched roles. We often talked about St. Damien and it was also remarkable how often she would tell me about wonderful blessings that would happen. I would usually ask what time these things happened and usually they were between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, the Hour of Mercy. Those three years that Mom was dying she exemplified Fr. Damien. There is no record of him confidently trusting in God at all times. On the contrary he courageously depended on God. He readily admitted that without the Blessed Sacrament and Confession, he could never have served in the capacity he did. This was exactly how mom lived and ultimately died.
The days leading up to mom’s death were in many ways a blur and exhausting as is often the case. I made several trips back and forth from Connecticut to Rochester, NY often wondering if that would be the last time I’d see mom. My final trip, I drove through the night to get there as it seemed clear that her passing was imminent. When I arrived, she was on a respirator and couldn’t speak. We stayed with her and tried our best to comfort her. I and my family members told her it was ok to let go…”you did a great job mom…we’re ok.” But she was a stubborn Belgian woman who survived Nazi-occupied Belgium during WWII. She would go on her own terms.
At about 1:30 in the afternoon, mom wanted to speak, and my sister-in-law put her ear up to Mom’s mouth. Mom asked, “What time is it?” I gasped out loud because I knew why she was asking. Mom died that day, it was a Sunday. The time was 3:00 PM, the Hour of Mercy. The date was October 11…the anniversary of the Canonization of St. Damien of Molokai.
St. Damien and dare I say Mom, taught us that if we pay attention to God’s love and mercy around us, we will experience His profound love even in the midst of terrible suffering. The trick is that we must consistently “name” and acknowledge even the simplest of signs God provides. Added up, they become a symphony of God’s mercy that we cannot deny and ultimately learn to depend on.