Fr. Damien, A Man of the Gospel

Today the Church around the world celebrates the third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday.  As we wait together for the coming of our Lord and the fulfillment of our hope we are reminded of joy; joy which is the effect of God's presence with us.  Our attention turns, in the midst of our waiting, our impatience, our struggles with the present, to the sure joy of our faith, the joy of having God with us and being with God.  In our first reading today we are called to joy: "Shout for joy!"  "Be glad and exult with all your heart!"  We are filled with joy because our God is with us and is in our midst.  He has chosen to join himself with us, to forgive and liberate us, and to forever be our Lord, our Brother, our Savior.  "He will rejoice over YOU in gladness... He will sing joyfully because of YOU."

And so today we, with the Church throughout the generations, without fear and without hesitation rejoice in and announce the Gospel, the GOOD NEWS.  As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, reminds us so often, the Good News is a person, it is Jesus Christ- who is love and came to be forever with us.

Sometimes it is tough to do this.  It's not always easy to express joy and to rejoice in the hope of our faith.  We all experience pain and weather what seems like more than our fair share of deserts.  And yet somehow God remains with us and against all odds fills us with joy.  It is not always easy, either, to find good examples and leaders who unreservedly and fearlessly announce the Good News.  Early on in my formation as a seminarian in Baltimore I had the awesome opportunity to be with and learn from a true hero, a true man of the Gospel who lived joy, Fr. Damien Nalepa of St. Gregory the Great Parish in West Baltimore, best known as Fr. D.

Fr. D. passed away this summer unexpectantly in his sleep.  His absence is surely still felt by many throughout Baltimore, but his witness lives on.  Fr. D. was a simple man who gave his whole life to the people of Baltimore and to living the Gospel.  He was a blast to be with and never stopped serving.  Fr. D. had a contagious joy that he spread everywhere he went.  He spread this joy with prisoners at the Baltimore City Jail where he served as chaplain.  He spread joy to the recovering addicts who would meet and congregate in the church basement of St. Gregs.  He spread his joy with the hungry who came through the weekly soup kitchen in the church basement, the young families who would come to the church food pantry, the countless who benefited from the Christmas giving program-- both givers and recipients.  He spread joy with his brother priests and life-long friends, those relationships which had been formed around the joy of Christ.  He spread joy with the surrounding neighborhood of Gilmore Homes.  And most of all, Fr. D. spread joy in the parish community, the CHURCH FAMILY of St. Gregory the Great, a booming and vibrant family of people from all walks of life who come together to worship, to praise, and to give of themselves for the community.  And so I could not think of a better example, a better icon, of Gaudete Sunday than Fr. Damien.

Maybe the story which best describes Fr. D. took place as I was leaving his viewing this past August.  As I crossed the intersection of Gilmor and Baker Streets, a man who was sitting on the park bench called out to me, "Hey father!  Come over here, I want to meet you."  It may seem odd, but after spending a summer at St. Gregs, I wasn't surprised in the least.  So I walk over to the park bench where this man, a middle-aged construction worker on his lunch break, and another man from the neighborhood stood up, "I want to shake your hand.  You knew Fr. D., didn't you."  They continued, "Yeah, we sure are going to miss him.  We all knew he was on our side.  He was here for us.  So we wanted to meet you; you're one of them, one of the pastors."  As the conversation continued, I was floored at how big of an impact Fr. Damien had on these two men and on the whole community.  They knew that he was there for them.  They knew that they were loved.  And it was because of this, because of this awesome impact that Fr. D. had on them, that they wanted to meet me, a friend of Fr. D and another Catholic who wanted to give his life to being with them and for them, like Fr. D had done.    

To be honest, this brief interaction was the proudest moment that I have ever experienced of being a seminarian.  I have prayed and gone to confession at the site where Jesus rose from the dead; I have dipped my hands into the Jordan River; I have shaken the pope's hand and kissed the ring of Peter; but those moments, as awesome as they were, made a whole lot more sense and were given a deeper understanding and appreciation after having encountered these two men who saw in a Catholic priest someone who mattered.  These men recognized, because of the clothes that I was wearing, that I was there for them out of a deep joy-filled love.  Fr. D. lived this joy-filled love day after day.  He talked to everyone he saw and was always looking for new ways to help, new ways to assist people with their needs for food, shelter, money, support, prayer, school supplies, etc.

Fr. Damien was also committed to justice, not as a concept or an agenda, but as the right thing to do for real people living in a real world.  He saw the West Baltimore community as his responsibility and therefore that community was also the responsibility of St. Gregory the Great Parish.  The church family on Gilmor and Baker streets announces the Good News and takes care of the people in their neighborhood.  They are an anchor, working for the wellbeing of the people of West Baltimore.  In my short summer with Fr. D. at St. Gregs we welcomed and blessed the homes/appartments of several new-comers to the area, visited men and women in prison, gave food to the hungry, sat and talked with people struggling from addictions, distributed clothes and school supplies, and asked/begged for money for the church.  We also worked with the youth of the parish and the surrounding neighborhood, praying with them and encouraging them to open their hearts to Christ.  Living the Good News for Fr. Damien was a constant.  It started inside the chapel with prayer and the sacraments and flowed out into the community in everything we did.

In his fight for justice, Fr. Damien was able to speak so that he was heard and make a difference in an area stricken with senseless violence and rampant drug-enduced despair.  He entered into these dark realities with a constant smile and an unwaivering determination.  He was known to literally chase drug dealers off of their corners saying, "We don't want your business here!  Go away!"  He started a program called the Gun Turn-In, a program that sought to get guns off the streets.  His thought was that the less guns out there, the less accidents or gun-related crimes there could be.  He also knew that taking a public stand for justice is always noticed, and being a person of peace does make a difference.  And so Fr. Damien was known for putting together peace rallies and taking the Gospel message of Peace and Reconciliation to the streets.

Fr. Damien Nalepa was a man of peace.  He was a man of joy.  He was a man of the Good News.  We are called to be the same.  We are called to be Good News to the poor, to be ministers of joy, to be Christians.

Today, on Gaudete Sunday, allow yourself to be filled with joy.  God can and will do it.  Then share joy.