APOSTLES OF FAITH AND HOPE IN LIBERIA

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“I am a doctor visiting. John looks great. See pictures below.” “He is wonderfully well and full of joy you should be very proud” “I'll let you tell the other parents that everyone in the community seems well.”         Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan



I opened my email and those wonderful words greeted me!   A surprise message sent all the way from Liberia by an American doctor who traveled there on a medical mission.

God is so big…and technology has made the world so small…and the hearts of good people are exploding with love and I am so grateful to be a recipient of that river of grace pouring forth all the way from Liberia to New Orleans!

Sunday I spoke with my oldest son Johnny and he told me about an American doctor who met with him and the other members of Comunita Cenacolo who are caring for orphan children in Liberia.  When I hung up the phone with my son I immediately searched the internet for information about the good Dr. and I found his blog…And then lo and behold he emails me the next day.  What a gift! 

Via email I thanked Dr. Flanigan and his family for their sacrifice and their service.  His response to me says it all.  “Thanks. We have five kids too. I've copied my wife Luba who is holding down the fort and doing all the hard work with none of the credit.”

Dr. Timothy Flanigan is an Infectious Disease Specialist in Providence Rhode Island, a Catholic Deacon, and married father of five children who is on a medical mission to Liberia….Please go to his blog at http://www.timothypflaniganmd.com/?p=371 and follow how the holy spirit is guiding this gifted man in the midst of great suffering and in the face of a tremendous health risk-Ebola. 

I think about that a lot.  How some people are destined to lead others to a higher level of discipleship through their sacrificial work.  Dr. Flanigan, Johnny and all the members of the community in Liberia are modern day apostles, serving the poorest among us in response to a direct call from God.  There is no other source or reason for them to be in Liberia.  God called them-and they said yes.  In my mind, it is as simple and as powerful as that. 

I’d like to close with a portion of Dr. Flanigan’s homily about fear and faith, at this past Sunday’s Mass in Liberia.  You can read the entire homily which was posted on his blog on Sept. 8th…

“What to do? What to do? What does NOT work is to deny the presence of fear. It does NOT work to try and overcome it by becoming even more and more disciplined, by working at it harder and harder, and being more and more careful. (Though there’s nothing wrong with discipline, hard work, or being careful.) But … try as we might, we cannot force away our fear, or our doubt, or our sin. It is part of our very humanness. We all have eaten the apple, and are all fallen.


“What can we do? We can literally throw ourselves into the arms of Mary and Jesus who know us better than we know ourselves. Jesus has known us since we were in our mother’s womb. We literally have to abandon ourselves into Mary and Jesus’ loving and tender arms … and we know that Mary’s arms always cradle us close to the Heart of her Son.”          Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan

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