Scripture Readings

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 Reflection on Today’s Feast

By Fr. Joseph Parkes, SJ

John was born in 1850 in what is present-day Ukraine. After ordination he taught in schools for 17 years and also was in charge of the school infirmary.

At the age of 48, at his request, he was assigned to work with lepers on Madagascar. His ministry to the lepers was heroic. He lived with them, treated their wounds and raised money to provide them with food and clothes and eventually a hospital. He was so beloved that the lepers called him by a name that meant "father and mother.”

John is a striking example of the SUSCIPE: “Take Lord, Receive All I Have and Possess..." His heroism makes me proud to be a Jesuit and challenges me to be more generous in serving the marginalized.

I think he should be made the Patron Saint of the Ukraine.

Blessed John Beyzym, pray for us!

Previous Reflections

October 12, 2021 – By Wendell J. Laurent

Today we celebrate the Polish Jesuit Blessed Jan ("John") Beyzym, SJ (1850-1912), known as the "Servant of Lepers" on account of the many years he spent working with lepers in Madagascar.

 Jan entered the Society of Jesus in 1872 at the age of twenty-two. As a novice, he joined other Jesuits in caring for the victims of a cholera epidemic. This early experience may have planted the seed of Jan's desire to work with lepers. Ordained to the priesthood in 1881, Jan spent the next seventeen years teaching in Jesuit schools in Poland.

 During his years as a teacher, Jan repeatedly requested assignment to the missions to work with lepers. In 1898, his wishes were fulfilled when he was assigned to work at a leprosarium in Ambahivuraka, Madagascar.

 Arriving at Ambahivuraka, Jan found 150 patients living in deplorable conditions, lacking adequate shelter, nutrition or medical treatment. Jan immediately began working to improve the quality of food, medical care and housing available at the leprosarium, all the while laying plans for a new hospital that would better serve the needs of people suffering from leprosy. Jan also worked to change social attitudes toward leprosy, seeking the overcome the widespread stigma attached to the disease.

 Jan Beyzym was beatified by Pope Jan Paul II in 2002. Though he is comparatively little-known outside of the countries where he lived, he offers all Jesuits an inspiring example of dedication to the mission of the Society. As a missionary, Jan was conscious of both the global dimension of the Society's work and the importance of working on a local level to meet the most pressing of human needs.

 These words of Father Beyzym are worthy of reflection:

 “One's country is where the greater service of God and help of souls is found. It does not matter where you live, at the Equator or the North Pole. What really matters is to die in the service of the Lord Jesus as a member of our holy Society.”

 Blessed John Beyzym, pray for us!

 Mr. Laurent serves as the Vocation Team Coordinator in the Vocations Office for the USA East Jesuit Province .