Many who serve show heroism in saintly ministry

Men and women who leave the comfort and familiarity of their own country or locale in order to respond to the needs of others are to be commended for their service. Sometimes the response is urgent, as in the wake of a disaster, while for others; it is a lifelong endeavor to serve in a particular way that often involves heroism and a sincere desire to assist the unfortunate members of the human family.

Professor Francis J. Ambrosio at Georgetown University makes a distinction between heroism and the saint’s mission of love. He states, “The hero realizes the goal of self-fulfillment and self-mastery through achievement and the overcoming of obstacles to fulfill his or her fate,” while, “the saint identifies selfhood primarily in relation to others, human or divine, in a covenant bond of care, concern, and responsibility.”

Although the distinction may be justified, there are certainly many individuals who display the courage and ability of a hero in their saintly ministry to others in some combination of the two contrasting qualities.

Dr. Paul Brand is an example of one individual who would certainly fall into that category. Brand was born in India to parents who were medical missionaries from England. When he was 9 years old, he was sent to a boarding school in London. His parents hoped that he would eventually surpass their medical knowledge and become a surgeon, as the need was so great. But, Brand said he had no interest in medicine and that the sight of blood made him ill.

Sometime later, through chance or the hand of God, Brand was asked to assist in a blood transfusion to a young girl who had lost all vital signs. As the blood flowed into her vein, he looked down and saw color return to her ashen face and began to feel a pulse as he touched her wrist. He knew then what his lifework would be.

Brand was a medical student in London during the Blitz of WWII as wave after wave of German bombers nearly destroyed the city. The students were often called upon to attend to the injured during the raids. After receiving his medical degree, Brand continued his studies in London in order to specialize in hand surgery. Many of the villagers near his parent’s mission were lepers and he saw how important the use of fingers were for people to feed and clothe themselves as well as to find employment.

Brand and his wife, an eye surgeon, returned to India and opened a clinic. His father had died from Black Fever when he 15. His mother continued her ministry by horseback over the Killer Mountains in southern India until the age of 93 when her arthritic joints could no longer hold her body upright. Even then, villagers would come to carry her on a stretcher if someone desperately needed her help. When she died at 95, her body was wrapped in a clean but well-worn sheet and buried, without a coffin, next to her husband.

Brand and his wife worked with the lepers in India for 20 years until he took a position at a hospital in Louisiana that was the only hospital exclusively for lepers in the United States. He felt the research center there offered the technological support needed to benefit millions of leprosy patients worldwide. Brand estimates that the 10,000 to 15,000 hand surgeries he performed on lepers were less than one percent of the lepers who could be helped. When the hospital closed because of a cut in government support, Brand became a professor emeritus at the University of Washington until his death in 2003, just nine days short of his 89th birthday.

When Brand began his study of anatomy, he was awed at the complexity and efficiency of the human body. The more he studied, the more his faith in God took on a deeper dimension. He began to see analogies between the human body and the body of Christ and compiled his thoughts on paper.

Years later, Philip Yancey, author and longtime editor at “Christianity Today” magazine, came to interview Brand in Louisiana and Brand showed Yancey the thoughts he had written down. The two men quickly bonded and collaborated in writing the books, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” and “In His Image”.

Scripture contains references to the body of Christ as being the union of individual members in a universal body in which Jesus Christ serves as head. One example is in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians where he writes, “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ.” Just as cells in a human body must interact beneficially with each other for a healthy body, scripture shows us the many ways that we are to serve one another, such as, “Love one another as I have loved you”.

Brand learned from his parents and from studying the healing ministry of Christ that love is expressed person to person, one person at a time. It is through a touch, a gesture, a gaze or words spoken that the heart felt message, “You are named. You are valued. You are loved” is conveyed to another person.

A leper’s flesh becomes infected because the sensitivity to pain has been lost. Brand wrote, “There are members of Christ’s body, too, whose pain we never sense, for we have denervated or cut whatever link would carry an awareness of them to us. They suffer, but silently, unnoticed by the rest of the body.”

XDr. Agnes Martinko attends St. Edward Church in Youngstown.