By Josh Noem
Molly Hightower is the saint who said "yes."
It is easy to canonize those who die tragically and suddenly, but that is not my intention here. Molly may very well be named a saint one day - it would not be out of the question - but I'd like to refer to her as a saint with a small "s" for now. We are all small "s" saints if we say "yes" in our small corners of life to the opportunity to give of ourselves.
The first thing that went through my mind when I heard Molly was missing was this: "she gave everything."
Molly went to Haiti to share her life with people who are poor, knowing that this experience would ask her to give of herself.
Her "yes" to this opportunity meant that she shared not only her life, but also her death with so many of the poor in Haiti. She gave everything.
A teacher of mine said that what moves us towards holiness is not what is in our heads or our hearts, though these are important. What fundamentally moves us towards holiness is where we put our bodies.
Molly put her body in Haiti. She spoke French and she knew there were French-speaking people with special needs in Haiti, so she went there. If she did nothing else besides step on a plane headed for Haiti, that in itself was a statement of radical solidarity, a "yes" to the opportunity to share life with those on the margins.
I worked with Molly for a year when she was preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. I remember her being touched by her experience sharing food and conversation with the homeless downtown. She learned to meet Christ in the poor.
So she went to Haiti to use her French to serve the poorest of the poor in the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere.
The people she spent time with were children with no resources of their own. The people she spent her time with were abandoned by their parents. The people she spent her time with had disabilities. These were the lowest of the low.
Molly's "yes" meant she shared a radical solidarity with these people in life and even in her death. Her time in Haiti was marked by pain and suffering, to be sure, but it was also profoundly marked by joy, which you can see shining through the stories she shares on her blog. She embraced the pain of the world with the punctured arms of Christ and was surprised by beauty, joy and new life.
She knew that she was not going to change Haiti. She knew that she would not be able to reverse the history of corruption and violence and extreme poverty there. These facts did not stop her from saying "yes" to share life with those in need and this radical solidarity is evidence of deep hope.
Molly's life of faith carried deep hope that her radical solidarity with the lowest of the low would somehow be enough. It would not change the world, it would not change the country or the city or even the neighborhood.
But it would, even if for a moment, change one. In that one she encountered Christ and she stood with him there. She died with him there. She gave everything.
Saint Molly Hightower, pray for us that we may say "yes" as you did, that our lives might embrace suffering with deep hope, that we find beauty, joy and new life by giving everything.
Josh Noem is Assistant Director of Campus Ministry
