The crowds constantly came looking for Jesus: they came to hear Jesus and receive healing from Him. Throughout history there have been holy men and women who experienced something similar - crowds came to them. Today we commemorate a different kind of saint, a saint who went to the crowds, crowds who could not go anywhere looking for help, because they were slaves locked up in the slave ships bringing them from Africa to South America. The Jesuit Peter Claver made it his priestly work to serve these African slaves. When the ships arrived, many of the slaves were dead. Others were very ill and some were dying. Peter did what he could for them, not only on the ships but also afterwards in the plantations where they worked. He brought about three hundred thousand of them to Christ.

Looking back, we may wonder how human beings, supposedly Christians, could have so maltreated the slaves and the native peoples of what is now South America. We may feel that Peter's work did little to bring about a change in the system. But he shows that we can at least bring God's mercy and love into situations where it is not possible to do more.