Photo: Magalie L’Abbé, (CC BY-NC 2.0)
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.” (Acts 2:1)
On the first Pentecost, the Apostles were gathered in one place, as one “ohana,” when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were inspired to “witness to Jesus” with others through acts of love and service. This summer, the Holy Spirit continued to set hearts on fire in Catholic married couples, actively sharing aloha through social ministry.
Bernie and Dave of St. Ann Parish in Kaneohe celebrated their 50th summer together by leading volunteer parishioners preparing a community clinic for homeless persons in Windward Oahu. Toni and Dane from Mary, Star of the Sea Parish celebrated their 25th summer together by leading parishioners at the “Sun Light, Sun Bright” keiki day at the Women’s Correctional Community Center in Kailua, which reunited incarcerated moms with their children and family caregivers.
Joseph and Megan of Maui celebrated their seventh summer together by accompanying migrant families trying to build for themselves a better future at the Dolores Mission Parish in East Los Angeles. Here are some thoughts they shared with parishioners on Pentecost Sunday:
“I grew up in a family where tamales at Christmas time was an annual tradition. My grandmother, my abuelita, my nana Concha, spent days making tamales from scratch in her small kitchen. My nana has since long passed, but two Christmases ago, my mother Olga got my family together to make tamales from my nana’s recipe. My mom decided it was something that our family needed to do together, because a few months earlier, my youngest brother had been convicted of a drug-related crime and was incarcerated in Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana.
“You see, my brother had struggled with the demons and illness of substance addiction for over 10 years, in and out of rehab. It was the first Christmas we would spend apart as a family. So here we were, in my mother’s kitchen, with an assembly line of family members making tamales from scratch. My father Tom made the masa. One person would put the masa on the hojas de maiz, pass it to another person who put in the pollo, pass it down to another person for the chile, queso, cilantro.
“At some point, my mother looked up and saw each of our shirts and hands covered in masa, standing on a floor with food everywhere. And through the deep pain and sadness she felt about my brother, she said to us through tears, ‘Familia, look at us. We’re messy. But we’re together. Messy but together. And that’s all that matters.’ …
“Each of us deeply wants to belong. We all yearn for places where we can experience unity, being in one place together, being ‘on one accord’ as was written earlier this Easter season in the Scriptures. It is part of human nature. But we are being ripped apart as a country, as a people.
“We hear a dominant message in this moment that says, we are safer the more segregated we are from one another. The message is that we do not belong to one another. That some people, because of their brown or black skin, because of their country of origin, because of their religion or sexual orientation or language, are the enemy. They are to be feared. They are to be excluded. And those anxieties are being exploited for political gain.
“We are called to widen our circle of human concern, especially in these dark days for our country. Everyone is my Pueblo, but my Pueblo is, in a particular and special way, those who are hurting most. Those who are told they don’t belong.
“My father has said often that a parent is only as happy as their least happy child. We suffer when those we love suffer. To place ourselves in the storm of people’s lives, to get close to them, not just to help, but so that they can change us. Who in your life are you being called to get closer to, listen deeply to, understand better, suspend judgment about, open your heart to, overcome your fear of?
“How easily we let fear get in the way of our ability to enter into deeper encounter, deeper communion with one another … so that we can be messy, but together. Broken but held. Imperfect but deeply loved. Different but all belonging to each other … on a mission to ease suffering in our midst, and build the kingdom of God on earth … as a body is one, though it has many parts, and all parts of the body, though many, are one body in Christ.”
May the Holy Spirit continue to burn within our hearts long after this summer. God bless all the married couples celebrating anniversaries in service together. We also pray for all those separated from loved ones to one day reunite in one place together … as One Ohana in Christ.
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
