Marina Pascua has participated in many ministries at St. Raphael Church over the years. (Courtesy Catholic Stewardship Consultants)
By Catholic Stewardship Consultants
www.CatholicSteward.com
Marina Pascua has been an essential part of St. Raphael Church in Koloa, Kauai, for many years. In her time spent serving and volunteering at the parish, eight priests have come and gone through their assignments.
Through each season, Pascua continues to dedicate her time and energy in vital ways to the life of the parish. When her children were teenagers, she began saying “yes” to the requests for help and she has never looked back.
“My husband used to tease me that I should just take my pillow and blanket to the church since I was there more than I was home!” Pascua says. “He teased me, but he was so understanding of the time I spent there.”
In the late 1960s, Pascua started assisting with clerical and bookkeeping work in the parish office.
“Father Felix (Vandebroek) asked me for some help with different things around the office,” she says. “I would help with checks, invoices, ordering supplies and other paperwork. He offered to pay me, but I said that I would not accept any. The Lord has helped me so much so in return I wanted to give back and help the priests where I could.”
Pascua has found that meditating on God and his will has guided her through many different aspects of her life and service. Practicing stewardship — the giving of her time, talents and treasure — has deepened her spiritual life. That has been the driving force in her many years of service.
“God calls me so close to him through this,” Pascua says. “I meditate and pray first about it. The answers aren’t immediate, but I often dream about it and then I know what he wants me to do.”
A beautiful example of this is her work in decorating the church for the different liturgical seasons. She will often pray about how to decorate, and ideas will come to her in her dreams.
Pascua spends a lot of time on her hobby of ikebana, or Japanese flower arranging. She uses this talent to beautify St. Raphael: The decor comes from flowers grown on the church property, flower donations from parishioners’ homes and occasional flower orders.
“I have been known to mix artificial flowers with real flowers in our arrangements,” Pascua says. “One year, Bishop (Francis X. DiLorenzo) was visiting and he stopped to smell the beautiful orchids, but they weren’t real! He thought the flowers looked so wonderful that he said he was going to take this idea back to the cathedral!”
In addition to her clerical work and decorating the church, Pascua also serves as a lector and an extraordinary minister of holy Communion.
But Pascua’s service extends beyond the parish. She was a part of the diocesan Liturgical Commission for seven years. Additionally, she has assisted with setup and preparation for the chrism Mass for Kauai’s five parishes. (Each year, Bishop Larry Silva consecrates the holy oils that are used in parishes for the next year during a special Mass attended by pastors, who then bring the oils back to their parishes.)
“One year, Father Felix asked me to go to the chrism Mass to receive the oil for St. Raphael,” Pascua says. “It was a pleasure to go and see how this special Mass worked. After that, they started coming to each island to have the chrism Mass.
“I had gotten to know Sister Helene (Wood) through the diocesan Liturgical Commission, so she asked me to come and watch how the setup worked. Now I do it each year with the help of two or three other people. We receive the instructions from the Office of Worship at the diocese which makes it simple and easy to do. It has been a special blessing to get to help with this.”
Giving of her time has been a natural part of her life. At 86 years old, Pascua looks back gratefully on her years of volunteering not just at the parish but also with other organizations, including the Kauai Historical Society.
“God has given me these talents and I must continue to use them no matter what,” Pascua says. “The church comes first, and I never regret helping the church so much. It helped me to develop a lifelong relationship with Christ. I learned to trust him, and I know he will be on my side.”
