Maui Vicariate Eucharistic Revival
June 2, 2024, St. Anthony of Padua Church
Deacon Patrick Constantino | Photos courtesy Madeline Pascual
Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
Gospel of Mark 14:12–16, 22–26
Can you remember when someone told you something that was shocking? Maybe it was the news of sudden death of a family member; or the news we heard over twenty years ago that airplanes had been initially flown into building as an act of terrorism; or being told that one has cancer. Our hearts stop for a minute. We almost lose our breath. We make some kind of exclamation. These are moments we probably remember forever.
Today we hear of Jesus saying something shocking to his disciples as he was gathered with them for the Last Supper. This is the Passover meal that Jews had celebrated for centuries and still celebrate to commemorate God’s liberating them from slavery in Egypt. They always passed bread and wine, so that was completely expected and normal. But when Jesus passed the bread saying, “This is my body,” and when he passed the wine saying “This is my blood,” it must have been terribly shocking to hear. “What do you mean? ‘This is my body? This is my blood?’ These are merely bread and wine, and your body we can see, your blood we know is flowing within you because you are alive here before us.” Maybe some of them remembered Jesus saying that he would give his flesh and blood as food and drink for the life of the world, but really did not grasp fully what he meant by that. Some where scandalized by what they heard and decided they could no longer follow Jesus. But some believed, without fully understanding. In any case, it is important that we reflect upon how shocking those words were the first time they were heard.
We seem no longer to be shocked by them, since we hear them so often—every time we come to Mass. Some may even find the words so repetitive that they are boring. Yet do we allow ourselves to be sufficiently shocked when bread and wine are placed upon the altar and become the Body and Blood of Christ himself? We can easily overlook the miracle that takes place right before our very eyes. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, is physically present to us and allows himself to be our food and our drink. He who lived two thousand years ago, who died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, is the “living bread come down from heaven,” just as he promised, and he is here present with us today. We may be so accustomed to the Eucharist that it no longer shocks us. This is perhaps why the Church gives us this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, so that we can take a step back and be shocked by how much God loves us that he allows the Son of God himself to be our food. If we truly grasped this wonderful gift, we would be shocked again and again.
Today as we form a procession to take Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament out to the streets, we are not just performing a religious act. Many cultures have religious processions with the cross or a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the center, which is carried and venerated. But we take not just some sacred object, but a person, the living person of Jesus Christ. And just as people flocked to Jesus long ago to be forgiven their sins and healed of their infirmities, who knows what miracles of conversion and healing he may perform today?
But do you hear something else that shocking? Jesus, by means of this holy sacrament of his Body and Blood, makes us sinners members of his living Body, so that in the Church, we can continue Jesus’ ministry of healing the sick, casting out demons, and even raising the dead! If we allow ourselves to truly understand who we are—by sheer grace and the gift of God—the world would be a different place. And this is what Jesus intends. He wants us to shock the world with his continued presence with us, so that what we weak humans do can be accomplished with the power of God himself.
How sad that we have allowed ourselves to think of the Eucharist as boring, something that we have to be obliged to celebrate every Sunday. If we allow ourselves to be shocked anew by the original shock the disciples experienced that night of the Last Supper, we would flock to be here as often as we can to be in the physical presence of the one who loves us more than we can possibly imagine. We would shock the world anew as Jesus did two thousand years ago by being his healing and reconciling presence for the life of the world.
The Eucharistic Revival Maui celebration was well attended by all our Priests, Deacons, Religious and parish families for all our churches on Maui. St. Anthony Church was packed and over-flowing. They estimated about nine hundred plus in attendance! After Mass we had Adoration and Exposition with the Holy Eucharist and then started our journey singing religious songs, praying the Holy Rosary, praying the Divine Mercy Caplet from St. Anthony Church, Wailuku to Christ the King Church, Kahului. Bishop Larry Silva started the procession carrying the monstrance of the Holy Eucharist under a canopy guarded by our Knights of Columbus color guards, and escorted by the MC, Altar Servers, Deacons, Priests, and followed by our parish families. Our Priests, Deacons, alternated carrying the Holy Eucharist monstrance at different stops on their way to Christ the King Church. It took about 1-1/2 hours to two hours. Responses to this procession: “It was great walking with Jesus.” “When can we do it again!” “I felt loved and special walking with Jesus.” Maria said, “I walked all the way to Ka‘ahumanu Shopping Center and was tired and Fr. Ace picked me up and took me to Christ the King Church, it was nice walking with Jesus even if I didn’t make it all the way.” Dennis, Bonnie, Susan, Frances, Kekupaa, John, the Cabacungan family helped the elderly on their journey assisting them in their needs. One elderly they said had surgery several weeks ago and insisted to do the walk.
They watched her until she had to be picked up by the van. She said she is stronger and okay, praise the Lord! Kekupaa a youth who attended the Youth Conference at St. Theresa Church, Kihei, several weeks ago, said, “It was nice seeing other youth who attended the Youth Conference, we talked together and it was like a reunion for them talking stories and having fun!” Three-year-old Walter and Kahiwa made the walk also with their parents and said “I am hungry and tired but ran around the yard at Christ the King, Walter slept in his stroller. At the end of the procession Bishop Larry, in Christ the King Church led the Benediction of the Holy Eucharist with prayers. Bentos and lots of water were given at the cafeteria. A Eucharistic Lapel was given to everyone who attended. The beauty of this celebration is to bring families and parishes together for the best reason to be together as Eucharist people of God and to become good Stewards of the Gospel! This is the reason we should gather as often as we can. The Eucharist is our life! It is the reason we are living!
We should be Eucharistic people in order to be good stewards of the Gospels!
This day was a special day for me. Eucharistic Revival! What does it mean to me? I read in St. Faustina Kowalska, Dairy, Divine Mercy in My Soul. #1392—it says: “All the good that is in me is due to Holy Communion. I owe everything to it. I feel that this holy fire has transformed me completely. Oh, how happy I am to be a dwelling place for you, O Lord! My heart is a temple in which you dwell continually …” This is truly the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad! We can receive the Holy Eucharist everyday of our life and this is truly our mission to become good stewards of God. To receive Him and become a Eucharistic person. When we become Him we become true Stewards of the Gospels. The Eucharist did not only revive me but reset my life in every way by God! We need to look at our lives and press the reset button with the Holy Eucharist in our Life! Remember we are always Eucharistic people, and being good Eucharistic people makes good Stewards of the Gospels for God! May God make us all Eucharistic people! Jesus, I trust in You! Amen!
Deacon Patrick Constantino retired from active Ministry on July 1, 2022. He is still a Deacon in good standing with full faculties to perform all sacraments in the Diocesan of Honolulu Hawai‘i. Constantino has been ordained for thirty-seven years. He is the first Filipino Deacon in the Diocesan of Honolulu. Prior to his ordination, Constantino was in government—first appointed in 1966 as Assistant Sergeant of Arms by the Speaker of the House Elmer F. Cravalho. When Cravalho became Maui’s first Mayor, Constantino became his Executive Assistant—the first of Filipino ancestry. Later, Constantino became the first County Treasurer of Filipino ancestry and the first County Grants Administrator and Risk Manager of Filipino ancestry. Constantino has been married to his lovely wife Corazon for sixty-four years. They are blessed with four children, eleven grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren.