This Election We Have Only One Sure Winner; And That’s God Almighty!
Deacon Patrick Constantino | Photos: Patrick Constantino
The Election should not upset us because of the results. Win or lose, we are still loved by God! It is what we make of it as human beings. Decisions are where we go from here and what we do for God’s people here on earth. That is most important.
Let me start with the Gospel of Mark 12:28b-34.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark:
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than He.’ And ‘to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!
Our Ten Commandments are our church Laws
“Which is the first of all the Commandments?”
First Commandment: “The Lord our God is Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
Second Commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus did do one thing in particular—He linked two commandments in an intimate way. And what He was saying is this—there is no such thing as Love of God without Love of neighbor. They are not two separate things. Love of God is love of neighbor and vice versa. This is truly important stuff—something we still struggle with believing today!
His message is clear—-Love, love, love everyone no matter what! That means there will be a time when we are not as sure as we would like to be, times when it is not perfectly clear how we should act in a given situation. And sometimes or more likely, often the commandments of God do not really rubber-stamp one decision over another, do not guide us 100% in one direction and 0% in another.
That is where our conscience comes in. Many of God’s commandments provide the invaluable direction, the necessary guardrails, the principles for doing the right thing. But often situations come to what the voice within is saying—our God speaking to us in the deepest recesses of our hearts. And this can be a little fuzzy, a little hard to discern at times. So what are we to do? It might sound like a cop-out but often all we can do is do the absolute best we can, make the best decision we know how, love as best we can!
And sometimes that means choosing whichever decision is tipped even slightly in a particular direction, whichever decision seems more in line with who we know Jesus to be—from our sacred texts and the holy teachings of the Church. Together with our informed conscience, they provide a major source of guidance for us as we struggle to always do the right thing.
Yet, it often remains precisely that—a struggle. And do not worry—God understands the challenges we face—and will be alongside us helping us every step of the way! Agreeing with and understanding the idea, law, the commandment gets us close to the Kingdom of God but obeying it through action is what actually shows that through love! When we are committed to love, we are not far from the Kingdom of God. It is like the open door to His Kingdom!
Reflection With Sacred Scripture
No matter how the election results turn out, we are committed by God to love as He loves us and to support the winners and losers. To love them all with unconditional love. It is hard but we must do that! We must pray for all of them. They all came out to be brave enough to run for office, to serve for the good of our community, country, and world. Let us pray for them and that there will be peace in our country and world.
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 is married to his lovely wife Corazon for sixty-four years. They are blessed with four children, eleven grandchildren, and fifteen great grandchildren.