God bless all this feast of one of the Apostles, St. Barnabas!
It is also Kamehameha Day in the State of Hawaii, in remembrance of the unification of the Hawaiian Islands into one Kingdom by King Kamehameha the Great (Kamehameha I).
Unity is hard to come by, as we know.
Both Barnabas and Kamehameha the Great were unifiers, though by different means.
Peace and reconciliation is a sign of being righteous, not vanity and greed. To put things right, “ho’opono”, is hard sometimes because we have too much baggage and not enough baggage handlers.
Let us pray for our own pono, that we might put things right and back into balance in our own lives! Amen!
Scripture:
“Remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart. They laid hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 11)
“The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds. all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.” (Psalm 98)
“I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13)
“Go first and be reconciled with your brother.” (Matthew 5)
Blessings, pono and pule!
Fr. Brian Guerrini, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai