Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Honolulu – June 8, 2007, 7:00 p.m.

By the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu

[Jeremiah 1:4-9; Romans 12:4-8; Luke 10:1-9]

Dear Father Damien,

In a moment we will rouse you and all your companions in heaven from your eternal rest, to beg you to pray for us and especially for these three men who will be ordained priests. More than a century-and-a-half ago, those who were gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace for your ordination stormed the heavens with their prayers for you. And so we will join with Christians of all ages who have asked the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest, and we will see the answer to our prayers this very night.

What joy must have been in your heart that day of your ordination, but a bit of sadness, too, that such a momentous and long-awaited day would be celebrated half a world away from your beloved family. These men, too, have come from far away places, where their families are keeping vigil with a bit of sadness that they could not all be here to witness this wonderful event. Yet, these brothers of ours are filled with joy, because they have learned that no matter how far away they are from the familiar and the beloved, the kingdom of God is at hand right here and makes the world very small indeed.

When you made your promise of obedience and respect to your bishop, did it occur to you that sometimes it would be easy to keep that promise, but sometimes very difficult, especially when even your bishop joined others in criticizing your work and questioning your motives? So it is, Father Damien, that we ask you not just to pray for them, but to pray for us, so that we may all be obedient and faithful to the Good Shepherd, and that all of us, priest, people and bishop, may always be faithful prophets of the Lord, uttering his word alone, whether that word soothes or stings, whether it affirms or challenges.

When the bishop laid his hands upon your head, and the priests followed him, did you know then that their work and your work were really the same work, that each one who touched you would also be touched by you, so that as one body you would give glory to God? Did you realize then that the Lord was not sending you out alone, no matter how isolated you might feel, but rather with companions for the journey, just as he sent out those original seventy-two? We must tell you, dear Father Damien, how blessed we are to be able to say that we are in the same presbyterate of Honolulu as you were. And we beg your prayers that these men to be ordained and all of us may have the untiring and unselfish love you had. We ask your prayers that in the stresses and strains of ministry, they may become even more filled with zeal to serve the Lord and his beloved people. As we marvel at this paradise in which God has placed us, pray that we will imitate you in noticing the outcast, the poor, the hungry and the hopeless. Pray that we will all be as dedicated to serving them as you were.

When your hands were anointed that day at the Cathedral, did you imagine that those same hands would build water lines and houses, churches and coffins; that they would touch the untouchable to communicate to the unloved the love of God made flesh; that they would bandage the wounds of those who were sick in body and sick in soul? Pray for these our brothers, that they will know that the anointed hands that call down the Spirit to change mere bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord of Life will give even more nourishment as they touch today’s untouchables, and bandage wounded hearts and a wounded world. Pray that in consecrating bread and wine, they will consecrate us all, even in our most leprous sins, to make of us the Body of Christ, the Beloved Son of God, so that in his name we may go to every town and village in the world.

As you pray for them, dear Kamiano, pray that they will know as you knew how important it is for them to spend time in prayer throughout the hours of the day before the Chief Shepherd, so that they will know how to be good shepherds; to plead each day to the master of the harvest, so that he will allow them to reap a fruitful harvest; to pray for their people, so that they will be a holy people; to consume God’s word, so that they may speak God’s word in their silence and in their singing.

And most of all, Blessed Father Damien, pray that a century or more from now, God’s people will be gathered together again in the same kind of joy we feel tonight to witness the ordination of even more laborers for the Lord’s harvest, and that these three brothers and all whose lives they touched as priests will be roused from their eternal rest to pour out their prayers for new harvesters of God’s kingdom.