Hawi Town

Nice trip down to Kailua-Kona, saw the coffee farm, couldn’t find Captain Cook, had lunch, came home and took a nap. We knew there was a catholic church just outside of Hawi Town. But since we believe in the journey as much as the destination, and, I’m sitting, now,  with a cup of Camomile Tea and a chocolate covered macadamia nut well, here’s what happened next.  We went north. It’s a strange drive, first you pass acres and acres of lava, it’s desolate and bleak. Then you drive a bit longer and there is the beginning of green, but just the beginning and there’s scrub, reminds me of chaparral in the high desert, and these trees, looking like hands, reaching out of the ground and I though of you, Gretchen Griffith. And the more north, the more green and then you think, ‘yeah, this is tropical.’    So, back to the catholic church.  Around 4 pm we set off, everyone said it would take about an hour. They lied. It took about thirty five minutes. We prayed for them.

We drove in and out of rain. We saw the sun rays peek through huge clouds and shine a spotlight on the ocean, like that was the perfect place for those rays to be, finally arriving at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

A lovely beige wooden structure, above the road, looking very old, with a grotto to the Madonna. It was starting to rain, yet again, and so we ducked inside. Beautiful stained glass windows, made me think of Villa Cabrini and the way the light used to come through the colored glass. Cushioned pews, saintly statues, fans gently whirring above, that not unpleasant odor of calm,  defintely an old church. As we get to the doorway a woman approached us with two leis of puka shells, hand tied, and a note attached, Sacred Heart Parish. The woman places the lei over my head and hugs me. “Welcome to Sacred Heart.”
Then to Tom. And she invited us into the church. We celebrated the Ascension at Sunday mass.  Father gave a lovely homily focusing on the ascended Lord, and then mass ended with a blessing for mothers on Mother’s Day. As we exited the church there was a rose and a bag of candy which Father said was non-fat :-). And so we came back to our condo. A full, satisfying Saturday on the big island.