Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 2, 1 February 1988 — Queen Emma Had Unwavering Faith [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Queen Emma Had Unwavering Faith

"Part of Queen Emma's legacy is her good works, but the other part we hardly hear about is her faith." This was the observation made by the Rev. Darrow Aiona of the Waikiki Episcopal Chapel as guest speaker at the 152nd birthday memorial services Jan. 2 of Emma Kaleleokalani Rooke who was born Jan. 2, 1836, to Nae'a, a chief of high rank, and Fanny Young Kekelaokalani, nieee of Kamehameha I. Aiona, who also is a member of the State Board of Education, noted that disaster and disappointment haunted Emma but did not defeat her. "No matter the grief or burden, her words of God were cheerful and full of hope," he said.

I believe īn ministering spirits and guardian angels, why should not one naturally think that their Ioved ones are given a charge or work in the world? They live over those behind in this plaee of trial. and you do not know what comfort I take in the knowledge that Alex and Baby are being used by our Heavenly Jesus as his workers like as the Bishop and priests . . . Although I cannot see them, because being mortal, still they see me for all that — rejoice and grieve with that Jesus and God, according as I do every day. I am told this in many places — one is the Apostle's Creed, morning prayer, where we say, 'I believe in the eommunion of saints' and again in the Communion service, 'Therefore with angels and archangels and with all

the company of heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name,'" she wrote. It is not just the "little church sought for, transplanted, laboured over, tended and watered" that Queen Emma has left us her descendants, but the restoration of that faith and understanding between ourselves and God; that faith that makes us Hawaiians." "And in this modernday andage, it sometimesis very difficult to remember this relationship and we forget who we are and where the mana, the power comes from," Aiona declared. Queen Emma wrote to her cousin: "Never allow a day to pass without talking to our friend Jesus — even only an 'Our Father who art in heaven' at your quiet sea bath where there is no intrusion. Say it aloud if you like." Aiona went on to observe that the "full legacy of Queen Emma is one of faith and the triumph of that faith. It should give us the strength we need to not only be a proud people, but creative, productive and alive. "Her legacy is not the past, but it is in us her descendants and we gather here not just to remember her but to celebrate the fact that we do live her legacy. "We have known, too, the sorrow, the pain of being alienated from our roots, from our aina. Yet today amidst the continuing winds of rapid change, we look with fervor in recapturing the spirit of our neh past. "We march, we carry placards, we read, but more importantly we have learned to speak out. We have begun to sense, as only Hawaiians ean sense, this particular thing, that a greatness, something intangible yet powerful and enduring belonged to our people. We know that some of this lives on in all of us. We are links to the ancients, connected by inheritance to their mana, their wisdom, their superb appreciation of what it is to be human. This is the foundation of our Aloha." Aiona further noted that in 1874, one of Queen Emma's loyal supporters wrote a chant containing these words: There are tu>o great women in the world. Victoria of London and Queen Emma of Hawaii, Worthy of wearing crotuns. The services were held in the recently restored and reopened ehapel at Mauna 'Ala where greet-

ings wereextended by Lori Piikea Tomczyk, newly elected president of the sponsoring Queen Emma Hawaiian Civic Club. The congregation, whieh included members of other Hawaiian organizations and civic clubs, was led in songs by Esther Nakoa. The invocation was given by Leinaala Fisher of Na Opio O Emmalani while the benediction in Hawaiian was offered by Maleolm Naea Chun, Cultural Officer, Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The traditional ho'okupu followed the services.

Rev. Darrow Aiona

Paul Kekuewa of Oueen Emma Hawaiian Civic Club prepares to piaee someone's ho'okupu at tomb of the Kamehamehas.