Blog Archives

3/30/2022

1936 -2022

Funeral Liturgy - Cremains
Friday, April 22,
10:00 am
Padre Serra Parish

3/29/2022

1957 - 2022

Funeral Liturgy
Tuesday, April 26
10:00 am
Padre Serra Parish

Mortuary
Joshua Mortuary Palmdale

3/27/2022

1923 - 2022

Funeral Liturgy - Cremains
Tuesday, April 19
10:00 am
Padre Serra Parish

Burial following Mass
Assumption Cemetery
1380 Fitzgerald Rd., Simi Valley, CA 93065

3/25/2022

Highlighting the Altar Server Ministry

Dear Friends,
When we as Church come together to celebrate the liturgy, there is a need for dedicated ministers to take charge of certain responsibilities so that the presider can give his attention to leading the assembly in prayer. These dedicated ministers are called altar servers. At Padre Serra we have 65 dedicated young ministers, ranging in age from 10 to 19. Half are high school students and there is an equal mix of girls and boys. The altar server is an icon of service and dedication. Each altar server functions as a model of what it means to have full, conscious and active participation in our liturgies, in essence to stay focused on the Paschal Mystery.

Invitation to Serve: Boys and girls currently in the 5th grade and up (at least 10 years old) are invited to join this truly special ministry. Altar server training will be on Thursday, 31 March 2022 at 4:30 P.M. in the Church. All parents must attend this session. If you are interested, please contact Bob Shadduck at 377-3527 (Cell) or Robert_Shadduck@msn.com.

During the training period, the servers learn the order of the liturgy so well that they can anticipate each action and need of the presider. Each server has special roles and responsibilities. They are taught to understand what their roles are and how to perform them. They know how to move, carry things, and keep stillness and silence. The altar servers can influence the atmosphere of prayer by their presence in the assembly around the altar of Our Lord. Rest assured that the assembly definitely admires the altar servers. This is a ministry that goes all the way back to the early church

As trained young ministers they come to the altar of God to be close to our public prayer life.

In Christ,

Bob Shadduck
Altar Server Ministry Director

3/18/2022

Whoever thinks they are standing secure should take care not to fall

Dear Friends,
Today’s scripture readings (Exodus 3:1-81, 13;15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 1012; Luke 13:1-9 and Psalm 103: 1- 2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11) are full of messages from God to his people. Moses’ message to the Israelites is one of deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

Paul’s message to the Corinthians, and Jesus’ to his disciples is one of repentance and accountability. “Whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” Paul looks back at the followers of Moses who were struck down in the desert because God was not pleased with “most of them.”
Jesus cautions his disciples not to think that victims of tragedies (Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices and eighteen people killed by a falling tower in Siloam) are somehow guiltier than everybody else: “By no means! But if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.” Jesus continues by telling of a gardener who pleads with an orchard owner to spare a non producing fig tree: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not, you can cut it down.”

Who is the orchard owner? Who is the gardener? Could both be Jesus? One the King of the universe who comes to judge the living and the dead and the other the loving, patient, pleading Savior and advocate, who sends the Spirit to make us fruitful?

Inevitably, we will fail. Repeatedly. But Psalm 103 reassures us: The Lord is kind and merciful. He pardons all our iniquities, heals all our ills, redeems our life from destruction, and crowns us with kindness and compassion. I read this crowning with kindness and compassion two ways: 1. The Lord’s kindness and compassion to us, redeeming us from destruction and 2. The Spirit working within us to make us ever more kind and more compassionate.

The scriptures are clear. It isn’t enough just to be members of the tribe, or of the “club.” We are accountable to God for being fruitful where we are planted.

One way we can bear fruit is by supporting relief efforts for those suffering in Ukraine. Catholic Relief Services is a wonderful organization there and around the world, on the ground, working directly with those who are suffering.

Siempre Adelante,
Dominic MacAller
Worship Minister