Blog Archives

10/31/2021

You Are Not Far from the Kingdom of God

During the month of October, the Church asked us to reflect more deeply on the dignity of every human life. In November we remember the dead. It is also Indigenous Peoples month. Recently those involved in parish ministry signed that we received and would comply with the guidelines of the Archdiocese for those adults who interact with minors.

I offer an article, Young Women, #MeToo and Clergy Sex Abuse: Lessons from My Students,* in America Magazine. Written by Jessica Coblentz, an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., she provides insight of the impact the changes made by the Church have had in the fifteen years since she was their age when the guidelines and training began.

Hearing victims’ stories and the acknowledgment of their victimization were crucial to this process. I believe such action has brought us closer to what is meant by the Kingdom.

I mention the article in the hope that such transformation of hearts by hearing and minds by recognizing the truth of oppression, violence, and the apartheid that instilled self-hate, despair, and death. My return to daily mass was greeted by the massive statue of St. Junipero while my heart and spirit were dealing with the discoveries at Kamloops Residential School in Canada. I pray for the intercession of our patron that we might receive the grace to know the stories of the women of Juarez, the Red Dresses of Canada, and the horse-whipped of Haiti. May the God of love inspire us to transformative love.

The love God desires is not for him alone, but for all the people he has created. Jesus affirms God cannot be loved without loving his creation, his image in our neighbor. Jesus tells us to what degree and with what we are to love. Our strength and understanding include loving ourselves. May it be so for our neighbor.

God in Deuteronomy teaches we write the law upon our heart such that our children will learn as we go about our daily life from the awakening to our sleeping. As Catholics, may they learn their call to cherish, defend, and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end.

Together with our children, we change those laws that separate us from our neighbor and from God.

Deacon Arnold Reyes

*https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/10/14/catholic-clergy-abuse-metoo-students-24160

10/30/2021

Mary Hopple

1944 - 2021

Funeral Liturgy
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
10:00 am
Padre Serra Parish

10/24/2021

The Courage to See

The Courage to See

Dear Faith Family,

My favorite part about writing these letters, is that it gives me an excuse to really dive in the gospels with a different lens. This week’s gospel, for example, is interesting.

When I looked it what reading would be proclaimed, the term “blind man” comes up very early. Obviously, whenever we see this term, we probably will know that it’s the gospel where Jesus heals the blind man and is able to see. While it’s good that we know these stories like the back of our hands, it can be a temptation to say “oh, I know where this is going” and stop reading.

The temptation was there for me. I could’ve easily written a letter that explains that this miracle this proves that Jesus Christ is God (which is obviously true and life changing within itself), but I challenged myself to dive in further.

One thing that really stuck out to me is that Jesus asks his disciples to call the person who is calling out to Him. And even though the blind man obviously yearning for Christ, he was still instructed to “have courage” to approach the Lord.

This is interesting for two reasons. First, Jesus relied on his disciples to bring those to Him. Our parish takes discipleship very seriously, and the most important aspect of discipleship is bringing others to Christ. His disciples don’t shy away from their commission, and heeds to Jesus’ command to bring the blind man to him, even if they had no idea what Christ would do for the blind man.

Secondly, it takes courage to do what Christ asks us to do. It’s obvious that the blind man knew that Jesus can perform miracles, it still took courage to approach Him. It’s like that in our lives sometimes. There are times when we KNOW what God is capable of, but we still need the courage to ask God to be God and to intervene/perform miracles.

This is why scripture is interesting. Yes, we know the stories (the blind man). Yes, we know how they end (the blind now seeing). But sometimes we take that for granted. We know all the stories of the Old Testament and the miracles that Jesus performed, but when we dive in and meditate on scripture, it’s much more than a biography of God’s people, it’s an instruction manual.

I don’t know about you, but I am constant need of instruction on how to be a disciple. When we dive into scripture, we get that instruction, even if it’s hidden in plain sight. When we dive into scripture, we telling our Lord, “I want to see”.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Brett Becker
Youth and Young Adult Minister

10/20/2021

Elizabeth “Lisa” Alonzo

1967 - 2021

Funeral Liturgy
Saturday, November 6, 2021
12:00 pm
Padre Serra Parish

10/17/2021

There’s No Shortcut to Greatness

Dear Friends,

Today’s reading from Mark’s gospel is one of my favorites, but with some caveats. I love what Jesus teaches his apostles after his conversation with James and John (Zebedee’s sons):

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

It reminds me of a story one of our well-loved parishioners tells about when he and his wife first arrived at Padre Serra. She asked him how they would ever get to know people and be part of this new community into which they had moved. His answer was something like this: “That’s easy. Whatever activity or event we go to, we just stay after and help clean up.” They did that, and, sure enough, their experience was exactly as he’d predicted. They got to know more and more people, good people, who came to love and value them and they felt themselves more and more deeply drawn into the life of the parish and its people.

It is taking me a little longer to learn this lesson but I can say that in some cases where I’d rather not, but it seemed the only right thing to do, when I pitched in and helped with post-party or post-meeting cleanup, it has proved to be a way of connecting to other people and I walk away with a sense of peace.

I have a long way to go. This willingness to be of service comes from a radical sense of the value of the person we try to help, indeed, from an awareness of their having been made in God’s image and likeness. Saints see that value readily, even in the most wretched (St. Teresa of Calcutta comes to mind). For me, I have to make an effort of will sometimes, and ask for God’s help to see it in the people I encounter at home, or at work, or in the news.

Returning to the conversation between Jesus, James and John before the passage above. It seems that the two apostles are looking for a shortcut to greatness. “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” When Jesus says to them “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” their glib response “we can” leaves me shaking my head at their apparent cluelessness. Of course James and John did go on to become great saints, so maybe there is hope for me when I am dense and self-absorbed, but not without cost:

The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized

If I read this correctly, there will be suffering for me, even were I to follow Jesus perfectly (which of course I can’t). It’s the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews that gives me (us) hope, in spite of my desire for glory and my reluctance sometimes to roll up my sleeves and serve. The author, referring to Jesus, says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

Thanks be to God. Let’s pray for one another.

Siempre Adelante,

Dominic MacAller
Worship Minister