Registration packets are available in the parish office or download/print them here.

​Questions contact:
Tere Delgado
tere@padreserra.org 
(805) 482·6417 x347

This Sunday we celebrate The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The three readings today are threaded together through food and drink with words we hear from the Last Supper. The first reading from Genesis has Melchizedek offering “bread and wine.” In the second reading St. Paul references the Eucharistic Prayer and in Luke’s Gospel Christ takes five loaves and two fish “and looking up to heaven, said the blessing over them, broke them and gave them to the disciples.”

In the ancient Greek world before Christ, the Greek mother god Demeter was reverenced for giving the gift of grain to the world through sacrifice. Grain was considered a power for salvation while the Greek god of wine Dionysus identified death by the blood of the grape to make wine to give new life. The history of God’s journey of love for his children winds through the imagery of God creating the grain and the grape. When we bring the gifts of bread and wine to the altar, we are bringing the toils and stories of our lives to Christ to become Christ, as an offering for us, for our salvation.

Jesus is the incarnational indwelling sent by God to feed us eternal life. It is all part of the continued love story of God given for our transformation. Fr. Richard Rohr in his book The Universal Christ writes, “Jesus did not come to change God’s mind about us. Jesus came to change our minds about God.” God loves us relentlessly.

In the breaking of the bread Christ’s love is multiplied over and over again. It is in the sharing of the broken bread that we are a part of the Body of Christ sharing our own brokenness to open our hearts to God and each other. We are all in communion with the truth of Christ’s rising in the bread and wine to heal our own sorrows and brokenness to live forever with the Father.

When we hear today in the Eucharistic prayer “this is my body and this is my blood” we are to hear Christ inviting us to take him in……all of him. It has been said when we taste a sip of the ocean all of the ocean is now inside of us. So too with Christ in Holy Communion……we take all of him inside of us. We are then a tabernacle for Christ inside of us. Do we know that?

Do we live that?

Deacon Jack Redmond

Ongoing simple fundraising opportunities include:

•  eScrip
  Simply follow this link to www.escrip.com and use Group Code 136559191
• Amazon Smile
  Shop Amazon like normal and Amazon will donate 0.5% to our St. Vincent De Paul.  Simply follow this link to smile.amazon.com/ch/27-1002110
• iGive
  Follow this link and shop your favorite stores!
• Ralphs Community
  Follow this link to register your Ralphs card

​The donation truck will be on-site to accept your donations of gently used clothing, books, games, DVD/CDs, sports gear, toys, and small household items such as lamps, small appliances, frames, etc.

Every Monday food is bagged and distributed to families in need. Remember our friends and neighbors in Camarillo served by our food pantry. ​All the items you place in the boxes in church are taken over to our centralized storage at St. Mary’s Chapel on Sunday afternoon.

SVDP is open to both men and women who wish to grow in their faith by serving God and their neighbor.  Members are united in their efforts to conduct their ministry with compassion and confidentiality, while promoting human dignity and respect.  To learn more about volunteering, contact: Terri Korell korellhome@verizon.net
​
From a current member of the ministry: 
"Being a volunteer is a blessing. It makes me aware of the blessings in my own life. Viewing the world through the eyes of the less fortunate keeps me grounded and more aware of the people around me. Our parish conference very special. The love and support we receive from our fellow Vincentians is wonderful and the service itself keeps faith in front of everything you do. Come and join us and count your blessings."

Phase I:
Living Compassionately – Caring for the Poor
October 7 – November 25, 2019
Participants focus on poverty, consumerism, and the Gospel call to care for the poor.
Questions and to register: Michelle Paschen mcpaschens@gmail.com

Phase II:
Living Justly – Caring for Each Other
February 24 – April 13, 2020
Inspired by a new level of understanding about issues of racial and economic justice, participants will develop new levels of passion and compassion for the ongoing work of social justice.
Questions and to register: Michelle Paschen mcpaschens@gmail.com

Phase III:
Living Simply – Caring for the Earth
July 15 – September 9, 2019
Participants embrace the invitation to care for the Earth as they investigate the teachings of our faith.
Questions and to register:
Joe Zuback zubackj@gmail.com
Gary Freeberg gfreeberg@gmail.com

$70 new participant (includes books, binder, online access)
$50 returning participant
$100 couple

​"Somehow the highest praise of God is not in speaking unintelligibly but, rather, in speaking a language of inclusion where barriers are dismantled, circles are widened, and no one is left outside." - Fr. Gregory Boyle

​JustFaith is ecumenical and all Christian faiths are welcome. 
​Also visit: Groups, www.justfaith.org ​

Contact:
Aubrey Alexander  or Teresa Runyon

We have partnered with VC Foster Kids' Faith in Motion program, our parish invites you to consider the following ways to support and care for children in the foster care system from birth to transitioning young adults and their families.

There are many ways to get involved. Become a:

• Prayer companion
• Business partner 
• Donor
• Volunteer
• Respite caregiver
• Mentor
• Foster family

To learn about the many ways to be involved from prayer companion to becoming a foster family and everything in between and/or to help with our first project, email Teresa Runyon or Aubrey Alexnader

Also visit: Care

Also visit: Funeral Planing

Dear Friends,
Our Scriptures do a lot to illuminate and underpin our belief in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, whose Solemnity we celebrate today. In the first reading from Proverbs we hear a beautiful and poetic declaration of the wonder of Creation. It’s written in the first person: “I was there when …” “I was his delight.” It speaks as the third person of the holy trinity: “Thus says the wisdom of God.”

For Christians there is a long tradition that Old Testament references to wisdom are in fact references to the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. So in this reading we have Wisdom detailing how he was there as all came to be. But it’s at the end of the passage that I think we hear something very important:

“… then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the human race.”

Here we have a description of creation from the very beginning, and God finding delight in us (and our ancestors). Sometimes we can lose sight of this very basic tenet of our faith – that God created us fundamentally good; so good, in fact, that God became one of us in order to redeem us and restore us to the union with him that we had broken. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

The gospel reading (John 16:12-15) has Jesus speaking to his disciples in a very comforting way, preparing them, perhaps, for the coming challenges of his mission – his passion, death, resurrection and ascension. “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”

"He [the Spirit] will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he [again, the Spirit] will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”

Friends, we can never fully understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We accept Three Persons, One God, on faith. Today’s Scriptures are there to help us contemplate these truths.

Siempre Adelante,

​Dominic MacAller
Worship Minister