On this Father’s Day, we recognize this is what great role models do every day.
They put aside their own needs in favor of embracing their responsibilities as parents and mentors. 
They become shining examples in the world.  They remind us of the One, the Father of all.


​
Endless Blessings,

​
Deacon Luc and Diana Papillon 

​

Dear friends on the journey,

Last week I had the great opportunity to cruise to Alaska. The sun’s illumination of the immense beauty of the Pacific Northwest for more than nineteen hours a day reminded me of God’s wisdom of the seasons. I’m not certain I can select a favorite season as they each bring their own colors, sights, wonders, and opportunities. Even though I am no longer a student, or a parent of students, and work year round, I still look to summer as a break. I love summer for so many reasons. Longer days and warmer weather allow us to enjoy simple things like dinners on the patio, swimming after a day’s work, and watching sunsets at the beach. Summer beckons us outdoors to enjoy concerts in the park, BBQ parties with friends and family, and vacations near and far. Summer offers a slower pace to garden, read, and do long-awaited projects around the house.

I also find summer to be a season of Sabbath, a time to slow, rest, enjoy God’s creation and tend to our spiritual life. So, at this midpoint of the year, one way to do that is to revisit the covenantal promises we made in January:

Sabbath I will plan for the full experience of the Mass and be mentally present. I will prepare before, arrive early, journey through the gardens as if on a pilgrimage from my car to the holy ground of the church sanctuary, and be wide open to what will happen at the table.

Gratitude Each night before retiring, I will think of three things from the day for which to be grateful.

Examine In an effort to grow as a child of God, I will review my day and recognize those moments when God was most present,
acknowledge my failures, and ask forgiveness.

Prayer I acknowledge that any place can be holy ground (laundry room, car line, red lights ...) and make it a habit to pray when I: pump gas, enter home/work/school, hear a siren, pass any church, cemetery, hospital, or school.

Jesus As I grow in my relationship with Jesus, I will strive to choose faith over fear and encourage others to do the same.

Discipleship I will focus on the difficult teachings of Jesus to forgive over and over again, to love enemies, to pray for those that
persecute.

Evangelization I will preach the “Good News” with family and friends by sharing what God has done in my life and by actively inviting them to join me at church.

Love Neighbor Recognizing that everyone is made in God’s image and likeness, and that everyone has their own struggles, I will extend the dignity and respect to each person that I would hope to receive.

Charity Over the course of the next year, I will choose a local and international mission to support with my time, talent, and treasure.

​Stewardship (support of parish) I will examine my heart, my budget, and my schedule to see how I can support the parish in service.

Hello Friends,

It is a common theme of my faith journey that many of the rich Catholic practices I now cherish were late discoveries for me but are, in fact, well-established practices in our Catholic faith. Visiting the Blessed Sacrament has only been a part of my prayer life for the last ten years or so. I have always been Catholic, but I was not always attentive to God’s prompting to draw me closer. Once I finally responded to God’s calling to spend time with Him, I found my appointments to meet our Lord in Eucharist adoration to be the most fruitful time of prayer.

At first, carving out a few minutes to pray before the Blessed Sacrament was almost a survival tactic. During rough patches of living out career and family life, I sought refuge with the Blessed Sacrament. I became very familiar with several parishes across the LA area as I was usually far from home during the workday. A fifteen-minute stop to visit the Blessed Sacrament would turn into thirty minutes – time flew. Once outside of the church or chapel, life’s problems were still there waiting for me, but prayer before the Blessed Sacrament had changed me, and my reaction to those same problems was different. This is the great gift that God gives us of His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus said, “I will be with you always until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20), and in the Blessed Sacrament, through faith, we are in the presence of our Lord. After receiving many graces during those moments of prayer, I wanted to go back and just spend time with Him and be attentive to what God wanted to tell me. Whether out of desperation or in gratitude, God always responds with His grace.
​
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and our attention turns to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The long-awaited (it has been 83 years since the last one) 10th National Eucharistic Congress will take place in July in Indianapolis. Last year, Pope Francis wrote to the organizing committee of the National Eucharistic Congress, “It is my hope, then, that the Eucharistic Congress will inspire Catholics throughout the country to discover anew the sense of wonder and awe at the Lord’s great gift of himself and to spend time with him in the celebration of the Holy Mass and in personal prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.” The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist has been central to the Church’s teaching since the beginning. From Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth (1 Cor:10-16) to Pope Francis, the Eucharist remains the Source and Summit of the
Christian life (L.G. 11). In his book “Visits to the Blessed Sacrament” St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote, “Realize that you may gain more in a quarter of an hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament than in all other practices of the day” Those words ring true in my spiritual life.

Dear Friends,

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

This is how we begin all our communal prayer as Catholics and much of our private prayer as well. We make the Sign of the Cross while saying it, putting ourselves under its protection. We bless those we love with the same sign, and we are blessed at our baptism, at our funeral, and many times in between with the Sign of the Cross, invoking the Holy Trinity.

It would be arrogant and foolish of me to think that I could explain to you the doctrine of the Trinity, or even to think that I understand it myself. Yet it is something we believe as Catholics. It’s one of the Big Basics — One God, Three Persons. It is a Mystery — a truth we can meditate on, contemplate, pray about, yet never fully grasp, never understand. I have no original thoughts on this, God knows, but I will share some thoughts with you that I remember from what I have heard over the years in homilies given by people whose wisdom I respect, right here at Padre Serra. Here they are, in no particular order, and paraphrased:


        • One God, Three Persons — and each of the three is God in all God’s fullness
        • The Trinity as a way to imagine with our finite mind what is infinite
        • Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the ideal familial relationship
        • The Holy Spirit as the “embodiment” of the love between the Father and the Son
        • Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer — this one is problematic, though, because it implies distinct attributes to each
            of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity who all accomplish all of these things

Maybe God gave us the doctrine, the truth of the Trinity to help us turn to him more readily when we feel particular kinds of needs. For example:

       • When we are awestruck by the beauty of creation, and need to address thanksgiving and praise to God, the Father Almighty,                      Creator of Heaven and Earth
       • When we are acutely conscious of our sins and failings, and our great need for forgiveness and healing, and need to address                        sorrow, love and repentance to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Redeemer
      • When we seek courage, strength and inspiration to continue responding to God’s call in the face of challenges, and need to                           address our neediness and thirst to the Holy Spirit, the mighty wind, the breath of life, the giver of wisdom

        Christ is risen! We celebrate the Easter season with great joy at the gift of new life God has given us. However, I would imagine that many of us have not beheld the true face of Jesus as he is in Heaven, nor have we seen the Risen Lord like his disciples did in today’s Gospel. I know I have not (at least not yet). Yet Jesus calls us to believe even if our eyes have not seen him. Not only that, but we are also to have peace in the midst of our suffering knowing that he is there, even if our eyes fail us. When we look upon the Eucharist, our eyes tell us, “It’s just a piece of bread and some wine.”

       Yet the eyes of faith and the eyes of belief know that it is Jesus. Not metaphorically, not symbolically, not in any muddied fashion, no. The Eucharist is Jesus. It is his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The King of All Glory lowers himself, taking the form of bread and wine, that we might be close to him. What a gift and a humbling reality. God, who created all things, chose to become bread and wine for the rest of time for you, for me, for all of us. What can motivate such humility and sacrifice? Only love.

​       Love is the Lord’s Commandment, to love others as he loves us. The 10 Commandments are certainly a guide for us to love. Jesus himself affirmed them. In our second reading, St. John affirms them as well, saying that we love God when we obey his commandments. Also, the Holy Spirit guards not only us who are washed in Baptism and sealed in Confirmation, but also guards God’s Word in the Gospels and the Bible. The commandments are the blueprint for love and God is the Divine Architect who created the wonderful world we live in. We live in this great universe that God has made. We are called to love God and love neighbor. We are called to be of one mind and heart in our love and life, that guarded by the Holy Spirit we may know the truth and believe, even though we might not see.

Let the house of Padre Serra say: God’s love is forever! Alleluia!


Riley Paolella

Parishioner

             For the women in today’s Gospel, nothing is as they anticipated. They expected to need help opening the tomb, but found it open. They expected to find Jesus’ body, but it was gone. They expected to be alone, as they gave their final loving care to their Lord, but found a man dressed in white. They thought the story of Jesus had come to an end, but heard that, not only was Jesus raised, they would see him again in Galilee. They thought their mission was the preparation of a dead body, but were given the responsibility for spreading the good news of the resurrection to the disciples and Peter.

                It’s a lot to take in!
             Did the women believe the young man’s report? The story doesn’t say, so we can only guess. We only know what they did. The last sentence of the Gospel, just one verse later explains, “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” This, according to the scholars, was the original ending of Mark’s Gospel, the remaining verses having been added later.
             
​               It’s a genuinely startling way to end a Gospel, with the greatest news ever, that Jesus had been raised from the dead, followed by the women’s fear and silence. I would like to suggest that the author did this to make us process our own reaction to the resurrection. If you’re puzzled, and maybe even uncomfortable with the way the women responded, saying nothing, how do you feel about your own reaction to the resurrection? Are you amazed? Do you doubt?
          
              If you doubt the universal witness of all four Gospels to the resurrection, what do you believe? That God and Jesus couldn’t do this? — that’s not likely. Or that God wouldn’t do this, perhaps because it hasn’t been done for any other figure in human history? God broke a lot of steady patterns, though, in the life and ministry of Jesus.

              If you believe, are you dedicating yourself to the Risen Lord, or to other pursuits? Are you proclaiming this extraordinary news to a world that needs the Good News of Jesus’ triumph over darkness, over oppressive high priests, over tombs and death itself? Or, are you, silent, too?

            Mark’s author seems to hope we’ll ponder these questions, be disturbed by the women’s silence, and act. So ... what shall you do? 

I hope that your Lent was terrific, your holy week genuinely blessed, and that Easter can build on that foundation with miracles!




​He is risen! Alleluia,



Fr. Patrick
Pastor 

I extend to a heartfelt invitation to our next prayer gathering this Thursday, March 21.

Siempre Adelante,

​
Frank Bognar
​
Parishioner and member of Pax Christi 

Dear parish family,

​How is your Lenten journey going? Have you found it challenging? In need of a bit of a break? On this fourth Sunday, we are still in the middle of Lent. There are still two more weeks before we can wave our palms and enter Holy Week. This is why I think that centuries ago, the church thought it would be a good idea to make the fourth Sunday of Lent be Laetare Sunday. A Sunday when we get to ‘rejoice in the Lord.’ Just like we do during the Advent season (Gaudete Sunday), and just like then our liturgical color is rose. This simple change of color, should make us take that much-needed pause. Today we hear one of the most famous gospel verses; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Let us Rejoice in the Lord! What wonderful news, it should fill us with joyful anticipation of the victory to be won. Our God’s love for us is unconditional!

But just like any gift given, we must be willing to receive it. This is where the continued journey of Lent will help us prepare. Once again I ask, how is your Lenten journey going? Have you had the opportunity to make meaningful changes, to receive God’s gift.

​Let us take our Gospel, as our guide and reminder of where we have placed the light of Christ. Jesus is the light that has come into the world, to reveal our sins so that they may be forgiven. Yet we prefer the darkness, we wish to keep our sins hidden, even from God. There is nothing our God doesn’t know about us; he knows us better than we know ourselves. We need to bring all of ourselves to God’s light, including those bits of ourselves we wish to hide. Take the remaining time of our lenten season to intentionally make those necessary changes in ourselves that only we know, and then take it to action. As we accept God’s love and gift of salvation, let us in action reflect our love for our God. We will do our part and let the Holy Spirit take over. 

I will pray for your continued Lenten journey to be filled with hope
​and blessings, please pray for me too.


Siempre Adelante,

Tere Delgado
Faith Formation Minister

Last Sunday was the First Sunday of Lent which begins in the Lectionary Cycle each year with Jesus in the desert. St. Mark’s Gospel last week spoke about Satan tempting Jesus in the desert. It was not about Satan’s three temptations that we know from Luke and Matthew’s gospels but about God’s power to overcome Satanic forces.

Temptation calls to all of our lives. During the Forty Days of Lent we are to examine ourselves in our “desert time” to overcome our temptations leading us to wrongful paths, thoughts and behaviors. Lent is a time marked for our transformation, that is, to whom we are now to whom we are to be. God’s power is also with us.

In today’s First Reading from Genesis Abraham offers an awakening moment for us when God calls to him. Abraham replies, “Here I am.” I smile at Abraham’s response. Of course, God knows where Abraham is. To me Abraham is also answering….... “I am listening. I am attentive. I am ready to act.”

We too are to say “Here I am” but do we? Are we listening to know and see God in our lives every day? It is not only “Here I am.” It is also “Where am I?” Lent is the time for us to pray, fast and give alms wrapped in our interior reflections of where we are in life’s journey. All this opens us to a transformative question: “Who am I” living in God’s love with Jesus in my life.

​Mark’s Gospel this second Sunday of Lent follows after Jesus’ forty days in the desert. Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain where he was “transfigured” into a different glorified substance and exalted outward appearance witnessed with his clothes becoming “dazzling white.” 

Like Abraham we are to answer not only “Here I am”
but also ask ourselves during Lent are we on the path
to be transformed to see the face of
God in our glorified, exalted and transfigured heavenly body?



Deacon Jack and Sharon Redmond

Whatever path we walk in life, we never have to go it alone. With the friendship and encouragement of Jesus, experienced in community, we overcome the roadblocks and look forward to a new horizon and a steady direction. Imagine the view of Heaven ...


Peace and joy,


Mary Huebner
​Liturgy Assistant 

Dear friends on the journey,

As I was preparing for this weekend’s message, today’s Psalm really spoke to me because, as I write this, I am feeling brokenhearted for so many reasons. The new year began with so much illness. Covid, the flu, and all the normal seasonal sickness has been compounded by the news from people I care about who received cancer and other diagnoses. Friends are facing surgeries and long recoveries. Children around our county have lost a parent in traumatic deaths. Parishioners are grieving the loss of spouses. My beloved high school, La Reina, is closing its doors after 60+ years of educating and forming young Catholic women in Ventura County. Broken relationships, poverty, isolation, mental health issues, chronic pain, and spiritual desolation abound. It’s only the fourth week of January and heartbreak and sadness surround me.

But then God, per usual, taps my shoulder and offers me light in the darkness. Psalm 147: 1-6 reminds us to praise and worship our good and gracious God who will always rebuild what is broken, heal the heartbroken, bind our wounds, sustain us, and cast out the wicked. As people of faith, we are by no means exempt from suffering and heartbreak but we have these words as God’s promise to always be with us in that suffering. The Israelites received these promises through the prophets. Jesus lived these promises while on earth. And they are God’s promises to us now. They bring me comfort and hope that the sadness will not persist, that light and peace will return, that pain will lessen, and good will triumph. The Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection that we celebrate at every Mass is a reminder of God’s promises.
​
I’ve shared here before the story of the little girl who tells her mom that she wants “Jesus with skin” meaning she needs her mom to be Jesus and hold her tight. Don’t we all want to feel Jesus’ embrace? If you need a Jesus hug today, don’t be afraid to ask for one. Padre Serra’s a very “huggy” place! If you know some in need, reach out to offer a hug, a shoulder, a hand for holding. Loving human touch may not subside the pain completely but it can be just the right balm in a moment between friends.

Praying A Reflection from Michelle Vivirito

“Lord, I’m not going to keep praying. You see the obstacles in my path. If you want me in church, then you must help. That's all I’ll say. Amen.”

When I'm alone, as I often am, and watching a funny movie or reading a humorous book, I seldom laugh out loud. Humor is best when it is shared. But this passage from Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water evoked a rueful snicker because it struck close to home. In Catholic high school, I was taught the different types of prayer. I recall at least four types: prayers of worship, intercession, thanksgiving, and petition. There are probably more, probably seven since there seems to be seven of everything. But it’s those prayers of petition that are the problem.

Faith isn’t easy for me. I am one of God’s willful children. I’m seldom very sinful, at least not anymore, but certainly willful. I've been disappointed by prayer. Who hasn’t been? When people say, “God always answers prayers; sometimes the answer is no,” I want to have a tantrum. A willful child wants the answer to be, “Yes, my darling. Of course, my dear.”

​This is why I do not ask for specific outcomes anymore. Instead, I pray for specific people. For their happiness, courage, and comfort but not with words. I close my eyes and conjure up the face of someone I know and love. I linger over the arch of an eyebrow, the smooth or lined forehead, the pout of a mouth. And I hold that image in my head — no, that’s not right — I hold the image in my heart. And I just stay with it as I feel holiness surround me with happiness, courage, and comfort.

​Michelle is a longtime parishioner of Padre Serra
​
and a member of our Writers Group.

Brothers & Sisters,

​The world is on fire! Chaos and violence spread everywhere. Our faith is under attack at home as well as abroad. The Middle East has been fighting the same battle for over a thousand years. How do we go forward? Do we hunker down and seek safety inside our homes, or are we called to do more? Father Patrick has said we have to do the good that is within arm’s reach.

We are Lance and Maria King, members of the Equestrian Order of The Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, (EOHSJ). The Order dates back to medieval times with its mission to liberate and protect Christians in Jerusalem and the Lands of Jesus. The Order’s mission remains much the same today, but rather than swords and horses, we act on the truths of our faith by delivering charity and hope to Christians most vulnerable in the region. We provide educational and professional assistance that will enable them to secure their place in the Holy Land.

Founded 924 years ago, in 1099 AD, by Sir Geoffrey de Bouillon, we are the oldest papal order in the world with formations across the globe. In February 1996, Pope John Paul II recognized the Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulcher as an Order of the faithful.

Maria and I are currently the only member couple at Padre Serra, and are looking to nominate 6 couples to represent Padre Serra and also Ventura County. We would like to invite you to consider serving as a Knight and Dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. Nominees must be active in the parish as well as the local community. Their Catholic life should be of the highest example, and have a capacity to serve. We will happily meet with you to answer your questions and assist through the process until your investiture. 

“A person should aspire to knighthood. A knight must aspire to be worthy.
The worthy aspire to deliver truth and mercy.”


Deus lo Vult God wills it,
​
​
​Sir Lance & Dame Maria King

Dear Parish Family,

With Jesus’ coming into the world, as have celebrated this Christmas season, we have been given so much. We have been given hope that our trials and sufferings have meaning and that through them we come closer to Jesus and do His will. The more we do his will, the more we let Jesus into our lives in prayer and works of love, the more we as a parish family and Church become like the great and radiant Jerusalem in our first reading. The more we take on Christ’s mission, the more we reflect that heavenly light which our Lord shines upon us. This is a great gift.

Today is called Epiphany. There is no better name or purpose for today than to realize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In my own life, I clearly remember the moment I realized who Jesus is. Accompanying that realization were many questions: Who am I? Who should I be? What does Jesus want for me? How do I live the life Jesus teaches? Prayer is what helped me to find the answers to those questions. In prayer and nourished by the lifegiving grace of the Sacraments I realized who I am, a beloved child of God. That is who we are. I realized where God was leading me, and so I chose to become a disciple, to follow Him. I am not without fault and no one is perfect, and so the Sacrament of Confession is always a place of refuge and healing. There, our sins and failings are washed away, and we are renewed in our discipleship. There, like the magi, we ask “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage?” When we go let us open the treasuries of our hearts and offer Jesus all that we have.

For God has come into our lives, and maybe it has been awhile since we have renewed our promises to follow Him. Nonetheless we have received so much from Him, he gave his own life that we might live life to the fullest. Yet this great gift we have received is not meant just for ourselves, we are called to share it, to proclaim boldly what God has does for each one of us! How we were blind and now we see! How we were lost in the dark but have come into the light! We will face evil and suffering, as sure as Jesus did himself. But he triumphed over darkness and death, and we follow Him! If only we give our lives, our whole lives holding nothing back. If we love with our whole hearts burning with radiant light. If we give Jesus everything we are, then we shall be radiant at what we see, our hearts shall throb and overflow, the sweet richness of grace shall be emptied out before us and we will walk in new life with Jesus to lead us and all the while proclaiming the praises of the Lord!

​We are God’s children, as good sons and daughters let us go forth listening to our good God’s voice, seeking always to do his will, to remember that He is God and we are not, and to open the treasuries of our hearts and give them to our good Lord who knows all that we need.

​Let us encounter Jesus and be disciples.

Riley Paolella
Seminarian