(805) 482·6417
Padre Serra Parish
  • Home
    • This Month
    • Coming Soon
    • Ongoing
    • Quick Links
    • Events By Age
  • About
    • Parish
    • Gallery
    • Homilies >
      • Homilies 2023
      • Homilies 2022
      • Homilies 2021
      • Homilies 2020
      • Homilies 2019
      • Homilies 2018
      • Homilies 2017
    • Mass >
      • New Year Mass
      • Epiphany
      • Ash Wednesday
      • Holy Week
      • Ascension of the Lord
      • Pentecost
      • Corpus Christi
      • Blessing of Graduates
      • Assumption of Mary
      • College Mass
      • Catechetical Sunday
      • Saints Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Immaculate Conception
      • Simbang Gabi
      • Christmas Mass
    • Ministries >
      • Ministries A - Z
      • Ongoing
    • Pastor >
      • Fr. Patrick Mullen
      • Fr. Patrick Online
    • Prayer >
      • Stations of the Cross
    • Sacraments >
      • Baptism
      • Reconciliation
      • Eucharist >
        • Spiritual Communion
      • Confirmation
      • Marriage >
        • Marriage Preparation & Weddings
        • Wedding Liturgy Music Planner
      • Holy Orders
      • Anointing of the Sick
  • Encounter
    • Family >
      • ​​Christmas Concert
      • Fall Concert
      • Parish Picnic
      • Posada
      • Trunk or Treat
      • Spring Concert
      • Summer Concert
    • Children >
      • Children's Choir
      • Faith Formation Registration
      • Faith Formation Balance
      • Faith Formation Volunteer
      • Spark! Grade 5
    • Peer Leaders
    • Youth >
      • Faith Formation Registration
    • Young Adults >
      • Sacred Hearts Servants Mission
      • Theology on Tap
    • Adults >
      • Adult Faith Formation​
      • Faith Life >
        • Christian Parenting Ministry
      • Peace & Justice
      • RECongress
    • Seniors
    • Becoming Catholic >
      • Baptism for School Aged Children and Teens
      • Catholic Inquiry
      • Confirmation for Adults
      • Parish Sponsor
    • Lent >
      • The University Series
  • Engage
    • Calendar >
      • Presiders
      • Mass Intentions
    • Groups >
      • Bereavement
      • Bible Study
      • Cancer
      • Caritas
      • Divorce
      • Faith Sharing
      • Filipino Ministry
      • Knitting
      • Landings
      • Married Couples Ministry
      • Men
      • Military Family
      • Meditative Movement
      • Open Hearts
      • PAX Christi
      • Peer Leaders
      • Prayer & Pruning
      • Specially Abled
      • Scouts
      • Single Adults
      • Spanish
      • Toastmasters
      • Writers
      • Women >
        • Celebrating Mom
        • Lemons on the Loose
        • Moms Group
        • Seeds of Faith
    • Knights of Columbus
    • Music Ministry >
      • Adult Choir
      • Cantors & Instrumentalists
      • Cherubs
      • Children's Choir
      • Christmas Concert
      • Chorus Caritas
      • Fall Concert
      • Jason Stoll
      • Summer Concert
      • Spring Concert
      • Youth Choir
      • Youth Strings Ensemble
    • Outreach
    • Retreats
    • Service >
      • Altar Servers
      • Environment
      • Eucharistic Ministers
      • Hospitality
      • Marthas & Matthews
      • Sacristans
      • Streaming Ministry >
        • Funeral Livestream
      • Welcome Ministry
    • St. Vincent de Paul
  • Contact
    • Baptisms
    • Contact Us
    • Directory
    • eNews Sign up
    • Funerals >
      • Funeral & Memorials
    • I Need Help
    • Join
    • Safeguard the Children >
      • VIRTUS®
      • Fingerprinting
    • Serra Center
    • St. Mary Magdalen School
    • Weddings
  • News
    • Bulletins
    • Funerals & Memorials
    • Watch
  • Donate
  • Home
    • This Month
    • Coming Soon
    • Ongoing
    • Quick Links
    • Events By Age
  • About
    • Parish
    • Gallery
    • Homilies >
      • Homilies 2023
      • Homilies 2022
      • Homilies 2021
      • Homilies 2020
      • Homilies 2019
      • Homilies 2018
      • Homilies 2017
    • Mass >
      • New Year Mass
      • Epiphany
      • Ash Wednesday
      • Holy Week
      • Ascension of the Lord
      • Pentecost
      • Corpus Christi
      • Blessing of Graduates
      • Assumption of Mary
      • College Mass
      • Catechetical Sunday
      • Saints Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Immaculate Conception
      • Simbang Gabi
      • Christmas Mass
    • Ministries >
      • Ministries A - Z
      • Ongoing
    • Pastor >
      • Fr. Patrick Mullen
      • Fr. Patrick Online
    • Prayer >
      • Stations of the Cross
    • Sacraments >
      • Baptism
      • Reconciliation
      • Eucharist >
        • Spiritual Communion
      • Confirmation
      • Marriage >
        • Marriage Preparation & Weddings
        • Wedding Liturgy Music Planner
      • Holy Orders
      • Anointing of the Sick
  • Encounter
    • Family >
      • ​​Christmas Concert
      • Fall Concert
      • Parish Picnic
      • Posada
      • Trunk or Treat
      • Spring Concert
      • Summer Concert
    • Children >
      • Children's Choir
      • Faith Formation Registration
      • Faith Formation Balance
      • Faith Formation Volunteer
      • Spark! Grade 5
    • Peer Leaders
    • Youth >
      • Faith Formation Registration
    • Young Adults >
      • Sacred Hearts Servants Mission
      • Theology on Tap
    • Adults >
      • Adult Faith Formation​
      • Faith Life >
        • Christian Parenting Ministry
      • Peace & Justice
      • RECongress
    • Seniors
    • Becoming Catholic >
      • Baptism for School Aged Children and Teens
      • Catholic Inquiry
      • Confirmation for Adults
      • Parish Sponsor
    • Lent >
      • The University Series
  • Engage
    • Calendar >
      • Presiders
      • Mass Intentions
    • Groups >
      • Bereavement
      • Bible Study
      • Cancer
      • Caritas
      • Divorce
      • Faith Sharing
      • Filipino Ministry
      • Knitting
      • Landings
      • Married Couples Ministry
      • Men
      • Military Family
      • Meditative Movement
      • Open Hearts
      • PAX Christi
      • Peer Leaders
      • Prayer & Pruning
      • Specially Abled
      • Scouts
      • Single Adults
      • Spanish
      • Toastmasters
      • Writers
      • Women >
        • Celebrating Mom
        • Lemons on the Loose
        • Moms Group
        • Seeds of Faith
    • Knights of Columbus
    • Music Ministry >
      • Adult Choir
      • Cantors & Instrumentalists
      • Cherubs
      • Children's Choir
      • Christmas Concert
      • Chorus Caritas
      • Fall Concert
      • Jason Stoll
      • Summer Concert
      • Spring Concert
      • Youth Choir
      • Youth Strings Ensemble
    • Outreach
    • Retreats
    • Service >
      • Altar Servers
      • Environment
      • Eucharistic Ministers
      • Hospitality
      • Marthas & Matthews
      • Sacristans
      • Streaming Ministry >
        • Funeral Livestream
      • Welcome Ministry
    • St. Vincent de Paul
  • Contact
    • Baptisms
    • Contact Us
    • Directory
    • eNews Sign up
    • Funerals >
      • Funeral & Memorials
    • I Need Help
    • Join
    • Safeguard the Children >
      • VIRTUS®
      • Fingerprinting
    • Serra Center
    • St. Mary Magdalen School
    • Weddings
  • News
    • Bulletins
    • Funerals & Memorials
    • Watch
  • Donate

​News

Bulletins

Just who is the “audience”?

3/17/2018

 
Picture
​Dear Friends,
 
I want to share some thoughts and reflections with you about our worship, an important part of which is singing together – all of us! We’ve heard Fr. Patrick on several occasions encourage us to sing at mass. He’s even cited Scriptures where God commands us to do so. Yet some of us still are reluctant, or uncomfortable, and sing very softly, or maybe not at all.
 
Have you noticed how the singing of the National Anthem at sporting events has changed over the years? It used to be that everyone in the stadium stood, put their hand over their heart, and sang, perhaps accompanied by the organ at Dodger Stadium, or by a marching band at a football game. But how often do we see that now? Almost never. Instead, the singing of the National Anthem has become an event at which one person performs for the rest of us. S/he sings, and we stand there with our hands over our hearts (maybe) and then applaud. The next day we take to social media and dissect the performance.
 
Shows like “The Voice” and “American Idol” reinforce the notion that singing is a specialized activity reserved only for the chosen few. But this is a very recent development in human history and one that I think robs us of our ownership of and our comfort with communal singing and its beneficial effects. Singing together in community can lower blood pressure, relieve stress, reduce heart rate, and cause endorphins to be released that create a sense of wellbeing.
It is not necessary that the singing be perfect, just that it be together. Fr. Patrick recently reminded us that all of God’s commandments are intended for our benefit because God loves us. I’m sure the commandment to sing our praises to God is no exception.
 
Perhaps bearing in mind that we are singing primarily for the God who created us, who loves us, and who knows us better than we know ourselves – and who has commanded us repeatedly in the Scriptures to do so – can help us. A shift in our perception of the different roles at mass may be called for here.
 
I think many of us have the notion that we are the audience; that the priest, lector, cantors, servers, deacons, etc. are the performers; and that God is the “executive producer” of the show. But the truth is that God is the Audience and that all of us are called to be performers for one another’s benefit and for God’s pleasure. Of course it is also true that the mass is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest offered to the Father by the Holy Spirit. And it is also still true that Jesus Christ is present at mass in the person of the priest, in the proclaimed Word of God, in the Eucharist . . . and, yes, in the gathered Body of Christ – you and me and all of us.
 
Last weekend’s responsorial psalm asked “how could we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?” The Chosen People had been exiled from the Promised Land to Babylon and one of the ways their captors there tormented them was by asking them to “sing the songs of Zion.” They thought back longingly to the temple in Jerusalem where they worshipped the LORD, singing together in happier days.
 
Maybe those of us who still feel resistance to the idea of singing at all, particularly in a way where anyone else can hear us, could step out in faith and just try, this Lent and Easter season, to move beyond our comfort zone for the sake of the worship the Lord asks us for. It could transform the experience of celebrating the liturgy together for all of us.
 
Siempre Adelante,
Dominic MacAller
Worship Minister


Comments are closed.

    NEWS CATEGORIES

    All
    Adults
    Altar Servers
    Audio
    Becoming Catholic
    Bulletins
    Faith Formation
    Funerals & Memorials
    Giving
    Message Of The Week
    Photo Albums
    Seasonal
    Volunteer
    Wellness
    Young Adults
    Youth


    Past News
    ARCHIVES

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    January 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    September 2015
    April 2015


    RSS Feed

Blessed Sacrament Chapel Hours

Sunday - Friday, 8:00 am - 9:00 pm
Saturday, 2:00 - 9:00 pm 

Office Hours

Monday through Thursday 8:00 am – 7:00 pm
Friday 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Saturday 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am - 1:00 pm
Mass Schedule
Vertical Divider

Telephone

(805) 482 · 6417
(805) 987 · 8100  FAX

For emergencies requiring
a priest after hours,
such as serious illness or death,
​please call:

​(805) 512 · 3208

Email Us

(staff first name)@padreserra.org
​
parish@padreserra.org

Address​

5205 Upland Road, Camarillo, CA 93012

Guest WiFi

Login: psp-guest
​Password: pspwelcome
Bulletin
Calendar
Donate
Join Email List
For eNews you can trust.

Staff Login​

​Contact Communication

​Disclaimer