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Padre Serra Parish
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  • 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
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      • Streaming Ministry >
        • Funeral Livestream
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  • Contact
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      • Funeral & Memorials
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​News

Bulletins

Thanksgiving Thoughts

11/26/2020

 
Of the 102 colonists who came across the Atlantic to the North America, only 53, just over half, survived that first year to bring in a harvest. More than anything else, this one fact tells us that the first Thanksgiving participants celebrated in spite of terrible suffering, hunger, losses and heartache. Yet, they still found room in the hearts for gratitude. It really is extraordinary.

We’ve had our own horrible year. I don’t need to remind you of everything, between pandemic and politics that we have been through. We’ve all lived through this together. Can we be as exceptional as the Mayflower passengers, finding our own reasons for celebrating what God has done for us? I know that we can!

For myself, I am endlessly grateful for everyone in the medical field. I have been cheering on and praying for researchers seeking vaccines and cures from the beginning. The brave souls who work with the sick have a most tender place of gratitude in my heart.

I have no end of appreciation for the staff of the parish who have worked so heartily, whether in their offices or from their homes, to continue our mission of encountering Jesus and serving as His disciples. Under extraordinarily tough circumstances, they do so very much to keep us together, to provide liturgies, both in person and online, to serve the needs of our children, to offer us support in our ministries and to provide us adult faith formation opportunities.

Our volunteers, sacristans, lectors, ushers, cantors, musicians, tech crew, and Eucharistic ministers have taken a hard situation and made it an amazingly beautiful experience. Who could have known that we could enjoy Mass outside as much as we have?

I am reminded by the many parishioners who serve in the military just how blessed we are that there are so many good people willing to sacrifice and serve to protect us, our country, and the values that make America a great nation.
​
I am grateful, in a most profound way, for the parishioners who have continued, in this stressful time, to support the parish financially. We have been weathering this storm with your amazing and much appreciated support. From my heart, I thank you!

And then there are the many small things. I am grateful for the pleasure of autumn chill in the air, the first rain, the sound of children playing on the east side of the parish campus during their recess, the hard work of teachers and parents helping children grow in knowledge and faith.

I am grateful for cooking adventures in the kitchen, the smell of onions and garlic sautéing in a frying pan, the heat of a tasty chili pepper, the taste and texture of cheese – oh how I am grateful for cheese.
I am grateful for a good book, a warm cup of chai tea, whitened with milk, for a lit fireplace when it is chilly outside, and for my favorite playlists of gentle, uplifting music.

I am grateful for my comfortable beach chair, for time on cliffs looking down on the Pacific, for pelicans and porpoises, for sea gulls and sunshine on water.

I am grateful for socially distanced dinners in backyards of friends, for any picnic, for tuna salad sandwiches with tomatoes, for a glass of wine with good conversation.

I am grateful for breath, and touch, and taste and sight, and sound and scent – how can I ever be grateful enough for any of these?
I am grateful to be alive, even in these times.

I am grateful to be here in this place with you.
 
May you have a happy Thanksgiving, filled with your own long list!
​
Fr. Patrick
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