3/4/2023 Up on the mountain top ...Dear parish family, Our Gospel this Sunday, is about the Transfiguration of the Lord. We hear about a moment on the mountain top, where Jesus shares a glimpse of his Glory, with his close friends Peter, James and John. Peter may not have fully understood at that moment the greatness that he and the others were fortunate enough to experience. Perhaps all he could understand is how perfect that moment with Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophet) was on the mountain top. So perfect, that it makes Peter ask Jesus if he should set tents for them. The revelation of Jesus the Son of God in his Glory, hearing God’s voice, perhaps too much to handle all at once, that it left all three in fear. Till they feel Jesus’ touch and peace as he tells them “Rise, and do not be afraid.” With so much going on in our world today, the business of work, raising a family, caring for a loved one, and the huge list of things that need to be done at home, we may be desperately seeking that mountain top moment, where everything is so perfect. But friends, I think these moments of perfection, when all is well, are meant to inspire us, to fill our spirits, rest our bodies and minds, but it also is meant just for a moment; we can not built our tents there yet. The past two weeks I was blessed with several opportunities “at the mountain top.” First was the Confirmation retreat, with our parish teens who will be making their sacrament this May. Wow, what a wonderful weekend, to see the young people so open to the opportunity to encounter Jesus, to continue to build their relationship with our God. We had the gift of being joined on retreat by Fr. Tim Grumbach and he invited us all to join him for Mass outdoors at 7:00 am. This was an open invitation without obligation. The teens could have slept in longer if they wished; however, we had a good crowd that very cold, beautiful morning. Then again with so much reverence and love at adoration, The Holy Spirit was present with us, transforming and healing hearts and souls. The amazing team of young adults and peer leaders who worked so hard to prepare themselves and lead the retreat, without a complaint. They would stay up late preparing for the next day, and wake up early to pray together before starting the next day. Wow! This is one of the highlights of my year, just like Peter, James and John, allowed to be witness of God in action. This sets my soul on fire, and propels me to continue in ministry, to know how blessed we are to be Jesus’ hands, feet and at times voice for others. My second mountain top moment was at the yearly Religious Education Congress. “Embrace Grace, Abraza la Gracia.” Another opportunity to be inspired, to learn and to pray deeply. Then again yesterday at the First Reconciliation of 90 children. To witness the powerful healing of the sacrament of reconciliation. Seeing though the children were nervous at first, the beaming smiles as they walk away. Many family members who too return to this healing and renewing sacrament, filling them with God’s peace. Two of these events are only 3 days, then we return back to our reality. They are long enough to make an impact. In the days or weeks that follow I know we will continue to unpack what we have experienced. We can return to our daily tasks with new energy and perhaps even a new vision, and better understanding of our mission.
2/25/2023 Forty DaysDear friends on the journey, Have you seen the meme depicting a remote cozy cabin in the woods with the caption, “Could you stay here without internet, phone, or television for thirty days?” Some memes offer a bonus condition of receiving a million dollars at the end of the month. Money or no money, my response is always and without hesitation, “Why yes; yes I could and would.” I would love to experience something like that. Just me, a stack of books, my Bible and journal, a retreat plan from my spiritual direction, comfy clothes and blankets, good food and snacks, coffee, and maybe some wine. Today’s gospel story is a slightly similar situation in that Jesus retreats to the wilderness for forty days following his baptism. But this is where the similarities end between Jesus’ wilderness experience and my cabin retreat. Matthew tells us that Jesus was taken by the Spirit to the desert to be tempted by the devil three times. The first temptation is to get Jesus to rely on his own power, not God’s. The second temptation is to test God’s promise of protection and the third offers Jesus the promise of all the world’s kingdoms if he just worships the devil. But each time Jesus resists the temptation, rebuking the devil. Jesus will not test God, nor doubt God’s faithfulness. These temptations are not dissimilar to our own. We are tempted by a culture that tells us to be self-reliant, trust only ourselves, strive for money and power, that worldly goods provide happiness and self worth. It shames us into thinking we’re not good enough until we’re thinner, richer, more educated, living in a bigger house. It tells us to keep up with the Jones’. Fortunately, there’s a remedy. This forty-day season and retreat of Lent is rooted in the remedies of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer centers ourselves in relationship with God. In giving of our resources like money, we trust that God will provide for our needs. Fasting not only unites our suffering with Jesus’ and others’, but creates space, time, and focus for prayer and almsgiving. Lent invites us to grow in the same confidence that Jesus had in the desert to turn away from temptation to trust in God’s power, protection, forgiveness, mercy, and love. We may not be able to go away for the next month to a comfortable cabin to ponder all this, and really, we shouldn’t, because the real growth happens in doing the work in the midst of busy normal lives. So as we begin this Lenten season, I offer a few questions to ponder: ● How can you use the forty days of Lent as a retreat? ● How are you going to incorporate prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? ● What are the temptations in your life that need to be addressed this Lent? ● How can you become a better person on Easter Monday than you were on Ash Wednesday? Siempre Adelante, Teresa Runyon Pastoral Associate 2/18/2023 To Infinity and BeyondRecently, I watched a rebroadcast of the movie, “Toy Story.” Andy received for his birthday the latest and greatest toy on the market, a Buzz Lightyear. Much to the dismay of his formerly beloved action figure Sheriff Woody, Andy loved his new Buzz Lightyear “to infinity and beyond.” Eventually, and through many adventures, Woody and all of the toys recalled their own moments in the spotlight of Andy’s love and they reciprocated in kind. Woody and Buzz and Mr. Potato Head and Rex and Slinky Dog understood the timelessness of true unconditional love and shared it with each other. Through today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to this kind of enduring, persistent love. He suggests that we turn the other cheek and go the extra mile. He asks his listeners then and now to share a radical new love — to love as God loves – and that includes even those we call our enemies. Who are the people in your life you find difficult to love? What must we do to love as God loves? Jesus is challenging us to move away from our old way of doing things (judgment, anger, resentment, envy) and approach others with a generous heart. He wants us to go beyond what is fair and do what is kind. We need a conversion. After all, He accepted the challenge himself — stripped of his garments, never resisting ill treatment, offering forgiveness from the cross, and dying for all of us. In further instruction, Jesus tells us “to be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” How can we possibly reach perfection in the eyes of God?! Jesus understands the imperfections of being human. He knows we will try and fail in our efforts to be holy. He does not want us to “go it alone.” In community, as a people of God, we learn and grow and love and support, striving for wholeness with God in the sacraments. Only by turning toward God, could we hope to experience, share, and reciprocate such complete love. This weekend, Padre Serra Parish will send 13 fallible and flawed humans to the Rite of Election, answering a call to a relationship with Christ through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion. They hear the Good News and allow it to guide them to make the necessary changes to follow Jesus. They pray, study, and complete the work of discipleship. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the catechumens eagerly express their intention to receive the sacraments. The all-encompassing love of Christ has changed their hearts. We, the parishioners, offer our prayers and example, encouraging them to oneness in the body of Christ. We contribute to the sense of trust and belonging that brings them to a life with God Woody and Buzz belonged to Andy, and Andy used all of his toys in fun and creative ways. However difficult it may be to “see the face of God” in everyone we meet, we all belong to God. The Spirit of God lives in each one us, therefore, we all have an immense capacity for unconditional love. As the Church, may we continue to model loving as God loves, drawing his people home. Peace and joy, Mary Huebner Initiation 2/10/2023 Maximums / Minimums In Mark 1:22, Jesus’ audience was astonished at his teaching, “for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes,” who could read and interpret the law, but couldn’t legislate. In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus exercising his authority. Every time he said, “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors…But I say to you…” he adopted God’s position as legislator, higher than that of Moses who only received the law from God. When Jesus defined the law, just as God the Father does, he pushed for more noble and caring behavior than the earlier law required. In the years when I was in the classroom, one of the clearest differences between students was the attitudes about “the course requirements.” So many of them were hungry for knowledge, and pursued every avenue of learning with enthusiasm. But not all of them. It was so clear that some wanted to know exactly what they needed to do to pass the course, so they could do that much and no more. “Getting by” was sufficient for them. They lacked any passion for their studies. As a professor, I responded by providing minimums that were, if anything, fairly substantial, based on my experience of what priests would need to know to preach and teach the Scriptures well. I felt it was important to challenge the minimalists to something more meaty and enthusiastic. I didn’t succeed with everyone, but I did with some, even many. I see Jesus encouraging us, in this weekend’s Gospel, to move ourselves beyond a minimalist approach to faith and life. There were behaviors that the Hebrew Scriptures permitted, in the more violent times of the past, which Jesus no longer accepted. He took a deep look at what the Torah permitted regarding how we deal with troublesome brothers (and sisters), how permanent are our marital relationships, how to respect people other than our spouses whom we find attractive, how to speak the truth without embellishment. In each case, Jesus references the old teaching, and then corrects or amplifies it. Jesus conceives of a maximalist Kingdom of God. In essence: let’s do as much as possible to create the caring Kingdom of God. No settling for the least common denominator here. You might consider where you are on this spectrum. Are you trying to do the least possible, just to squeak by, morally and spiritually speaking? Are you desiring to do more, but struggling to attend to all of life’s demands? Is your relationship with the Lord the guiding value of your life to which you dedicate your heart with enthusiasm? In whatever place you find yourself, I encourage you to take the next step, to hold yourself up to a yet higher standard. Let the bright light of Jesus’ enthusiasm shine upon you, and respond with ever-greater commitment. Siempre adelante! Fr. Patrick Pastor 2/4/2023 You are salt and light.I love these images from Matthew’s Gospel today as we hear Jesus tell his disciples, “You are salt of the earth ... You are the light of the world.” While we may take these two elements for granted in our modern times, they certainly would have been understood as precious and necessary commodities to the disciples. Salt was used to persevere food and also to provide flavor while oil lamps were used to illuminate their darkened homes. Salt with no flavor would have no purpose and it would have been utterly ridiculous to light a lamp and then immediately cover it with a basket. Rather, Jesus challenges his disciples – “your light must shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” This past week, we celebrated National Catholic Schools’ Week – an opportunity to give thanks for the blessing of Catholic education in the United States. Currently, there are 5,938 Catholic elementary and secondary schools that serve over 1.6 million students across our nation. These are institutions where students are taught they are “salt and light” and receive the call to go forth to make God known, loved, and served in the world. But just as the early disciples saw salt and light as items of immense value, we too should not take Catholic education for granted. We are blessed to have our own place of transformation here in Camarillo where St. Mary Magdalen students are challenged to be “salt and light.” Currently serving 298 students from Camarillo and the surrounding communities, our hope for our students is to allow their lives to be changed by their time in our community and then to share those gifts with others. The work that we do is something that cannot be done without your prayers and support and to my fellow Padre Serra parishioners, I offer humble words of deep gratitude. Your generosity over the years allows us to continue to grow and thrive. This is your school community and you are such an important part of the educational journey and faith development of all our children. Siempre Adelante! Michael Ronan Principal P.S. If you have school-aged children and are interested in sending them to St. Mary Magdalen or just want to visit our school, I’d love to invite you for a personal tour of our campus home. Also, note that we are currently accepting applications for the 2023 - 2024 school year for all grades. More information is available on our website (www.smmschool.net). |
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