Serra’s love for the Indians and coming to their defense, which is uncontestable. Serra personally harming or instructing others to harm the Indians, but there is record of Fr. Yet we have gone through all historical records and have no account of him personally harming the Indians. It was an opportunity to stand up for a man who, I believe, has been misrepresented historically and toward whom many Native Americans harbor resentment and anger even today. “For me, a large part of the impetus to pour my heart into this project was in defense of Fr. His experience as a novice missionary-in-training led him to go out and discover a new land, a new frontier, and bring the faith to a new people. Serra wanted to go to the New World to reinvigorate his life as a novice because the novitiate itself reinvigorated his life. Leaving everything he had known to bring a treasure to another part of the world and to receive the treasure of that world and the people who stole his heart. ![]() ![]() Serra freshens my heart every day as I remember the ways in which he overcame obstacles-throughout his life-turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones at every moment of the journey. “What drives a man to leave a life of comfort, travel across the world, learn new languages and customs, and live in difficult conditions riddled with conflict? It is a love of God so deep, so profound, combined with a love for others with whom to share the joy of this love. I joined the venture as historian and advisor. When a friend introduced me to James Kelty, a director and producer working on a film about the missionary, we knew we had a project together. Serra until I was working at Trinity and lived at Mission San Juan Capistrano for seven years. Reciprocally, his heart and intellect were open to the treasures he found in them. His faith was a treasure inside of him that he wanted to share. Serra was the Spanish missionary priest who founded the California Missions and brought the Christian faith to the Native Americans. How is God calling you and me to step out of our comfortable routine and share Christ with others? As Mother Angelica once said, “We’re all called to be great saints. From your own home, you can even watch it online.Īs we ponder Serra’s life, we naturally look back upon our own. My own neighborhood movie theater is opening up for a live stream showing of the canonization. That same joy is resonating through our country. In his lifetime, he had the pleasure of learning of Father Serra’s upcoming canonization and received it with a deeply peaceful, satisfying joy. Beyond those similarities, he saw a man who was misunderstood, chose to study his story, and came to his defense. You can find his influence in the docudrama, Serra: Always Forward, Never Back ( available from EWTN) and in his memoir, shared below.įather Joe loved a party! The celebration is about to begin. For Father Joe, the similarities were uncanny. ![]() And in the lives of holy people we sometimes find our own journey. Yet I didn’t really know Father Serra until I knew Father Joe.įather Joe gave me the intimacy of Father Serra’s personhood, and I this I pass to you. ![]() We stray off course to San Juan Bautista because it is a favorite, and we admire the authenticity and crumbling simplicity of San Miguel. Signs of Father Serra’s dedication sprinkle the Camino Real. Still she taught us his story, celebrated their shared birthday, and certainly influenced my brother who once penned a poignant sign that landed on the refrigerator front and stayed for months turned into years: “Always forward, never back.” These words of Father Serra were in my line of vision every time I entered the house through the kitchen door.įast forward to today, and I make my home in mission territory. Yet his mission territory was like a foreign country to me, as California was the opposite coast and my memories like happy dreams of earliest years. Father Joe became an expert on the man Pope Francis will canonize as a Saint tomorrow at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., but like Father Serra’s journey to sainthood, Father Joe’s journey to know him well was one of many years.Īll my life, Father Serra was esteemed in our household especially by my mother who told his story. Some of us can tell our own Father Serra stories.
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