July 1 2026 - St. Junipero Serra - Siempre Adelante

 

Today we honor the Franciscan saint, St. Junipero Serra. Over the past 800 years, countless men and women have lived out the Gospel by following the patterns of life left by St. Francis and St. Clare, that radical, practical, and deeply evangelical school of holiness.

Hundreds from among the three orders, that is the friars minor, the poor clares, and the secular Franciscans have been canonized or beatified—probably saints and blessed than than any other of the consecrated religious orders. Eleven Friars Minor were canonized by Pope Francis, including the saint we honor today, St. Junipero Serra.

The Franciscan way of life is evangelical in the strict sense: it is ordered toward living the Evangelium, the Gospel, as directly and visibly as possible. It is evangelical in the missionary sense as well. The Franciscan way of life is missionary because it is not content simply to cultivate personal holiness in a vacuum or even community life; it presses outward. St. Francis understood the Gospel as something to be lived, preached, embodied, and carried to others.

The Saint we honor today is one of the great Franciscan missionaries, who exemplifies the Franciscan ideals of poverty, perseverance, evangelical zeal, and sacrificial love.

Serra lived out that classic Franciscan impulse: to go out with the Gospel. He left the security of an academic career in Mallorca, traveled to across the Atlantic, and eventually labored in California as an aging friar with chronic physical ailments.

Serra’s motto, highlighted by Pope Francis at his canonization, was siempre adelante—“always forward.” For the Franciscan ideal is not comfort, status, or self-preservation, but availability for Christ’s mission. Serra’s missionary life was marked by travel, hardship, limited resources, and physical suffering. But he missioned, “siempre Adelante”—always forward, fueled by the zeal for souls and love of Christ.

He went to the margins, as Pope Francis would say, from familiar society into difficult, dangerous, and culturally unfamiliar territory—to the very margins of this continent, to its western shores, and his missionary life was not lived among the rich and powerful, or even the reasonably comfortable, but among frontier communities, soldiers, settlers, and Native peoples.

“Siempre Adelante”—“always forward” a good model for us to consider and interiorize. How is God seeking to lead us forward in living out in the Gospel in the world, bringing the Gospel to souls, bringing the Gospel to the margins, to leave behind the comfortable and embrace the sacrificial for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that like St. Junipero Serra, we may be willing to leave our comfort zones to spread the Gospel and serve those in need.  

For vocations to the priesthood and religious life, that through the intercession of St. Junipero Serra, more men and women may answer God's call to serve. And for those discerning their vocation, that they may have the courage to follow God's will, even when it leads them to unexpected places.

For educators and catechists, that they may follow St. Junipero Serra's example in dedicating their lives to teaching and forming others in the faith,  and for our parish community, that we may cultivate the virtues of humility and perseverance demonstrated by this great saint in our own spiritual journeys. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the impoverished, the lonely, those suffering from mental illness, those most in need, and those near death: may God, through the loving mercy of the Precious Blood of Jesus, be close to them in their trials.

And during this month of July, we pray that the Precious Blood of Jesus may be the salvation of all those who have died, for the deceased members of our families friends, and parish and all of the souls in purgatory. For the dear Franciscans who have labored and inspired us in the diocese of Cleveland.

Loving Father, inspired by the life and example of St. Junipero Serra, grant us the courage to follow your Son wherever He may lead us, the humility to serve others selflessly, and the perseverance to continue your work even in the face of challenges. May we, like St. Junipero, be instruments of your love and mercy in the world through Christ our Lord.

 

June 19 2023 - St. Romuald - Reparation & Evangelization

 On Friday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a feast day on which we make reparation—through prayer and penance—for the blasphemies and sins committed against God and His Holy Church. And throughout the year, the first Friday of each month is traditionally set aside for this purpose as well—to do penance and offer prayer and make reparation for our sins and those of the world.

Well the saint honored today, made that his life. St. Romuald grew up without the practice of religion in Ravenna, Italy. But after he witnessed his father kill a relative in a duel over and argument about money, he entered monastic life to escape the violence of the world and to perform penance for his father. 

He took penance very seriously, and made some of the less strict monks a bit uncomfortable. But after some time, his father repented of his sins, and entered the monastery as well.

Now, Romuald would later become abbot of the monastery, and would also go on to be sent by the Pope to preach in Hungary, and also founded a new religious order, the Camaldolese hermits, but that initial inspiration to do penance for another shouldn’t be glossed over.

We see a lot of evil in the world right now—sins repugnant to the call to holiness are pridefully celebrated, blasphemies are broadcast, vice is normalized and encouraged. What can I we, the church asks? We can follow the example of St Romuald—if not entering religious life to do penance, we can certainly fast and pray a little bit more assiduously in reparation for the multitude to of sins and for the conversion of sinners. Our Blessed Lord Himself said, some demons are only cast out through prayer and fasting. 

We speak a lot about evangelization these days, the need to spread the Gospel. Monks and hermits like St. Romuald remind us of a powerful way of engaging in evangelization—joining a religious community who take religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the context of a penitential rule of life. The great powerhouses of evangelization throughout history, have often been those monasteries where men and women have sought to conform themselves to Christ and to do penance for sin. Hermits inspire people to turn away from the emptiness and the noise of the world in order to find Christ. That’s evangelization. We become effective instruments of evangelization when we are serious about our personal call to holiness. 

And shouldn’t that be the pursuit about which we are most serious? St. Romuald brought his father to Christ through his humble quiet life of prayer and penance. May his example and heavenly intercession inspire us to similar endeavors for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

To God the Father Almighty, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for it is His will that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of all the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them, and deepen in them the virtues of justice and religion.

For an increase in vocations to the consecrated religious life—especially to those holy orders of hermits—who inspired us by their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief, especially for the sick and victims of war and terror and natural disaster.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.