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.

 

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Die to Sin and Living for God

 

For a few Sundays now, following Corpus Christi Sunday, the priest has been wearing the liturgical color, green. We’ve really had the whole spectrum of liturgical colors these past few months; we’ve had the purple of Lent, rose on Laetare Sunday, the white of Easter, the Red of Pentecost. I wore gold for Corpus Christi, black for funerals. And now we’re back to liturgical green.

I’ve always been partial to green. For one, it was the color of my first car, a hunter green 1992 firebird. Green is also a color of my childhood: I spent a lot of time as a kid in the woods, building forts and climbing trees.. Also, in high school and college, during the summers I would work in the nurseries, taking plant clippings. For two whole summers, for 8 hours a day, I simply watered plants and trees—if I didn’t see the color green, I wasn’t doing my job. Green is the color of new life. And liturgically, too, green is the color not simply of plants and trees, but the new life and growth which is to occur in our souls during Ordinary time (this season after Pentecost.)

In fact, though we Roman Catholics wear red on Pentecost, the Eastern Catholics wear green on Pentecost—to symbolize the new life of the Holy Spirit—the new life the Spirit brings to the Church and to the Christian soul.

Spiritual growth is one of our goals for Ordinary Time. In the spiritual life we are either growing or rotting, there is no in between. We are either growing toward God or falling away. We are either growing in our prayer life or diminishing, growing in self-sacrifice or tending toward selfishness, becoming more patient or less patient, increasing in virtue or becoming hardened in vice.

The Green of Ordinary Time is a reminder that God wants growth for his children, constant growth. He wants us always learning, always developing, always increasing in grace, always producing spiritual fruit, maturing spiritually, improving in the use of the many gifts he gives us.

In our Second Reading this weekend St Paul provides us with two important laws of spiritual growth.

The first law of spiritual growth sounds paradoxical. In order to grow, we must die, to sin, that is. “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin,” St. Paul says.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ as each of us profess to be means turning away from sin. For sin, is poison to the soul. The Lord died to save us from sin and death. So the Christian is constantly seeking to eradicate sin, from our life-- rooting out the tendrils of selfishness which choke out the life of God in us.

When we making little compromises with the commandments, when we give-in to sinful inclinations and habits, these choices suffocate the life of Christ in us—in our souls, families, and parish. We will never have the peace and joy that God wants for us when we accommodate sin.

Rather, as St. Paul tells us, we are to “die to sin”. Now, dying to sin is hard - because temptation is tempting. Because we are fallen, we have this magnetic attraction, at times, to what is bad for us—for our relationship with God. But, the heart of Jesus burns with ardent desire to purify us from our sins. When we make the effort to resist sin, when we pray for his help in the moment of temptation, God comes to our aid.

There is a story of from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint was being overwhelmed with temptations to break his vow of chastity. He would pray, but the temptations just got worse. He knew something had to be done to wake himself out of this cycle of temptation. So on a particularly cold winter’s day, he stripped down naked and threw himself into a ditch full of snow. It was a shock to his system, and it was a way of showing the devil that he is willing to suffer in order to remain faithful to God.

Popular culture depicts St. Francis as having a special love of God’s creation, and he did. But that creation includes the human soul, the most important part of creation. And so the man was serious about uprooting sin in himself and preaching against sin so that God’s life might flourish.

If there is a particular sin which keeps lingering in your life, like St. Francis and each of the saints, get serious about it. Make frequent use of the sacrament of confession, undertake some fasting, pray daily for God’s help. Effort in overcoming sin will be rewarded by God and will result in Spiritual growth and its fruits.

So St. Paul tells us, firstly, we must die to sin. The second law of Spiritual Growth, he says, is that we must live for God. Paul writes, “you too must think of yourselves… as living for God in Christ Jesus.”

Dying to sin, bridling our self-centered tendencies, is necessary for spiritual growth, but spiritual growth also involves become like God in charity. We are to engage in works of Charity, such as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The saints give us countless examples of what living for God—the life of charity—looks like. July 1 this week is the feast of St. Junipero Serra. Listen to his heroic charity.

During the time when our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence, the Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra was traveling up the coast of present-day California, establishing missions—outposts to evangelize the indigenous peoples.

Junipero Serra wasn’t born a Franciscan of course, he was originally a university professor in Spain and a very learned man. But he detected the Holy Spirit urging him to grow. So he gave up his university career to travel to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. And mind you, this was a time in our history when the civil authorities were not friendly to the humanity and rights of the indigenous people. St. Junipero, the good priest stood up for these people, helped them to improve their spiritual and material well-being, while boldly fighting against their mistreatment.

Those journeys up and down the coast of California must have been grueling for him. For, when his body was exhumed for the purpose of the canonization, it was shown that St. Junipero Serra had cancer of the legs. Yet, he traveled, he labored, out of love for God’s people, fueled by zeal for souls—he lived for God, as St. Paul urges us to do, and was transformed into love.

How is God calling you to live more fully for him—bringing the Gospel to those ignorant of it, providing material assistance to those genuinely in need of it, or emotional support for the lonely?

We might not be called to travel halfway across the globe to engage in missionary work, but each of us are called to help others know Christ, likely at the cost of some suffering on our part, to die to sin and to live, not just for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us. This week, perhaps every day, take time, intentionally each day: ask the Lord what is the growth you want for me at this point me in my life? What is the work you have for me? What are the sins you are calling me to die to today, who am I to share your goodness with today, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023 - Die to sin and live for God

 For a few Sundays now, following Corpus Christi Sunday, the priest has been wearing the liturgical color, green. We’ve really had the whole spectrum these past few months; we’ve had the purple of Lent, rose on Laetare Sunday, the white of Easter, the Red of Pentecost. I wore gold on the feast of the Sacred Heart, black for funerals. And now back to liturgical green. 

I’ve always been partial to green. For one, it was the color of my first car, a hunter green 1992 firebird. But, green is also the color of my childhood: I grew up running through the green forests and fields of my hometown of Madison, which is much more rural than here in the city. Also, in high school and college, during the summers I would work in the nurseries, taking clippings from the different plants, grafting branches. Two whole summers, for 8 hours a day, I simply watered plants and trees. So I associate that color green with new life. And liturgically, too, green is the color of new life, not simply of plants and trees, but the new life and growth which is to occur in our souls during Ordinary time (this season after Pentecost.) 

In fact, though we Roman Catholics wear red on Pentecost, some Eastern Catholics and Orthodox wear green on Pentecost—to symbolize the new life the Holy Spirit brings to the Church and to the Christian soul. 

Spiritual growth is one of the foci of Ordinary Time. In the spiritual life we are either growing or rotting, there is no in between. We are either growing toward God or falling away. We are either growing in our prayer life or diminishing, growing in self-sacrifice or tending toward selfishness, becoming more patient or less patient, increasing in virtue or becoming hardened in vice. 

The Green of Ordinary Time is a reminder that God wants growth for his children, constant growth. He wants us always learning, always developing, always increasing in grace, always producing spiritual fruit, maturing spiritually, improving in the use of the many gifts he gives us. 

And in our Second Reading this weekend St Paul provides us with two important laws of spiritual growth.

The first law of spiritual growth is that we must die to sin: “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin,” St. Paul says.

Christians must seek to eradicate sin from our lives. Sin is poison to the soul. Becoming dead to sin means rooting out the tendrils of selfishness which choke out the life of God in us. We all have self-centered, selfish, immoral tendencies, and they must be brought under control. 

Flirting with sin, making little compromises with the commandments, or simply giving up and giving in to sinful inclinations and habits, these things suffocate the life of Christ in our souls, families, and parish. And instead of living with interior peace, joy, meaning, wisdom, and courage, sin deprives us of these things. 

Now, dying to sin is hard - because temptation is tempting. But God is on our side. The heart of Jesus burns with ardent desire to purify us from our sins. And if we pray for his help to overcome sins, he will give it to us!

There is a story of from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint was being overwhelmed with temptations to break his vow of chastity. He would pray, but the temptations just got worse. He knew something had to be done to wake himself out of this cycle of temptation. So on a particularly cold winter’s day, he stripped down naked and threw himself into a ditch full of snow. It was a shock to his system, and it was a way of showing the devil that he is willing to suffer in order to remain faithful to God.

Sometimes we only think of St. Francis as having this unique relationship with animals. But, the man was serious about uprooting sin from his life. Uprooting sin is pleasing to God. 

Of course, Our Blessed Lord is merciful to the most hardened sinner who repents, but he also calls us to purity, chastity, moral fortitude, obedience to the commandments. So, if there is a particular sin which keeps lingering, we do well to make frequent use of the sacrament of confession, and to practice some mortification, some fasting, some act of self-sacrifice to put those temptations in their place. Effort will be rewarded by God. 

So St. Paul tells us, firstly, we must die to sin. The second law, he says, is that we must live for God. Paul writes, “you too must think of yourselves… as living for God in Christ Jesus.”

Dying to sin, bridling our self-centered tendencies, is necessary for spiritual growth, but it is not enough. We also need to do something for God. We must live for God. Our daily life must be marked by godliness. We are to engage in works of Charity, such as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  Faith without works, after all, is dead. And honestly, when you engage in authentic charity, sin loosens its grasp. 

Two groups in particular here at St. Ignatius focus on those works. The Legion of Mary which focuses on the Spiritual Works, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which focuses on the corporal works. If you are having a difficult time finding opportunities to engage in the corporal and spiritual works consider joining one of those two groups, or the garden club, or the share-a-meal on 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, or the food pantry on 2nd Tuesdays. Or if there is some other work that you’d like to around here, please let me know. 

The saints give us countless examples of what living for God looks like. July 1 is the feast of St. Junipero Serra. 

During the time when our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence, the Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra was traveling up the coast of present-day California, establishing missions, laboring for the spread of the Gospel.  Father Junipero was originally a university professor in Spain and a very learned man. But he detected the Holy Spirit urging him to grow. Sometimes, spiritual growth means giving up something good for something better. So he gave up his university career to come to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. And mind you, this was a time in our history when the civil authorities were violating the humanity and rights of the indigenous people. And Padre Serra stood up for these people, helped them to improve their spiritual and material well-being, while boldly fighting against their mistreatment.

St. Junipero Serra is now celebrated as one of the great patron Saints for vocation promotion because not only did he spread the Gospel among the native americans, he was also successful in cultivating priestly and religious vocations among them.  There is even an international group for the promotion and support of vocations called Serra International who have a chapter here in Cleveland and meet regularly to pray for vocations. If you’d like information on this group, let me know. 

When his body was exhumed for the purpose of the canonization, it was shown that Fr. Serra had cancer of the legs. Those journeys up and down the coast of California must have been grueling for him. Yet, he did so, out of love for God’s people, fueled by zeal for souls. 

We might not be called to travel halfway across the globe to engage in missionary work, but each of us are called to help others know Christ, likely at the cost of some suffering on our part, to die to sin and to live, not just for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us. This week, perhaps every day, ask the Lord what is the growth you want for me today, what is the work you have for me today, what are the sins you are calling me to die to today, who am I to share your goodness with today, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

July 1 2022 - St. Junipero Serra - Abandoning Comfort for Service

 

Earlier this week, our Gospel reading contained the strange warning of our Lord to the scribe who was considering discipleship: "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." In other words, Jesus is saying, “I’m homeless. Will you follow me, even if that means giving up your home? Will you follow me even if it means never being able to go home again?”

In today’s Gospel, the Lord calls the tax collector Matthew, to follow him. For Matthew, this would mean leaving his livelihood, and also a real change of lifestyle. No doubt, as a tax collector, he lived a very comfortable life. He was well-connected, well-paid, especially, if he was anything like the typical tax collector, extorting his fellow Jews on top of gathering taxes for his Roman overlords.

“There’s no way I can change,” Matthew must have considered. But he trusted the Lord had something the world could not offer.

Throughout the year we celebrate saints who up and down the centuries who left their homes and comfortable lives to follow the Lord. Today we celebrate St. Junipero Serra who did just that.

Junipero Serra had been a university professor in Spain, but he gave up his position to come to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. So while our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence on the east coast, Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra was traveling up through Mexico to present-day California.  There he devoted himself to building churches and schools for the poor and the native people, catechizing those in his care and raising up dedicated priests to continue the Lord’s work.

St. Junipero Serra, you may remember, is the first saint to be canonized on American soil. He was canonized just in 2015, when Pope Francis visited the U.S.. And during the canonization Pope Francis praised St. Junipero Serra’s willingness to abandon the comforts and privileges of his native Spain to spread the Christian message in the new World. 

What a wonderful example we have in Junipero Serra; for no doubt, the Lord is calling us to leave behind what is comfortable—the comfort of our familiar routines, at least—to preach the Gospel and to witness to the Gospel to the strangers in our midst. May we follow the Lord into the unknown territories, carrying his light and his truth and his love to all those we encounter today. May we find excuses to leave our homes to spread the Gospel today for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may be deeply committed to the spread of Christ’s Gospel, and for the success of the Church’s missionary activity.

For our nation, as we celebrate our independence this week, that we may be always grateful for our freedom, but more importantly, may we use that freedom for God’s will, rather than our own.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  May they know God’s mercy and be gathered to the eternal kingdom of peace. 

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ. 

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.

Graciously grant our petitions, we beseech thee, O Lord; may your grace sustain us always in your service, through Christ Our Lord.

 

 

July 1 2020 - St. Junipero Serra - Statues and Holiness

The Saint we honor today has made the news recently. Up and down California, mobs are destroying statues of Junipero Serra, the missionary priest, who left the comforts and privileges of his native Spain to devoted himself to building churches and schools for the poor and the native Americans. Junipero Serra was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015 during the Holy Father’s first visit to our nation.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco lamented the destruction of these statues, and even held an exorcism in the Golden Gate Park, after the Statue of St. Junipero was toppled. “I’ve been feeling great distress and sort of a deep wound in my soul when I see these horrendous acts of blasphemy and disparaging of the memory of Serra who was such a great hero, such a great defender of the indigenous people of this land," Cordileone said.

"I would ask our people to learn the history of Father Serra, the missions, the whole history of the Church, so they can appreciate the great legacy the Church has given us, given the world,”  he said. “So much truth, beauty and goodness. It’s a wonderful legacy that we should be proud of. There are those that want to make us feel ashamed of it.”

Efforts to destroy Saint Junipero’s statue have not been entirely  successful: thanks to the presence of a small band of Catholics, a “Tear Down Junipero Serra” event in Ventura, California, concluded with the bronze statue of Padre Serra standing unharmed. Event participants harassed and taunted the Catholics defending the statue, disparaging the opinions, religion, race, and personal appearance of those they disagreed with. One woman raced up, ripped signs away from two supporters at the base of the statue, and was dragged away, clawing, throwing things, and screaming obscenities.

Sadly, unless there is a great miracle and change of heart, such violence will likely continue. Likely, statues will continue to be torn down, history scrubbed of reference to Christianity, as has been done in Europe for the past two decades. We are already seeing Catholics being harassed and physically attacked.

And yet we shouldn’t lose heart. Rather, wherever the saints are disparaged we redouble our efforts to them, wherever Christians are persecuted, we redouble our efforts to live out the Gospel, to give witness to the one who calls us to fidelity amidst the resistance and hostility of the world. "Hate evil and love good" as the prophet Amos teaches in the reading today, "for justice will prevail at the gate", the gate of heaven where souls will be judged.

As the world seems to fall apart at the seams, we recommit to the acts of goodness, education, works of mercy, like those performed by St. Junipero, that reinfuse the world with God’s goodness and the grace of Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may be deeply committed to the spread of Christ’s Gospel, and for the success of the Church’s missionary activity.

For our nation, as we celebrate our independence this weekend, that we may be always grateful for our freedom, and use that freedom for God’s will, rather than our own.

For the conversion of hearts to all who engage in religious persecution, stifle the preaching of the Gospel, or tear down what is good and holy.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all Christians persecuted for the faith around the world, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.
Graciously grant our petitions, we beseech thee, O Lord; may your grace sustain us always in your service, through Christ Our Lord.

July 1 2019 - St. Junipero Serra - Leaving comfort behind

Today’s Gospel should sound familiar. Yesterday, we heard St. Luke’s version of these strange sayings of our Lord. St. Matthew’s version today, is a little more concise, but the point remains the same.

While traveling, a scribe approaches Jesus and voices his willingness to follow him wherever he may go. And The Lord warns the scribe, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." In other words, Jesus is saying, “I’m homeless. Will you follow me, even if that means giving up your home? Will you follow me even if it means never being able to go home again?”

Yesterday, I mentioned St. Clare and the many saints up and down the centuries who left their homes, left their comfortable lives, to follow the Lord. Today we celebrate St. Junipero Serra who did just that.

Junipero Serra had been a university professor in Spain, but he gave up his position to come to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord. So while our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence on the east coast, Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra was traveling up through Mexico to present-day California.  There he devoted himself to building churches and schools for the poor and the native people, catechizing those in his care and raising up dedicated priests to continue the Lord’s work.

St. Junipero Serra, you may remember, is the first saint to be canonized on American soil. He was canonized just in 2015, when Pope Francis visited the U.S. Pope Francis praised St. Junipero Serra’s willingness to abandon the comforts and privileges of his native Spain to spread the Christian message in the new World.

What a wonderful example we have in Junipero Serra of a true missionary disciple; for no doubt, the Lord is calling us to leave the comfort of our homes, the comfort of our familiar routines, to preach the Gospel and to witness to the Gospel to the strangers in our midst. May we follow the Lord into the unknown territories, carrying his light and his truth and his love to all those we encounter today. May we find excuses to leave our homes to spread the Gospel today for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -
 
That all Christians may be deeply committed to the spread of Christ’s Gospel, and for the success of the Church’s missionary activity.

For our nation, as we celebrate our independence this week, that we may be always grateful for our freedom, but more importantly, may we use that freedom for God’s will, rather than our own.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  May they know God’s mercy and be gathered to the eternal kingdom of peace.

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.

Graciously grant our petitions, we beseech thee, O Lord; may your grace sustain us always in your service, through Christ Our Lord.

13th Sunday in OT 2017 - To die to sin and live for God

Last weekend was the first Sunday the liturgical color was green since last February. We had the purple of lent, the white of easter, the red of Pentecost. And remember, after Pentecost we had the two great solemnities of Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi Sunday.

I was leading a support group the other night, and as an icebreaker question, each person was asked their favorite color. A few of the people said blue, finding blue to be peaceful and calm. But, I said, green--dark hunter green. For one, it was the color of my first car, a hunter green 1992 firebird. But, green is also the color of my childhood: I grew up running through the forests and fields out in my hometown of Madison, which is much more rural than here in Lyndhurst. Also, in high school and college, during the summers I would work in the nurseries, taking clippings from the different plants, grafting branches. One summer, for 8 hours a day, I simply watered plants and trees. So I associate that color green with new life. And liturgically, too, green is the color of new life, not simply of plants and trees, but the new life and growth which is to occur in our souls during this season after Pentecost.

In fact, though we Roman Catholics wear red on Pentecost, many Eastern Catholics wear green, not the fire of the Holy Spirit, but the new life He brings to the Church and to the Christian soul.

Spiritual growth is one of the foci of Ordinary Time. In spiritual life we are either growing or fading, ascending or descending, flourishing or stagnating. There are no plateaus in the spiritual life: we are either growing in our prayer life or falling away from vital practice, growing in a spirit of self-sacrifice or tending towards selfishness, becoming more patient or less patient, increasing in virtue or leaning toward vice.

God wants His children always growing, always learning, always becoming the people he made us to be. And in our Second Reading, St Paul provides us with two laws of spiritual growth.
The first law of spiritual growth is that we must die to sin: “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin,” St. Paul says.

The second law is that we must live for God. Paul writes, “you too must think of yourselves… as living for God in Christ Jesus.”

What does "dying to sin" mean?

We are called to put to death our self-centered tendencies, all of them, our transgression of the laws of God, all of them. For not only do our sins hinder the life of God within us, they cause destruction in our lives, our families, and our society.

Flirting with sin, making little compromises with the commandments, or simply giving up and giving in to sinful inclinations and habits, these things suffocate the life of Christ in our souls.

And instead of living with interior peace, joy, meaning, wisdom, and courage, we end up exhausted, depressed, frustrated, with our relationships burdened with these attitudes and behaviors that should not exist.

Dying to sin is hard - because temptation is tempting. But God is on our side, and if we ask for his help, he will give it to us!

There is a story of from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint was being overwhelmed with temptations to break his vow of chastity. He would pray, but the temptations just got worse. He knew something had to be done to wake himself out of this cycle of temptation. So on a particularly cold winter’s day, he stripped down naked and threw himself into a ditch full of snow. It was a shock to his system, and it was a way of showing the devil that he is willing to suffer in order to remain faithful to God.

Sometimes we only think of St. Francis as having this unique relationship with animals. But, the man was hardcore, he was serious about rooting out sin from his life. He knew that sin and the life of God were totally incompatible.

Yes, Our Blessed Lord is merciful to the most hardened sinner who repents, but he also calls us to purity, chastity, moral fortitude, obedience to the commandments. So, if there is a particular sin which keeps lingering, we do well to make frequent use of the sacrament of confession, but also to practice some mortification, some fasting, some act of self-sacrifice to put those temptations in their place.
The second law of spiritual growth is living for God. Dying to sin, resisting our self-centered tendencies, is necessary but not enough, if we wish to become the people God made us to be. We also need to do something positive. Christ calls us to action, he calls us to love. "Love one another," Jesus commanded us at the Last Supper, "as I have loved you".

Jesus isn’t simply talking about love as an emotion. He’s not saying that we need to walk around with dreamy eyes toward each other. Love is an action. It is doing what is best for a person. We are grow in our capacity to love as Christ loved by forgiving others when they offend or hurt us, by reaching out to those in need, and, as we reflected upon last week, by being bold in sharing with others the meaning and purpose that comes from knowing, loving, and following Jesus Christ—spreading the Gospel.

I could give countless examples from the lives of the saints of what imitating Christ’s charity looks like. July 1 is the feast of St. Junipero Serra. When Pope Francis visited the United States last year, he canonized Junipero Serra, at the first canonization to be celebrated on U.S. soil.

During the time when our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence, the Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra traveled up the coast of present-day California, establishing missions, laboring for the spread of the Gospel.

Father Junipero was originally a university professor in Spain and a very learned man. But he heard the Holy Spirit urging him, not simply to share the knowledge of academia, but the knowledge of Christ. So he gave up his university career to come to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. He devoted himself to building churches and schools for the poor and the native people, catechizing those in his care and raising up dedicated priests to continue the Lord’s work.

During that time, when the civil authorities were violating the humanity and rights of the indigenous people, Padre Serra was devoted to improving their spiritual and material well-being—boldly fighting against their mistreatment.

For his work in raising up priests from the native population, Junipero Serra is a great patron Saint for vocation promotion.  There is even an international group for the promotion and support of vocations who look to his patronage called Serra International who have a chapter here in Cleveland and meet regularly to pray for vocations.

When his body was exhumed for the purpose of the canonization, it was shown that he had cancer of the legs, making the long hard journeys up the coast of California even more difficult.  Yet, he did so, out of love for God’s people, fueled by fervor for the spread of the Gospel.

Pope Francis called Junipero Serra one of the founding fathers of the United States and praised his willingness to abandon the comforts and privileges of his native Spain to spread the Christian message in the new World.

We might not be called to travel halfway across the globe to engage in missionary work, but each of us are called to help others know Christ, to die to sin and to live, not just for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.