7/1/2014 – Tuesday of 13th week in Ordinary Time – Matthew 8:23-27

     “Lord – save us!  We are perishing!”  The disciples cry out to the Lord.  They are doubting.  They are lacking faith.  They are in fear of sinking, of drowning.  I wonder in the great Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serro felt that way as he founded the great mission system in California.  In fact, inspired by the Way of St James in Spain, some pilgrims who did that journey are tracing the steps that link the 21 original missions that the Spanish developed in the present state of California.  Junipero Serra became a Franciscan priest on the Spanish island of Mallorca, excelling as a theologian and an academic.  He yearned for more, asking to go to the Franciscan missions in Mexico, and eventually being sent to upper California. The 9 missions that Father Serra directly established help grow the Spanish influence in California and bring many of the native people there to the faith.  Today, not only does Serra’s statue stand in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, but it also represents the state of California in the US Capitol.  Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.  The zeal and faith of Father Serra still speak to us today, and his legacy has had a great impact on California and in the development of Catholicism in the United States.  I am sure there were moments along Father Serra’s journey that challenged his faith.   Father Serra was legendary for the territory he covered either on horseback or on foot.  I think of all the places I travel to, having been to Fulton, Pontotoc, Jackson, Ripley, and Mound Bayou in less than a week.  I cannot imagine having to do some of that traveling without my trusty little Honda Fit carting me around from place to place.  Yes, save us Lord and protect us along our journey!