"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” We say these words in Mass right before we are about to receive Jesus in his body and blood. Perhaps we don’t realize that these are the words proclaimed by the Centurion who wants Jesus to heal his servant, who is paralyzed and suffering greatly. When Jesus surprisingly offers to go to the Centurion’s house to heal the servant, in his humility, the Centurion feels unworthy to receive Jesus in such a way.
Today, as we hear of the humility of the Centurion for being in the presence of the Lord, we celebrate a saint who had a huge impact in the missionary period in our country, a saint who has been vilified in our secular media in recent years. Franciscan priest Junipero Serra was canonized a saint by Pope Francis in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC in 2015 when the pope visited the US. Serra is the first Hispanic American saint. There were protests against Father Serra becoming a saint, with accusations of the way he treated the native population to whom he brought the Gospel message. Many of the statues of him throughout California have been vandalized or defaced. The mother church in Los Angeles, Mission San Gabriel, was severely damaged by an arsonist in 2020, a year before the mission was going to celebrate its 250th anniversary. There was not much public coverage of that arson, even though it attacked an important historical landmark, and even though a suspect was ultimately arrested for that arson.
Father Serra was appointed as the head of the missionary effort in California in 1767 when he was 54 years old, in very bad health with a leg that had been infected with open sores for years and a bad case of asthma. He founded 9 of the 21 original California missions. This humble Franciscan friar, who had spent most of his priesthood as a professor of theology and philosophy, worked tirelessly in bringing the Gospel to the people of present-day California. His motto was - “Siempre adelante, nunca hacia atrás.” (Always forward, never back.) He never dwelt on past mistakes, but tried to learn from the past and to look forward to what he could do for the Lord. Father Serra was a product of his time. He lived in the era of the Spanish Inquisition and was actually a judge for the Inquisition. Yet, facts show that he had a great love for the native Californians to whom he ministered. At the time of his canonization, California’s bishops issued a statement, asserting that Serra was a man “ahead of his times” who worked against an “oppression that extends far beyond the mission era.” There is a statue of Father Serra in the Capitol building representing the state of California for his contributions to the history and development of that state, having survived many protests to have it removed. The bishops stated that very few historical figures would be revered and honored if we expect them to be perfect and try to judge them according to some sort of ambiguous modern standards.
May Father Serra inspire us to bring the Gospel to others. May we unite our prayers to his prayers today.
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