1 July 2025 - homily for Tuesday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time - St Junipero Serra - Psalm 26

St. Junípero Serra was born in 1713 in Mallorca, Spain.  Mallorca is an island that is part of the  Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea. He was born into a family of poor farmers. His biography states that during the time of his life there on Mallorca, famine was common, with a great part of the population perishing through these famines. Life was not easy for them. He joined the Franciscans as a teenager. He was such an accomplished student that he was appointed a professor of philosophy even before he was ordained a priest. He had a very accomplished career as a philosophy professor, but left for the Americas at the age of 36, feeling the call to become a missionary. After a difficult voyage to Mexico, Father Serra worked amongst the native population, learning their native language and translating the catechism into that language. He became known for his preaching, his penance, and his mortification practices.  Soon after his arrival in Mexico, he was bitten by a spider on the leg, which caused an infection and left him with a permanent injury, making it difficult to walk and causing him constant pain. Yet, he continued to walk everywhere he could to evangelize the people there. In 1767, he was assigned to go to what is now the state of California, mission territory the Franciscans inherited from the Jesuits when that order was suspended.  Until his death in 1784, he founded 9 missions in California, including San Diego, San Francisco, Monterrey, and San Gabriel near the current-day city of Los Angeles. He was buried at San Charles Borromeo Mission in Carmel, California. Although some in the secular world criticize the work of Father Serra, I see him as an amazing example of faith, a man who accepted a call from God to bring the Gospel to others, who did so through great sacrifice and great joy. The state of California and the Catholic Church in the United States were impacted greatly by his missionary efforts.  

Our psalmist states today: “O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes.” Father Serra brought God’s love and mercy to the people of Mexico and California through his missionary work. We give thanks for Father Serra and the great missionaries who made many sacrifices to bring our Catholic faith to the world.