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St. Junipero Serra
00:30:44
Join Dr. Tim Gray and Matthew Meeks, Chief Marketing Officer of the Augustine Institute, as they explore the story of Saint Junipero Serra who lived his whole life as a "song to Our Lady".
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- [00:02]
A
You're listening to a podcast on Catholic saints. This podcast is produced by the Augustine Institute, an apostolate helping Catholics understand, live, and share their faith.
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B
I'm Tim Gray, president of the Augustine Institute, and joining me is Matthew Meeks, who is our chief marketing officer and innovation officer here at the Augusta Institute. And we're going to be talking. Today is the feast of St. Junipero Serra, this great, great Franciscan saint who was recently canonized by Pope Francis. And he's in the news of late, unfortunately, because people have been wanting to tear down his statues in different places as part of some of the mob destruction that's going on in different cities and urban places where people just want to get rid of any statues and anybody. And that's unfortunate because, you know, Saint Junipero Serra is quite a remarkable man. And I think there's a false understanding people have shallow idea that here is this guy who came from Europe and, you know, he kind of preached to the Indians in California. And of course, Saint Junipero Serra is very, very important because he founded all the missions, nine missions. And then there was other later missions founded in California, but nine missions that he established. He established the first missions in California. And they're beautiful missions. And really, so much of the history of California, you can't understand if you don't know about this incredible saint, Saint Junipero Serra. And he named all these places, like San Diego, so many other cities.
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C
I mean, Carmel, Santa Clara.
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B
Santa Clara, San Francisco. Yeah, San Francisco. I mean, just all these different places. If you ever think about it, a lot of people haven't reflected on it, but if you look at all the names of these places in California, they're all Catholic names, right? They're all Catholic names. And I wanted Matt, because I know Matt knows and has a great devotion to San Junipera Serra. But Matt lived quite a lot of time in California, and so you experienced these missions in this culture. And so let's just talk about the importance of Saint Junipero Serra today for people today.
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C
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think Saint Junipero is one of the great saints of our time, and it's not surprised. And he's also, I think, a saint for America, for the United States, and kind of a spiritual founding father of our country. So I think it's very important that we all get to know who he is and what he was about. And it is a shame, as you were saying to him, kind of the current, you know, communication around him in the media is part of a black legend or kind of a false history that Connects St. Junipero to kind of rooted in anti Catholicism, rooted in some things that just aren't true. And so hopefully we can talk about and unpack some of that. But he just a phenomenal evangelist. And it's funny, I used to live in Los Angeles, and I actually started working for the church July 1, so the feast of St. Juniperous, I guess it was six or seven years ago now. So he's been a special patron of mine. But you see his legacy in California. And when you drive around California, even just driving through Los Angeles, it became a just part prayer, became part of daily life because I'd be driving down San Vicente boulevard and say, St. Vincent, pray for us. Or I'd go visit friends in San Juan Capistrano. And, you know, then you offer, you know, pray to that patron to pray for your time. And so everywhere you go in California, there's opportunities to pray.
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B
Now, people who oftentimes, well, until recently with the curriculum changes, but people who grew up in California got a little bit of California history. And so they learned about Saint Junipero Serra. I mean, he was in the textbooks of your history, of the story of California. And I think a lot of Americans, especially those in the Midwest and the east coast, really, who is this guy? He came from Spain. He was a Franciscan. We'll talk about his story in a minute. But, you know, people don't realize, for example, you know, you mentioned San Juan Capistrano, right? One of the mission churches and missions that he set up. And he set that up in 1776. And at the same time, there's something else going on on the east coast of America in 1776 with the independence movement, the Declaration of Independence. And so we hear that part of our American history about 1776, but we oftentimes don't know what's going on on the opposite side of what will become part of the United States later on on the West Coast. And there's, you know, Saint Juniper Serra establishing these missions and, you know, catechizing these Indians, the Native Americans, and baptizing them and teaching them how to farm and how to do agriculture and how to be herders so they can have a regular staple place of food so they don't have to go through feast and famine, feast and famine, right? And he's loving on them and he's risking his life and serving the Indians. And so a lot of people don't realize Juniper Osero plays a very prominent and important role, just as, you know, Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson, all these people on the East Coast. He's playing that role on the west coast, isn't he?
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C
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, I really do. I really do see him as. While it wasn't yet the United States of America, he is a Founding Father of a significant portion of this country. And the thing you were saying with 1776, it's fascinating that St. Junipero also wrote the first Bill of Rights in our country. So he wrote a Bill of Rights protecting the natives. And he traveled from California to Mexico City to have that Bill of Rights ratified by the Viceroy and have the governor of California deposed, because he was not. He was not treating the natives fairly. So the first Bill of Rights in our country was actually written by St. Juniperous, not, you know, not the Bill of Rights that we've come to know, you know.
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B
Yeah. And that is such a fascinating thing. And if people really understood that, they would grieve even more when they hear that the statues, like, would happen in San Francisco, that the statue of Saint Junipero Serra was overturned, you know, at the Golden Gate Park. Right, yeah. That the mob threw over that statue. Well, you know, he was not an oppressor of the Native American Indians. He was a lover. He gave his life for them. And like you said, he fought for them. He fought for their rights, and people don't know that. And just to give a little bit of historical setting at this time in the 1770s, California is part of Spain, and it's part of New Spain at that point, and so is Mexico. So the Spanish conquistadors have claimed Mexico and all of California. And when the. As the Spaniards are going up and laying claim through California, St. Juniper Rocero goes there to make sure that the Indians are treated well, but also to make sure that they're evangelized because he treats them. And this is one of the beautiful things about the Catholics, both the French Canadians in Canada and the Spanish Canadian and the Spanish Catholics in Mexico and in California, they saw the Indians as children of God, made in the image and likeness of God, and that they had souls and that they needed to be respected and treated well and also evangelized. Right now, some of the other people who came from England and the Dutch didn't treat the Indians with that kind of respect originally in Canada and even on the east coast, before the colonies or as the colonies are being established, but the Catholics did. They treated the Indians with respect much more than the Protestants did. I'll just say that because it's just true historically, not the Protestant bash. I love our Protestant brothers and sisters, but it was the Catholic missionaries who really saw the indigenous as being in the imago DEI and not to be exploited.
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C
When you can see that in the populations of Spanish, you know, like countries that were once Spanish colonies versus countries that were colonized by more Protestant countries, because there was largely an intermixing of the cultures, you have an assimilation that took place in Mexico. And in these areas where the Spanish who came over intermarried with the Indians, they started families, things that you don't see as much in areas where Protestants came in, they saw themselves as very separate.
- [08:28]
B
And I think one of the advantages that the Catholics had, and this is, I think, to make it a fair playing field with the Protestants, is that the Protestant came over to trade and. And to establish and hunt. They were focused on business, but there wasn't Protestant missionaries who came with them because it was very dangerous. But what happened with the Catholics is you had Franciscans and the Jesuits who were willing, like Saint Brebeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, who came up into Canada and the northern parts of America with the Jesuits. And you have Saint Juniper Asera and his companions who were Franciscans in the Spanish part. They came with the Spanish who were laying claim to this land, and they protected and spoke up to these Spaniards or these traitors for the Jesuits who came from France. And they made sure that they treated the Indians as human beings. But there wasn't Protestant missionaries coming early on because it was too risky, but because they were celibate, because they were consecrated as Franciscans or Jesuits, they were willing to go with the indigenous Indians and risk hostilities. I mean, St. Juniper of Serra, his first mission in San Diego, you know, there's Indians shooting arrows, and one of his companions gets an arrow in the hand, right? And in fact, he gives last rites to a Spanish soldier who's dying, shot in the throat with an arrow. And he runs up to Saint Juniper of Serra and says, absolve me, Father, right as he's dying. And there is Saint Juniper of Serra there to absolve him. And, you know, he's risked his life to be there. And it's a beautiful thing, and it's a testimony to the religious orders willing to risk everything, right?
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C
Yeah. And on the flip side of that, there's another story where there was one of the natives murdered somebody in the mission under Saint Junipero's career. Another native in St. Junipero refused to. He did not believe that the death penalty should be enacted on or implemented on that person, that they should have opportunity for forgiveness and being brought in and so it's very interesting. You see on two sides, the soldier coming and begging for absolution as he's dying in Saint Junipero, affording that same level of mercy to the Indians.
- [10:43]
B
It's so beautiful. In fact, after the attack in San Diego, I think I was reading a few of the letters of Juniper and one of the accounts from somebody who mentioned that St. Junipero said, how many Indians died? And they said, none. He said, good, more to be baptized, more souls to be baptized. So he looked at it as, oh, I'm glad they didn't die so I have a chance to baptize them so
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C
they can be saved by the numbers. And I'd love to just, well, get to telling the story of how he kind of got to California, but by the numbers, by his death. So he planted the cross and established san Diego at 50 years old, and he died at 70. So within 20 years, he established nine missions and was responsible for roughly 100,000 baptisms, 30,000 marriages, and 70,000 Catholic kind of last rites and burials. Wow. So, I mean, you think about just the.
- [11:37]
B
He's really. I think it's fair to say he was an apostle to the Americas. Yeah, he was an apostle to America. And the apostle to California, for sure, is a title that we could pray to him as, you know. And if anybody has family members or others in California, Saint Junipero Serra, here we have a canonized saint who did mission work in California. What a great intercessor to pray. If you have family members or others that are falling away from the church or part of the church to pray to Saint Junipero Serra to pray for them.
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Right.
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B
What a great intercessor we have. Well, let's back up and talk about his life. I know he's born in 1713, and let's just start with the beginning of his life and where he grows up and how he comes to California.
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C
Yes. So he was born in Mallorca, Spain, which is an island off of the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. And he entered religious life, I believe, at 16. By the age of 24, he began teaching at the most prestigious university in Majorca. He taught theology and philosophy, and he taught there for roughly 10 years before deciding he had a heart for the missions and for the missionary work and decided to leave everything behind and set off across the ocean to the New World.
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B
Yes, let's just pause there, because he was known for being a great preacher and a great teacher. His students loved him, and he was established. I mean, he had basically this cushy Professorship to teach theology. He was forming these young Franciscans and teaching people. I mean, his cup overflows. Right. He's doing mission and he's a good Franciscan and yet he's really stirred up as he's hearing about these new lands and all these Indian tribes that are discovered and ongoing discovery. Right. And he has a heart. He wants to go do mission.
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C
Yeah. And one of his letters is even surviving where he. He wrote like before he left, he wrote to his family and really took up the gospel call to leave mother, father, brother, sister behind for the gospel. And he acknowledges this in his letter, that he says goodbye to them knowing that he'll never see them again, that this is a one directional trip. And so just to think about that too, you know, that he's truly leaving everything behind.
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B
He's certainly leaving family like that, leaving comfort and then risking his life. And a lot of people died on the journey over. And ships would be lost in storms. I mean, it was a precarious way of travel to travel to the new world on these ships that would take months and months and you'd be at the mercy of hurricanes and storms. And it was quite a risk. So his courage is to be noted and his generosity right away.
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C
Yeah, absolutely. And so he sets out and. And he goes to lands in Puerto Rico and then from Puerto Rico to Veracruz, Mexico. And in Veracruz, and he had been planning this all along, but he decides to take a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our lady of Guadalupe to where she appeared so beautiful. Yeah. And consecrate his entire mission, his priesthood, everything under her care and just for people to get.
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B
We talked about the travel by ship, which would be very tumultuous and difficult. And you know, that's an arduous journey for months and months. And then when he gets to Veracruz, it's a 250 mile walk from Veracruz to the shrine of Our lady of Guadalupe.
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C
Yep. And so. And he walked. He didn't take horseback or anything. He did the walk and he got a bug bite at the time that became infected. And then it turned into a lesion. And so many historians think that it was a cancerous lesion that stayed with him for the rest of his life on his leg. So he walked with this wound that only got worse as his life progressed. And he would have been in his mid-30s at this point. So from mid-30s to his death at 70, he was really living out, you know, taking up the cross daily with this wound on his leg and walking between these places.
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B
It's astonishing. And Just to give people a sense. I mean, walking wasn't a side thing he had to do. You know, I've seen the calculation that he walked during his apostolic work here over 24,000 to 30,000 miles.
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C
Yeah, that's not so crazy.
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B
It's crazy, right? And he reminds me of the Apostle Paul who had to do all these journeys walking. I mean, he would do ships and risk a ship and walking. And so you see Saint Junipero sera, he's like a new Saint Paul. He's an apostle going to these new tribes, bringing the gospel where it's never been brought before. And that's what Paul wanted to do. And I can't imagine when he read the letters of St. Paul or the Acts of the Apostles about Paul saying, I want to go to a church where the gospel hasn't been proclaimed. I mean, his heart had to just fire up when he heard that, because that's what he was doing.
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C
Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, it is a great example. It truly is who he was and what he was doing. And so he goes from Mexico City to Baja California. So at the time, California was split between Baja California and Alta California. So bottom California and top California. And he worked among the people there. And then something that we don't even think about in our history, but there was Russian expansion into the U.S. at this time, or into what is now the U.S. and so the Spanish crown was worried about the Russian expansion into California. And so they sent a military expedition north. And St. Junipero accompanied them. And the really cool thing is the military expansion allowed for the resources for St. Junipero to build the mission system. But he was not beholden to the military as they moved north. So as the military established presidios, which were forts to basically lock down the territory and protect it, St. Junipero established his missions. But he was intentional about putting the missions far away from the presidios so that the natives that would come and get support from the missions were not associating with the military aspect of Spain's expansion.
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B
So you want to separate the cross from the sword.
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C
Exactly.
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B
That's beautiful. You know, I remember it was the year right before we started the Augustins. You know, I was preparing, and I was on a fundraising trip in California preparing for the launch of the Augusta Institute, trying to raise money. And I went with a friend who had native and grew up in California. And his family actually has Spanish blood, so his family got a land grant from the king of Spain.
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C
Oh, wow.
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B
And so, you know, Dana Point is named after his Family, great guy. And he took me. And I had never been. This is the first time I'd been. He took me to all the nine missions. So we did a beautiful tour for a weekend, traveling to all the mission churches. And they're so beautiful. And they're in the Spanish style of a courtyard, which gardens, a church, you know, and then the buildings where they'd be housed and the monks and all that, and where all the mission activity happened. It was really, really striking. And, you know, it's a great. It's just. It's. You know, sometimes we need to do an Augustine Sioux pilgrimage to these places because they are really worth making a pilgrimage to and doing, teaching about this. But one of the things that really struck me as you were saying this, Matt, as I remember that trip and every. He tried to have a mission, a full day's walk, so that he could do a full day's walk and get to a mission, and then the next mission would be further north, another full day's walk.
- [19:11]
C
It's roughly every 30 miles.
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B
Yeah, yeah. So every. About every 30 miles, you have a mission there. And he chose two key things for his location that he chose for each mission. It had to be near a port because for trade and a fresh water. Source of water. And so what. And I think this is the genius of Saint Junipero Serra, because he wanted to bring the Indians in. He wanted to evangelize them. And so he built the mission churches where there was a fresh source of water. In other words, it would be a great place for farming. And he wanted to teach the Indians how to farm so that they would have food. And so by building the church in an agricultural center, where you have an economic center, he wanted to plant the gospel right in the heart of the economic life. In other words, the life of people. And that's just such a lesson for us today, isn't it?
- [20:03]
C
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think of was a new evangelization for its time. And it's a model that we can follow in our efforts to do the new evangelization today, which was largely. He looked at what would be attractive to bring people in. He taught them skills that bettered their lives. He taught them the truth. He taught them farming. He taught them various trades and provided care for them. And then the really interesting thing, too, is he created dialogue and opportunity for encounter. Because the mission system then became. As the Spanish laity moved north, they settled around the missions, not the presidios. So they settled close to the sacramental life and the church life. Not the military life. And they intermixed with the Indians and there was encounter and dialogue and a great blending of cultures and a bettering of cultures as a result of Saint Juniper's early work.
- [21:02]
B
It's such a great model, and he wanted the missions to be self sufficient, to be able to fund themselves so that they could grow and expand. And that kind of entrepreneurial sense of evangelization, all for mission. I just really, really appreciate that. I thought that was just brilliant.
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C
Well, and you think about these using the agricultural analogy, but these seeds that were planted of faith in these beautiful missions have become major cities. So it's like that fertile ground has. Has spread into these major metropolitan areas. And so it's all centered around kind of St. Francis and Catholic saints. So the city of Los Angeles, for example, the name that it was named, the first mission, Saint Hunibro, started there was the San Gabriel Mission, named after the Archangel Gabriel. But then Los Angeles grew from there. And the name of Los Angeles was El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora, La Reina de Los Angeles de Portiuncula. So the town of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels of Portiuncla, which was the church where the Franciscan order began, and then San Francisco.
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B
It's so important for the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. And here you have this great son of St. Francis who's naming all these places, even his own name. You know, his baptismal name was Miguel and he takes the name Junipero because that was the name one of Francis, early companions and close companions. And he wanted to be a close companion to Francis. And he really lived that. He lived that poverty and he lived that charity that Francis lived.
- [22:38]
C
Exactly. And then San Francisco obviously is named after Saint Francis and Dolores Mission, if you're ever in San Francisco. Dolores Mission was a mission founded by San Junipero and Santa Clara. So Saint Clair. So Francis and Claire together on different parts of the Bay Area. Santa Clara was a sister mission to the San Francisco mission. So they were right there, which was pretty neat too.
- [23:01]
B
It's so beautiful. And I'm amazed at how many people, even people in California who are great Catholics, don't know this story well, and we need to know the story because I think. Let's just talk a little bit about, you know, there's people who think, well, you know, I know that there was a beautiful statue of San Juniper o Serra in the state capitol in California. Right. And as well as many places like in San Francisco at the Golden Gate park, and that one was tragically overturned by the mob who just wanted to get rid of him. And I think people, the accusation is, well, he's just part of this European story of oppressing the native indigenous Indians. And let's just talk about that. And I feel like we should give a little defense to Saint Honeypro because he really deserves it.
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C
Yeah, we absolutely should. You know, and it wasn't just the Golden Gate park statue, the statue at Placito Olvera in Los Angeles. So when the heart of LA was overturned and had paint poured on it, they tried to take down the one in Ventura. So at the Ventura Mission, which he founded. But a number of Catholics rallied around that and actually were able to defend the statue and prevent it from being torn down.
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B
Praise God. What a beautiful witness those Catholics did of protecting San Junipero. Right. And that's. Sometimes we just have to show up and just be a witness. And, you know, and those people, that angry mob that wanted to tear it down, they didn't, I heard. And people just prayed. And that's the power of prayer and witness. Right.
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C
Yeah. And I think in defending Saint Juniper, we have to first acknowledge the pain and suffering that Native Americans have encountered in our country and some of the ills that have accompanied colonial kind of expansion and. And all of those things. And unfortunately, without fully understanding the history, it's easy to lump all of those things together. And St. Junipero has been included in kind of this overarching narrative of the subjugation of native peoples that's so important.
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B
And the two things I'd say to that is the Portuguese, the British, the French and the Spanish came over here looking for fortune and trade routes and trade. But we have to separate those people going out those nation states and those people from the missionaries, the Jesuits and the Franciscans that, like we talked about earlier, who came not to gain but to give. And a lot of them gave their lives, whether in a white martyrdom like Saint Junipero or a red martyr like Saint Isaac. Jokes.
- [25:29]
C
Yeah, absolutely. And so in defense of Saint Junipero, there was, you know, some of the critiques against him were that there was corporal punishment in the mission system. And that is true for rule breaking or things like that. There was corporal punishment, but that's largely something that was used for everyone during that time. So it was no different than the Franciscan brothers. The Franciscan brothers underwent the same pun themselves.
- [25:55]
B
They didn't treat the Indians less any different. That's so important. And of course, the Indians also did. Remember, it wasn't just the. The Europeans who came over and treated the Indians bad. The Indians think about the Aztecs. The Indian tribes fought each other, and it wasn't paradise. It wasn't like the Garden of Eden. And then the Europeans came and destroyed Eden. And that's just important, human nature being what it is. We know from our Catholic story, we're all fallen and without the grace of God, we don't treat people well.
- [26:22]
C
Yeah. And the other issue is that to remember is defense of the Indian that committed murder. So he was. He did not implement any form of capital punishment. He defended and showed mercy to all people. And also at his funeral, so he's buried. If you ever want to visit him, he's buried in the mission at Carmel, so you can go and visit the tomb of Saint Junipero. But the. His funeral was said to have, you know, thousands, tens of thousands of natives who showed up to honor this man who loved them so much, many of whom were not natives living in the mission system. So they were still in their tribal areas around the missions. They had not yet converted, and yet they still had such respect for this man that they showed up to his funeral.
- [27:16]
B
You know, that's the ultimate test is not that, you know, later generations build a statue in honor of him or that his confreres honor him, but rather that the people he served honored him. There's no greater honor than to be honored by those you serve. And that's the true testament to his sainthood and the kind of character he had. One of the things I love is I was reading a correspondence of one of his best friends who he did the missions with. And he came out there with, I want to say, Father Paul or Paulo. He mentioned that he heard that, you know, Saint Juniper was getting sick and ill, and he came down to visit him, and the Indians were very concerned about him. But when he came down, Saint Junipero was singing, was leading the singing in the church with all these Native American Indians. A hymn of praise and honor to Our lady, to the Blessed Mother. And he heard his voice and how loud and boisterous. And he said to one of the Spanish, he said, he doesn't sound like he's on his. You know, he's very ill and he's sounding very robust. And he says, oh, Father Paula. He said, father Henriper Serra. He always sings and prays loudly. But then afterwards, he's very weak. So don't let. Don't be fooled. He's very sickly. But whenever he prays, he comes alive in a whole new way. And I just thought that was a beautiful testimony of his character and his Love. And I just imagine all these Indians singing in beautiful Latin, the Regina Cheli. You know, what a beautiful, beautiful image. Right?
- [28:53]
C
Yeah.
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B
Well, we've got about a minute left. What were your last thoughts, man?
- [28:56]
C
I guess I would end with just that. That St. Junipero's life was a song to Our Lady. And those songs are short, you know, like in the short amount of time that he lived from, from becoming a Capuchin and going to Our lady of Guadalupe and setting up these missions named after Our Lady. And he really sang a song to Our Lady. And that song continues today in the life of the church.
- [29:21]
B
That's a beautiful image. And you know, I love the great motto of Saint Junipero Serra. He said, always forward, never back. And you don't look back. You don't look at the problems. You don't look at the mistakes of the past. You go forward. And you know that saint's advice to us is great advice. Don't get caught up. The devil wants you to look into your past and be discouraged. But Saint Junipero Serra says, don't look back, look forward. Always forward. We always want to move forward with Christ, with hope. And that's what we need to do today. We need to follow his advice and let's pray to him for his intercession and let's imitate his charity to those who could be hostile. And yet he wanted to love them. And he wasn't afraid of that hostility. He wanted to bring them to Christ. Let's bring all those who are hostile to the faith. Let's bring them to Christ and to the love of Jesus. Thank you so much and God bless you.
- [30:12]
A
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