The Rock of Faith

Dear Friend,

On June 29, 1776, while Thomas Jefferson was putting the finishing touches on the Declaration of Independence, up in San Francisco Franciscan friar Francisco Palou and others were preparing for the inaugural Mass at Mission San Francisco de Assisi.

For the Mass at the Mission in San Francisco last week, Father Jack Clark Robinson offered these words honoring the Mission’s anniversary:

“Those at the inaugural Mass would have included friars and settlers, along with the people who had been here for thousands of years and must have looked on in wonderment at these new people and their strange ceremonies. All heard these words: These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became friends of God.

“While this antiphon was meant to describe Saints Peter and Paul, they were true for everyone in attendance at that first Mission Mass. They are true for us too, as we live in the flesh: we do not get everything right. We too are called to ministry and sacrifice. It took courage to travel thousands of miles in faith, as the Spanish did, and it took courage to hold on to traditions that have sustained a way of life in the face of overwhelming cultural change, as did the Native Peoples of the Americas.

“We will not always get everything right, but today we are reminded that God has promised, in the long course of history, the forces of evil cannot triumph over the rock of faith.”

Amen, Father Jack! And thank you for these beautiful and humble words.

Gratefully,

Father Dan ofm