Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In the Gospel today Jesus tells us that we are to use our “talents,” our unique gifts, resources and skills, for the betterment of the Master’s Kingdom. In the Church we often talk about the stewardship of time, talent and treasure. All of these are invaluable to our community, to the universal Church, and to the establishment of God’s Kingdom. As faithful disciples we offer ourselves, our personal resources and our financial resources for this work. In this time of the pandemic, only your support has allowed us to continue God’s work in our community. I am so grateful to each of you for your example of selfless stewardship.
I want to talk a little about another kind of treasure, unique to our community, which is also our responsibility to preserve, protect and share. That is our Mission itself. The Mission’s role in shaping California’s history, it’s special honor as the resting place of our saint, Junipero Serra, and the sheer physical beauty of our Basilica church and grounds draws so many pilgrims and visitors each year it is astounding. In this year of the pandemic, we have faced many challenges in balancing the need to safeguard the health of our staff and our visitors, and the imperative to share this special place, our spiritual home, with the greater world. At this time we are very grateful to be able to welcome pilgrims to visit us. While we cannot open all our museums onsite and the entire Basilica, visitors are still able to experience this magical and sacred space where people have gathered to praise and pray to our Creator God for many, many generations.
A talent we did not know we possessed back in March was that of video production. When the pandemic closed our doors and the public celebration of Mass was not permitted we had to pivot quickly and find a way to create a virtual community. We needed to bring the celebration of Mass and the opportunity to pray together into your homes so that while we could not be together in person, we could still worship together in spirit. Thanks to the efforts of our core team and video professionals who have become a part of our Mission family in the past ten months, we were able to make this a reality, and the streaming Mass continues to be available each week for members of our community near and far who want to worship with us but cannot join us in person. This is made possible by your support, and we hope that we can continue this form of outreach well in the future.
I wish you and your loved ones continued blessings of good health, renewed hope, and a share in God’s joy,
Fr. Paul
Please take a moment to read our Carmel Mission weekly bulletin.