Come and join in the fun and excitement at the annual July 4th Street Fair.  Main Street will be packed with ventors of all sorts.  The Mission will offer a restbit in the lower parking lot on Main Street.  Live music featuring Revelationseven and Steve Weingardt (noon Mass guitarist) will provide the entertainment.  BBQ chicken, hot dogs, buritos, beans and rice, soda and water are availalbe to all.  The Altar Rosary Society baked goods table offers sweets you cannot pass up.  Holy Cross School will sponsor several games booths for youngsters and face painting for people of all ages.  

Beer and wine beverages for those of age is open to the public.  The San Buenaventura Mission site will be open from 10 AM to 5 PM or until the food runs out!

Every morning I take my little dog, Sophia, for a walk along the ocean front. There I see the grandeur of God's creation: the ocean that churns with an enormous force that is amazing and startling when I look into the tide pools. There I meet and greet the regulars (as does Sophia with her yodel to her two and four legged friends). There I encounter and pray for the homeless that find some solace near the sea. These are all images of God's creative miracles and graced moments...miracles that amaze and startle.

Not to take away from these encounters, the most impressive miracle I see daily is here at the Mission. I feel shrouded by God's grace as I return from the ocean and gaze at the facade of the Mission and the grandeur of the bell tower that rings the hour of day and calls us to Holy Mass. I must admit that even more amazing is the faith of the people who come to pray, to visit our historical site, to bring flowers to Our Lady of Grace or St. Jude, and to enjoy a moment of peace and rest in the beautiful garden.

Recently we moved a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the front corner of the Parish Center Office to where she belongs, in front of Holy Cross School. At the old school site children saw here daily, but for the past twelve years she was abandoned, but no more. Gloria Rupio has given her new life in vibrant colors and we planted roses at her base. On Sunday afternoon last I saw the miracle at 211 East Main Street. Long after everyone had left the Church and the gates locked a family stopped by Our Lady of Guadalupe and gifted her with fresh flowers. No doubt that they offered a prayer of petition or thanksgiving. This is the daily miracle at San Buenaventura Mission. People come to pray, to visit, to encounter God and to find peace. This is hospitality of time, talent and treasure entrusted to us. "Siempre Adelante: United God's love as a Mission family."

Shalom, Fr. Tom