July 1, 2025 // Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint Junipero Serra, Priest [In the Dioceses of the United States]
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Genesis 19:15-29
Reflect on the Word //
“Always forward, never back!” I hear it whispered in my ear whenever I begin to second guess a past decision that went awry, long past and forgotten by seemingly everyone else involved. The words resonate in my heart when I’m tempted to self-condemnation over a mistake or past sin. I imagine the phrase—the motto of today’s Saint, Junipero Serra—reverberating up the Pacific coast. A Franciscan Friar, Junipero Serra evangelized California, establishing a trail of now historic missions: Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Miguel, San Francisco.
In Junipero Serra we see the victory that comes from moving forward in freedom, not wallowing in mistakes or failures. The joy that comes from looking to God’s will, not looking to the past and longing to return to some comfort we once enjoyed.
Serra’s motto echoes the angels’ words spoken to Lot: “Flee for your life! Do not look back or stop anywhere on the Plain” (Genesis 19:17).
God looks upon Lot and his family and provides a place of refuge; they have only to flee to the appointed spot. Why does Lot resist? What does he fear? Yet even in his fear, the Lord provides. He consents, allowing Lot and his family to flee to a closer town promising to preserve it (see Genesis 19:20-21). Sadly, while Lot is saved, his wife turns back and is swept away, turned into a pillar of salt. Lot’s story, or really his wife’s, is a cautionary tale of what comes from turning back, looking to what once was, rather than persevering in faith, hope, and trust in the God Who loves us and knows our needs.
Our heavenly Father is good and loving. He seeks us out and provides a path for our freedom and salvation. He even deigns, at times, to allow us to direct the course, as He did for Lot. What more could we ask?
How often we look back! What will it take for us to remain firm in our resolve, living the motto of today’s Saint of “Always forward, never back!” each day of our lives, no matter what it is that the Lord asks of us?
Relate to the Lord // Have you been looking back in regret or self-condemnation? Make Saint Junipero Serra’s motto your own today.
Sister Maria Fatima grew up in Rhode Island and entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in 2005. She holds a MA in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Sister is in her eleventh year of enlightening middle school minds and drawing hearts to Jesus while teaching religion and history. She currently resides at the motherhouse in Ann Arbor, MI, having previously taught in Texas, Florida, and Ohio. She is a contributing author to our Lent devotional All She Had.
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