Beyond the Big Cities: Discovering Christ in the Desert Communities

By Matthew Glaudini, Seminarian

On August 22, we had the great privilege of going out to Adelanto and Baker to visit with the respective communities present at Christ the Good Shepherd and Our Lady of the Desert. I was especially looking forward to this missionary trip because I fell ill in December last year when everyone went to Baker. 

When we were in Adelanto, Deacon Gustavo gave us a tour and spoke to us about the realities of living in Adelanto. Father Javier had commented that Adelanto has seven or eight different jails and no universities, which really puts into perspective the living experience. When it came time for lunch, we were joined by around 12 parishioners, and we all had a great time together before continuing our journey to Baker. 

When we arrived in Baker, we had some time to pray in the church before people started to arrive. Originally, we had planned for Holy Mass to be celebrated at 5:30, but Father Javier taught us about the importance of being pastorally flexible, as many sick persons needed to be visited and several people wanted to go to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The community only gets visited by a priest once each week, so you could tell that they were very excited to have visitors. When it came time for Holy Mass, I was immediately struck by hearing all of their voices join in joyful singing during the procession. The community at Our Lady of the Desert is on fire; it was surely one of the fullest expressions of fully conscious and active participation during the liturgy that I had ever personally witnessed. 

After Holy Mass, we had a great feast with the community, and we also brought many piñatas for the youth and even the adults to have fun with. My Spanish is not great, but I enjoyed exchanging simple greetings with the people. I was deeply touched by their enthusiasm and gratefulness for our presence, but I was grateful for their presence! Being able to go out and do missionary activities like this called to mind what it really means to be a priest of the Diocese of San Bernardino, one day God-willing. We are more than just our big cities; we are also our small, poor communities out in the desert. All of us are one family in Christ, united under our Diocese. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I look forward to many more to come! 

Please continue to pray for me and all of my brother seminarians and our priests, and know of our prayers for all of you. And, as always, to God be the Glory!