It could be compared to walking through a graveyard.
Where once there were homes, now there were empty lots, trees still scorched black, and remnants of blackened block walls. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placards dotted the landscape like headstones.
But in the midst of what felt like death and destruction in fire-ravaged Altadena, a spiritual sign of life appeared the evening of Friday, June 20: a monstrance containing the Eucharist carried through the streets in one of the final Eucharistic processions of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage, which began in Indianapolis May 18, was spending its final leg June 20-22 in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after a 3,300-mile cross-country journey. The route included several stops to visit marginalized communities or suffering populations along the way.
One of them was Sacred Heart Church in Altadena, which narrowly escaped destruction from the Eaton Fire in January thanks to heroics from one of its deacons.
After celebrating a 6:30 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart, Archbishop José H. Gomez carried the monstrance outside and onto Lincoln Avenue.
The other priests and bishops in attendance took the lead walking the streets, followed by Archbishop Gomez, the Sacred Heart choir, then the hundreds of parishioners, pilgrims and religious leaders en masse behind.
As the procession turned onto Ventura Street, the devastating effects of the Eaton Fire in January became evident. A faint scent of smoke still hung in the air as the procession crept through. Some of the walkers sang in English and Spanish, others prayed the rosary.
Along the way, the national pilgrimage’s “perpetual pilgrims” — who’d followed the pilgrimage from start to finish — and some women religious handed out prayer cards and prayed with onlookers, including a handful living in trailers or RVs on scorched land that once held their homes.
Jeannie Benites, a parishioner at Sacred Heart, knew the feeling all too well as she walked with the procession with her son. She, too, lost her home in Altadena in the Eaton Fire, but felt soothed being around the other faithful even walking through the destruction anew.
“It comforts my heart and just makes me feel better knowing that I’m surrounded by love,” said Benites, now living in Monrovia, but still attending Sacred Heart. “If I didn't have God right now in Jesus, I would really be a basket case. It's just comforted me so much having the church here.”
Nearly six months after wildfires largely wiped out the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, those who lived and worked there are still in a state of limbo. They can’t go home, they live in unfamiliar places and often attend other parishes. There are still processes and bureaucracies that mean rebuilding homes and neighborhoods may take years.
On top of that, now that the initial outpouring of support has subsided, some fire victims feel forgotten.
That’s why Tom Costanzo, a parishioner at St. Bede the Venerable Church in nearby La Cañada Flintridge who lost his home in the Eaton Fire, was appreciative that the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage chose to come through Altadena.
“A lot of residents in Altadena feel ignored,” Costanzo said. “So for the Eucharistic pilgrimage to recognize it, it's one of the few movements that have recognized this area, is important.”
Tom, along with his wife, Theresa, attended a pre-Mass dinner at Sacred Heart held to offer a small measure of consolation for fire victims. On the day the Eaton Fire started, they had just taken their college-bound daughters to the airport before the fire spread so fast that they decided to evacuate. A day later, a neighbor texted them a photo of their house — gone.
There’s so much that they wish they could’ve saved: A blessing from St. Pope John Paul II, a Bible handed down for generations, a “hope chest” containing a lot of their family history.
But the couple takes comfort in knowing that they’ve been helped and supported by family, friends and loved ones — including God.
“There are moments where you just feel like, ‘Gee, Altadena was forsaken,’ ” Theresa Costanzo said. “But there's a lot of grace, just feeling God.
“So it's just trying to see God in each day, in the simple things, in the kindness of people, and to know that he's with us in that sense.”
Jess and Janette Degroot also attended the dinner. The couple had been in their home for 60 years before the Eaton Fire burned it to the ground. They were bolstered by being surrounded by so many who were in the same situation, and for those who wanted to keep helping.
“They’re under the same circumstances,” Jess Degroot said. “You can relate to the problems that you go through. You don’t really know until you’re affected.”
At the Mass, Archbishop Gomez was joined by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, Crookston (Minnesota) Bishop Andrew Cozzens, president of the National Eucharistic Congress board, and LA auxiliary bishops and priests.
In his homily, Archbishop Gomez pointed to the Eucharist as an answer to the kind of suffering experienced by Sacred Heart parishioners.
“In the mystery of his will, God sometimes allows the people he loves to suffer,” Archbishop Gomez said. “But never in vain, and never alone. This is the lesson that we hear again and again throughout salvation history. This is the mystery of love that we discover in the Eucharist.”
During the outdoor procession, as the sun began setting — the overhead street lights providing the only illumination — something in the distance beckoned, providing a Star of Bethlehem-like guide for the pilgrims: The lit-up white cross sitting at the top of Sacred Heart Church. Afterwards, the procession ended back in the church for a period of adoration, thus ending the first day of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in LA.
Annalisa Tapia and Giselle Villegas, two parishioners at St. Gregory the Great Church in Whittier, had no connection to Altadena or Sacred Heart. But something drew them to Altadena on Friday night.
“It makes me realize that a lot of my desires are really so small compared to the problems that this community was facing,” Villegas said. “We’re so fortunate to have a roof over our heads, and there’s barely anything left for these homeowners and these families.
“It just reminds us that we also have to show up for our community. And this is really the best way. This is the best medicine for this community to suffer through.”
