On Thursday, March 26, Archbishop José H. Gomez celebrated a special Mass marking the 25th anniversary of his episcopal ordination. Below is his homily.
My dear brothers and sisters,
I’m very happy to be with all of you and offer this holy Mass on the 25th anniversary of my ordination as a bishop.
Just to share with you that before Mass, I received a beautiful “spiritual bouquet” — a gathering of prayers, sacrifices, and acts of charity that people from across the archdiocese have pledged to mark my anniversary.
Thank you to all of you. It is a special blessing to be the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It’s an honor to serve all of you and all people of the archdiocese, and the other dioceses that I was before coming to Los Angeles.
Today, I’m especially reflecting on what St. Augustine said on the anniversary of his episcopal ordination. He told his people, “For you, I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian.”
This is how I feel. It is a privilege to serve you on our walk with Jesus and our journey to heaven. We are walking together, and your faith inspires me every day. And again, I am so grateful to all of you.
So today we are nearing the end of our Lenten journey and Jesus tells us in the Gospel, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
This is, as we know, the promise of our Catholic faith.
And each one of us can tell our own story of how we have met Jesus and been changed by the encounter with his mercy and love, how we have heard his voice in our hearts, calling us to believe and to follow him. Each of us, in our own way, has taken his hand and answered his call.
In a sense, we are like Abraham in the first reading today.
We probably remember his story. He is our father in faith.
Abram believed in God, and in our reading today we see his reward. God gives him a new name and makes a covenant with him that will last for all ages.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, we are the children of God’s promise. We, too, are following the road of faith that Abraham walked, the road that countless believers before us have walked, down through the centuries.
Faith is a journey that we walk in friendship — friendship with Jesus, and friendship with one another in the Church. Jesus gave the Church a mission, and he makes each one of us a part of this mission.
Our mission is to tell the world the Good News — the beautiful truth that Jesus Christ is alive!
He is not some figure from history. He is present in our lives, walking with us. And he wants to live in friendship with every single person.
And as we know, the world needs his light, the world needs to hear his voice! And my dear brothers and sisters, he gives this task, at this time, to each one of us.
Our faith is a gift, the most precious gift that we could ever receive!
So today, once again, Jesus is calling to share his gift with others. In the simplicity of our daily life, in the joy of our daily life. And to fill the world with faith and love.
There is nothing more beautiful than this friendship that we have with Jesus, and nothing more beautiful than to tell others about him and to make new friends for Jesus.
This is why he puts us here. This is the reason for our lives.
I wanted to share with you, as I was reflecting on my anniversary, I was especially thinking about our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. We just celebrated the solemnity of the Annunciation yesterday and heard Our Lady’s great profession of faith: “May it be done to me according to your word.”
And just last week we celebrated the feast of St. Joseph. And I was thinking how my parents encouraged my devotion to Mary and Joseph and my whole life I’ve been trying to feel that closeness to them.
My parish growing up was Our Lady of Lourdes, so it was always close to the love and presence of Our Blessed Mother. My name is like following St. Joseph — so I always felt close to him.
And I still feel that they are walking with me every step of the way. And as I was reflecting, they both had such profound humility. They lived to serve God and the Church. They lived the words of the prayer that Jesus taught us: “Thy will be done.”
I pray that I will do the same and that we all will do the same.
So, as we meet Jesus today in this Holy Mass, let us ask him to increase our faith in him, and to give us a new desire to bring his love to the world today.
And as always, let us especially ask the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, our Lady Queen of the Angels — asking her to pray for us!
