—Cathedral’s candles donated through the Father’s Day Candle Program will remain lit inside the sanctuary throughout the week—

At a Mass celebrated in Spanish today, Father’s Day, Archbishop José H. Gomez blessed all fathers present at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and those joining the celebration online, TV and radio at 7 a.m. Fr. Brian Nunes celebrated the Mass in English at 10 a.m. Both Masses were livestreamed on https://www.facebook.com/lacatholics/

“As we remember our fathers and grandfathers today, we want to recognize the importance of fatherhood – not only in our homes but in our whole society,” said Archbishop Gomez in his homily. Please see full text of the homily attached, in English and Spanish.

“To be a father is a beautiful and a noble vocation. It is a calling to serve and to love and to sacrifice. And in the love that a father has for his wife and his children, we see the love that God our Father has for us.

“That is one of the beautiful realities of our faith – that in the divine design, our relationships as men and women, our relationships in our families, are meant to reflect the image of God and his love for us,” continued Archbishop. “God loves each one of us as every father loves his own sons and daughters. And in the Gospel today, Jesus tells us how much God our Father loves us.

“We have a Father who loves us, a Father who cares for us – even to the point of counting every hair on our head! Our Father holds this world and all of our lives in his loving hand. So, this week, let us reflect on the beautiful truths that God is our Father and that every life is sacred to him,” said Archbishop Gomez.

During the Mass, Archbishop Gomez invited the faithful to participate in the special Cathedral Candle Program for Father’s Day. Donations and prayer requests can be made online at http://www.olacathedral.org/candles/. The candles will remain lit in the Cathedral’s sanctuary, and the Archbishop, Cathedral’s priests and staff will keep the prayer intentions in their daily prayers.

Effective June 22, Monday-Friday Masses at Cathedral will be celebrated at 8 a.m. in English, which will be livestreamed onhttps://www.facebook.com/lacatholics/. Starting on Sunday, June 28, the Mass schedule will include a Mass at 8 a.m. in English (no livestream); a Mass at 10 a.m. in English, to be livestreamed via https://www.facebook.com/lacatholics/ and aired on KCOP Channel 13; and a Mass at 12:30 p.m. in Spanish, to be livestreamed on https://www.facebook.com/lacatholics/.

All Masses are open to the public to a limited attendance of 100 people on first come basis, following guidelines and regulations set by the Los Angeles County Health Department and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Mask is required. Cars will enter on Temple Street and exit via Hill Street.

Photographs of today’s Father’s Day Mass provided courtesy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will be available for media use upon request. For more information, visit https://lacatholics.org/.

Following is the full text of Archbishop Gomez’s Father’s Day homily in English and Spanish, as prepared:

Homily — 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time[i]

Most Reverend José H. Gomez

Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

June 21, 2020

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

I want to wish Happy Father’s Day to all of our fathers.

As we remember our fathers and grandfathers today we want to recognize the importance of fatherhood — not only in our homes but in our whole society.

To be a father is a beautiful and a noble vocation. It is a calling to serve and to love and to sacrifice. And in the love that a father has for his wife and his children, we see the love that God our Father has for us.

That is one of the beautiful realities of our faith — that in the divine design, our relationships as men and women, our relationships in our families, are meant to reflect the image of God and his love for us.

God loves each one of us as every father loves his own sons and daughters. And in the Gospel today, Jesus tells us how much God our Father loves us.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Jesus wants us to know today that we are always living in the presence of our Father who cares for us. God does not forget us — ever! He is involved in our lives, he knows even the smallest details. Every hair on our head is numbered!

This is the truth that Jesus came to reveal to the world — the truth about God, the truth about ourselves, our humanity. Our great dignity and destiny as sons and daughters of God.

But as Jesus tells us today, and as we know, people do not always want to hear the truth.

This is what the prophet Jeremiah is experiencing in the first reading that we heard today.

All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.’

My brothers and sisters, Jesus has entrusted the great truth about God and humanity to his Church, and each one of us has responsibility for this truth. We are called to be his witnesses in the world, to be missionary disciples.

And he first way we witness is in our own lives. We need to live our faith in our personal lives — we need to show love and treat other people with care and respect for their dignity.

We also need to have that same passion, that same zeal that the prophet had — to share these great truths of our faith with our neighbors. We need to keep working always to reform our society in the light of the Gospel and the great values of human dignity and the destiny of the human person as a child of God.

Our liturgy today is telling us that we will encounter criticism even persecution. Just as Jesus did, just as the prophets like Jeremiah did.

But Jesus tells us to — he says it three times today in the Gospel: “Fear not! … Do not be afraid!” We need to live our faith with confidence and courage — in every aspect of our life and our participation in society. And we should not be worried or afraid about what people will say. What’s important is what God thinks, what God wants.

If we follow Jesus, if we live for Jesus — he will help us and he will guide us. We heard those great words from Jeremiah:

The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.

Our Father holds this world and all of our lives in his loving hand. He cares for every one of us and for our smallest needs. Every soul matters to God, that every life is sacred to him.

This past Friday, Pope Francis declare Venerable the Servant of God, Sister Gloria Maria Elizondo, religious sister of the Congregation of the Missionary Catechists of the Poor in Monterrey, Mexico.

I’m sharing with you especially because her family and my family have always been very close because we are related as a family.

Sister Gloria dedicated her life to the service of others, especially the poor, first as a professional woman and later as a religious sister. One of her favorite sayings was to refer to God as “Our Good God”. God is, for sure, Our Good God and no matter what happens in our lives! God is here. He is with us.

We have a Father who loves us, a Father who cares for us — even to the point of counting every hair on our head! Our Father holds this world and all of our lives in his loving hand. 

So, this week, let us reflect on the beautiful truths that God is our Father and that every life is sacred to him.

Let us reflect on the opportunities we have to share these beautiful truths in our homes and in our society.

And today, let us pray for our fathers. May St. Joseph intercede for them and guide them to be a great witness to the love of God, who is our Father in heaven.

And may our Blessed Mother Mary intercede also to strengthen the role of fatherhood and the family in our society. And may she help all of us to grow as God’s children.

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Homilía – Domingo 12º del Tiempo Ordinario^[ii]

Mons. José H. Gomez

Arzobispo de Los Ángeles

Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles

21 de junio de 2020

Queridos hermanos y hermanas en Cristo,

¡Quiero desearles a todos los Papás un Feliz Día del Padre!

Al celebrar hoy a nuestros padres y a nuestros abuelos, estamos reconociendo la importancia de la paternidad, no solo en nuestros hogares sino en toda nuestra sociedad.

Ser padre es una hermosa y noble vocación. Es un llamado a servir, a amar y a sacrificarse. Y en el amor que un padre siente por su esposa y por sus hijos, vemos el amor que Dios, nuestro Padre, tiene por nosotros.

Ésta es una de las hermosas realidades de nuestra fe: que, según los designios divinos, nuestra relación como hombres y mujeres, y en especial dentro de nuestra familia, ha de ser un reflejo de la imagen de Dios y de su amor hacia nosotros.

Dios nos ama, a cada uno de nosotros, así como cada un padre ama a sus hijos e hijas. En el Evangelio de hoy, Jesús nos dice cuánto nos ama Dios Padre.

¿No es verdad que se venden dos pajarillos por una moneda?

Sin embargo, ni uno solo de ellos cae por tierra si no lo permite el Padre. En cuanto a ustedes, hasta los cabellos de su cabeza están contados. Por lo tanto, no tengan miedo, porque ustedes valen mucho más que todos los pájaros del mundo.

Jesús quiere que seamos conscientes que siempre estamos viviendo en la presencia de nuestro Padre Dios y que nos ama infinitamente. Y Como sabemos, Dios Nuestro Señor está involucrado en nuestra vida y conoce hasta los más mínimos detalles.

Esta es la verdad que Jesús vino a revelar al mundo: la verdad sobre Dios, la verdad sobre nosotros mismos, sobre nuestra humanidad y sobre la gran dignidad y destino que tenemos como hijos e hijas de Dios.

Pero como Jesús nos lo dice hoy y como bien lo sabemos, muchos no siempre quieren escuchar la verdad, el plan de Dios para la humanidad.

Eso es lo que relata el profeta Jeremías en la primera lectura que acabamos de escuchar.

Como sabemos, Jeremías fue enviado por Dios para anunciar la verdad a la gente de su tiempo. Y fue perseguido y humillado y querían deshacerse de él.

“Todos los que eran mis amigos espiaban mis pasos,
esperaban que tropezara y me cayera, diciendo:
‘Si se tropieza y se cae, lo venceremos
y podremos vengarnos de él’”

Queridos hermanos y hermanas, Jesús le ha confiado a su Iglesia la gran verdad acerca de Dios y de la humanidad y cada uno de nosotros es responsable de esta verdad. Estamos llamados a ser sus testigos en el mundo, a ser discípulos misioneros.

Y el primer modo de dar testimonio es mediante nuestra propia vida. Tenemos que vivir nuestra fe en nuestra vida personal; debemos actuar con amor y tratar a las demás personas con atención y respeto a su dignidad.

Necesitamos también tener esa misma pasión, ese mismo celo que tenía el profeta Jeremías al compartir estas grandes verdades de nuestra fe con los demás.

Tenemos que seguir esforzándonos por llevar a nuestra sociedad la luz del Evangelio, los grandes valores de la dignidad humana y del destino que toda persona humana tiene como hijo o hija de Dios.

Las lecturas de hoy nos dicen que nos encontraremos con críticas e incluso con persecuciones. Tal y como le sucedió a Jesús, tal y como les sucedió a los profetas, como fue el caso de Jeremías.

Pero Jesús nos dice tres veces en el Evangelio de hoy: “¡No teman! … ¡No tengan miedo!” Debemos vivir nuestra fe con confianza y con valentía en todos los aspectos de nuestra vida y de nuestra participación en la sociedad.

Sin preocuparnos ni tener miedo de lo que digan los demás. Lo importante es lo que Dios ha pensado para nosotros, lo que Dios quiere.

Si seguimos a Jesús, si vivimos para Él, Él nos ayudará y nos guiará.

Como nos lo dice el profeta Jeremías:

“Pero el Señor, guerrero poderoso, está a mi lado; por eso mis perseguidores caerán por tierra y no podrán conmigo”.

Nuestro Padre Dios sostiene este mundo y nuestras vidas están en su mano amorosa. Él cuida de cada uno de nosotros y de nuestras necesidades, aun de las más pequeñas. A Dios cada alma le importa, cada vida es sagrada para Él.

Este viernes, el Papa Francisco declaró Venerable a la Sierva de Dios, Sor Gloria María Elizondo, religiosa de la Congregación de las Misioneras Catequistas de los Pobres en Monterrey, México.

Y comparto con ustedes que su familia y mi familia siempre han estado muy cercanas por la relación de familia que tenemos.  

Sor Gloria dedicó su vida al servicio de los demás, especialmente a los pobres, primero en su vida profesional, pues trabajó profesionalmente por muchos años, y después como religiosa. Una de sus frases favoritas, que repetía con frecuencia, era que Dios Nuestro Señor es “El Buen Dios”.

Dios es, sin duda, El Buen Dios. ¡No importa lo que pase en nuestra vida! Dios está aquí, siempre muy cerca. Él está con nosotros.

Tenemos un Padre que nos ama, un Padre que cuida de nosotros ¡hasta el punto de tener contado cada uno de los cabellos de nuestra cabeza! Nuestro Padre sostiene este mundo y todas nuestras vidas están en su mano amorosa.

Esta semana, reflexionemos, pues, sobre las hermosas verdades de que Dios es nuestro Padre y de que toda vida es sagrada para él y también pidamos saber aprovechar las oportunidades que tenemos de compartir estas hermosas verdades en nuestros hogares y en nuestra sociedad.

Y, en este día, oremos por nuestros padres. Que San José interceda por ellos y los guíe para que sean excelentes testigos del amor de Dios, que es nuestro Padre del cielo.

Que nuestra Santísima Madre María interceda también para que el papel de la paternidad y de la familia se fortalezca en nuestra sociedad. Que ella nos ayude también a todos a crecer como hijos e hijas de Dios.

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