Most Reverend José H. Gomez Archbishop of Los Angeles
St. Rose of Lima Church Maywood, California August 21, 2022
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,1
I’m very happy to be with all of you today for this special celebration of the Eucharist on this 21st Sunday of Ordinary time, and especially for this anniversary for your parish, St. Rose of Lima.
So we thank God today for this century of grace. We thank him for all his blessings on this faith community for the past hundred years and for the love and sacrifices of all those who came before us and helped to build this great community. Let us keep all of them in our prayers in this Eucharist!
Let’s also ask the intercession of your patron, St. Rose of Lima.
She is special to me because she is a “saint of the Americas.” And America needs saints! In fact, as you all know, St. Rose was the first saint who was born in the Americas. So we need to ask her today to help us to all grow all in holiness so that we can be saints of the Americas, too.
So it is beautiful that our readings today are about heaven. In the Gospel, today, Jesus says: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
And of course, Jesus is the narrow gate. He is the path that leads to heaven. And God wants heaven for every one of us.
That’s what the prophet Isaiah tells us in the first reading of today’s Mass.
He gives us this beautiful vision of heaven. That is, my dear brothers and sisters, what God wants for us! A great family, children of God from every nation and especially that God loves each one of us personally!
This is why Jesus came down from heaven. He is the Son of God and he became the Son of Man to show us the way, to show us how to live as children of God and live with him forever in heaven!
As I’m sure you know, there is one quote in the Catechism from St. Rose of Lima. And it talks about exactly this point. St. Rose said: “Apart from the cross there is no ladder by which we may go to heaven.”2
The cross is the narrow gate.
This is why Jesus gave everything for us. This is why he lived for us, why he died for us, and why he rose from the dead for us. He did all of that, out of love for us. So that we could find love and happiness on earth and follow him to heaven.
And my brothers and sisters, we need to grab a hold of this truth. His love for you is just that — it is a love for “you.” It is a personal love. When Jesus was on the cross, he knew that you would be born.
These are truths that we all learn when we are little, in religious education or in Catholic schools.
But we need to keep learning these truths as we grow. Even if you are now a grandmother or a grandfather, it is important for you to always remember: Jesus’ love for you is real. It is powerful. We need to make his love the most important thing in our lives.
Jesus is the narrow gate! That means we need to make Jesus the “way” for our life.
In our second reading today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear this command: “Make straight paths for your feet.”
So in this anniversary, let us ask for the grace to have Jesus as the way to enter through the narrow gate. And I was saying that I would like to recommend to you three practical things — that we already do, but maybe now is a time to reflect on this anniversary and see how we can do it better.
Pray the Gospels — not just read the Gospels, but pray the Gospels.
Pray the Mass — not just attend Mass, but pray the Mass.
And then make your life a prayer for others.
First, the Gospels. The saints never let a day go by that they didn’t spend time with Jesus in the Gospels. Neither should we.
We need to take time, every day, to read the Gospel for the day. Read it slowly and just ask Jesus very simply, Lord, I love you. Help me understand what you are saying to me today. Help me live the way you want me to live. That’s it. Do it every day, and watch what happens in your life!
Pray the Mass means this. Come to Mass a little early. Get your heart ready in prayer. Ask Jesus to open your heart to receive him. Then try to focus on the words of every prayer in the Mass.
That’s hard, because we hear many of these same words all the time. But these words are beautiful, and they have power. If we listen hard enough, and long enough, if we really pray these words in our hearts, it will change our lives. Just like the bread and wine are changed, we’ll be changed.
Third practical habit: Make your life a prayer for others.
Every everything Jesus did, he did for other people. Everything Jesus did, he did to put others on the right path, to make sure their feet were walking in the direction of heaven.
That’s how he wants us to live. He wants us to share his love! The more you love, the more love there will be in your life, and in the world. Little things matter a lot. Be a better listener, be more forgiving, more understanding. Love is a thousand little acts every day that nobody sees.
There was a holy man once who said: We can’t go to heaven alone. If we did, God would say, Where are the others?
So, that means we have a beautiful duty to enter that narrow gate, and to bring other people with us. Starting with the people in our lives. Let’s help them get closer to Jesus! And we do that by showing them the difference that Jesus makes in our lives.
My brothers and sisters, as we celebrate this anniversary, let’s ask for that grace to keep walking on the path that Jesus puts before us.
The gate is narrow, but we pass through by love. So let’s love one another as Jesus loves us.
St. Rose of Lima, pray for us!
Let us ask Our Blessed Mother Mary, the Gate of Heaven, to help us to lead others to her Son, so that we can all find joy on earth and follow him to heaven!
1. Readings (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time): Isa. 66:18–21; Ps. 117:1–2; Heb. 12:5–7, 11–13; Luke 13:22–30.