Most Reverend José H. Gomez Archbishop of Los Angeles
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels October 2, 2022
My brothers and sisters in Christ,1
Today our hearts and prayers are, in a special way, with our brothers and sisters in Florida and in the other states that have been hit by Hurricane Ian.
As we offer this Eucharist today, let’s pray for the victims, for those who have lost loved ones, their homes and livelihoods, and let’s pray for rescue workers and the many people who are working to restore power and help people recover. We keep them in our prayers in a special way today.
Today is also Respect Life Sunday. Fifty years ago, in 1972, the United States bishops set this day aside as a special moment to pray for the protection of preborn children and the most vulnerable members of our society — the disabled, elderly, and those suffering terminal illness.
So, we pray today for an increase in our awareness of God’s love for every person, and we pray for our society to do more to promote the dignity of every person, from their conception until their natural death.
As a matter of fact, the California Catholic Conference is having a novena these days to especially pray for that — for respect life and helping everyone in our society to understand the beauty of the gift of life.
Today we also continue our walk with Jesus Christ and his disciples. And we heard a tender scene that is recorded in the Gospel of Luke.
Whenever I read this passage in the Gospel, I am always struck, surprised ,by the apostles’ humility. So in the passage of the Gospel today, they come to Jesus with such honesty and simplicity. They don’t ask him for power or comfort or possessions.
From the bottom of their hearts, they ask him for one simple thing: “Lord, increase our faith!”
What a beautiful request! And all our readings in today’s Mass, each in their own way, speak to us about the importance of faith.
Faith is the door that opens for us, and brings our lives into contact with the living God.
Faith is a gift, it is the grace of God who opens the door —the door to his heart — and it is Jesus Christ who invites us cross over that threshold and share in his divine life.
And once that we accept this gift — this invitation to faith, to follow Jesus and to live in friendship with him — then our faith becomes a light that shines into every corner of our lives. Our faith becomes the rock and foundation which we build our lives on.
On that path of faith, the reality is that sometimes we are tempted to doubt, to stop trusting in God. Especially when we experience hardships, or when see the all the injustices and the suffering of the innocent people in the world.
That’s what the dialogue between the prophet and God is all about in today’s first reading today.
We heard the prophet’s anguished words: “How long, Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene.”
Obviously, that is the cry of someone who is suffering a lot by the struggles of life. The prophet is discouraged. He’s feeling like God has forgotten him or abandoned him.
And as we listened to this passage of Scripture, I’m sure that we all are thinking that what the prophet is talking about is what we see sometimes in our lives and in our society.
But it’s important for us to listen again to the answer that God makes to the prophet.
God says: “For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. … The just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
This is, my dear brothers and sisters, a beautiful word of hope.
What God is saying is that no matter what the world looks like, no matter the troubles that we see — he is still in control. He’s still working in every human life — to bring his plan for salvation to fulfillment. He’s still building his kingdom in this world, every day, through the mission of his Church.
And yes, you and I, as we know, we have our part to play in this mission, this mission of helping people to find Jesus, building his kingdom. It is a beautiful call when we think about it. It is an amazing vocation — to collaborate with God and help people to discover the gift of faith.
And Jesus tells us today, he tells this to each one of us — that our faith gives our life a mission.
It’s interesting, and I’m sure you noticed it to, that in today’s passage of the Gospel, the apostles ask him to increase their faith, Jesus doesn’t answer directly.
Instead, he tells them a story about a servant — who works all day in his master’s fields, and then comes home and serves the master his supper.
So Jesus is telling us today that we need to love as he loves, we need to serve as he serves. With a love that is humble, a love that is always in the service of others.
By our service, my dear brothers and sisters, by the love and mercy that we show to others — by our service — we proclaim Jesus, we proclaim God, we testify to the power of our faith in him.
St. Paul says to us in the second reading of today’s Mass: “Do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord … but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.”
So my dear brothers and sisters, we are called to be faithful servants. Our faith will show in our service to our brothers and sisters.
So let us ask God, today and every day with the words of the apostles: “Lord, increase my faith. Teach me to trust in you, totally, and to serve you and follow you, wherever you lead, and whatever you ask.”
And may Our Blessed Mother Mary intercede for us.
May she help us to be faithful servants, bringing Jesus into this world, so that many more people will know the promise of his love and salvation.
1. Readings: Hab. 1:2–3; 2:2–4; Ps. 95:1–2, 6–9; 2 Tim. 1:6–8, 13–14; Luke 17:5–10.