Catholic Prayer Breakfast 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
September 20, 2022

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

I’m very happy to be with all of you to celebrate this Holy Eucharist, even if it’s so early in the morning.

So today, as I was saying, the Church remembers the witness of St. Andrew Kim Taegon, and the hundreds of men and women who were martyred along with him, in Korea during the 17th and 18th centuries.

St. Andrew Kim was the first Korean-born priest. He was ordained secretly in China and he  come back to Korea in a time of when it was dangerous to be Catholic, when the Church was outlawed and believers were being persecuted in the most horrible ways.

So many of you know his story. At age 25, St. Andrew Kim was arrested and tortured, his persecutors demanding that he renounce his faith. They challenged him: “Are you a Catholic faithful?” And he responded: “Yes, I am a Catholic.”²

It took a lot of courage to say those words: “I am a Catholic.” And it still does.

It’s not easy to live our Catholic faith these days, in this culture, in this moment in our country.
We all know that it’s getting harder to express our beliefs and to live them in public.

So the martyrs remind us: that’s it’s never been easy. In every age, in every society. Many men and women, like St. Andrew Kim, have suffered and died for these truths. Millions of our brothers and sisters, around the world right now, are being threatened and persecuted simply for the fact of believing in Jesus.

So, it’s never easy to say, “I am a Catholic.” But my brothers and sisters, Our Lord gives us encouragement and hope today in the Gospel.

It’s an interesting Gospel. It’s very short. So, I’m sorry the homily’s too long.

But we learn two important lessons from this passage.

First, we see that Mary, Our Blessed Mother and she is in the middle of the crowd. She is among those who are following her Son as a disciple.

And the lesson for us to reflect on is this: From his conception and birth, to his death on the cross, Mary was at Jesus’ side, united with her Son in his mission.

St. John Paul II once said: “Where [Mary] is, her Son cannot fail to be."³

And that’s a beautiful lesson for us. If we want to stay close to Jesus, we need to stay close to Mary. The saints teach us: “to Jesus through Mary.” She will always leads us to her Son.

Then second lesson of today’s Gospel is found in what Jesus says. Let’s listen to his words again: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

What he is saying is that the Catholic Church is the new family of God. What makes us brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the Father, is not our race, our nationality, our ethnic backgrounds. What makes us one family is our Baptism, and our commitment to do the will of God.

And this gives our life a very simple, practical path. Being a Catholic does not mean following certain rules or customs.

To say “I am a Catholic” means: I choose to follow Jesus. I choose to make Jesus the way and the truth for my life. I choose to listen for his Word in my life, and to do whatever he tells me to do.

This is who we are, my dear brothers and sisters. And it is a beautiful way to live. It is a beautiful thing to say, “Yes, I am a Catholic.” 

So this morning, we ask St. Andrew Kim — and all the holy men and women of Korea — to intercede for us, that we may persevere in our Catholic mission.

With joy in our hearts, let us commit ourselves once again to building God’s kingdom in Los Angeles, and in America. Let’s change the world by the way we love, bringing souls to Jesus and creating a compassionate society that serves human dignity and social justice.

Let us ask Mary Our Blessed Mother to help us to always walk in the footsteps of her Son, and to keep the faith and to share our faith, no matter what difficulties we might encounter.