Christian Service 4 Life 2023

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
October 23, 2023

My young brothers and sisters,

First of all, I want to welcome you all to our Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. It is so good to have you here this year at our Cathedral!

Every year, I look forward to this beautiful event, the Christian Service 4 Life, and I’m thankful we have this time together in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament to worship our Lord Jesus Christ and share our faith with him.

And in our Cathedral today, we have the company of all the saints — you can see a lot of the saints in the tapestries in the Cathedral, and especially the tapestries of Our Lady of the Angels.

So they accompany us to be here with us in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

And I just want to share with you that this is the beautiful mystery of our faith. Our God comes to be with us, to be our friend.

Jesus promised never to leave us. As he said: “I will be with you to the end of the world.”

And Jesus keeps his promises. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, he comes in the mystery of his love.

This is what I want to say to you today:

Love the Eucharist! Love to be with Jesus who comes to be with us, with each one of us, in the Holy Eucharist.

So this is my wish for you, my prayer for you today:

Love the Eucharist, love the Mass! Never be casual about it.

Jesus gives his life to you, so that you will have a new life, a beautiful life, a life of freedom and love. A life like he lived.

And the truth is that we have this treasure of his real presence in every Catholic Church, in every tabernacle. We can meet him every day.

I’m sure that in some of your schools, they have a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament. When I went to Catholic schools, a long time ago, they had a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament.

And they had, in that specific school, Mass every day. So many times I was able to go to Mass every day. I was sure to go and visit the Blessed Sacrament for a few minutes as often as I could.

And it made a huge change in my life.

So we should try. We are never closer to Jesus than when we meet him in the holy Eucharist. So let’s try to spend more time in his presence, in adoration, in going to Mass, and receiving the Holy Communion.

I promise you, the more time you spend with Jesus, the more your hearts will open up, the more you will grow in your love for God and your neighbor.

Just a few minutes. Look at him. Talk to him. Listen to him. And the more you do it then you will have the strength to do beautiful things with your lives.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, in the presence of Jesus here in this Sacred Host, let us make a new promise, a personal promise to him, to love him and to follow him.

And let us ask especially the intercession of Mary our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Angels. That we can grow in our friendship with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.