Opening Mass of the Academic Year 2023 — St. John's Seminary

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

St. John’s Seminary
Camarillo, California
August 29, 2023

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

I’m very happy to be with all of your today for this opening Mass of the academic year. Every year it’s just a beautiful moment where we gather together in the presence of God for this celebration of the Eucharist to start the new academic year.

So as we begin this academic year, we pray in this Holy Mass that this will be a year of grace and growth for all of you, as you continue your formation.

And in God’s providence, we begin this new year on the day that the Church remembers the passion of St. John the Baptist, the great precursor who proclaimed the coming of the Christ.

We are celebrating the Holy Mass of the Holy Spirit, but today the Church celebrates the Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist.

It doesn’t mean that all of you have to be martyrs, okay? But it is, as I said, God’s providence that we are celebrating the beginning of the new academic year on this memorial day.

Of course, we all know that we are called to proclaim Jesus with our lives, too. But John the Baptist, along with our Blessed Mother Mary, was the first.

I think that today’s readings help us to reflect on our vocation and ministry.

Our Gospel today brings us to the final days of John’s ministry. We just heard the passage of the Gospel, and we all know the story.

St. John the Baptist, as we know, died defending the truth of God’s commandments about marriage, which is rooted in the truth about the human person as the image of God.

St. John’s witness challenges us to remember that we are called to teach and preach the truth — even when telling the truth is inconvenient or uncomfortable for others to hear.

And this takes courage, it is not easy. Of course, we always need to speak and act with prudence and charity, but never at the expense of the truth.

As St. Paul tells us today in that beautiful and powerful first reading, this is our responsibility as stewards of the Gospel.

He tells us today: “But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please men, but rather God, who judges our hearts.”

John the Baptist spoke the truth in love to Herod. He spoke calmly, simply explaining the teaching of God.

And my brothers and sisters, we all need to do it in the same way. We need to try to understand people, try to find ways to connect, ways to open their hearts to realize the love that God has for them.

And that’s why our people come to us. They come looking for Jesus.

People come to the Church seeking Jesus, seeking the truth about God’s plan for their lives.

In that first reading, St. Paul gives us a beautiful reflection on how the priest is called to carry out his ministry of preparing a people fit for God. He says:

“We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children,” he says, “determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well.”

Again, we always need to have that same humble, tender, sacrificial love for God’s people. But as Paul reminds us, priestly love can mean suffering for the truth, as he and the apostles did, and as John the Baptist did. 

He tells us today: “After we had suffered and been insolently treated … we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.”

So today especially, and always, we need to renew our confidence that Jesus alone can tell us the truth about our lives. Jesus alone can show us the way to happiness and the way to heaven.

No one else knows the answer. No one else knows the way.

So, my brothers and sisters, as we begin this new year, reflecting on these challenging readings, let us ask God to give us the courage to proclaim his Gospel in our day.

And let us pray for a new spirit of love, a new commitment to live for Jesus and to bring Jesus to the hearts of those who seek him.

May Mary Most Holy help us, as we begin the academic year, to grow in the love of her Son, that we may be faithful witnesses to his Gospel, and help more people to have a beautiful encounter with the love of Jesus Christ and his salvation.