Most Reverend José H. Gomez Archbishop of Los Angeles
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels April 10, 2022
My brothers and sisters in Christ,1
We have entered now, into this holiest of weeks, the week of our redemption.
In these days we are accompanying Our Lord as he walks the path of his passion, this way of sorrow and suffering.
And we want to walk this road with our Lord, we want to stay very close to him. These sufferings we witness — they are all for us. We know that.
We know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins. This week we want to move from “knowing” this, to “feeling” this. We want to allow his sufferings to speak to us, to move our hardened hearts.
This week, we want to walk with him, and to suffer with him; we want to sacrifice for him.
On this road that we are walking during this holy week, we are witnessing the mystery of Our Lord’s love for us — a love we cannot imagine, a love so deep that he dies for us on the cross.
This is what God’s love looks like. The prophet tells us this morning in the first reading: “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.”
Jesus Christ paid a price for us that we could never pay. Then, St. Paul says today in the second reading: “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave … becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
So, the Son of God made himself a slave to set you free, to give us “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”2
So my brothers and sisters, this is what Jesus wants for us. Freedom. Freedom to love as he loves, freedom to live as he lived. To glorify God with our lives, as sons and daughters of God. To live forever with him in heaven.
So we need to follow in Jesus’ footsteps this week. And obviously we need to do that every day of our lives. This is the only way to live that will bring us peace. We know that. Jesus is the only path.
We have seen what his love looks like. So, my brothers and sisters, let us open our hearts, and show him what our love looks like. Let us make a new resolution this week to love Jesus Christ and to live as children of God.
In the Gospel that we just heard, there is a little detail that especially caught my attention. As they lay the cross on Jesus, and he begins to make his way through the streets on the way to Golgotha, Jesus turns to the people in the crowd and looks at them.
He also said those beautiful words today when there were man and women following him but Jesus specifically addressed the women at that moment.
But what caught my attention was that Jesus turns to the people in the crowd.
So my dear brothers and sisters, we need to know that Jesus is looking at us — at you and me. And it is a look of love, and he is saying to each of us, personally: If you wish to come after me, you need to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.3
We need to make the way of the cross, the way for our lives. We all know that we are not perfect. We also know that we need to keep working on ourselves, keep growing in our love for God and our love for one another.
We need to keep working to overcome our pride, our selfishness, our lack of gratitude. We can be kinder, especially to the people who are closest to us, in our families. We can work on being more forgiving, more gentle, more patient. Love means thinking of others before we think of ourselves; loves means sacrificing for others.
So this is how we take up our cross. And we should know this: Jesus will always be there to help us to carry our cross.
So we have a beautiful freedom when we take up our cross and follow Jesus, when we walk in his friendship. We are free because we are living for him, because we are living according to his will for our life.
So, Jesus is looking at us, and we need to keep our eyes on him. We need to imitate what we see, listen to what we hear him telling us to do.
So especially this week, let us reflect on our personal relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ, our personal commitment to following his teaching and example, and walking with him.
As we see in this Holy Week, Jesus humbled himself for us, let us learn to humble ourselves for him. Jesus was obedient for us, so let us be obedient to him. He endured this sorrow and pain for us, so that we can find happiness, so that we can know peace.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, let us keep walking with Jesus this week, let us accompany him and Our Blessed Mother Mary, as we commemorate his Passion and celebrate the glory of his Resurrection.
Mary is our mother, let us never leave her side, and let us ask her today to always keep us close to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Readings: Isa. 50:4–7; Ps. 22:8–9, 17–20, 23–24; Phil. 2:6–11; Luke 22:14–23:56.