Queen of Angels Votive Mass / Mass of Cultures 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
August 28, 2021

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, ¹

We gather today as one Church, one family of God. We are many peoples and we have one Mother. And today we especially renew our devotion to her, Our Lady of the Angels, just as the family of God has done since the beginning.

In the New Testament, we all remember that beautiful scene of the apostles in Jerusalem in those days after Our Lord’s resurrection and ascension into heaven. The apostles were gathered in an upper room and were joined in prayer “with one heart,” together with “Mary the mother of Jesus.”

And we know that on the night of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from heaven upon Mary and the apostles and stirred the Church to go out into the world and proclaim Jesus Christ in every language to every people. ²

So here we are, today, more than two thousand years later! Every one us is born from that first Pentecost.

As we heard in the second reading today, God’s temple in heaven was opened for us. Our Lady is that “great sign [that] appeared in the sky, the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

From this woman — the Queen of Heaven and the Queen of the Angels — Jesus Christ is born.

So, we rejoice today, with those words of the prophet Isaiah that we heard in the first reading of today’s Mass, “For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us.”

And we rejoice today because she who gave birth to God, has also given birth to each one of us.

It is the amazing truth that we need to reflect on today. The beautiful truth that we are children of God and children of Mary — born of Mary and the Holy Spirit.

This is, my brothers and sisters, our identity. This is what Jesus Christ intends for each one of our lives. So we must think of ourselves as children of Mary if we really want to live as children of God. And that’s what we all want.

As we know, at this time we are in a moment in our country — in our world — that is very challenging. We are still in the middle of this pandemic, and as we all are aware, society is changing in dramatic ways. And the Church, too, faces many trials and uncertainties. Pope Francis says this is “not an age of change, but a change of ages.” ³

And I think what that means is that it is time for us to get back to basics. We need to really understand our identity, who we are as Catholics, as Christians — the great gift of our Catholic faith; the beauty of living as children of God and walking in his presence.

So it is time, my dear brothers and sisters, to begin again, to begin anew! And here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, we have a beautiful opportunity with the beginning of our Jubilee Year in a couple of weeks. This is a time for all of us to dedicate ourselves again to living our baptismal identity with joy and confidence.

And like those first Christians, we need to turn to Mary, we need to stand with her at the foot of the Cross call upon her as our Mother and our protector. We need to ask Mary our Blessed Mother to guide us, to help us walk in the footsteps of her Son.

And this is, obviously, the whole message of the Gospel today, the beautiful and great message of the Annunciation that we have heard so many times. But again, it seems to me, the challenge for us is to hear this Gospel “anew.” Like we’re hearing it for the first time.

And as I reflect on this Gospel, one thing that really strikes me is Mary’s trust and Mary’s humility.

What the angel tells Mary is beautiful —she is full of grace, she has found favor with God. But it is also challenging. Because what the angel tells her means that Mary will have to change her whole life.

But Mary trusts in God’s love, she trusts that God has a plan —  a plan not only for her, but for the world, for history. And in total humility, Mary hands herself over. She puts her life in the service of God’s plan: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Mary’s trust and Mary’s humility.

And for us, my dear brothers and sisters, we are always thinking and finding a way to understand better our faith and what things can help us to live our faith in our daily life. We also want to know the things that we can do to put our Christian faith into practice.

And I think the most practical thing we can do is to begin every day with this attitude of Mary our Blessed Mother, to live every moment with humility and trust in God.

Mary, our Blessed Mother, is the first Christian because she is the first one to say “yes” to Jesus Christ, to give her life to do his will.  

And that’s our mission, too. Every one of us. Like Mary, we need to have that humility and trust to be “handmaids” of the Lord — to do everything we can in our lives to bring Jesus into the world, to lead our brothers and sisters to know his love and his salvation. 

So we stand in the beautiful tradition of the Catholic Church. That tradition that extends back to Mary and the apostles and that first Pentecost. But, as we know, the Christian tradition is not something that is ever finished or complete.

The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the apostles and he sent them out to announce Jesus Christ, to shine a holy light in the darkness of this world, to reveal God’s love to every heart.

And we see the challenges that we have in our society, in the world at this time. We, because we are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ — because we are, in a sense, following the example of the apostles and Mary our Blessed Mother — we have the solution of the problems of the world.

And in the same way that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the apostles and sent them out, he’s sending all of us to give life and the truth to the world in which we live.

And here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles we have, as I said, this beautiful opportunity to begin again as we celebrate the Jubilee year.

Because as you know, two hundred and fifty years ago, the Holy Spirit sent the missionaries to evangelize California.

The Holy Spirit is still at work, here and now, in this city that those missionaries named for Our Lady the Queen of the Angels.

So the great work of Jesus Christ, the mission he entrusted to his Church, continues in you and me. All of us.

This is the beautiful purpose of our lives — to talk to others about Jesus, to share the love and friendship that we have with him. To spread the joy of knowing God through our words and our example!

So today, let us ask for the grace to really open our hearts to the grace of God in this moment that we have — this new beginning.

Let us ask Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels, to teach us her ways.

May Our Lady help us to live with humility and trust, and to let our lives be led by the Holy Spirit.

May she help each one of us to give glory to God with our lives and lead many people to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us especially ask the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Angels, for each one of us, our families, and our Archdiocese — that this will be a new beginning for all of us.

1. Readings (Solemnity of Our Lady of the Angels): Isa. 9:1-6; Ps. 113; Rev. 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10a; Luke 1:26-38.