19th Annual Prayer Breakfast

 
Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles 
 
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
September 17, 2024
 
My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹
 
It’s great that we are together this morning, early in the morning for this special celebration of the Mass and Prayer Breakfast.
 
So we just heard that beautiful story of Jesus and the widow of Nain. And what we see in this passage of the Gospel is that Jesus is the love in the heart of the Father.
 
And Jesus comes into this world, as he also comes into each one of our lives, to reveal the Father’s love for us.
 
So the Father’s love for us is not something just general or abstract, he doesn’t love without us knowing about it. God loves us in the concrete realities of our everyday lives.
 
And I’m sure that you noticed that as Jesus enters the city, he sees a big crowd. Now, he could have avoided the crowd, or waited for the long procession to pass. But instead he goes straight into the middle of the crowd. And he finds the woman whose son has died.
 
And the Gospel tells us: “When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”
 
My brothers and sisters, Jesus is always looking at us, he is always sensitive to what’s happening in our lives. And his first word is always one of consolation. He comes to wipe away our tears, he comes to help us to see through our pain, so that we can see the Father’s love for us.
 
In the Eucharist today, Jesus will meet us, as he came to meet this widow and her son. In every Eucharist, in ever celebration of the Mass, we have that encounter with his mercy, with the saving power of his love.
 
So today let us open our hearts to his love. Let us hear him speaking to us, just as he spoke to the young man in Nain.
 
Jesus wants us to know how much we are loved, his love for us is so great that he was willing to die for each one of us. Again, his love is not something abstract. Jesus loves you, and he loves me, personally.
 
And he says to us today, just as he said to that widow’s son: “Arise.” Arise from your cares and your worries, from the burdens that you feel! Arise to live again, to live for God and to live for others!
 
It’s a beautiful message that we are hearing today in the readings of today’s Mass.
 
St. Paul, in the first reading of today’s Mass, tells us that has given each of us different gifts, and that he gives us these gifts to serve his Church.
 
We each have our part to play in the Church’s mission of love, the mission of spreading the good news of salvation.
 
So my brother and sisters today, in this Eucharist let us ask Jesus to make us his instruments, to help us to use our gifts to work little miracles of love in the lives of those around us. 
 
We have many opportunities in our daily lives to love and to serve, first in our own families, but also in our work and in our civic responsibilities.
 
And as Jesus did, we need to see others with tenderness, with compassion.
 
So let’s ask Jesus today to strengthen us to love and to serve.
 
And let us ask Our Blessed Mother Mary, to help us to love with the heart of her Son.