Blessing of Altar and Chapel at Queen of Angels Center for Priestly Formation 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Queen of Angels Center for Priestly Formation
Torrance, California 
February 24, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

This is, as I was saying, is a beautiful day in the life of the family of God here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is always a blessing to consecrate a new altar and in this case, a new chapel — a new house of worship. 

The altar is the heart and soul of every chapel, of every church. The sacrifice that we offer at this holy altar makes us one family, children of God. The altar makes us his Church. 

Human hands made this altar, and the human hands of a priest will offer bread and wine on this altar. But this God’s altar. This is the altar of his sacrifice. What happens at this altar is the whole mystery of God — right here in our midst. 

But this altar and this chapel are even more special. Because in this holy place, the sacrifice of the Mass will be offered to nourish and help form future generations of priests — the men who will one day offer this holy sacrifice at altars across this Archdiocese. 

So we give thanks to God today for his many blessings and mercies. 

As we bless this altar and chapel today we want to remember our benefactors — the generous men and women whose love for God and love for the priesthood has made this new house of formation possible. We are extremely grateful to all the benefactors that help us to renew this place and make it the Queen of Angels Center of Priestly Formation.

And we obviously will remember their generosity every time we celebrate the Eucharist at this altar. 

The Eucharist, as we know, is the sacrament of God’s love, the sacrament of God’s mercy. 

As we know we are currently in the “season of mercy,” the season of Lent, and in our first reading today, from the Book of Jonah, we see God’s mercy in action. 

As we just heard, Jonah is sent to great city of Nineveh, to call the people to repent, to change their hearts and come home to God. It is a simple reading today, but a powerful message, a powerful truth. 

My brothers and sisters, God is waiting for us. He loves us, he created each one of us to be holy, to be near to him. He never abandons us. Even when we turn our hearts away, he keeps calling us back. 

And the season of Lent is the time for us to return to God with our whole hearts — to return to him in humility and with love, trusting in his kindness and forgiveness. 

It is true what we heard in our responsorial psalm today: “A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”

This is the beautiful truth of God’s mercy! God loves us so completely and what he asks of us is that we love him totally. God wants our whole heart. 

The little sacrifices that we make during Lent — our prayer, our fasting, our works of charity — are signs of our love, signs of our contrition, signs of our desire to be converted, to follow Jesus and become the men and women that God made us to be. 

So our Lord calls us today to offer him our hearts, and especially on this altar to join our sacrifice to his. 

This is “the sign of Jonah” that he is talking about in the Gospel. 

Jonah preached repentance, so did Jesus. But Jesus did “something greater,” as he tells us today. He offered himself in our place. 

Our Lord offered his own body, his own blood on the cross — he offered his whole life in a pure sacrifice for you and for me.  

On this altar that we bless today, the sacrifice of our redemption is carried out again. Jesus is offering himself again for you and for me. The same sacrifice that he made on the altar of his cross on Calvary. 

So today, let’s open our hearts to Jesus, as he opened his heart for us on the Cross. 

So brothers and sisters as we consecrate this altar today, let us dedicate ourselves once more to trust only and totally in Jesus, to trust in his love, in his mercy. And renew our desire to be followers of Jesus Christ, true apostles and missionary disciples. 

We need to talk to others about God’s mercy and we need to model that mercy in our own lives. We need to show more mercy, more forgiveness, more understanding. 

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother of Mercy, our Lady of Guadalupe, to watch over this altar and this chapel and over the men who come to study and pray here. 

Through her loving intercession, let us ask God to send us many more vocations to the priesthood, — that we might always offer a pure sacrifice and sanctify the world in his holy name. Amen.

1. Readings (Wednesday of the First Week in Lent): Jon. 3:1-10; Ps. 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Luke 11: 29-32.