USCCB Special Assembly 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish
San Ysidro, California
June 14, 2022

My dear brother bishops, brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

As you know we wanted to celebrate Mass here to pray for every migrant and every refugee, especially the women and young children. May our Lord walk at their side and keep them safe and give them hope. We pray for those who minister to our brothers and sisters.

We pray also for our nation’s leaders. As we know, there can be no resolution of the border crisis, no justice, until we have reform our nation’s immigration system. So, God grant them wisdom, courage, and most of all, compassion.

Also, we pray today for our country in the wake of the terrible shootings and ongoing violence and polarization and division. We ask for the grace to lead the Church to be a force for peace and healing and reconciliation in our country.

“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Our Lord speaks these words to us this afternoon from his Sermon on the Mount.

We have heard these words many times before. And, of course, we know that what Our Lord commands sounds like something that is not possible. But we cannot forget that with God, all things are possible.

To be perfect, means to be holy, as God is holy. And holiness is the perfection of love.

So, we are called today in this Gospel, to reflect on the purpose of our lives, which is to be holy, to be saints.

A few years ago, Pope Francis gave us a beautiful, exhortation, “Rejoice and Be Glad,” on the universal call to holiness.

The Holy Father said: “Do not be afraid of holiness. It will take away none of your energy, vitality or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the Father had in mind when he created you, and you will be faithful to your deepest self.”²

Holiness is not something only for special people. Holiness is for all of us. We are all called to be saints in the middle of the world — in every state of life, in every ministry, in every occupation. No matter who we are.

Holiness is our personal vocation. It is also our mission as the Church. By our witness, we are called to lead others to seek Jesus and his righteousness, his holiness.

At the beginning of this century, Pope St. John Paul II said that holiness must become the way of the Church, our “urgent pastoral task.”³ Pope Francis is saying the same thing now.

We need to propose to our people, once again, the beautiful adventure of holiness as the ordinary way of Christian living.

We become holy, as our Father in heaven is holy, by following his Son on earth.

The desire for holiness does not take us out of the world.  In fact, it takes us deeper into the heart of the world — with all its pain, poverty, and injustice.

The Servant of God Dorothy Day used to say: “You love God as much as the one you love the least.”⁴

I try to think about that line every day. It’s a high standard. But it’s the standard that Jesus gives us today in the Gospel: “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.”

Having negative feelings for people that we perceive that are against us is not useful. And it might be a lost opportunity to help them to have a conversion. So, we pray for those who persecute us, who misunderstand us, who reject us.

Jesus is the measure of our love. He is calling us to today to imitate him, to love as he loved. As we know, in his final words on the Cross, he was praying for those who killed him.

We can’t do that by our own strength. Jesus knows that. So, we ask for his strength. We know we can do all things in him who strengthens us.⁵

So, brothers and sisters, the Lord gives us a beautiful challenge this afternoon. To be holy as he is holy.

Holiness is not our work, but Our Lord’s work in us. So, let us ask for the humility to open our hearts to him.

Let us keep praying for our nation and for the least of our brothers and sisters, the refugees and the migrants.

And let us keep walking on the path of holiness, trying to be saints and helping those we serve to be saints, too.

We ask Holy Mary, Our Blessed Mother, to help us. May she gain for us the grace we need to follow her Son more closely, as children of our heavenly Father.