Angelus News | May 7, 2021 | Vol. 6 No. 9

‘Sanctitas’ leads the way in
San Gabriel’s spiritual renewal
Sister Maria Goretti’s assigned
ministry is among
the homeless, but every
fourth Friday she helps
young adults at Mission
San Gabriel to satisfy a
very different hunger for
eucharistic adoration.
With Mass limited or
inaccessible for months
on end, “we had a lot of
young people saying, ‘I
wish there was a place I
could go for adoration
and confession,” said the
Franciscan Sister of the
Poor of Jesus Christ.
She teamed up with
Father Matthew Wheeler,
associate pastor of
St. Anthony Church in
San Gabriel and vocations
director for the
San Gabriel Pastoral
Region. With support
from Jennifer Havey,
regional coordinator of
spiritual renewal, they
launched “Sanctitas” for
young adults to engage in
adoration, reflection, and
confession at 7 p.m. on
fourth Fridays inside the
parish church next door
to the historic mission.
The music is contemporary, the
spiritual practices timeless.
There is exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, some music, some silence,
and a priest offers a short meditation.
After more silence, there is an examination
of conscience and an opportunity
for confession. Singing is limited
due to COVID-19 — and precautions
such as masking, social distancing,
and signing in for contact tracing are
rigorously observed.
Although Father Matt works in vocations,
Sanctitas is not about considering
holy orders or consecrated life.
“Sanctitas came about to help people
who are trying to discern God’s will in
Young people attend a “Sanctitas” adoration service earlier this year.
a general way, to help them in their
relationship with Christ and to try to
get them connected with other young
people who are Christ-centered as
well,” he said.
Attendance has averaged about 70 —
and as high as 100. At least two other
parishes offer a similar ministry on
other Fridays.
Four priests are available for confessions.
They stay busy, often with
people who haven’t been to confession
for years.
“They are all good confessions. God
is at work, bringing people back,”
Father Matt said.
One of the regulars at Sanctitas is
Marisol Valencia, 27,
a medical assistant in
San Gabriel.
“Sanctitas has
been like a breath of
fresh air. It’s been so
rough at the clinic,
just seeing so many
people struggling with
the pandemic, with
missing their family
members, with depression
and anxiety,
so Sanctitas has really
been a blessing for
me,” she said.
She had always
attended Mass, but
began to grow deeper
in faith in the year
before the pandemic,
going to daily
Mass and joining
Sister Maria Goretti
in outreach to the
homeless. The closing
of churches was a
shock that made her
appreciate the Eucharist
even more. She
went to adoration at a
church that offered it
through a window.
While adoration had
once felt awkward,
she said, it has become awesome.
“A friend of mine told me, ‘You
know, parents who have a new baby
sometimes just stare at that baby. They
aren’t saying anything, but do you
think they are talking to each other?’
Their hearts are speaking to each other
and that is what you do when you
are in front of the Eucharist,” she said.
“Sanctitas is a place for a soul to find
healing. A place for our hearts to find
rest. But more importantly, it’s a place
to adore Jesus, to console his wounded
heart, to love him and to trust that
he is all we need. Nothing else, only
him.”
— Ann Rodgers
14 • ANGELUS • May 7, 2021