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

NEW WORLD OF FAITH
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
A jubilee is a season of mercy
God may often send us challenges,
but he always offers us his
mercy and grace.
That is how I feel about this past year.
We have suffered in so many ways under
this pandemic. But we have also felt
God’s mercy and love, and experienced
so many graces.
Now, as our society is turning the
corner on this pandemic, I am excited
to announce that this summer we will
start a Jubilee Year to mark the 250th
anniversary of Mission San Gabriel
Arcángel, the first church founded
in what is now the metropolis of Los
Angeles, on Sept. 8, 1771.
What we celebrate on this anniversary
is the planting of the family of God
here in Los Angeles, and the beginnings
of his kingdom in America.
San Gabriel Mission was our city’s
spiritual heart from its founding. The
mission was already 10 years old when
the diverse band of settlers, known
as “Los Pobladores,” processed nine
miles from the mission to establish Los
Angeles near present-day Olvera Street,
on Sept. 4, 1781.
Los Angeles was originally called “El
Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles
de Porciuncula” (“The Town of Our
Lady of the Angels of Porciuncula”),
named for the little chapel where St.
Francis of Assisi first heard the call of
Jesus.
In this jubilee year, we need to reconnect
with that original spirit of holiness
and adventure, the spirit of that first
generation of mystics, missionaries, and
migrants.
San Gabriel Mission was founded
by a Franciscan missionary saint, St.
Junípero Serra.
We should know our saint’s story, his
words, and witness. We should pray to
have that same depth of faith and love
that caused St. Junípero to leave his
family and homeland behind to follow
Jesus Christ and proclaim his Gospel in
the new world of the Americas.
This jubilee reminds us that in God’s
plan of salvation, our city and state —
this entire country — was born from
the Christian mission. Together with
the first peoples of this land, God intended
his Church to grow and to build
his kingdom in this new world.
The first encounters between the
Spaniards and the indigenous peoples
of California were tense, made worse by
the cruel contempt of Spanish soldiers
and settlers.
But when the Gabrieleno-Tongva
Indians first met the Franciscans in the
San Gabriel Valley, they were captivated
by a painting the missionaries were
carrying.
In the face of this image of Our Lady
of Sorrows holding a baby, the natives
laid down their weapons and offered
their hospitality and friendship. Working
alongside the missionaries, they
built a new culture and way of life.
For most of the past 250 years that
painting, “Nuestra Señora de los
Dolores,” hung in the baptistry of the
mission church.
When the devastating fire swept
through the mission last summer, by
some miracle of grace, this painting
survived. Weeks after the fire, on the
feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Sept. 15,
workers discovered it buried beneath
the debris, largely unharmed.
I have no doubt that this mysterious
artwork will be fully restored as we
inaugurate the jubilee year this September.
Every jubilee is a season of mercy, a
time for opening our hearts to receive
the gift of God’s mercy, a time for
proclaiming God’s mercy to the world,
and for sharing his mercy with one
another.
My prayer is that all of us in the
Church will seize this new moment
that we have to share God’s love and
salvation, and to be a light to our
nation.
In this divided and polarized time in
our society, I believe the story of San
Gabriel Mission holds a “message” for
America.
The first families of Los Angeles, who
came from the mission, included men
and women of African, Hispanic, native,
and European descent. From this
beginning a radiant Church was born, a
Church that today worships and serves
in some 40 languages.
In this jubilee, let us commit ourselves
again to making our Church a sign of
God’s mercy and his intentions for the
human family.
Let us proclaim what the first missionaries
proclaimed — God’s love for
every person; the dignity and equality of
every race and people; the truth that we
are all God’s sons and daughters, made
in his image and destined to share his
glory.
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
And let us entrust ourselves to the
Queen of the Angels and Our Lady of
Sorrows.
Our city and nation — and all the
Americas — were born under Mary’s
maternal care and protection.
In December of this jubilee year, we
will celebrate the 490th anniversary of
Our Lady of Guadalupe apparitions,
which were the true spiritual founding
of the Americas.
Let us ask Our Lady to give us all a
new heart for mission and mercy.
May 7, 2021 • ANGELUS • 3