Angelus News | February 23, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 4
On the cover: A painting depicting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by 19th-century artist Carl Heinrich Bloch. For Christians, Lent can be compared to the time Jesus spent praying in the desert. But we may also find ourselves this time of year in the agony of the garden, going through our own Gethsemane of personal suffering. On Page 10, Msgr. Richard Antall reflects on two traditional prayers to the same angel that comforted Christ on the Mount of Olives.
On the cover: A painting depicting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by 19th-century artist Carl Heinrich Bloch. For Christians, Lent can be compared to the time Jesus spent praying in the desert. But we may also find ourselves this time of year in the agony of the garden, going through our own Gethsemane of personal suffering. On Page 10, Msgr. Richard Antall reflects on two traditional prayers to the same angel that comforted Christ on the Mount of Olives.
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Roots worth celebrating<br />
Members of the Salesian High Class<br />
of 1974 pose with their Golden<br />
Diplomas, which were given out as part<br />
of the school’s Catholic Schools Week<br />
celebration. | VICTOR ALEMÁN<br />
Fifty years ago, they were ‘just<br />
trying to get by.’ Today, Bishop<br />
Mora Salesian’s class of 1974<br />
says their education is a gift<br />
that keeps on giving.<br />
BY TOM HOFFARTH<br />
Mauricio Acevedo remembers the angst he and his<br />
classmates faced during their 1974 senior year at<br />
Bishop Mora Salesian High in Boyle Heights.<br />
The Vietnam War, still a year away from ending, required<br />
18-year-olds to register for the military draft. Acevedo took<br />
an aptitude test to access his vocation skills.<br />
“My test said I was going to be a mechanic — that bothered<br />
me for a long time,” said Acevedo. “I didn’t want to<br />
do that. I was good in biology and math. I was competitive<br />
with my buddies.”<br />
He went to Sister Eliza Martin, a beloved chemistry and<br />
biology teacher at the all-boys school. She asked what he<br />
wanted to do instead. He brought up the idea of becoming<br />
a nurse, like his cousin in the Navy.<br />
“I remember her telling me, ‘Why don’t you try to be a<br />
doctor and see what happens?’ ” said Acevedo.<br />
After 40 years as an emergency room physician specializing<br />
in internal medicine for Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin<br />
Park, Acevedo became emotional talking about how<br />
Salesian prepared him for enrolling in Cal State L.A., then<br />
taking classes at USC Keck School of Medicine just blocks<br />
from his Lincoln Heights childhood home.<br />
“Honestly, after all these years, what she said has stayed<br />
with me because, by the grace of God, that was an inspiration<br />
to keep me going,” said the 67-year-old Acevedo,<br />
standing outside of the Salesian High campus gym on Jan.<br />
31 as he held on to his new Golden Diploma, one of 55<br />
honored during the school’s annual Catholic Schools Week<br />
celebration for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.<br />
Alphabetically, Acevedo was first in line to receive the<br />
recognition, wearing a nametag with his 1974 yearbook<br />
14 • ANGELUS • <strong>February</strong> <strong>23</strong>, <strong>2024</strong>
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