SAN ANTONIO • Mission Concepción, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, celebrated 275 years of service with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez on the third Sunday of Lent, March 11. Concelebrants at the liturgy included Father Nicholas J. (Jim) Rutkowski, Mission Concepción administrator; Msgr. Balthasar (Balty) Janacek, director of the Old Spanish Missions for the archdiocese; and Father Ruben Garcia, administrator of St. Cecilia Church.
    Honored guests included Friar Herbert Jones, OFM, pastor of San José y San Miguel Mission, representing the Franciscan Friars. “The Franciscan Friars braved the wilderness of frontier Texas to being the message of the Gospel to the native peoples that roamed these hills and plains,” said Father Rutkowski. “Our own mission is the result of the labors and sacrifices of Father Antonio Margil de Jesús of the Franciscan College of Querétaro.”

    Other visitors included members of the American Indians of Texas at the San Antonio Colonial Missions, comprised of men and women who are direct descendants of the earliest members of the mission communities.

    In his homily, Archbishop Gomez said the season of Lent is a special liturgical time that calls us to renew our faith and rediscover the joy of salvation, the joy that comes with knowing the Lord’s forgiveness.
    “Jesus calls us to ‘repentance’ — not a one-time change of heart, but an ongoing, daily transformation of our lives,” said the archbishop.

    He focused on two basic ideas from the day’s Gospel: first, the need for conversion and then the urgency to bear fruit.
    “The call to conversion is not just for really bad people,” Archbishop Gomez said. “It is for all of us and all the time. It is especially important during Lent.”

    But a real conversion, the archbishop emphasized, has to take us to be more active in our Christian life. “The times that we live call for action, we cannot stay still anymore,” explained Archbishop Gomez.     “We need to bear fruit, to be productive in our Christian life, personally in our relationship with God and with others, and as a community of faith because God is calling us, and society is challenging us trying to push God and us aside.”

    He asked, “So what kind of fruit are we suppose to have?” The immediate answer was, “Fruits of prayer, penance and works of mercy. It is different for each one of us, but it should be real. It goes from finding the time to pray a little more, to read and meditate sacred Scripture, daily Mass if possible, etc., to practical sacrifices that we can make in our daily life trying to make life better for others.”
    The prelate continued, “Let’s make sure that there are fruits in our Christian life, fruits of trying to imitate the life of Christ and to make an influence in society.”

    Archbishop Gomez then asked Mary the Blessed Mother to help us during this time of Lent. “Let us pray that the Blessed Virgin Mary accompanies us and sustains us on our Lenten journey, so that every Christian may rediscover the greatness, I would add the beauty of conversion,” he concluded.     “May she help to understand that penitence and correcting our behavior is not just moralizing but the most appropriate way to better ourselves and society.”

    Following the liturgy, Isaac Cardenas performed a Coahuilitecan hymn with the flute and offered a Coahuilitecan blessing in native language.

    After the Mass Archbishop Gomez led a procession with mariachis outside the sanctuary over to the Santa María del Camino Grotto for a blessing of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.