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SAN ANTONIO • Ash Wednesday marked the first day of activities for Archbishop-Designate José H. Gomez in the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
Feb. 9 also began a week chock full of appointments and Masses leading up to the installation of the archbishop-designate the following Tuesday.
Archbishop-Designate Gomez began the Lenten season by celebrating a 6:30 a.m. Mass in Spanish for seminarians and staff at Assumption Seminary, where the new prelate reiterated that the number one priority for his tenure will be the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Following a meeting with his Installation Committee at mid-morning, the archbishop-designate traveled to Mission San José y Miguel to celebrate an Ash Wednesday liturgy at 3 p.m. |
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Prior to the Mass, however, Archbishop-Designate Gomez took time to visit with the Franciscan priests and brothers who serve the mission at their friary and learn a bit more about the history of the missions, and San José in particular.
In his homily at the service, the archbishop-designate said he had two reasons for spending part of his first day at Mission San José y Miguel.
“Number one, evangelization started here, and I wanted to feel unity with the first missionaries. We can rejoice in the faith we have received from them,” he said. “Secondly, at the start of this Lenten season, the call we receive today is a call to conversion, a change of heart. That’s what God is asking, a change of heart. I wanted all of you to participate in the call I feel to change from selfishness to love. We are all sinners, including myself. God is calling each one of you to change too.”
Archbishop-Designate Gomez urged listeners to pray more, be more generous, and be more penitent in the upcoming 40-day period.
“This Lenten season should be a moment of grace for each of us in the Archdiocese of San Antonio,” he said. “The call to follow Christ is the conversion to love God more, to have greater love of God. I ask Blessed Mother Mary for her intercession as we start this special moment of grace and conversion.”
After the Mass, the archbishop-designate greeted parishioners and conducted several media interviews before returning in the early evening to his apartment on the second floor of the administration building of Assumption Seminary. |