|
He added, “You have endeared yourself to the people of this church community and we feel honored that you have returned today to renew fond memories and to celebrate the Eucharist with us. This week a new era begins for the Archdiocese of San Antonio and we are blessed and honored to have Archbishop Gomez to be our new spiritual leader.”
“Today we look at the past with gratitude, the present with joy, and the future with much hope and promise,” he said. “May we unite in prayer and worship, as we ask the Lord’s blessing upon our new archbishop and the Catholic faith of San Antonio.” This welcome to the archbishop was followed by thunderous applause. Archbishop Gomez noted that it was a special joy for him to be present that morning, then led the congregation in an Act of Contrition.
Concelebrating the Mass of Remembrance with the archbishop, in addition to Msgr. Walsh, were Msgr. Ramon Garcia (pastor during Archbishop Gomez’ early residence at Our Lady of Grace); Msgr. Terence Nolan, (also a former pastor at the church); Father Tom Lamb; Father John Sokolski, OMI; and Father Patrick Guidon, OMI. Assisting was Deacon Rey Merino.
Altar servers were Garrett Notzon, Anastacio Hinojosa, Stephen Tong and Cordell Tong.
The prelude and music for the Mass were provided by David Kauffman and the choir.
At the homily, the archbishop warmly stated, “It’s great to be home!” He expressed his joy at seeing so many familiar faces and his gratitude to the three pastors he had served with at the church — Msgr. Garcia, Msgr. Nolan and Msgr. Walsh. “You guys did a good job!” he said. “You trained me well!”
Archbishop Gomez noted that his Denver parish had requested he keep his homilies short. “They were a wonderful people,” he said, “and I had a great time over there and tried to fulfill their wish not to give long homilies.” He jokingly warned that this meant he had gotten somewhat behind in his homilies and might need “until next month” to finish his present one.
“I think it is a blessing that we are doing this at the beginning of the Lenten season,” he said, “because it is a time when we are asking God to help us, to give us his grace.” Calling it a time to spiritually recharge and make progress in our lives, he described Lent as a time to move from selfishness to love, as exemplified in the reading from Genesis relating the fall of Adam and Eve through temptation.
He re-ferred to this first Sunday of Lent as a time when the church calls us to acknowledge the reality of sin and recalled the many hours he had personally spent hearing confessions in the old confessional under the stairs at Our Lady of Grace. He noted that, like Adam and Eve, we are all tempted. “But temptation gives us a choice,” he said. “It requires a decision and ends with either a separation or a more intimate relationship with God.”
He pointed out that while Adam and Eve made the wrong choice, the reading of the temptation of Jesus by Satan showed Jesus also being asked to choose and remaining faithful to God’s promise. “Temptations are always a miserable deception,” he said, reminding that we need to keep a constant watch and say ‘no’ to them. “And that’s what Lent invites us to do,” he said, describing temptations as something separating us from God.
Admitting humility at all the “good press” he had been receiving in recent days, he said, “I am a sinner, as we all are. By the grace of God, we do not commit huge sins, but the reality of our lives is that we are sinners and that when Jesus came to redeem us from our sins, he gave us the possibility to have that relationship with God and, finally, to go to heaven.”
He reminded that “God is always on our side” and with that, the example of Jesus, and the intercession of “Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Grace,” we can meet the challenges in our daily lives. He urged taking advantage of the Lenten season by reception of daily Communion and frequent confession, and encouraged all to let this be a special time, as it is for him.
Noting that Archbishop Patrick Flores “has given us a great example of generous and faithful dedication to God,” he called on the faithful to continue this work. “Let us go forth with confidence, with God’s grace, to receive mercy,” he said, renewing our commitment to God by showing him our love and practicing charity with one another.
At the conclusion of the Mass, Teresa Hinojosa, director of the RCIA and adult education program at the church and an organizer of the day’s celebration, made a special presentation to Archbishop Gomez on behalf of the parishioners, presenting him with a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego purchased from the San Fernando Cathedral museum gift shop.
“¡Padresito, es un milagro! ¡Dios es muy grande!” she said. “It is a miracle! God is so great! He has answered our prayers.” She added, “For those of us who know you, you have always been the shepherd. The only difference now is that your flock has increased in size.”
“A new era in our church has begun,” she said. “Under your pastoral leadership and guidance, you will mobilize a community of people to transform society. What the soul is to the body, the Catholics will be to the world. You embody the spirit and teachings of St. Josémaria, when he said, ‘We are all called to raise the spiritual temperature of those around us, helping them to live a more intense Christian life and to strive for holiness.’ ”
Speaking of the warm relationship between Jesus and Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany, Hinojosa told the archbishop, “Our Lady of Grace is your Bethany,” calling it a place of acceptance and understanding for him, where he would always be welcome and where he was “very, very much loved.”
Noting his first pastoral initiative took him to Mexico City where he placed a rose before Our Lady of Guadalupe and prayed for the faithful in San Antonio, she said, “It is now our time to reciprocate and to offer our prayers for you.” The congregation then extended their hands and recited a blessing for their new archbishop.
Archbishop Gomez thanked those present for their attendance and the blessings bestowed on him that day.
“I would like to ask all of you, in a selfish way, for your prayers,” he said. “Please walk with me this day, as I come to this new moment in my life, to be archbishop of San Antonio.”
Following the Mass, the archbishop was personally greeted by members of the parish at a reception held in the parish’s Madonna Room. |