13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles 

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 
June 27, 2021

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Today’s readings are about life and death. And about that beautiful interaction of Jesus and a family.

As I was saying, Sacred Scripture today is helping us to reflect on God’s plan for humanity and our need to trust in him.

Our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom tells us a beautiful truth: “God did not make death … For God formed man to be imperishable, the image of his own nature he made him.”

The truth is, my dear brothers and sisters, that God made us for life. All the sickness and disease in the world, the scourge of death — this was not how God intended his creation. 

So, our first reflection today is the fact that God wants us to be happy and enjoy the good things of the Earth. But he has destined us for an even better life: eternal happiness in Heaven.

And in the Gospel today, we see Jesus heal two women, the daughter of the synagogue elder, and the woman suffering from a hemorrhage. And these are beautiful examples of Our Lord’s tender love for people. 

But I think there is a deeper meaning in these beautiful miracle stories. Jesus comes to heal our bodies, but his healing is a sign of a “greater healing” that he promises — the resurrection of our bodies. 

The words that Jesus speaks to the synagogue official are words that should give us great hope. “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” 

Beautiful words that Jesus is telling each one of us today too.

So let us pray today to grow in our awareness of that heaven will be our home. And let us also ask for the grace to make the best of the gift of life and to always be preparing ourselves for eternal life. We do that if we have strong faith in Jesus Christ and we follow his commandments for our lives 

So I think that’s a simple but good reflection on today’s readings of our Gospel that can help us so much in understanding the meaning of life and the goal of our life in going to Heaven. 

And also, as I said before, today we are reading in all the Masses of the Archdiocese the letter of proclamation of the Jubilee Year in the Archdiocese. 

Personally, I think it is a very special day in the life of the family of God in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as we start anew we have this extraordinary blessing of starting a Jubilee Year this coming September. 

So, I’m going to read to you a letter that I’m sending to all the parishes as a proclamation of the Jubilee Year in the Archdiocese:

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I pray that you and your families are well. It is great to see our society starting to open up after this long year of the pandemic. And it is beautiful to see more and more of you returning to church each week as state restrictions are being lifted.  

This is a providential moment for all of us to renew and deepen our love for Jesus Christ and our dedication to living our Catholic faith. That is why I am excited to share this news with you. 

I am writing today to announce that later this summer we will begin a Jubilee Year to mark the 250th anniversary of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which was founded by the great Franciscan missionary, St. Junípero Serra, in 1771.

In the Scriptures, a Jubilee marks a special time of the Lord’s grace and mercy. And in the tradition of the Church, Jubilee Years or Holy Years are designated to commemorate important moments in the history of salvation. 

The foundation of Mission San Gabriel is one such important moment. The mission is the first church in what is now the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. And as Pope Francis has noted, St. Junípero Serra was “one of the founding fathers of the United States.” So, this Jubilee Year recognizes not only the Church’s beginnings in Los Angeles, but also the Christian beginnings of America and the influence of Christian values in the formation of our national identity. 

The Jubilee Year will begin on September 11, 2021, with an Opening Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and will continue until September 10, 2022, when a Closing Mass will be held at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. 

I am grateful to the Holy Father Pope Francis and to the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See for granting plenary indulgences for these liturgical events as well as for prayers at designated pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese. 

My brothers and sisters, this Jubilee Year, for me, is not about the past. It is about the present and the future. “Forward in Mission” is our Jubilee theme, and I am confident that during this holy year God will pour out many graces on our local Church and on our families.

I pray that we will open our hearts to his Spirit and that we will hear again our baptismal calling to be saints and missionary disciples — just like St. Junípero Serra and that first generation of missionaries and migrants who brought the love of God to California and America. 

I pray that this year will awaken in all of us, a new awareness of our great dignity as children of God and our responsibility to spread the Gospel and build up God’s kingdom through our daily lives. 

You will find more information on our Jubilee website, forwardinmission.com. 

I wish you and your families a blessed summer. Please pray for me, and I will pray for you. 

I entrust you all to the tender care of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our Mother. May she give us all a new love for her Son, Jesus Christ, and may she lead us to a new awakening of the faith in our times.

So my dear brothers and sisters, let us pray that the Jubilee Year will be a special time for all of us in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. A time of renewal and especially a time of new enthusiasm in our commitment to love God and one another. 

May our Blessed Mother, our Lady of the Angels, continue to intercede for us as we prepare for our Jubilee Year.

1. Readings: Wis. 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Ps. 20:2, 4-6, 11-13; 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43.