25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
September 18, 2022

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Today, we thank God today for the gift of this new pastor for our Cathedral. Our prayers are with Msgr. Antonio Cacciapuoti today and we share in his joy.

In the second reading today, St. Paul gives our new pastor his “marching orders,” his mission:

Paul tells us: “For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle.”

Every pastor is called to be a preacher and an apostle! And of course, what we preach is the God, who became man in Jesus Christ.
 
We proclaim Jesus and his love, which he showed to us by offering his life on the cross.

Jesus gave his life for our sins — your sins and mine, and so that we can have the grace and strength to grow as sons and daughters of God, to overcome our weaknesses, and to become the men and women whom God created us to be.

And the love of God is a love that we could never imagine. But it’s a love that’s true.

So, the question for us, always, is how do we respond to God’s love?

In today’s passage of the Gospel, Jesus tells us that we have to choose between “God and mammon,” between the priorities of God, and the priorities of the world.

The world tells us to be selfish, just like that steward in the parable. The world tells you to set your heart on worldly riches and security.

And this is the world that the prophet Amos strongly condemns in today’s first reading. It is a world obsessed with profit and power — even if, as the prophet Amos says, to “trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land.”

But my brothers and sisters, as we know, that’s not the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is the way of love.

And the love that Jesus shows us, is a love that is self-giving, self-sacrificing.  

It means using our resources and talents, not to enrich ourselves, but to enrich the lives of others. The way of Jesus, is not about “getting.” It’s about giving. It’s not about ourselves. It’s about others.

In the Gospel today Jesus tells us: “The one who is faithful in little things is faithful also in big things.”

So this is the message for us. The saints teach us that we grow in holiness and virtue — little by little, day by day. Little things matter in a big way.

So we need to be faithful to our spiritual life. So the question for all of us today is: Are we making time to pray every day? Are we spending time with Jesus by reading the Gospels? Do we set aside a few minutes before Mass to prepare ourselves to meet Jesus in the Eucharist, in Holy Communion especially?

So much of our spiritual life is about being faithful to our devotions and practices. Spending time in prayer, asking the Lord for guidance, asking the Lord for help. Even when we are tired, even when we don’t feel like doing it.

And then we also need to be faithful in the little things of charity, of love. Faithfulness in the little things means being devoted to your wives and husbands, it means carrying out your duties in your families. It means responding generously to people who need your help, or even just your attention, or some of your time.

So my brothers and sisters, our Catholic faith is never about grand gestures. It’s about quietly doing the things that we know we should be doing, every day. Just doing what Jesus would want you to do.

This is how we grow in holiness and virtue. This is how we serve God and not mammon. This is how we stay faithful in the little things.

So, today let us rededicate our lives to living as Jesus calls us to live, according to his words and his priorities.

And let us ask Our Lady of the Angels, patroness of this great Cathedral to help and to help our new pastor Monsignor Antonio. And may she keep us always in the tender mantle of her care, and may she help us to always stay faithful in the little things of love.