Requiem Mass for the Unborn 2025

 

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
 
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
January 18, 2025
 
My brothers and sisters in Christ, ^[1]
 
This afternoon in our program for OneLife LA we were especially thinking of our commitment to support those affected by the wildfires. 
 
And this evening, we continue our reflection on the sanctity and the dignity and the beauty of human life — from conception to natural death — as we especially, in this holy Mass, remember the unborn. 
 
We heard these powerful words tonight from the prophet Isaiah:  
 
“For the Lord delights in you … As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.”
 
These words are addressed to each one of us. God delights and rejoices in every human life.

As Catholics, as Christians, we mourn with those who have lost everything in the wildfires for the same reason that we mourn the lives of those who did not get to be born. 

So once again this year, in this solemn liturgy, we remember these little ones and we pray for their souls. 

And the Scriptures tell us that every human life begins in the heart of God. Before he forms us in the womb, he knows who we are, and he knows who he wants us to be. Even before we are born, he has a plan for our lives
 
In the mystery of God’s divine plan for creation, Jesus chose to enter our world as a child in a mother’s womb. He was raised in a home with a mother and father. 
 
And as we see in our Gospel tonight, Jesus chose to perform his first miracle at a family wedding, where he probably knew the bride and groom. That’s why he was invited.
 
But this miracle was not only for them. By this sign, Jesus wanted to bless and sanctify married love, that special love of husband and wife that brings new life into the world. 
 
Jesus came to share our life in order to reveal the beauty and holiness of human life. 
 
My dear brothers and sisters, God has entrusted his great plan of love to us, to his Church. He calls us to build his kingdom of love and life, to show the nations his glory. 
 
And in this beautiful requiem this evening, God is calling us to see our responsibility and in a special way, through the eyes of our Blessed Mother Mary.
 
Mary’s heart is open to the needs of those around her. As we heard in today’s passage of the Gospel, she tells Jesus, “They have no wine.” 
 
And I was thinking that’s like a challenge to us. We need to always be asking, like Our Lady, who are the people around us who “have no wine”?
 
Especially in this moment, if we open our hearts and look with Mary’s eyes, we will see people who have no food, no home, no jobs, as a result of the wildfires. We will see people who have no one to love them, no one to heal their wounds.
 
And through Mary’s eyes, we will also see unborn children, thousands of them each year, who never get the chance to live. Because they are not wanted or because someone is worried that they will be a burden. 
 
So like Mary, we need to bring all of these human needs, all of the suffering that we see, and we need to place all of it at the feet of Jesus. 
 
In the Gospel this evening, Mary tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” And again my brothers and sisters, these words are meant for us. Mary has total confidence, total trust in Jesus. And so should we. 
 
Just as he tells the servants in the Gospel, Jesus is telling us: Fill your lives “to the brim” with love. 
 
Jesus gives us a beautiful mission. Love and only love. Where you see those who have “no wine,” pour out your love, so people will know God’s love. 
 
Let’s work every day to build a new Los Angeles and a new America, where every human life is loved and protected; where it is easier to love and to give life. 
 
My brothers and sisters, if we follow him — if we follow Jesus — and believe in him, if we do whatever he tells us — Jesus Christ will change the water of our lives into new wine. 
 
He will draw out many beautiful things from our hearts. He will make our lives a sign that reveals his glory.
 
So, tonight as we mourn the loss of these little ones. We entrust their souls to God, who loved them from before all ages and who will love them for all eternity. 
 
And we pledge ourselves again to serve God’s plan of love, the great cause of life in our time. 
 
Let’s keep helping and supporting one another, let’s keep working together so that our neighbors will know the truth of God’s love in this hour of devastation and loss.
 
Let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary for her intercession. That everyone might taste the good wine of God’s love and rejoice in his presence. 
 
Our Lady, Queen of Angels: Be a mother to us all!