On July 1, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel fully reopened to the public for the first time since the pandemic and the devastating arson attack in July 2020.
I had the privilege a few days beforehand to bless the exquisitely renewed altarpiece, along with the new museum and garden space, and to take part in an emotional ceremony with descendants from the original mission.
The mission was founded in 1771 by St. Junípero Serra and his Franciscan brothers and was built by and for the Tongva natives, the first peoples of this land.
The ceremony was built around their prayers, rituals, and sacred music, all in their native tongue.
One of their songs included these moving lines: “O my ancestors, listen to my heart / O my ancestors, here is my heart.”
It reminded me of those words from the Letter to the Hebrews: “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”
These words remind us that our faith is never a solitary journey. We owe the gift of faith to our ancestors, to those who have gone before us, that great cloud of witnesses down through the ages, who professed the Catholic faith and proclaimed it.
The missionaries came to this country with that noble intention, to share what they believed was the greatest gift they could ever give, the gift of knowing Jesus Christ and his love and salvation.
As you enter into the restored mission museum, you encounter a white wall inscribed with the names of the 7,054 Native Americans baptized at the mission from 1771 to 1848.
It is a striking visual testimony to the truth that every soul is precious in the eyes of our loving God. And it is beautiful to reflect that the original baptismal font used by St. Junípero and the Franciscans is still there in the mission’s baptistry.
The Franciscans kept track of every baptism, every marriage, and every burial. For them, this was not simply paperwork, it was “soulcraft.” They were charting the faith journeys of the souls entrusted to their care, as they made their way through the challenges of this world to the love that never ends in heaven….
Mission San Gabriel will always be the true spiritual heart of Los Angeles. The mission marks the birthplace of the Christian faith here and, 10 years after the mission was established, the city itself was founded by men and women who came from the mission.
The mission is a sign of the Christian beginnings, not only of our city, but of our nation.
I have often remarked how, in God’s providence, the feast of St. Junípero Serra falls on July 1 and the celebration of America’s independence on July 4.
This too is “God’s reminder” that the missionaries were here first, that the people of this country were called Christians long before they were called Americans.
The same “worldview” and values that inspired St. Junípero and the missionaries are reflected in our Declaration of Independence, which is rooted in the belief that all men and women are created by God out of love and endowed with equal dignity and equal rights, and called to a transcendent destiny….
From Angelus News
That’s a stretch. By the same illogic you could say it’s divine providence that pride month precedes July 1 and July 4, showing “God’s reminder” that diversity and equality are the true foundation of the missions and the country. People just make stuff up thinking it’s insightful, and lots of others just unthinkingly swallow it. After all, “The same “worldview” and values of gay pride are what inspired St. Junípero and the missionaries and are reflected in our Declaration of Independence, which is rooted in the belief that all men and women are created by God out of love and endowed with equal dignity and equal rights.” See how easy it is?
How does this article even remind you of being gay?
I’m sorry to differ with you Anonymous but pride month was not established prior to Fr. Serra birth or the Declaration of Independence, so the comparison is false, but it is easy to make a false comparison. In a further obfuscation, you omitted the words “and called to a transcendent destiny….” which does not figure much in gay pride, especially gay pride parades. Why not just appreciate God’s reminder and leave it at that?
Hello, friends:
I would like to share with you my own prayers for the month of July:
God Our Father, You honor Saint Junipero Serra with the same blessed feast day as Your Beloved Son’s Most Precious Blood. Grant that through his intercession, we may drink of this price of our salvation and discern and obey Your Holy Will. May we be delivered from present sorrows and obtain eternal happiness with You in heaven. Through Christ our Lord.
LITANY OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Blood of Christ, only begotten Son of the Eternal Father,
save us. (respond after each line)
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God,
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
Blood of Christ, first shed during the Circumcision,
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth during the Agony,
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
Blood of Christ, courage of martyrs,
Blood of Christ, strength of confessors,
Blood of Christ, bringing forth virgins,
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
Blood of Christ, pledge of Eternal Life,
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, Thou hast appointed Thine only begotten Son the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by His Blood.
Grant, we beg of Thee, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation and through its power be safeguarded from evils of the present life so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thank you and God bless you.
https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/annarbor/name/marjorie-monaghan-obituary?id=52390694
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord and let perpetual Light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen.
May Marjorie Monaghan, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
How nice. She died right between God’s reminder dates.
Well, Reconquistador Gomez is back true to form with his annual Independence Day ahistorical harangue.
Americans were around long before St Junipero and his missionaries, and were Christian from the get-go.
Independence Day is not about Serra or his friars enlightening the natives. It’s about a day and a document, and the extraordinary men who produced it, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, and thus enlightening the world.
You made me look.
St Junipero Serra landed in 1749. He studied and worked in Mexico until volunteering for missionary work in upper California arriving in San Diego in 1769.
Dec of Ind was 1776.
But the Americans that were around long before St. Junipero Serra were not Christian.
No, no. Americans were called and calling themselves Americans long before Independence. Their settler ancestors were Christian when they got off the boat. That is the nation’s Christian beginnings.
Independence Day is not about Spain, Serra, missionaries, or their Stone Age neophytes. Old Sour Grapes Gomez simply can’t let the 4th go by without petty detraction which is rather amusing since he’s only here because tens of millions of his fellow Latins declared their own independence – with their feet.
British colonial subjects were here until the July 1776 independence declaration. After that they could be called Americans. Fr Serra preceded this moment by 7 years, arriving 1769 to California with the fullness of Christianity known from early on as Catholicism. Our Lady of Guadalupe seems to have preferred to be present in and evangelize the Spanish Empire, the world’s superpower of the day. The British and their America-based colonialists were more interested in moving the Indians off their lands than evangelizing them.
Fr. Serra took up a collection, by the way, and sent it to General George Washington, so you are wrong about him.