Originally published at National Catholic Register
Fires in suburban Los Angeles are continuing to burn and lay waste to entire neighborhoods as Archbishop José Gomez on Thursday urged Catholics to remember the preciousness of human life and to make themselves “instruments” of God amid the devastation.
The prelate delivered the remarks in a homily at a special Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. The cathedral sits just over a dozen miles from the outer edges of the Eaton Fire, which is burning northeast of the city center.
“These are difficult and challenging days for our city and county and our local Church,” the archbishop said. “As we pray, the wildfires keep burning around us and, as we know, the damage continues to be devastating.”
“We are reminded today how precious every life is, and how fragile,” he continued. “We are reminded also that we are brothers and sisters, that each of us — we all belong to the family in God.”
Raising the question of why God “let[s] evil things happen,” the prelate admitted, “there is no easy answer.”
“But that doesn’t mean that there are no answers,” he said, arguing that “love is what is asked
