Two years ago, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez was awakened before dawn to hear heartbreaking news.

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel — known as the birthplace of Christianity in Los Angeles, and home to L.A.’s first generation of Roman Catholics — was burning.

Its roof smoldered, in the process of being destroyed, with substantial damage was visible elsewhere. An arsonist’s work appeared to be engulfing a landmark of deep significance for Catholics, not just in California but in the United States, since its construction in 1771.

But this year, on a hot and muggy Saturday, Sept. 10, outside of the iconic mission, there was barely a word about fire or arsonists.

In the first Mass at the mission church since the fire two years ago, the message was about moving forward on a mission, and offering thanks in the restoration of a revered local landmark of the region’s faith community.

“Isn’t it beautiful that we gather this morning for the celebration of the Eucharist in our Mission San Gabriel,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez, whose homily marked the end of the the Archdiocese’s Jubilee Year, which began in September 2021. “It’s a blessing that we are able to celebrate the first Mass after the restoration of the Mission.”

According to the Church, the idea of a “Jubilee Year” originates in the Bible — Leviticus 25: 10-13, to be precise — in which God instructed Israel to observe every 50th year as a special season of mercy – a time of release from debt and labor.

And since the 14th century, the Church has celebrated jubilees at regular intervals. Gomez proclaimed a Jubilee Year in June 2021 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Mission San Gabriel, knowns as the birthplace of Christianity in Los Angeles.

To mark the end of the year, he urged the faithful to remember to help the most vulnerable in their communities and to reflect on the “foundation” on which the revitalized Mission San Gabriel stands to continue that work.

Saturday’s event began outside of the Chapel of the Annunciation at the Mission, where people gathered to watch Gomez close the Jubilee Doors at the chapel. The doors have symbolic importance in the faith — the Holy Door representing Jesus Christ, who stated: “I am the door” in the Bible’s John 10:1.  Hence, according to the Diocese, to cross the threshold of the Holy Door into the church is to “step into Christ,” and to pass through the doors of the Church into the world is “to step into mission,” the mission of service to the most vulnerable.

While California’s missions are still beloved by many people of faith, the blaze at Mission San Gabriel came as the legacy to missions throughout California was raising serious questions.

The San Gabriel Mission, founded in 1771, was the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish missions in modern-day California, all established with a goal of converting Native Americans to Christianity, in the process expanding the Spanish empire.

From right, Archbishop José H. Gomez and Fr. Parker Sandoval precess outside the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel following Mass on Saturday, September 10, 2022. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Junípero Serra, who founded the first nine missions including the San Gabriel Mission, had come under criticism as part of a broader reckoning with racial injustice across the country.

At the time, back in 2020, Gomez wrote that he has “come to understand how the image of Father Serra and the missions evokes painful memories for some people.”

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But, would add, “The real St. Junípero fought a colonial system where natives were regarded as ‘barbarians’ and ‘savages,’ whose only value was to serve the appetites of the white man.

“St. Junípero did not impose Christianity, he proposed it,” Gomez added. “For him, the greatest gift he could offer was to bring people to the encounter with Jesus Christ.”

“To this day, the parish at San Gabriel Mission continues to be a shining expression of the beautiful diversity that God intends for his human family,” Gomez said.

That did not stop many critics reflecting on Serra’s legacy to see him as an invader of indigenous lands.

On Saturday, in the church’s courtyard before the Mass, Chief Anthony Morales of the Gabrieleño/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians led a special blessing.

Gomez said the blessing represented a unity in remembering a “first-generation of Catholics in Los Angeles, including of the Gabrielino Tongva, the first peoples of this land.”

The Mission opened for the Mass on Saturday, but then will immediately close for further restoration until December, officials said.

In the meantime, “Truly, salvation has come to this house, as our Lord says in the Gospel today,” Gomez said.

The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was the site of the first Mass celebrated for the first time since the iconic church suffered arson in July 2020 on Saturday, September 10, 2022. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

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