Sometimes I wonder why we don’t just run a regular parish.  A sleepy parish, where all we would worry about is that the masses are being said, the confessions are being heard, the purificators are well-ironed, the chalices well-polished.  Life would be easy!  No worries about migrants, or recent unjust laws and practices which make not just all immigrants but even people of color nervous, on edge, worried for their safety.   We could just put our heads down, and pray, and leave it all in God’s hands.  And then I wake up and think, “But we could never do that.”  

Like the Prophet Jeremiah, who wonders why he gets duped time after time to speak out about God, and who has to endure mocking and laughter because of it, we, too, can feel like sometimes we get fooled into doing challenging things—opening a shelter, opening an immigrant accompaniment ministry, doing processions to call attention to immigrant detentions, and trying to help organize immigrant events for the larger San Diego Diocese.  But then I think to myself, there is no way we cannot do these things!  God’s message of love and justice, his Vision for a just and loving world becomes like a fire burning in our hearts—we grow weary holding it in.  And once again we spring forward into action.

If you are looking for a parish that does not attempt to challenge you, Our Lady of Guadalupe is not the right place.  If you are looking for a quiet place where you can peacefully get your sacraments, and no one will make you think about what it means to put your faith in action, this is not the right place.  If you think the measure of a good liturgy is whether you get out in under an hour, this is the not right place.  But if you want to attempt to follow Jesus and to put your faith into practice by serving your brothers and sisters, then maybe this is the right place.  We attempt to organize, to speak out against injustices, to show up for the dignity of immigrants.  None of these things do we do perfectly.  But we try.  And we invite you, together with us, to lose your life for the sake of Jesus.  That is the fire that burns in our hearts.  We hope it burns in yours.