People are always trying to trick Jesus.  When detractors ask him if they should pay taxes, he asks for a coin.  “Whose face is this?”  They answer, “Cesar’s.”  And Jesus says, “Then repay to Cesar what is Cesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  Who is God’s?  What is God’s?  The most obvious answer: WE ARE!  We are made in God’s image and likeness.  We are like coins with God’s image stamped on us, ingrained in our hearts.  The Psalmist says we are woven in our mother’s wombs, wondrously made.

We must believe that now more than ever.  Too many people I spoke with at the kermes said that they felt that the reason why more people did not come was because they were afraid of ICE.  There is a new campaign, “Operation Safe California,” a 45-day ICE crackdown leading up to the elections.  It is a campaign of fear, which is aimed at immigrant communities, in part enacted to intimidate people not to vote.  In the face of this, we must believe that all people are sacred.  Not one of us has the face of any country’s leader stamped on us.  Instead, we have the image of God in our souls.  We are God’s, and we will always be God’s.  I hope in the face of fear people will keep coming to mass and receiving the support we all need.  In the face of fear of voting, I invite people to join us for a Eucharistic procession on Sunday, October 25 at 2 pm, where we will process from the parish to the ballot box at the Logan Heights Library.  We believe our faith is sacred.  So also, we believe our vote is sacred.  No one can scare us from exercising our legal right to vote, those who are blessed to have it.  All are invited to join in the procession.

I felt the specialness of this community once again at the Kermes last weekend.  I want to thank all volunteers and all parish groups who participated.  I also want to thank the leaders, Christian and Isela Castro, for their work in coordinating a very joyful event.  Once we again we felt the truth of the words of the motto of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, “We Belong.”