SAN DIEGO — The Immaculata Church was packed with more than 500 young adults.
And Bishop Michael Pham, who celebrated the annual Young Adult Mass for the first time this year, didn’t fail to notice.
“It’s a wonderful view to see many of you gathering here on this day,” he said in his homily. “It gives us, as Church, great hope.”
“You are the Church today,” he told them.
The Young Adult Mass, organized annually by the diocesan Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry, attracts Catholics aged 18 to 39 from throughout the diocese.
This year’s Mass was held July 13. As in past years, it was celebrated in The Immaculata Church, located on the University of San Diego campus.
The 6 p.m. Mass was preceded by a Holy Hour, with Eucharistic adoration and Benediction. Young adults knelt in prayer, as the band Seen & Heard led praise-and-worship music. Several priests were available to hear confessions.
After Mass, young adults gathered outside for a social hour with tacos and live music.
Bishop Pham devoted much of his homily to a reflection on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which was the Sunday Gospel reading.
In the Gospel, to illustrate the concept of loving one’s neighbor, Jesus tells the story of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, who is waylaid by robbers and left to die on the roadside. A Jewish priest and a Levite pass by without helping the man, but a Samaritan stops, cleans the man’s wounds, brings him to an inn and sees that he is looked after.
“One of the striking features about the Samaritan in the Gospel is the amount of time he spends in caring for the injured man,” said Bishop Pham. “His compassion extended far beyond the expectation.”
The bishop reflected on why the Samaritan responded differently than the other two men. Perhaps, he suggested, the priest and Levite had approached the situation by asking what might happen to them if they stopped — whether being robbed themselves or becoming ritually unclean — while the Samaritan asked what might happen to the wounded man if he chose not to stop.
“Many of us today are very cautious about getting involved,” he said. “Getting involved is messy business. It disrupts our lives. … It is much safer and far easier to close our hearts and go quietly beyond the other side of the road.”
Bishop Pham said that, in our contemporary world, there are many people lying wounded on “the roadside of life,” though not all of their wounds are visible.
“Today’s parable does not invite us to go out, risk our lives, and become heroes,” he said. “It invites us to reach out, risk our pride, and become human. It invites us to ask a question: ‘Can I help?’”
Twenty-six-year-old Valeria Cardona, of St. Didacus Parish, was moved by Bishop Pham’s words.
“I loved the homily, the message that Bishop Michael gave today about risking our pride to become human … and just help our neighbor as Jesus would help our neighbor,” she said. “I loved that.”
Cardona, like many young adults who spoke to The Southern Cross, was attending the Young Adult Mass for the first time. She described the atmosphere at the Mass as having “a lot of young energy.”
“It’s so great to come to church with your friends and getting the chance of meeting new friends, too,” said Cardona, who recently started attending young adult events at St. Brigid Parish in Pacific Beach. “I love the families, of course. I love babies, and older people, and everything, but it’s so great to have similar people to relate with.”
Leah Greenbergs, 25, seemed to feel the same.
“I am usually around older people,” she said, contrasting the Young Adult Mass with the Masses that she typically attends. “It’s humbling, and it is rejuvenating and inspiring, to be around people my age and on fire for the Lord.”
Greenbergs, a member of St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa, said that that she is “absolutely” interested in attending the Young Adult Mass again.
Michelle Acherman, a 28-year-old member of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Little Italy, attended the Mass this year at the invitation of a friend.
“I think what makes it special is that there’s a lot more youth,” Acherman said of the Mass. “I feel like, especially during the college years, students might kind of fall off the radar, and I think this is a great way to get them to reconnect through their faith.”
Her 25-year-old sister, Raquel, also had a positive experience at the Mass.
“It’s a nice event,” she said, “because it brings community. … So, this is a great way to connect with other people who also share the same beliefs.”
Another first-time attendee, Elena Mariscal, a 30-year-old parishioner of Resurrection Parish in Escondido, appreciated that the Mass was bilingual, “which was a nice surprise” for her, and she enjoyed the praise-and-worship music that included familiar songs that she listens to in her car.
Jake Lyons, 19, from Sacred Heart Parish in Coronado, also attended the Young Adult Mass for the first time this year.
“It was great,” he said. “It was just cool to see all the young adults come together in one place … Lots of people on fire for Jesus.”
For more information about events for young adults, visit sdcatholic.org/youth-and-young-adult-ministry.
