Photos | Homily Audio

On the first Sunday of Advent — the day before the outbreak of the Thomas Fire, which forced the end of the academic year on campus and has devastated so many — the College was blessed by the visit of a newly ordained alumnus priest, Rev. Miguel (Gaspar ’08) Batres, O.Praem. That morning, Fr. Miguel offered Mass, then gave his priestly blessings to the faithful, in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. Two weeks and a catastrophic natural disaster later, his homily seems especially poignant.

“Often in our lives we experience many things, good and bad,” the Norbertine father observed. “The good, we have no problem receiving. But the bad, we prefer to bury under the carpet, or pretend it never happened.”

Yet even in the bad, he explained, God’s will is at work. “In God’s divine providence, there are no accidents. Our God is a loving God; our God is merciful. He is all-knowing; He is all-powerful,” Fr. Miguel continued. “Everything that happens, good or bad, God uses. We may not see how, but we can be sure that, in His love for us, everything —from the worst experience to the best — God will use to help us work out our salvation.”

So how should the Christian respond in times of distress?

“When the journey gets difficult, because that it will, find consolation in the Incarnation. Our Lord did not leave us to suffer on our own,” said Fr. Miguel, looking forward to Christmas, now only one week away. “Our Lord came to this world knowing He would suffer a horrible passion, yet He did it anyway, and out of love. It is through His wounds that we are saved; His pieced hands and feet, His pierced heart, from where flows the blood and water by which we are redeemed.”

The full audio of Fr. Miguel’s homily is available through the below player:

Streaming / downloadable audio:

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