Faith, hope and charity – Daily News

Faith. Hope. Charity.

Sure, Christmas brought its usual supersized feasts and gift-giving flurries. But across Los Angeles County, Christmas Day for millions inspired Masses and spiritual services celebrating the birth of Jesus, prayers for peace during violent times around the world, and efforts to feed and clothe the poor across a region still beset by an enduring homeless crisis.

For the 4.3 million Catholics in the county, as well as millions of other Christians, it was a time for prayer and reflection. Many gathered at the Our Lady Cathedral of the Angels in Downtown L.A. for Mass.

The ceremonies were led by Archbishop José H. Gomez and began at 8 a.m. with an English Mass, followed by a second English Mass at 10 a.m. and a Spanish Mass at noon.

When it comes to holy days in the Catholic calendar, Christmas is only second to Easter. It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and of the Divine choosing to become human.

“I invite you to come home for Christmas. Whether you go to church everyday or you have been away Jesus is waiting for you,” Gomez said in his annual message. “If you are looking for peace you will find it in this holy child. if you are looking for light and guidance you will find that, too.”

Gomez also took the faith to those who could not come to church — with a Mass celebrated with the general population inmates at the Men’s Central Jail chapel.

County Sheriff Robert Luna and his executive team joined Gomez for the services. “This longstanding tradition allows inmates to participate in holiday festivities, offering a sense of inclusion despite their circumstances,” said a statement from the sheriff’s department. “Moreover, the event is recognized as an integral part of their rehabilitation process.”

Gomez focused on the “reason for the season,” the birth of Jesus Christ.

“We are drawn back, year after year, to find Mary and Joseph and the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger,” Gomez said during his homily. “Jesus entered our world as a child, and he told us that in order to enter his world, we also need to become children.

“The child who comes on Christmas promised to never leave us. He renews that promise, the promise of Christmas, in every Eucharist. Jesus comes to be with us, to be the bread of life, to fill us with his own divine life.

“We can find this child, we can meet him again and again, in our churches. He is there at the altar, he is there in the tabernacle, just as he was present in the manger, waiting for us, waiting to give himself to us. Let’s keep praying for one another in this holy season.”

Services wooed Christians into pews from downtown to the coast.

“On Christmas Day, we hear from the Gospel of John, which talks about Jesus as the light coming into the world,” said Rev. Rachel Anne Nyback, a rector at the Hermosa Beach. “So we read from the Gospel of John; that’s a little more metaphorical, a little bit less of what you see on a Christmas card.”

Worshipers filled the church on Christmas Eve, with another, smaller gathering planned for Christmas Day.

Nyback has been at St. Cross for 20 years — and, she said, she loves the Christmas Day service.

“It is a little more quiet and intimate,” Nyback said, “and yet filled with the joy and hope that comes with the Christmas season.”

Before the pandemic, Nyback said, the church would have more than 600 people attend the Christmas Eve service. Post-pandemic, it’s dropped to about 500 but is climbing.

St. Cross was founded in 1906, a year before Hermosa Beach was incorporated as a city. But the church has been at the current site, 1818 Monterey Blvd., since the 1950s, Nyback said.

Before if moved, Nyback said, St. Cross was a redwood shingled church that stood on the site of the parking lot behind the Underground Pub & Grill, on Hermosa Avenue.

On L.A.’s Skid Row, meanwhile, the Midnight Mission geared up to serve nearly 2,000 meals to homeless and others facing deep poverty on Monday. Crews also hosted a Santa’s Village, where thousands of homeless and near-homeless children will be able to select toys and meet Santa Claus, according to Georgia Berkovich, the mission’s chief communications officer.

Offerings included essential services such as a hot meal to eat, a bed to rest on, a shower to wash in and clean clothing to wear. But there were also special Christmas movies playing and festive snacks on offer to lighten sprits during touch times.

And, just like any other day at the Mission, clients were welcome to meet with case managers and discuss the types of services and support they need to create positive, lasting change in their lives.

The L.A. Mission serves about 70,000 people annually providing them more than 600,000 hot meals, 100,000 showers and 120,000 nights in a safe bed. The year 2024 will mark the L.A. Mission’s 88th year of supporting people in need in Los Angeles.

The Christmas strategy provides the mission’s “homeless and near-homeless guests not only with a traditional holiday meal but also with the emotional satisfaction that comes with the opportunity to celebrate a national holiday,” Berkovich said.

“Of the many services The Midnight provides to our unique community, one of the most important is the sense of family we offer to those who often feel lost and forgotten during the holidays and other days of celebration,” she added.

Organizers of the annual Christmas dinner at Hollywood United Methodist Church planned to serve more than 1,000 meals from noon-3 p.m., continuing a tradition of more than 35 years. All in attendance received personal care items, while children were given toys.

The Christmas Dinner was originally a project of the Hollywood Interfaith Coalition, whose churches had been serving Thanksgiving dinner.

Some of the coalition’s Jewish participants thought it would be a nice idea for them to take over the serving of Christmas dinner so the members of the coalition celebrating and observing Christmas could stay home with their families.

Temple Israel of Hollywood became the lead organizer and host of the event in the 1980s.

The Laugh Factory in Hollywood planned its 44th annual free Christmas dinner and show with seatings at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tim Allen, his daughter Elizabeth Allen, Tiffany Haddish and Craig Robinson were among those scheduled to perform and serve food.

Staff members from the health care provider El Proyecto del Barrio provided “free assistance to anyone who has a cold, cough, the flu or other minor health issues,” club owner Jamie Masada said.

In Long Beach, however, the church wasn’t available to the faithful belonging to the two congregations that worship at the historic Second Samoan Congregational Church. The church was badly damaged by fire two weeks ago, forcing the faithful to celebrate Christmas in a tent assembled in the parking lot.

“Tonight is very different for us,” said Bishop Rodrigo Romano, who leads Mision Catolica del Divino Nazareno, before Christmas Eve services.

The church, built in 1924, initially opened as the Second Church of Christ Scientist. Its facade has become an iconic piece of architecture for many Long Beach residents, and the church was added to the National Park Service’s Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The church, Romano said, obtained a temporary permit that will allow the congregation to hold services in the parking lot for the next six months.

“The most important thing,” he said, “is to find a place for us to still be with our congregation.”

Staff writers Kristy Hutchings, Christopher Haire, Michael Hixon and Jill Stewart, as well as City News Service, contributed to this report

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