“This is what Jesus wanted for us. He wanted his Mother to be our Mother,” he told a group of some 2,000 young people at Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, Los Angeles County, on May 1.

“The goal of our life is to follow Jesus and become more like him. So just like Jesus did, we need to learn from our Mother Mary what it means to be a child of God.”

“As we pray with our lips, our minds are contemplating the mysteries of Jesus’ life. The mysteries of his life – as they are seen through his Mother’s eyes.” He exhorted the youths attending to pray the rosary and to “stay close to Mary.”

May is appropriately dedicated to Mary, he said, because it heralds the coming of spring with the new birth of flowers, plants and crops. "This reminds us that Mary is the Mother of Life. She is Mother of the new life that comes to us in Jesus Christ,” he explained.

The archbishop encouraged all those present to help make Los Angeles a city of love, truth, life and peace, by saying yes to Christ, “just as Mary did.”