LOS ANGELES — Christmas Day in Los Angeles County Monday will include the customary Masses and church services celebrating the birth of Jesus and annual events providing meals to the homeless and poor.
English-language Christmas Masses will be celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Archbishop José Gomez will celebrate the 12:30 p.m. Mass in Spanish with the Spanish-language choir leading in song.
The 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Masses will be broadcast live on the ABC7 Los Angeles app, Localish Network, on digital Channel 7.2 and channels 703 or 1246 on Spectrum cable systems, Channel 467 on Frontier cable systems, Channel 1133 on Cox Cable systems and Channel 520 on Mediacom cable systems.
Gomez will also celebrate a Mass with general population inmates at the Men's Central Jail chapel.
"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. "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."
The Midnight Mission expects to serve nearly 2,000 meals to homeless and near-homeless individuals. It will also host 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.
The Christmas brunch and toy giveaway provides "our 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 plan to serve more than 1,000 meals from noon-3 p.m., continuing a tradition of more than 35 years. All in attendance will receive personal care items, while children will receive 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 will host 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 will be among the comedians performing and serving food.
Staff members from the health care provider El Proyecto del Barrio will "offer free assistance to anyone who has a cold, cough, the flu or other minor health issues," club owner Jamie Masada said.
Every child present will receive a toy.
"We can all show our holiday spirit by doing something to help people in need," Masada said. "Please tell anyone who is alone this holiday season about this event, or even give them a ride to the Laugh Factory.
"If you find someone in need in your neighborhood that needs a Christmas meal, please stop buy, pick up some food and give it to them. Let's do all we can to make spirits bright this holiday season," Masada added.