April 13, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Well, today we begin a week like no
2. 0:04other. The church calls it Holy Week. In
3. 0:09ancient times, it was called the great
4. 0:11week because everything that matters,
5. 0:13absolutely everything that matters about
6. 0:15our faith is found in these coming
7. 0:19days. And today's liturgy holds nothing
8. 0:23back. We began at the church in the
9. 0:26breezeway there. The church begins in
10. 0:28triumph.
11. 0:29waving palms, echoing
12. 0:32hosana, hosana of Jerusalem. Blessed is
13. 0:36he who comes in the name of the
14. 0:38Lord. But then almost without warning,
15. 0:43we descend into the
16. 0:45passion.
17. 0:47Betrayal, arrest, trial, torture,
18. 0:51crucifixion.
19. 0:53The voices that were crying out,
20. 0:55"Hosana," quickly become the ones that
21. 0:58are in the crowd shouting, "Crucify
22. 1:01him!" It's almost like
23. 1:04whiplash. And yet, it's very
24. 1:07real because we're not just remembering
25. 1:10what they did, we're confronting what we
26. 1:13do as
27. 1:15well. Every year on Palm Sunday, we play
28. 1:19both parts.
29. 1:22We wave
30. 1:23branches. We shout for the
31. 1:26cross. We praise him as king. We reject
32. 1:30him as a
33. 1:32criminal. And maybe the hardest truth is
34. 1:35this. Both of those voices live inside
35. 1:38of
36. 1:39us. And yet Jesus does not
37. 1:43flinch. He doesn't recoil from the
38. 1:45contradiction. He doesn't back away from
39. 1:47the betrayal. He doesn't hold back
40. 1:50because we're unreliable or we're
41. 1:54unworthy. No, he keeps walking towards
42. 1:57the cross to
43. 1:59Calvary. So, what was Jesus doing as he
44. 2:02enters
45. 2:03Jerusalem? Was it a victory lap, a
46. 2:06moment of glory, a political statement?
47. 2:09Well, none of
48. 2:11this. Jesus enters Jerusalem with one
49. 2:15purpose to die out of love for us. To do
50. 2:19the will of the
51. 2:21father. He rides in as a king. Yes, but
52. 2:25as a king whose throne is the
53. 2:28cross, whose crown is made of thorns,
54. 2:32whose power is revealed in
55. 2:36surrender. He comes not to take but to
56. 2:39give.
57. 2:41Not to be dominated but to
58. 2:44deliver. Not to be served but to serve
59. 2:47and to
60. 2:49save. This is not
61. 2:52weakness. This is not
62. 2:55failure. This is the fulfill
63. 2:59fulfillness the fullness of
64. 3:02love. He loved me and gave his life for
65. 3:06me.
66. 3:08I want that line to echo in your hearts
67. 3:11this week. I want you to say it again
68. 3:13and again. He loved me and he gave his
69. 3:17life for
70. 3:18me. The liturgies of Holy Week are not
71. 3:22performances. They are
72. 3:25invitations. They pull us into the
73. 3:27pascal mystery, into the suffering, the
74. 3:30silence, the sacrifice, and finally the
75. 3:33glory.
76. 3:35So I invite you, no actually I urge
77. 3:39you, do not let this week pass by just
78. 3:42like some other week. This is the most
79. 3:45important week as
80. 3:49Christians.
81. 3:50Come come to Wednesday night tener. We
82. 3:55will begin in the parish
83. 3:57hall sharing a simple bread and soup.
84. 4:01Then we'll gather and meditate on the
85. 4:03passion of Jesus. listening to the
86. 4:06teneer, the service of
87. 4:08light. Then on Thursday, we will gather
88. 4:10and kneel beside the apostles as Jesus
89. 4:13washes the feet and gives us the
90. 4:17eukarist, his body, his blood, the very
91. 4:20heart of his
92. 4:21love. That night, stay after the mass
93. 4:24and sit in quiet contemplation as if we
94. 4:27were in the garden of Gethsemane.
95. 4:31Come on Friday on Good Friday and stand
96. 4:33with Mary and John beneath the cross.
97. 4:36Let your heart break open as his side is
98. 4:41being pierced. Let his mercy pour into
99. 4:44the cracks and shadows of your
100. 4:47soul. And then come on
101. 4:50Saturday. Come here. I invite you to the
102. 4:52church to sit in the stillness.
103. 4:56come to sit in in prayer and
104. 5:00meditation and then come back that night
105. 5:03at the Easter
106. 5:04vigil and watch how as the light returns
107. 5:07from
108. 5:09darkness. Watch the tomb be burst
109. 5:12open. Watch how sin and death lose their
110. 5:15grip not just on him but on
111. 5:18you. And when Easter morning dawn, don't
112. 5:21just say Christ is risen. and say,
113. 5:23"Christ is risen and I am changed
114. 5:26because of
115. 5:29it." So, here's your truth to carry you
116. 5:32through Holy Week this year. And I want
117. 5:34you to say it. He loved me and gave his
118. 5:37life for
119. 5:38me. Say it as you carry your palms home
120. 5:42today. Say it as you receive the
121. 5:44Eucharist on Thursday. Say it when you
122. 5:47kiss the cross on Friday. Say it when
123. 5:49you see the tomb open on Easter on the
124. 5:52at the Easter vigual Saturday night. He
125. 5:55loved me and gave his life for
126. 5:59me because the the world will tell you
127. 6:01that your worth is what you
128. 6:04do. Your worth is in all that you have
129. 6:07achieved and have
130. 6:09accumulated the possessions that you
131. 6:11have or your worth is what you did or
132. 6:14had did not
133. 6:15do. But God says
134. 6:18differently. God says you are worth
135. 6:21dying
136. 6:22for. And that changes
137. 6:25everything. So walk this week
138. 6:28slowly. Walk it
139. 6:31prayerfully. Walk it knowing that you
140. 6:33are loved with a love that refuses to
141. 6:35turn back even from the
142. 6:38cross. He loved me and gave his life for
143. 6:43me.
144. 6:44I pray you have a blessed, powerful Holy
145. 6:47Week.