August 10, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03In the early 1960s, President John F.
2. 0:06Kennedy was asked at a press conference
3. 0:09about life's inequalities.
4. 0:12He replied this, "Some men are killed in
5. 0:16a war and some men are wounded and some
6. 0:19men never leave the country.
7. 0:22It is very hard in the military or
8. 0:24personal life to assure to assure
9. 0:27complete equality. Life is unfair.
10. 0:31End quote.
11. 0:34Now, some at the time thought that what
12. 0:35he was saying was an easy thing for him.
13. 0:39After all, he came from great privilege,
14. 0:42born into wealth. He was elected the
15. 0:44youngest president ever in the history
16. 0:46of the United States. But what many
17. 0:49didn't know was that he lived in
18. 0:51constant pain from a terrible back
19. 0:54injury and that just 20 months later,
20. 0:58his life would be violently cut short.
21. 1:02Life, it turned out, was unfair to him
22. 1:06and to those who loved and believed in
23. 1:08him.
24. 1:10Lately, I've been thinking a lot about
25. 1:13that word un uh that word fairness.
26. 1:17Especially as I walk with parishioners
27. 1:20going through very difficult situations.
28. 1:24In recent months, I've seen people
29. 1:26blindsided by illness, by the loss of a
30. 1:29spouse, by the betrayal of of close
31. 1:32ones, and by financial instability.
32. 1:36They've been hit by tragedies without
33. 1:39warning.
34. 1:40And very often the question that hovers
35. 1:43in the room whether it's spoken or not
36. 1:45is why me?
37. 1:48Why now? Why this? If God is good, how
38. 1:52can life be so unfair?
39. 1:56That's not just a question for the 21st
40. 1:59century. It's the same question we hear
41. 2:02echoed in today's readings.
42. 2:05Why Abraham, as we hear in the first
43. 2:08reading,
44. 2:09and not someone else?
45. 2:12Why Mary of Nazareth and not another
46. 2:15woman?
47. 2:17Why the 12 particular men as apostles
48. 2:19and not some of the other hundreds of
49. 2:22men or women that followed him?
50. 2:26And on the other side of that, why are
51. 2:28some given heavy crosses while others
52. 2:30seem to walk through life with light
53. 2:32burdens?
54. 2:34If we're honest,
55. 2:37this question of fairness is one of the
56. 2:39first moral instincts that we have as
57. 2:41children.
58. 2:43That's not fair. You'll hear a child say
59. 2:47we see it in schoolyards, in families,
60. 2:50and yes, in quiet thoughts of adults who
61. 2:52rarely say it out loud, but think it
62. 2:56just the same.
63. 2:58Some people, when faced with this
64. 3:00unfairness, lose face entirely.
65. 3:04lose faith entirely.
66. 3:06If God is good, they'll say, then why is
67. 3:09this happening or why is that happening
68. 3:11to me?
69. 3:13But that question actually reveals
70. 3:15something important.
71. 3:18If we instinctively know something to be
72. 3:20unfair,
73. 3:22it means we have a deep built-in sense
74. 3:25of what fairness ought to look like.
75. 3:30That sense of justice, where does it
76. 3:32come from?
77. 3:34Well, it comes from somewhere beyond
78. 3:36this fractured word. It comes from God
79. 3:39himself.
80. 3:41That's why the letter to the Hebrews
81. 3:44tells us today, faith is realization of
82. 3:46what is hoped for and the evidence of
83. 3:49things not seen.
84. 3:52fairness, justice, truth, beauty,
85. 3:57goodness. These are all things of not
86. 4:00yet fully experienced here, but we know
87. 4:05they exist because God exists.
88. 4:10Faith is what connects us to them,
89. 4:13even when life feels random or cruel.
90. 4:17The first reading reminds us that
91. 4:19Abraham lived in a time when gods were
92. 4:21tied to specific lands.
93. 4:24In Mesopotamia, d deities were worshiped
94. 4:27because they were part of a place. They
95. 4:29belonged to that place and so you
96. 4:31honored them so that your crops would
97. 4:34grow and your city would be safe.
98. 4:38No one thought to follow a god to
99. 4:40another country. God stay Gods stayed
100. 4:43where they belonged.
101. 4:45Yet, the God of Israel tells Abraham
102. 4:50to leave his homeland,
103. 4:52his family, his safety, to go to a land
104. 4:55that he had never seen or ever even
105. 4:57experienced.
106. 5:00There's no maps, no guarantees. It was
107. 5:03utterly unheard of in the ancient world
108. 5:06that you would go to this faristant
109. 5:08land. Why would you?
110. 5:12It's not just a move to a new zip code.
111. 5:14This was a radical break with everything
112. 5:16human beings thought was that was
113. 5:18possible in the ancient world.
114. 5:22Why Abraham?
115. 5:24The Bible never really tells us,
116. 5:28never gives us the why. It is God's
117. 5:30mystery.
118. 5:32But what we do know is that Abraham
119. 5:34responded. He trusted.
120. 5:37And in doing so, he became the father of
121. 5:40all who believe. And so there's a lesson
122. 5:42there for us.
123. 5:44The call may not seem fair,
124. 5:47but the blessing comes in the response.
125. 5:52In the decades after Jesus's
126. 5:54resurrection, the early Christians lived
127. 5:56with this intense expectation that the
128. 5:59Lord was about to come, was about to
129. 6:01return at any moment.
130. 6:04And this shaped everything that they
131. 6:05did. Their prayer life, their
132. 6:07generosity, the courage and persecution,
133. 6:09the way they lived, they lived it
134. 6:10because they knew that Jesus was about
135. 6:12to come.
136. 6:14Many met before dawn to pray because
137. 6:16they wanted the first words out of their
138. 6:18mouths was come Lord Jesus.
139. 6:22They lived ready not out of fear
140. 6:25but out of a deep longing to see his
141. 6:28face.
142. 6:29This readiness gave them a freedom from
143. 6:32worldly anxiety and a joy that baffled
144. 6:35the pagans.
145. 6:38They lived and preached the gospel
146. 6:40before they ever even opened their
147. 6:42mouths.
148. 6:44That's a kind of readiness Jesus is
149. 6:46talking about today in the gospel
150. 6:50when he says, "Gird your loins and light
151. 6:52your lamps." This is not paranoia. It's
152. 6:54not meant to cause fear in us. It's
153. 6:58about love.
154. 7:00It's about the way a bride waits for the
155. 7:02bridegroom or a child waits for his
156. 7:05beloved parent to return home.
157. 7:08Constant readiness is rooted in trust.
158. 7:12And here's the hard truth. The most
159. 7:16unfair moment in all of human history is
160. 7:18the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
161. 7:22The innocent son of God condemned,
162. 7:24tortured, and killed. If there was ever
163. 7:27a moment to cry unfair,
164. 7:30it was that Friday at Calvary.
165. 7:34And yet, that's the very act of
166. 7:35injustice that became the greatest act
167. 7:38of love,
168. 7:40the doorway to salvation. That means
169. 7:42that by which sin and death were
170. 7:44conquered forever.
171. 7:47This is what faith does.
172. 7:50It takes what looks like the end of the
173. 7:52road and it reveals it as the beginning.
174. 7:57It sees beyond the moment, sees beyond
175. 8:00the pain, beyond the injustice, and
176. 8:03clings to the God who never fails.
177. 8:08And here's something else.
178. 8:10You and I have been blessed.
179. 8:13We have been unfairly blessed.
180. 8:18Many blessings in our lives. Why?
181. 8:20Because we have been given faith. We've
182. 8:23been raised in the church. We know the
183. 8:26sacraments. We've lived them. We've
184. 8:28experienced them. We hear and receive
185. 8:30the word of God, the communion of saints
186. 8:33and this parish family. And Jesus says
187. 8:36in the gospel, much will be required of
188. 8:39the person entrusted with much and still
189. 8:41more will be demanded of the person
190. 8:42entrusted with more.
191. 8:45We have been entrusted with much. That
192. 8:47means our faith cannot be something we
193. 8:49hide or hoard.
194. 8:52It must be lived. It must be shared,
195. 8:54spoken, and shown. We're called to live
196. 8:57in such a way that when others see us,
197. 9:00when others face the unfairness of life,
198. 9:03they see in us hope that makes them want
199. 9:05to know the reason for our hope.
200. 9:09So where does that leave us this
201. 9:11weekend?
202. 9:13Life will not always be fair.
203. 9:16Some will be given more. Others will be
204. 9:19asked to he carry heav he heavier
205. 9:22crosses but in the end fairness is not
206. 9:26the measure of our lives. Faith is
207. 9:30Abraham's life was not fair by human
208. 9:33standards but it was full of blessings
209. 9:35because he trusted.
210. 9:38The early Christians faced suffering and
211. 9:40uncertainty but they lived in joy
212. 9:42because they were ready for the Lord.
213. 9:45And Jesus himself endured the greatest
214. 9:47injustice in history so that we can
215. 9:49inherit the greatest love story, the
216. 9:52greatest gift, the kingdom of God.
217. 9:55So my brothers and sisters, I know it
218. 9:57was a heavy gospel and a heavy homaly
219. 9:59this weekend, but I'll tell you, the
220. 10:03Lord tells us, "Do not be afraid any
221. 10:05longer." He calls us the little flock,
222. 10:08for your father is pleased to give you
223. 10:10the kingdom. That's the promise.
224. 10:14That's the promise. And it's not a vague
225. 10:16promise. It's the truest reality there
226. 10:19is. So keep your lamps burning. Live
227. 10:24ready at all times. And remember this.
228. 10:27In a world that is often unfair,
229. 10:30we are still in the hands of a God who
230. 10:32is unfairingly good. A God that wants
231. 10:36nothing more than for us to be united in
232. 10:38his love. Amen.
233. 10:41>> Amen.