August 11, 2024 Homily: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03well as you know we have been in these
2. 0:07five readings or this five weekl long
3. 0:10series on the powerful sixth chapter of
4. 0:13St John of the Gospel of John and the
5. 0:17readings get better and
6. 0:20better as I mentioned before all of
7. 0:22John's teaching about the Eucharist is
8. 0:25in this sixth
9. 0:28chapter and these words of Jesus have
10. 0:31formed the basis of much of what we
11. 0:33believe as Catholics in the
12. 0:37Eucharist I want to start with the first
13. 0:41reading Elijah the prophet was
14. 0:43thoroughly
15. 0:46discouraged he had just had his most
16. 0:49famous moment Under the
17. 0:52Sun in a head-to-head confrontation with
18. 0:56the prophets of a false
19. 0:58god he had utterly discredited them and
20. 1:03won resounding Victory against
21. 1:06them the idolatry of the Israelites
22. 1:09would
23. 1:10cease and Elijah thought his troubles
24. 1:13were
25. 1:15over never again would the Jews worship
26. 1:18false gods or so he
27. 1:21thought he soon found out how wrong he
28. 1:25was Israel's corrupt Queen if you
29. 1:28remember Jezebel
30. 1:30was
31. 1:31infuriated and she vowed revenge against
32. 1:34him she wanted to kill Elijah and a lot
33. 1:38of the people gathered around her
34. 1:40supported her in this endeavor to kill
35. 1:44him was a hard blow for
36. 1:48Elijah it was hard for him to absorb and
37. 1:51that's what we pick up today in this
38. 1:53first
39. 1:55reading we see him under the broom tree
40. 1:58in the desert the hot
41. 2:01sun thinking about all that he has done
42. 2:04for his
43. 2:06people all that he's done for his
44. 2:09community and he's having feelings of
45. 2:12being
46. 2:13useless that his life was a wasted
47. 2:16effort why continue take me now
48. 2:22Lord how many of us feel that
49. 2:26frustration that we're unloved
50. 2:31unappreciated that we're taken advantage
51. 2:34of or that our lives are at a
52. 2:38standstill we're not great prophets or
53. 2:41great celebrities but in our own ways we
54. 2:44try to do good to do what is
55. 2:50right and then there are few people in
56. 2:53our lives that can be
57. 2:54unkind they mock our
58. 2:57efforts exploit our kindness
59. 3:01block our
60. 3:03efforts but no matter how hard we try to
61. 3:05do good and we struggle to be a disciple
62. 3:09of Christ to follow God's ways there are
63. 3:12those around us who do not want to walk
64. 3:14in his ways they seem to take advantage
65. 3:18of our
66. 3:19situation the Jezebels of this world are
67. 3:24celebrated sometimes we think that
68. 3:25they're the ones that are elevated and
69. 3:27have more success
70. 3:30and we do
71. 3:32not Elijah was not a
72. 3:35weakling he was not a weakling looking
73. 3:37for a way to escape from God or God's
74. 3:40ways we need to remember that he was one
75. 3:43of the most renowned and greatest
76. 3:46figures of Israel's entire
77. 3:49history he was one of God's greatest
78. 3:53prophets when Jesus was at the height of
79. 3:55his career many thought it was Elijah
80. 3:58who had come back
81. 4:02but as great as Elijah was he was not
82. 4:04immune from sickening doubts and
83. 4:09distress following after him another
84. 4:11Prophet was given to Israel
85. 4:14Jeremiah Jeremiah stood up against
86. 4:17corruption corruption in high places and
87. 4:19he called it out to their
88. 4:23faces he cried out for justice as few
89. 4:26had ever
90. 4:27done but the day came when he he too was
91. 4:30ready to throw in the
92. 4:33town great men and women great prophets
93. 4:36of God and Saints to experience distress
94. 4:40and discouragement from time to
95. 4:43time the higher they are the deeper The
96. 4:46Valleys of distress and discouragement
97. 4:48and
98. 4:50defeat even Jesus himself experienced
99. 4:53forms of
100. 4:55distress at one point in his public
101. 4:57Ministry you will remember Jesus Christ
102. 4:59out oh faithless and perverse generation
103. 5:03how long must I be with you how long
104. 5:07must I put up with
105. 5:09you do you
106. 5:12hear his
107. 5:15distress Perhaps it is just such moments
108. 5:19that we come to truly realize how much
109. 5:22we need God in our
110. 5:24lives his
111. 5:26presence how much we need his power and
112. 5:29his lifegiving
113. 5:31Spirit isn't it true that in good times
114. 5:34when everything is going
115. 5:36well we hardly pay attention to God and
116. 5:40if we do pay attention it's God is there
117. 5:42I I recognize that he's there and at
118. 5:46times I neglect to thank him for all
119. 5:48that he's done for
120. 5:49us and isn't it true that we only get
121. 5:52serious about turning to God when
122. 5:54terrible things happen to us or when we
123. 5:57really are discouraged or distressed
124. 6:00stressed I'm afraid that's true
125. 6:04too but we need to remember that God is
126. 6:06never
127. 6:08defeated God is always bringing meaning
128. 6:10out of
129. 6:11absurdity he brings order out of chaos
130. 6:15Victory out of defeat good out of evil
131. 6:19and life out of
132. 6:21death the history of the Bible and when
133. 6:23you read the scriptures or do a Bible
134. 6:26study you come to understand how God is
135. 6:28always starting over with us come let us
136. 6:33begin a
137. 6:34new I embrace you I want to walk with
138. 6:38you that's the meaning of the bread of
139. 6:41life that's what we're talking about
140. 6:43what we've been talking about in John
141. 6:45chapter
142. 6:476 this is the content of what Christ is
143. 6:51giving in this bread of life
144. 6:53discourse for Jesus comes to us in wheat
145. 6:56that has been grounded up in grapes that
146. 6:59have been
147. 7:02crushed Jesus comes to us in the in Holy
148. 7:05Communion and he gives us his own life a
149. 7:09life that was given over by Agony
150. 7:12suffering and
151. 7:13death for the bread of life is Jesus
152. 7:16coming to us and His holy spirit filled
153. 7:20by his glorious Resurrection he says to
154. 7:22us I will be with
155. 7:25you present here until the end of times
156. 7:31he rose from the dead to begin a new
157. 7:33higher and more powerful life for us
158. 7:37God's very own life a life that he
159. 7:39didn't keep for himself but gives us
160. 7:41each and every time we receive Holy
161. 7:45Communion when everything else has
162. 7:47failed us when life throws its punches
163. 7:51at us because it
164. 7:54will the Eucharist is our
165. 7:57constant Jesus is is always
166. 8:02there and so I remind you never give
167. 8:06up never give up never give
168. 8:11up the greatest among us have had our
169. 8:14own valleys of tears and death and
170. 8:17despair to Traverse in order to climb up
171. 8:20out of that up to the
172. 8:23Mountaintop where Christ waits for
173. 8:27us can we expect better or easier lives
174. 8:30than those who have
175. 8:32struggled can we expect better or easier
176. 8:34lives than Jesus
177. 8:37himself and this leads to us a very
178. 8:40important consideration about ourselves
179. 8:42but we need to consider for this
180. 8:45Sunday's
181. 8:47teaching and it's this we need to renew
182. 8:51our belief in the Eucharist how do I see
183. 8:54the the Eucharist especially the real
184. 8:58presence of Christ in in the Eucharist
185. 9:00do I believe Christ is fully present in
186. 9:03the
187. 9:07Eucharist yet this is the first step in
188. 9:09in recovering our
189. 9:12faith understanding that Christ is
190. 9:16really present in the
191. 9:18Eucharist this is the first and
192. 9:20necessary step of our
193. 9:22faith it's why we're
194. 9:26Catholics but the thing is that we have
195. 9:28to want the the Lord to overcome the
196. 9:31hardness of our
197. 9:32hearts we have to want to invite him to
198. 9:35change our lives we have to want to
199. 9:39change we have to want the Lord to love
200. 9:42us through us we have to want the Lord
201. 9:46to love us intimately and want to be
202. 9:48part of his people flawed as we
203. 9:51are faltering as Jesus disciples have
204. 9:54been from the very
205. 9:55beginning recognizing who we are in
206. 9:58Light of Christ
207. 10:01this is in the invitation which Jesus
208. 10:03the bread of life is offering to us
209. 10:06today if we truly believe in the Lord we
210. 10:10believe that he is present to us in the
211. 10:12Eucharist and we love him with abs in an
212. 10:15absolute
213. 10:17way then we will know that he is present
214. 10:21among
215. 10:22us and we will not want to be away from
216. 10:25the
217. 10:25Eucharist Our Lives will change and we
218. 10:28will say say as the fourth Century
219. 10:31Martyrs once
220. 10:32said Domin
221. 10:35nonim which means in Latin without
222. 10:39Sunday Eucharist life is
223. 10:43impossible that's how we need to live I
224. 10:45can't live without the Eucharist does
225. 10:48that mean anything to you I can't live
226. 10:52without the
227. 10:54Eucharist and so my brothers and sisters
228. 10:56on this Sunday
229. 10:59we need to fall in love again with the
230. 11:01Eucharist because it is our constant it
231. 11:05is the remedy to all of our ills it what
232. 11:08it's what gets us
233. 11:12out let us fall in love with the
234. 11:14Eucharistic Lord all over again recommit
235. 11:18ourselves to this belief and may God
236. 11:21bless and keep us always in his love
237. 11:24amen