Christmas Mass Homily 2024: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02today we celebrate the birth of Jesus
2. 0:05Christ the very Day When Heaven touched
3. 0:09Earth and God himself became one of
4. 0:14us but as we reflect on this miraculous
5. 0:18moment I want to invite you to consider
6. 0:22a
7. 0:24question what would you have seen and
8. 0:27heard that night in Bethlehem
9. 0:32would you have heard the choirs of
10. 0:34angels
11. 0:35singing or simply the sound of Barnyard
12. 0:38animals shifting
13. 0:40[Music]
14. 0:41around would you have seen the star in
15. 0:44the sky or simply two poor and
16. 0:47frightened young
17. 0:50parents would you have felt the hushed
18. 0:52Silence of God's
19. 0:54presence or simply the chill of a cold
20. 0:58East Wind
21. 1:01I'm convinced that two people standing
22. 1:03in the same place that night might have
23. 1:05seen two different two completely
24. 1:09different
25. 1:11scenes one might have recognized the
26. 1:14extraordinary moment of God entering
27. 1:17into human
28. 1:19history while another might have seen
29. 1:21nothing more than a poor family in an
30. 1:24unfortunate
31. 1:28situation this story reflects a profound
32. 1:31truth about life and
33. 1:34faith God reveals himself to us at all
34. 1:40moments he never forces us to
35. 1:43believe we are free to choose him or
36. 1:48not Revelation always leaves room for
37. 1:52interpretation for that is God's
38. 1:55ways one person looks at a moment of
39. 1:58Grace and says that's a
40. 2:01miracle while another looks at the same
41. 2:04moment and says what a
42. 2:08coincidence consider how few people
43. 2:11truly saw and understood what took place
44. 2:14that night in
45. 2:16Bethlehem the choirs of Angel singing
46. 2:19were drowned out by the noise of
47. 2:21Jerusalem's
48. 2:23bizaar the bright star in the sky went
49. 2:26unnoticed by most except for a few pagan
50. 2:29astrologers from the
51. 2:32East and those who had passed by Mary
52. 2:34and Joseph that night were likely too
53. 2:37preoccupied with their world and with
54. 2:39their
55. 2:40problems to offer any
56. 2:44assistance the same event the same scene
57. 2:49yet vastly different
58. 2:53responses you may remember in the 1970s
59. 2:57there was a TV show called All in the
60. 2:59Family
61. 3:00family and in one of the episodes Edith
62. 3:03and Archie are attending Edith's High
63. 3:06School class
64. 3:08reunion Edith encounters an old
65. 3:11classmate by the name of
66. 3:13buck who unlike his earlier days had now
67. 3:17become excessively
68. 3:20obese Edith and buck have a wonderful
69. 3:23delightful conversation reminising about
70. 3:26the olden days and the things that they
71. 3:29did
72. 3:30together but remarkably Edith doesn't
73. 3:33seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck
74. 3:36has
75. 3:38become later when Edith and Archie are
76. 3:41talking she says in her whiny
77. 3:44voice Archie ain't Buck a beautiful
78. 3:49person Archie looks at her with a
79. 3:51disgusted expression and says you're a
80. 3:54dingbat Edith you know that you and I
81. 3:59look at the same guy and you see a
82. 4:01beautiful person and I see a
83. 4:04blimp Edith gets a puzzled expression on
84. 4:07her face and says something unknowingly
85. 4:10profound she says yeah ain't it too
86. 4:16bad two people looking at the same
87. 4:18person the same reality yet seeing
88. 4:21something entirely
89. 4:25different isn't that the essence of
90. 4:27faith
91. 4:30to see with eyes that go beyond the
92. 4:34surface Beyond
93. 4:36appearances to the deeper truth of God's
94. 4:40presence and
95. 4:43love this Christmas my
96. 4:46friends is an invitation to the to look
97. 4:49at the world differently to change our
98. 4:53perspective how we approach different
99. 4:58situations it's an opport opportunity to
100. 5:00see beyond the noise beyond the
101. 5:03distraction beyond the world that wants
102. 5:06to tear us apart and away from the
103. 5:10faith beyond the chaos of our lives and
104. 5:13our
105. 5:15difficulties to be able to recognize the
106. 5:18quiet humble presence of God at all
107. 5:23moments the Shepherds on that first
108. 5:25Christmas night remind us of this
109. 5:30they were not the powerful or the
110. 5:31influential but the lowly and
111. 5:34humble yet they saw the Angels heard the
112. 5:37good news and ran to see the Christ
113. 5:39child
114. 5:40why because their hearts were
115. 5:45open they were willing to look beyond
116. 5:48the
117. 5:50ordinary Desiring to
118. 5:53see to see the
119. 5:57extraordinary the same is true for all
120. 5:59of
121. 6:00us God is constantly at work in our
122. 6:03lives making himself
123. 6:07present through different situations and
124. 6:09through different
125. 6:12encounters his presence and inviting us
126. 6:14to respond is always
127. 6:17there but how often do we miss him
128. 6:20because we're too
129. 6:21distracted too busy too negative too
130. 6:26skeptical too indifferent
131. 6:31today as we gaze upon this
132. 6:33Nativity we're faced with the same
133. 6:36choices at those who were at Bethlehem
134. 6:38that
135. 6:39night will we see only a story a
136. 6:42tradition a a fleeting moment of
137. 6:46sentimentality or will we recognize the
138. 6:49profound truth that God has become one
139. 6:52of
140. 6:53us to bring light Into Darkness hope
141. 6:57into our Despair and salvation into our
142. 7:02Brokenness we can choose to see only the
143. 7:04Barnyard animals the cold night the
144. 7:08frightened young couple or we can choose
145. 7:11to see the miracle for what it is
146. 7:13Emmanuel born in our history God With Us
147. 7:19the choice is ours how we approach our
148. 7:21day to
149. 7:23day we're being asked to change our
150. 7:26perspective
151. 7:29if we return to edi's profound
152. 7:32observation yeah ain't it too
153. 7:35bad too bad that some only see flaws
154. 7:38While others see
155. 7:40beauty too bad that some see coincidence
156. 7:43when others see a
157. 7:45miracle too bad that on the night of
158. 7:48Christ's birth so many Miss what was
159. 7:50right before their
160. 7:52eyes don't be one of those who miss out
161. 7:55on God incidences
162. 7:59but it doesn't have to be that
163. 8:01way this
164. 8:04Christmas like not like us not be not
165. 8:09like the crowds who were too distracted
166. 8:11to notice the S the savior's
167. 8:14arrival instead let us ask God for the
168. 8:17grace to see with eyes of Faith to
169. 8:20recognize his presence in our lives at
170. 8:22all moments and to be able to respond
171. 8:25with Open
172. 8:27Hearts when you stand before for the
173. 8:30Nativity look beyond the
174. 8:33surface see not just a baby in a Manger
175. 8:36but the light of the world the Prince of
176. 8:39Peace the God who comes to save
177. 8:43us Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote to
178. 8:47materialist the world is opaque like a
179. 8:50curtain nothing can be seen through it a
180. 8:54mountain is just a mountain a sunset
181. 8:58just a sunset
182. 9:00but to poets to artists and to
183. 9:04Saints the world is transparent like a
184. 9:07window
185. 9:08pane it tells of something
186. 9:11Beyond it tells us that a mountain is
187. 9:14the power of God the sunset is God's
188. 9:19Beauty and the snowflake is his
189. 9:24Purity this Christmas may we not see the
190. 9:27world as opaque but as
191. 9:30transparent filled with signs of God's
192. 9:33presence and
193. 9:35love may we see beyond the surface and
194. 9:38recognize the miracle that it is
195. 9:42Emmanuel God With
196. 9:44Us so my brothers and sisters may this
197. 9:48Christmas be a time of renewal of
198. 9:51changed perspectives renewed
199. 9:55priorities may you see the beauty and
200. 9:57Miracle of God's love
201. 10:00so that love you may carry it out into
202. 10:03your family and friends and into the
203. 10:06world I pray you have a Merry Christmas
204. 10:09and may God continue to bless you
205. 10:12abundantly amen amen