Corpus Christi June 22, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Well, as I mentioned at the beginning of
2. 0:03mass, today is the somnity of Corpus
3. 0:06Christi
4. 0:08and we're invited to fix our eyes on the
5. 0:11heart on our heart and our hearts on the
6. 0:14eukarist
7. 0:17not in a vague or sentimental way but in
8. 0:20the clearest most concrete way.
9. 0:26And I want to say that this from the
10. 0:27very start very directly
11. 0:30that if we don't understand the
12. 0:33eukarist, we don't understand our
13. 0:35Catholic faith.
14. 0:38This is not one truth among many.
15. 0:42This is the very center of who we are.
16. 0:46It is the beating heart.
17. 0:49And if the heart stops beating,
18. 0:51everything else dies with it.
19. 0:55The church has always taught clearly,
20. 0:58boldly, and without apology
21. 1:01that the eukarist is not a symbol.
22. 1:04It is not a reenactment. It is not just
23. 1:08some sacred bread or spiritual
24. 1:10nourishment. No, the eukarist is Jesus.
25. 1:17His body, his blood, his soul, his
26. 1:20divinity, truly present, fully offered
27. 1:23and given to us.
28. 1:26That truth has been handed down to us
29. 1:29for 2,000 years, and it remains the
30. 1:32cornerstone of our faith.
31. 1:35But if we're honest,
32. 1:38we can forget.
33. 1:41We get used to it. We take the Eucharist
34. 1:44for granted. We receive communion and
35. 1:47sometimes we barely look up.
36. 1:50We genulect on autopilot.
37. 1:54We hear the words the the body of Christ
38. 1:57and we say amen without truly letting
39. 2:00those words pierce our hearts.
40. 2:04So today, let allow the church to bring
41. 2:07us back
42. 2:09back to the altar, back to the mystery.
43. 2:13And I want to walk with you through
44. 2:15these three essential dimensions of the
45. 2:18eukarist.
46. 2:20Three truths that stand or fall
47. 2:24together.
48. 2:25They are sacrifice,
49. 2:28presence, and communion.
50. 2:32So we begin where the Bible begins with
51. 2:35sacrifice.
52. 2:37You heard in the first reading a
53. 2:38mysterious passage from the book of
54. 2:40Genesis.
55. 2:43Abram has just returned from a great
56. 2:45victory
57. 2:47and suddenly out of nowhere this
58. 2:49stranger comes Mechisedc, king of Salem.
59. 2:55He brings out bread and wine
60. 2:58and he blesses Abram in the name of God
61. 3:00most high.
62. 3:02Then Abram offers him a tenth of
63. 3:05everything he has.
64. 3:08Who is this Mechisedc?
65. 3:12Well, we know almost nothing about him.
66. 3:15He appears, he blesses, then he
67. 3:18vanishes.
68. 3:21But in this man, this priest king
69. 3:25becomes one of the most powerful
70. 3:27foreshadowings of Christ in all of
71. 3:29scripture. Why?
72. 3:32Well, because he offers bread and wine.
73. 3:36Because he blesses and because he's
74. 3:38called a priest. Not just any priest,
75. 3:41but a priest of God the most high.
76. 3:46In Psalm 110 where we sang the
77. 3:49responsorial psalm
78. 3:52we see this Christ the new high priest a
79. 3:56priest forever according to the order of
80. 3:59Mechqueisedc.
81. 4:01So from the very beginning from Genesis
82. 4:03itself God was preparing his people for
83. 4:06the eukarist.
84. 4:09And what Christ does in the upper room
85. 4:11is not simply give his friends a sacred
86. 4:14meal.
87. 4:15He gives him sacrifice. His sacrifice.
88. 4:20He says, "This is my body which will be
89. 4:23given up for you. This is my blood which
90. 4:27will be poured out for you."
91. 4:30When we come to mass, we're not watching
92. 4:32a reenactment.
93. 4:35We're not recalling a memory.
94. 4:38We are entering fully
95. 4:41truly into the one eternal sacrifice of
96. 4:44Christ on the cross made present here
97. 4:48and now.
98. 4:51That is the heart of the mass.
99. 4:54Not a gathering, not a performance, not
100. 4:56even just a celebration. It is Calvary,
101. 5:00veiled and bloodless, but real.
102. 5:05As St. John Paul II wrote, "The church
103. 5:07draws her life from the Eucharist, not
104. 5:10only through faithfilled remembrance,
105. 5:12but through real contact."
106. 5:15And here's the miracle. You and I are
107. 5:17not just witnessing.
108. 5:19We're not just witnesses. We are
109. 5:21participants.
110. 5:23We offer ourselves with Christ. And then
111. 5:27he offers himself to us.
112. 5:31Let me make something very clear too.
113. 5:34When you receive the eukarist under the
114. 5:38species of the host, you receive the
115. 5:41whole of Christ, body, blood, soul, and
116. 5:44divinity.
117. 5:46So even if you do not receive from the
118. 5:48chalice, you are receiving all of him.
119. 5:52The church has always taught that
120. 5:54nothing is missing.
121. 5:57That means when you come to mass, you're
122. 5:58not just coming to hear nice music and
123. 6:01hopefully a good homaly.
124. 6:03You're coming to the once and for all
125. 6:06sacrifice.
126. 6:07The once and for all sacrifice that
127. 6:10saved the world.
128. 6:12You're standing at the cross and Christ
129. 6:14is handing you his body.
130. 6:17That's the most important thing that you
131. 6:19will ever do on this earth.
132. 6:23The second truth is this. The eukarist
133. 6:26is Christ's real presence.
134. 6:30Jesus didn't say this represents my
135. 6:33body.
136. 6:34No, he says this is my body. And if you
137. 6:37read John's chapter 6, where we get our
138. 6:40theology for the Eucharist, he says it
139. 6:42over and over and over again.
140. 6:46And the church has never backed down
141. 6:47from taking his word on this.
142. 6:51This means that Christ is not only with
143. 6:53us in spirit, not only in memory, but
144. 6:55bodily
145. 6:57substantially really present in the
146. 6:59blessed sacrament.
147. 7:01He doesn't leave when mass ends.
148. 7:05That's why we reserve the eukarist in
149. 7:07the tabernacle.
150. 7:09It's why we genulect when we pass before
151. 7:12it. It's why we kneel. It's why we adore
152. 7:16him because that is Jesus truly and
153. 7:20personally present waiting, watching and
154. 7:24loving.
155. 7:26You and I live in a world where people
156. 7:28ask all the time, "Where is God?
157. 7:32Where is he when I suffer? Where is he
158. 7:35when I feel alone and have conflicts and
159. 7:38problems?"
160. 7:40Here is our Catholic answer. He's right
161. 7:43there.
162. 7:45in the tabernacle waiting for you.
163. 7:49He's not an idea. He's not a distant
164. 7:52memory. He's not just up there.
165. 7:56He is right here. And if we know how
166. 7:59close he is, if we really grasp what he
167. 8:02what we receive in holy communion, then
168. 8:05we would never be the same.
169. 8:09Third and finally, the eukarist is
170. 8:11communion.
171. 8:13This is the most misunderstood part of
172. 8:15it all.
173. 8:17Too often we treat the Eucharist as
174. 8:19something personal and private. How many
175. 8:22times have I told you that the Eucharist
176. 8:24can never be Jesus and me?
177. 8:28But that's only half the truth.
178. 8:31When we receive Christ in the Eucharist,
179. 8:33we are united not just in him, but to
180. 8:37each other.
181. 8:39We become one body, one church, one
182. 8:43family. That's why it's called
183. 8:45communion.
184. 8:48It's not just about union with God. It's
185. 8:50about becoming his body together.
186. 8:54St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the sequence
187. 8:56we heard today and I invite you to read
188. 8:59the whole sequence. But he says
189. 9:01thousands are as one receivers,
190. 9:05one as thousands of believers eats of
191. 9:08him who cannot waste.
192. 9:11What does that mean? Well, that means
193. 9:13that no matter who you are, young or
194. 9:15rich,
195. 9:17poor, weak or strong, when you receive
196. 9:21Christ, you are receiving the same Lord
197. 9:23that I received.
198. 9:26We are knit together by the one bread in
199. 9:28the one body. That's what the Eucharist
200. 9:31should change how we treat each other.
201. 9:34That's why it should change our
202. 9:36behaviors, the way we look at the world,
203. 9:38the way we behave and respond to each
204. 9:40other. We can't receive Christ and then
205. 9:42go out and gossip and ruin the
206. 9:45reputation of someone.
207. 9:47We can't kneel here to receive the
208. 9:49eukarist and then our behavior is
209. 9:51somewhat of a disappointment to the
210. 9:54Lord.
211. 9:57We receive him worthily. We become more
212. 10:00like him, another Christ in the world.
213. 10:04That's also why we bring the Eucharist
214. 10:06to the homebound, to the sick, to those
215. 10:08who are in prison, not as a side
216. 10:10ministry,
217. 10:12but as a direct extension from this very
218. 10:14altar.
219. 10:17We are saying you are still part of us.
220. 10:20You are not forgotten. The body of
221. 10:23Christ brings us to you.
222. 10:27So here's the bottom line. Without
223. 10:29sacrifice, the Eucharist becomes ritual
224. 10:32without power.
225. 10:33Without presence, it becomes a symbol
226. 10:36without a soul. Without communion, it
227. 10:39becomes a meal without meaning.
228. 10:42But when all three are held together,
229. 10:45sacrifice, presence, and communion,
230. 10:48then the eukarist becomes what it truly
231. 10:50is, the source and summit of our
232. 10:53Christian life, the beating heart of the
233. 10:56church, the gift that holds us together.
234. 11:01So my brothers and sisters, on this
235. 11:03Corpus Christi Sunday, the church holds
236. 11:06up the host and says to the whole world,
237. 11:09"Behold the lamb of God. Behold him."
238. 11:14Let us not pass by this mystery with
239. 11:16tired eyes, so used to the same old same
240. 11:20old. Let us fall to our knees with
241. 11:22wonder. You are God and I love you,
242. 11:25Jesus.
243. 11:27Let us ask God for the grace to never
244. 11:30receive this gift casually or
245. 11:32distractively.
246. 11:34And above all, let us remember this. In
247. 11:37that small white host
248. 11:40is hidden the glory of heaven, the power
249. 11:44of the cross, and the love that will
250. 11:47never let you go no matter how much you
251. 11:50try. Amen. Amen.