Easter Sunday April 5, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03I want to start this morning with a
2. 0:05question.
3. 0:07And I don't want you to answer it out
4. 0:09loud, but I want you to answer it
5. 0:11honestly
6. 0:13in the privacy of your own heart.
7. 0:18What would it actually take for you to
8. 0:20believe that a dead man walked out of
9. 0:23the grave? Out of his own grave.
10. 0:27Not admire it.
11. 0:29Not call it a beautiful tradition.
12. 0:33What would it actually take for you to
13. 0:34believe that it happened?
14. 0:38Because this is what Easter claims.
15. 0:43Not that Jesus lives in our memory.
16. 0:47Not that he's teaching was inspiring, a
17. 0:49nice man, an an itinerant preacher going
18. 0:53about doing nice things.
19. 0:56But that he was dead.
20. 0:58And then he wasn't.
21. 1:00And everything depends on whether that
22. 1:02is true or not.
23. 1:06Because Easter doesn't work unless it
24. 1:08interrupts.
25. 1:11Unless it interrupts something.
26. 1:13It interrupts your routine. It
27. 1:15interrupts the quiet story that you've
28. 1:17been telling yourself about your life.
29. 1:21And that's not accidental.
30. 1:24That's the point.
31. 1:27The gospel of Easter doesn't begin with
32. 1:29a sermon.
33. 1:31It begins with a problem.
34. 1:34The tomb is empty.
35. 1:37And nobody saw that coming.
36. 1:41The women were coming to the burial site
37. 1:44with spices.
38. 1:46They were coming to anoint the body to
39. 1:48finish what they couldn't because the
40. 1:51Sabbath had rushed everything.
41. 1:55The disciples were hiding behind closed
42. 1:57doors.
43. 2:00No one was waiting for a resurrection.
44. 2:04They thought it was a complete failure.
45. 2:07They thought it was over.
46. 2:10And then they arrive at the place and
47. 2:13see that the stone is moved.
48. 2:17They look inside and the tomb is empty.
49. 2:22The first reaction isn't belief.
50. 2:27It's confusion.
51. 2:29Then fear.
52. 2:32Because an empty tomb by itself doesn't
53. 2:34prove anything.
54. 2:37The empty tomb is not the answer.
55. 2:40The empty tomb is the question.
56. 2:44What explains it?
57. 2:47Because here's what we know.
58. 2:51When Jesus was arrested, they all ran.
59. 2:56All of them.
60. 2:58The gospel of Mark tells us that one ran
61. 3:00so fast that he left his cloak behind
62. 3:03and fled naked into the night.
63. 3:06That's how they fell apart completely.
64. 3:10Peter denied even knowing him.
65. 3:14These were not brave men.
66. 3:16These were broken men.
67. 3:20And then
68. 3:22something happened.
69. 3:25Those same men walked out into the
70. 3:27streets of Jerusalem and started crying
71. 3:29out loud.
72. 3:31He is alive.
73. 3:33We have seen him.
74. 3:36And they didn't stop
75. 3:38telling people about this.
76. 3:41Not when they were threatened. Not when
77. 3:43they were beaten. Not when it cost them
78. 3:45everything.
79. 3:47And almost every single one of them died
80. 3:49for that.
81. 3:52Now think about that.
82. 3:55People die for what they believe is
83. 3:57true.
84. 3:59But they do not die for something that
85. 4:02they know was a made-up story. Nobody's
86. 4:04going to go to their death
87. 4:07for something that was made up.
88. 4:11They were there.
89. 4:14They either saw him or they didn't.
90. 4:18And not one of them backed down.
91. 4:21The Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels
92. 4:23and the teachings of of the church
93. 4:25fathers tell us that more than 500
94. 4:28people
95. 4:29witnessed
96. 4:31Jesus Christ post-resurrection.
97. 4:35They engaged with him.
98. 4:37They met with him. They ate with him in
99. 4:40different places, in different
100. 4:41locations, in different times.
101. 4:44That's not mythology.
102. 4:47That's testimony.
103. 4:50The resurrection is not a metaphor, some
104. 4:52nice story. This is We're talking facts
105. 4:55here.
106. 4:57Because if we believe that Jesus Christ
107. 4:59rose from the dead and he is risen
108. 5:01indeed,
109. 5:03then that changes everything.
110. 5:07Then your past is not final.
111. 5:10Your worst mistakes and failings are not
112. 5:12final. Your deepest regrets If Christ is
113. 5:16risen from the dead, your life is not
114. 5:18random.
115. 5:20You are known. You are wanted. You are
116. 5:23called. And if Christ is risen, and he
117. 5:27is risen indeed,
118. 5:29then right now that matters.
119. 5:32Because the same power that raised him
120. 5:34up is available to you.
121. 5:37Right now.
122. 5:39In the middle of whatever feels
123. 5:40finished.
124. 5:46But I want to speak to you where you
125. 5:47actually are.
126. 5:49I want to speak to all the parents and
127. 5:50grandparents
128. 5:52holding everything together.
129. 5:55Wondering if it all matters. Well, I'm
130. 5:58telling you it does.
131. 6:00More than you know.
132. 6:02Stick with it.
133. 6:04To all of our young people and young
134. 6:06adults, and I'm so impressed from all of
135. 6:09the Triduum to all of the ceremonies,
136. 6:12even from the last couple of years, the
137. 6:14amount of young people that are coming
138. 6:16back to the faith is incredible.
139. 6:19And I say to you, don't settle for a
140. 6:21small life.
141. 6:24You were created for so much more.
142. 6:28To those who are carrying grief this
143. 6:30Easter,
144. 6:32don't erase your pain.
145. 6:35But I want you to know that Easter says
146. 6:37to you, death does not have the last
147. 6:40word.
148. 6:43And to those who are doubting their
149. 6:44faith,
150. 6:46you're not the first.
151. 6:49The first people to witness the empty
152. 6:52tomb
153. 6:53were people who were there with lack of
154. 6:55faith.
155. 6:57Who were were experiencing a total and
156. 7:00complete loss. And that matters.
157. 7:04Why? Because you don't walk
158. 7:06alone.
159. 7:09So if you're doubting your faith, stay
160. 7:11in the question.
161. 7:13And to those who have drifted, I invite
162. 7:15you to come back. Not out of guilt, but
163. 7:18out of truth.
164. 7:20And today something else is happening.
165. 7:25I want to acknowledge again to those who
166. 7:26are being received into the church
167. 7:28today. Those who are receiving
168. 7:29confirmation.
169. 7:32Today is not just Easter. Today is your
170. 7:34beginning.
171. 7:37Today is Today you're fully initiated
172. 7:39into the Catholic Church.
173. 7:42Not just as visitors. Not just as
174. 7:45observers.
175. 7:47But as a family.
176. 7:50You've searched. You've wrestled. You've
177. 7:52said yes. And today the church says,
178. 7:54"Welcome home, Catholic."
179. 7:58And your yes today is a reminder to all
180. 8:01of us
181. 8:04that faith is worth it.
182. 8:07That the journey is exciting.
183. 8:10That if the faith we sometimes forget we
184. 8:12have, we can reclaim it.
185. 8:17I've staked my entire life on this.
186. 8:20Everything on the one claim that Jesus
187. 8:23Christ has risen from the dead.
188. 8:25And I would do it all over again.
189. 8:30Because if he didn't rise from the dead,
190. 8:32then none of this matters.
191. 8:35But he did.
192. 8:37And nothing matters more.
193. 8:40So here's the call, simple and complete.
194. 8:44Come back next Sunday.
195. 8:46Come back every Sunday. Get engaged.
196. 8:50Make your faith your number one
197. 8:52priority.
198. 8:54Have a
199. 8:55Have a deep relationship with the Lord
200. 8:58because that's it. That's all that
201. 9:00matters.
202. 9:02Come to mass every Sunday.
203. 9:05Because faith doesn't grow in one
204. 9:07moment.
205. 9:09It grows in showing up again and again
206. 9:12and again.
207. 9:14So I asked you at the beginning of mass
208. 9:16or at the beginning of this homily, what
209. 9:18would it take for you to believe that a
210. 9:21dead man walked out of his own tomb?
211. 9:25Here's the answer. Here's my answer.
212. 9:28An empty tomb no one has explained away.
213. 9:32Witnesses who gave their lives for what
214. 9:34they saw.
215. 9:36And 2,000 years of people broken,
216. 9:38searching, real people who have
217. 9:41encountered something that they could
218. 9:42not deny.
219. 9:44The tomb is empty. The witnesses are
220. 9:47real. And the invitation is standing
221. 9:50right there in front of you. Not from
222. 9:52me, but from him.
223. 9:54So step into the light.
224. 9:57Step into the life.
225. 9:59Because Easter is not something we
226. 10:01celebrate once a year, it is a life we
227. 10:04enter.
228. 10:05Because if Jesus Christ is raised from
229. 10:08the dead, he is truly risen,
230. 10:12then that demands of you a
231. 10:13responsibility.
232. 10:16And if you remember nothing else,
233. 10:17remember this.
234. 10:19The best chapter of your life is not
235. 10:21behind you.
236. 10:22It's waiting on the other side of an
237. 10:24empty tomb.
238. 10:26Amen.