Feb 9, 2025 Homily: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02there's a true story about King Henry
2. 0:04III of Bavaria in the 11th
3. 0:08century tired of the pressures of Royal
4. 0:12life he sought refuge in a
5. 0:15monastery longing for a life of quiet
6. 0:20contemplation he approached the prior
7. 0:23Richard and asked that he be accepted as
8. 0:26a
9. 0:28monk the prior recognizing the sincerity
10. 0:31of the King's
11. 0:33request posted posed a challenge to
12. 0:38him he said your majesty do you
13. 0:41understand that amongst life is one of
14. 0:44obedience that will be difficult for you
15. 0:48as you have always been the one to rule
16. 0:51the one that has been in
17. 0:54control King Henry humbly replied I do
18. 0:59understand
19. 1:00for the rest of my life I will be
20. 1:02obedient to you as Christ leads
21. 1:07you the prior then said something
22. 1:10unexpected he said then I will tell you
23. 1:13what to
24. 1:14do go back to your throne and serve
25. 1:18Faithfully in the place where God has
26. 1:21put
27. 1:23you when King Henry Died It Was Written
28. 1:26of him the king learned to rule by being
29. 1:32obedient this story speaks to the lesson
30. 1:35in today's
31. 1:37readings which reveal the key to
32. 1:41Holiness intimacy with God and
33. 1:45discovering our mission in
34. 1:49life one of the things that I have tried
35. 1:52to teach you in all these years of my
36. 1:54homes is that when we're in ordinary
37. 1:57time green is for ordinary time it's
38. 1:59when we do the heavy
39. 2:02lifting when we go back to basics when
40. 2:04we set our structures our routines we do
41. 2:08our Bible studies we're faithful to our
42. 2:10prayers we look and see what is it that
43. 2:13we need to do or get rid of or sharpen
44. 2:17in order to seek
45. 2:21Holiness that key to Holiness is found
46. 2:23in the call narratives that we have
47. 2:26heard in the first reading from Isaiah
48. 2:28and in the gospel from
49. 2:31Peter throughout the scriptures when God
50. 2:34when God calls someone the pattern is
51. 2:38almost always the
52. 2:40same one there's a manifestation of
53. 2:43God's
54. 2:44presence two there's a recognition of
55. 2:48unworthiness and
56. 2:50sin three there's God's merciful
57. 2:54response and then finally there is a
58. 2:57mission given by God
59. 3:02we see this clearly in today's
60. 3:04readings Isaiah in a vision encounters
61. 3:08the Holiness of God and immediately
62. 3:10Cries Out woe is
63. 3:13me I am
64. 3:15doomed for I am a man of unclean lips
65. 3:18living among people of unclean
66. 3:21lips Peter after witnessing the
67. 3:24miraculous catch of fish falls to his
68. 3:28knees before for Jesus and says depart
69. 3:31from me Lord for I am a sinful
70. 3:35man both men upon encountering the
71. 3:38Divine are
72. 3:42overwhelmed not by Joy at
73. 3:45first but by the painful awareness of
74. 3:48their own sinfulness of their
75. 3:50shortcomings of their
76. 3:52mistakes and this is where the key is
77. 3:56found the key to Holiness in y with God
78. 4:00and discovering our mission is
79. 4:02acknowledging our sinfulness and our
80. 4:05need for God's mercy every single
81. 4:10day when Isaiah confesses his
82. 4:12unworthiness as an angel purifies his
83. 4:16lips with burning coal he declares your
84. 4:20wickedness is removed your sin is
85. 4:24purged when Peter confesses his
86. 4:27sinfulness Jesus responds not with
87. 4:29rejection but with the words of Mercy he
88. 4:32sayso not be
89. 4:36afraid this is the moment when
90. 4:38everything
91. 4:40changes once their sin is acknowledged
92. 4:43and mercy is received they are sent
93. 4:47forth Isaiah to be a prophet and Peter
94. 4:51to be a fisher of
95. 4:53men their mission begins not from their
96. 4:56own
97. 4:57worthiness but their mission begins from
98. 5:00God's
99. 5:03mercy now I want to pause for a moment
100. 5:06because there are two extremes we must
101. 5:08avoid when we're speaking about
102. 5:11Sin on one hand we should not fall into
103. 5:16scrupulosity seeing sin where it does
104. 5:18not exist and constantly feeling the
105. 5:21burdens of being
106. 5:23condemned faithful people are meant to
107. 5:25be
108. 5:26joyful not miserable
109. 5:31on the other hand we must avoid the
110. 5:33attitude that downplays sin
111. 5:36altogether excusing it because well
112. 5:39everyone does it it's no big deal I'm
113. 5:41not hurting anyone God will forgive me
114. 5:46anyway that mindset does not unlock
115. 5:49anything it keeps us locked in a
116. 5:52spiritual
117. 5:53stagnation it binds
118. 5:57us instead we're called to have the
119. 5:59attit the attitude of Isaiah and of
120. 6:02Peter an honest
121. 6:06humility recognizing ourselves having
122. 6:09the self-awareness before God that opens
123. 6:12then the floodgates to God's
124. 6:16mercy the church gives us the sacrament
125. 6:19of reconciliation as that concrete way
126. 6:23to acknowledge our sins and to receive
127. 6:26God's
128. 6:27mercy think about it
129. 6:30if you're constantly frustrated
130. 6:32overwhelmed angry or bitter you need to
131. 6:36ask yourself
132. 6:38why if you make your home life difficult
133. 6:41and put everything else before
134. 6:45God if you cut corners on honesty and
135. 6:48integrity and faithfulness ask yourself
136. 6:53why the confessional is a place where we
137. 6:55examine
138. 6:57ourselves when we lay these burd before
139. 7:00God and then we allow him to heal
140. 7:05us the greatest Saints knew this they
141. 7:08went to confession frequently not
142. 7:10because they were the worst Sinners of
143. 7:12all but because they understood the
144. 7:14power of acknowledging their sins and
145. 7:17receiving Mercy the closer they were
146. 7:19able to get to God the deeper the
147. 7:21relationship that they had with the Lord
148. 7:23they could see their faults and their
149. 7:26mistakes
150. 7:28clearly and that was the key that
151. 7:30unlocked the door to Holiness for
152. 7:34them so why does this
153. 7:37matter why because deep down every one
154. 7:40of us desires Holiness whether you
155. 7:43realize it acknowledge it or not we all
156. 7:46desire Holiness why because it's why we
157. 7:49are hardwired for
158. 7:52Holiness it's written in our
159. 7:55DNA it's written in our very beings
160. 7:59we long for intimacy with God we long to
161. 8:02fulfill our mission in life but we
162. 8:05cannot do this until we first
163. 8:07acknowledge our need for God's
164. 8:10mercy King Henry III learned this rule
165. 8:14well and he first had to
166. 8:17obey all of us need to recognize our
167. 8:20state in
168. 8:22life and where God is calling us to you
169. 8:26could be a single mother you could be a
170. 8:28married mother your three or for or a
171. 8:30father and want to serve as a missionary
172. 8:34somewhere in a far off land well that's
173. 8:36not your
174. 8:38reality that's not the state of life
175. 8:40that God has called you to being able to
176. 8:44understand where God is calling me to
177. 8:46and then to seek Holiness by
178. 8:51obedience we cannot fulfill our call
179. 8:53until we first bow before God in
180. 8:56humility and to receive his grace
181. 9:00Isaiah and Peter gave us the
182. 9:03blueprint the key that unlocks Holiness
183. 9:07is acknowledging our sinfulness and then
184. 9:09allowing God's mercy to transform
185. 9:13us for us to be able to go out into the
186. 9:16world and to be another
187. 9:18Christ because you see if we do
188. 9:22this we will then hear Jesus's voice the
189. 9:25same voice that told Peter will tell us
190. 9:29do not be afraid amen amen