Homily Holy Thursday 2025: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01Tonight we enter the upper
2. 0:04room. We enter that sacred
3. 0:07space. The mystery made
4. 0:10visible. It is a night of
5. 0:13firsts, the first
6. 0:15eukarist, the first
7. 0:17mass, the first act of priestly
8. 0:21service, and perhaps the most jarring of
9. 0:23all, the first time God ever washed
10. 0:27feet. St. John tells us Jesus rose from
11. 0:31supper, took off his outer garments,
12. 0:34tied a towel around his waist.
13. 0:38It's one of the most theologically
14. 0:40loaded, breathtaking lines of
15. 0:44scripture because this is
16. 0:47God, the eternal word, the alpha and the
17. 0:52omega, getting up from the table to
18. 0:56kneel at the feet of his
19. 0:59creatures. He does not wait to be
20. 1:01served.
21. 1:03He gets
22. 1:05up because you see the world's vision of
23. 1:08greatness climbs
24. 1:10ladders. It sits at the head of the
25. 1:14table. But Jesus shows us that true
26. 1:18greatness gets up from the
27. 1:20table. It
28. 1:22kneels. It bends
29. 1:25low. It takes the towel.
30. 1:29And tonight, that same Jesus does not
31. 1:32merely ask us to admire what he
32. 1:35did. He commands
33. 1:37us. As I have done for you, you must
34. 1:41also
35. 1:44do. Let's be honest. We admire
36. 1:47service, but we often resist
37. 1:50it. We love the idea of humility until
38. 1:54we're treated like servants.
39. 1:57We believe in love until it requires
40. 2:01sacrifice. We praise Christ on the
41. 2:05altar, yet hesitate to imitate him in
42. 2:08the
43. 2:10streets. But make no
44. 2:13mistake, service is the signature of
45. 2:17heaven. And the eukarist is not some
46. 2:20private spiritual boost.
47. 2:24It is the fuel for
48. 2:27mission. It's the food for
49. 2:31footwashers. This is my body given up
50. 2:35for
51. 2:36you. This is my blood poured
52. 2:41out. It's not just Jesus
53. 2:45speaking. That must become our voice
54. 2:48too.
55. 2:51Tonight we also recall the institution
56. 2:54of the
57. 2:55priesthood not as a title or a clerical
58. 2:58state but as a living
59. 3:01continuation of the servant of
60. 3:04Christ. To be a priest is not to ascend
61. 3:07to a place of
62. 3:09honor. It's not to descend into a life
63. 3:11of sacrifice.
64. 3:15It is to descend into a life of
65. 3:16sacrifice, to break oneself open so that
66. 3:19others may be
67. 3:21fed. To pour out your life day after
68. 3:25day, not on your terms, but on
69. 3:31his. This call to priestly sacrifice is
70. 3:34not reserved for those who wear the
71. 3:37collar. Every disciple is anointed to be
72. 3:41a servant.
73. 3:43Every Christian through their baptism is
74. 3:46called to share in the royal priesthood
75. 3:48of
76. 3:49Christ. Every single one of you is
77. 3:52called to get up from the
78. 3:55table. A national survey once said that
79. 3:59people leave mass because they're not
80. 4:01being
81. 4:02fed. The music didn't move
82. 4:05them. That the homaly doesn't inspire
83. 4:08them.
84. 4:10The church doesn't impress
85. 4:12them. But here's the tragic
86. 4:15irony. Jesus could be on that very altar
87. 4:19and we'd still walk away
88. 4:22unfed. Not because he's
89. 4:25lacking, because we're too
90. 4:30distracted. Holy Thursday dares to ask
91. 4:33us, "Do you really truly realize what's
92. 4:37happening on that altar?
93. 4:40Do you understand who is
94. 4:43present? What is being
95. 4:45offered? Who is calling your
96. 4:49name? Because if we truly understood
97. 4:52what takes place at mass, if we truly
98. 4:55believe that Christ is alive and present
99. 4:57in the
100. 4:59eukarist, then the only question left
101. 5:01would be how can I give my life away
102. 5:04like that?
103. 5:08You've heard me say many times before,
104. 5:11sin twists the heart
105. 5:13inward, turning our gaze away from God
106. 5:16and others and trapping us in a prison
107. 5:19of
108. 5:21ourself. But grace always curves us
109. 5:25outward towards God, towards the
110. 5:28neighbor, towards the cross.
111. 5:33And so the Eucharist is not a spiritual
112. 5:35ornament or reward for being
113. 5:38good. It is a divine
114. 5:42reorientation. It turns us
115. 5:45outward. It frees us to forget
116. 5:48ourselves.
117. 5:50It compels us to lay down the need to be
118. 5:52first, the need to be important, the
119. 5:56need to be seen, the need to be right,
120. 5:58and instead to choose love that
121. 6:02serves. That's what Holy Thursday is all
122. 6:06about. Love that bends
123. 6:09low. Love that breaks the bread. Love
124. 6:13that picks up the basin and the towel.
125. 6:16Love that goes to the cross.
126. 6:21So tonight, my brothers and sisters, the
127. 6:22invitation is simple, but it is
128. 6:26radical. Take the
129. 6:29towel. Ask
130. 6:31yourself, where is Christ kneel? Calling
131. 6:34me to
132. 6:36kneel, who is he asking me to serve
133. 6:40without expecting anything in return?
134. 6:43What feet need washing in my family, in
135. 6:47my marriage, my workplace, in my parish
136. 6:51community? Perhaps it's forgiving
137. 6:53someone who's hurt
138. 6:54you. Or maybe it's making time for
139. 6:57someone who's
140. 6:58lonely. Or maybe spending time, more
141. 7:01time with an el elderly parent that
142. 7:04drives you crazy.
143. 7:07Maybe it's letting go of
144. 7:09pride, control, resentment, and choosing
145. 7:12the low
146. 7:15place. Jesus got up from the table. Now
147. 7:19it's your
148. 7:22turn. In a few moments, I will reenact
149. 7:25that moment from the upper
150. 7:27room with 12 parishioners whose feet I
151. 7:30will wash.
152. 7:33But know this, it's not about them. It's
153. 7:37about
154. 7:38you. It's about whether you will walk
155. 7:40out of this church tonight and say,
156. 7:43"Lord, I heard
157. 7:45you. I saw you. You bent low for
158. 7:49me. You loved me and gave your life for
159. 7:54me. Now give me the courage to bend low
160. 7:58for
161. 8:00others." Because in God's kingdom,
162. 8:02greatness is defined by service. That's
163. 8:05the bottom
164. 8:07line. And heaven will not remember the
165. 8:10positions we held, but the people that
166. 8:12we
167. 8:15served. The basin is ready. The towel is
168. 8:19yours. Now bend low and show the world
169. 8:23what greatness really looks like. Amen.
170. 8:27Amen.