Homily July 21, 2024: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02in many areas of our life there is a
2. 0:05crisis of
3. 0:08authority the simple fact of holding a
4. 0:11leadership position no longer ensures
5. 0:15loyalty and unquestioning obedience
6. 0:18today the ideal leader is one who can
7. 0:22win respect and great and generate trust
8. 0:27a leader is one with clear sense of
9. 0:29respons responsibility who can get
10. 0:31things done while still respecting
11. 0:34people's
12. 0:36dignity Shepherds in today's readings
13. 0:39are people of Integrity who care for
14. 0:42others as we heard in the first reading
15. 0:44of
16. 0:45Jeremiah people who follow the right
17. 0:48path as spelled out in the
18. 0:52psalm and show compassion towards others
19. 0:55in their weakness as we heard in the
20. 0:57gospel
21. 1:00some might think of a Shepherd image as
22. 1:02applying only to Bishops or the Pope the
23. 1:05official Pastors in succession to the
24. 1:08apostles or to the local Pastors in a
25. 1:12parish but in fact the shepherd role at
26. 1:16one level or another applies to all
27. 1:19kinds of
28. 1:21leadership we are invited today by God's
29. 1:24word to examine what our own leadership
30. 1:27in our life is like
31. 1:30the Shepherds condemned by Jeremiah from
32. 1:32the first reading today were the leaders
33. 1:34who who neglected their responsibilities
34. 1:38and let abuses
35. 1:40Thrive his message today should resonate
36. 1:43with government regimes like Venezuela
37. 1:46Nicaragua and Cuba failed totalitarian
38. 1:50States who have squashed and oppressed
39. 1:53their people and who have scattered
40. 1:56their people and separated families
41. 1:59that's their
42. 2:00success the separation of
43. 2:03families the shepherd image suggests
44. 2:05that Authority is not mainly the power
45. 2:08to impose
46. 2:10rules the shepherding role is one of
47. 2:13service more than
48. 2:15Dominion it's a goal its goal is to set
49. 2:19a good direction and then to enable a
50. 2:21community to live together in peace
51. 2:24where each individual has dignity and
52. 2:28has an equal chance of personal
53. 2:32fulfillment of all the 150 Psalms that
54. 2:35we find in the Bible perhaps Psalm 23 is
55. 2:39best known and Best Loved we just we
56. 2:42sang it today and with good
57. 2:45reason we hear it proclaimed and as we
58. 2:49heard the psalm is filled with some of
59. 2:50the most Sublime and beautiful images of
60. 2:53the
61. 2:54scriptures speaks of vernant pastures
62. 2:57restful Waters right paths good goodness
63. 3:00and kindness It's the very image of the
64. 3:03house of the
65. 3:04Lord It's A Psalm that speaks of total
66. 3:08peace no matter how many times we hear
67. 3:11it it never ceases to calm us and lift
68. 3:14our thoughts to the Lord think about it
69. 3:17when you're down and out when you're
70. 3:19going through a difficult time read
71. 3:21Psalm
72. 3:2323 pray with
73. 3:25it how do we tap into that Tranquility
74. 3:29that peace that joyful quiet joyful rest
75. 3:33that is embodied in the psalm well we do
76. 3:35that when we sincerely say with truth
77. 3:39the Lord is my shepherd no matter what
78. 3:43the Lord is my
79. 3:46shepherd allow me just to tell you a
80. 3:48true story a brief one this time from my
81. 3:50own experience recently I went with some
82. 3:53of our parishioners to a mission trip
83. 3:56with blue missions to the Dominican
84. 3:58Republic we' visited this little village
85. 4:01in the in the mountains very poor
86. 4:06Community I simply couldn't believe how
87. 4:08these people lived ramshackled houses no
88. 4:13Plumbing spotty electricity dirt
89. 4:17floors was just
90. 4:20awful I had the honor of celebrating the
91. 4:23one-year anniversary for a young mother
92. 4:25of 39 years old who had died of breast
93. 4:29cancer leaving little
94. 4:31children mind you they were not even
95. 4:33able to celebrate the funeral mass when
96. 4:36she died because there were no priest
97. 4:39available the day of the mass came and
98. 4:42all were invited and and when I said
99. 4:44they came to mass I mean it was the most
100. 4:46impressive thing that you can
101. 4:48imagine this whole village the whole
102. 4:51family was there to
103. 4:54support you never seen such
104. 4:56better-dressed people you wonder where
105. 4:58they got all of these things and how
106. 5:00they were able to maintain them all the
107. 5:03women wearing nice dresses their hair
108. 5:05made up the men and children dressed
109. 5:09like if it was Easter
110. 5:10Sunday and all the people crammed into
111. 5:13this small
112. 5:14space and they knew every response to
113. 5:17the mass they sang every
114. 5:19song the verses at the top of their
115. 5:23lungs and they were happy they were
116. 5:27joyful and this was in a sense the
117. 5:29funeral mass for this young woman who
118. 5:31did not have a mask set for
119. 5:34her and you think that these people know
120. 5:38such poverty and neediness but they also
121. 5:40knew Jesus
122. 5:42Christ you could truly say the Lord was
123. 5:45their Shepherd and that made all of the
124. 5:47difference one of the women there told
125. 5:50me I prayed that we could one day have a
126. 5:52have a Mass for my sister and I never
127. 5:55imagined that a priest would come to
128. 5:56visit our small village on the exact day
129. 5:59day of the death of my sister and that
130. 6:02we would be celebrating her Mass God
131. 6:04does indeed take care of us her exact
132. 6:09words take a look at the words and
133. 6:11Promises of the Lord as revealed in
134. 6:13Psalm 23 and pay attention to the verbs
135. 6:16it tells us that the Lord
136. 6:18gives he leads he refreshes he guides he
137. 6:23spreads the table he anoints he
138. 6:25overflows our
139. 6:27cup my brothers and sisters if you've
140. 6:30ever felt a drift if you've ever felt
141. 6:32aimless like you're wandering through
142. 6:33life without Direction perhaps because
143. 6:36in some way deep in deep down inside the
144. 6:39Lord is not your Shepherd something else
145. 6:42has taken the shepherd's place you're
146. 6:44putting your trust in something else but
147. 6:46it's not the
148. 6:47shepherd there's always something trying
149. 6:49to get into that first
150. 6:52spot one thing we can learn one thing I
151. 6:55I can certainly tell you from the faith
152. 6:58of those people I visited is that you
153. 7:00can have
154. 7:01everything but if you do not know the
155. 7:03Lord You Have
156. 7:05Nothing and the opposite is true as well
157. 7:08you can have nothing on this Earth but
158. 7:10if you know the Lord with all of your
159. 7:12heart you have absolutely
160. 7:16everything we recognize Jesus Christ is
161. 7:18the Good Shepherd the one who leads us
162. 7:20back to the Father in Heaven he leads us
163. 7:23with compassion because he suffers with
164. 7:27us he knows and understands not what we
165. 7:30want but what we
166. 7:32need above all Jesus brings us to the
167. 7:34gift of wholeness in our F fracturing
168. 7:37unity in place of division loving
169. 7:40concern for others out of our self-c
170. 7:43concern and Holiness in place of
171. 7:46sinfulness he is our God and in the end
172. 7:49he always triumphs but do we believe
173. 7:53this he is our God and in many ways he
174. 7:57is our Victor he is the good Shepherd
175. 8:00that as the book of Jeremiah from the
176. 8:02first reading reminds us so I will
177. 8:04attend to you for all from all of your
178. 8:07evil
179. 8:08doings so my brothers and sisters on
180. 8:11this 16th Sunday in ordinary time the
181. 8:13church is reminding us that we need to
182. 8:14trust in the Lord we pray for all those
183. 8:17who suffer and for those who await the
184. 8:19day of Liberation but in the meantime we
185. 8:22the people of good will need to rise up
186. 8:25and be good
187. 8:27Shepherds how do we tap into that
188. 8:30tranquility and that peace and that
189. 8:33joyful rest that Psalm 23 is telling
190. 8:37us but the way we do it is without a
191. 8:41doubt make Jesus The Shepherd of your
192. 8:44heart amen am