Homily June 23, 2024: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Ellie weel was a Jewish philosopher a
2. 0:06writer political
3. 0:09activist Nobel laurate
4. 0:12lecturer but most importantly he was a
5. 0:17holocaust Survivor whose experience in
6. 0:20the concentration camps as a child left
7. 0:23him with this lasting
8. 0:27impression he told a story of an
9. 0:30encounter with a friend also a Jew and a
10. 0:34survivor of the death camps who said to
11. 0:37him in the face of all that our people
12. 0:41have suffered and remembering the
13. 0:43horrors of the camps as we saw our
14. 0:45relatives and Friends being taken to the
15. 0:48gas Chambers how can you still believe
16. 0:51in
17. 0:53God wiel
18. 0:56replied in the face of all that our
19. 0:58people have suffered and remembering the
20. 1:00horrors of the camps as we saw our
21. 1:02relatives and Friends taken to the gas
22. 1:05Chambers how can you not believe in
23. 1:09God in his book night he explores the
24. 1:14question what meaning can anyone find
25. 1:18out of only in the of the death
26. 1:21camps but in the catastrophes of nature
27. 1:24as well when God seems to have lost
28. 1:27control and the world is over
29. 1:29overwhelmed with chaos and
30. 1:33destruction I think it's a question that
31. 1:36many in our time have
32. 1:39asked especially the victims of
33. 1:42tragedies illnesses death of a loved one
34. 1:45even during a natural phenomenon like a
35. 1:49hurricane a tsunami earthquake
36. 1:53tornado any number of events can bring
37. 1:57your life Crashing Down from one moment
38. 2:01to the
39. 2:03next people of Faith do not necessarily
40. 2:07have trouble free and painless lives
41. 2:10just because you're a disciple of Jesus
42. 2:12does not mean that you will not have to
43. 2:14go through some of these challenges and
44. 2:18trials life's blows comes at us no
45. 2:21matter what things may seem like on the
46. 2:27surface if you look into the lives of
47. 2:29great men and women you will find that
48. 2:32most of them Rose above the
49. 2:36pain Rose above the loss and suffering
50. 2:40they were able to go through it because
51. 2:44that struggle they read they re they
52. 2:46achieved
53. 2:49greatness what happens within our hearts
54. 2:52and souls when we find ourselves in the
55. 2:54midst of a life's storm
56. 3:00where can we find
57. 3:02Hope what happens to our
58. 3:05faith our readings today as I mentioned
59. 3:09at the beginning of Mass have this theme
60. 3:11that run through them and our readings
61. 3:15try to tackle both of these
62. 3:18questions whether they do it
63. 3:21satisfactory or not depends on how
64. 3:24you're
65. 3:25listening how you're listening to the
66. 3:27word of God and how then we respond to
67. 3:31that
68. 3:33word God created us to know him to love
69. 3:37him and serve him but to know him and to
70. 3:42love him and serve God in a meaningful
71. 3:45way we must freely choose to do
72. 3:50so can you imagine being loved by
73. 3:52someone who was programmed like a
74. 3:55computer to love
75. 3:57you wouldn't be love at all
76. 4:02so it is with
77. 4:04God he wants to know that when he is
78. 4:08loved he has been is being loved freely
79. 4:12because you chose to love
80. 4:15him but the consequences is that God
81. 4:18must suffer the rejection of those who
82. 4:20freely choose to reject him Freedom has
83. 4:25its terrible consequences
84. 4:32God has suffered the consequences of
85. 4:35human evil human
86. 4:38choices he suffered them in the life of
87. 4:41his son Jesus Christ here on Earth in
88. 4:44Christ God has faced all that we must
89. 4:48face when life comes at us with its
90. 4:51cruel
91. 4:54blows the evil one the devil our ancient
92. 4:58enemy is known in the Bible as the great
93. 5:03tempter we recall that when Jesus began
94. 5:06his public Ministry he was tempted out
95. 5:08of the desert by the
96. 5:11devil and Satan tempts us
97. 5:14too only with many different
98. 5:19Temptations in life's storms troubles he
99. 5:22tempts us with the first
100. 5:25Temptation he tempts us first with
101. 5:28disappointment
102. 5:31disappointment leads to
103. 5:34doubt doubt leads to
104. 5:37disillusionment followed thereafter by
105. 5:40depression defeat Despair and eventually
106. 5:44spiritual
107. 5:46death that's what I call S Satan has
108. 5:49these seven anti-
109. 5:54sacraments the seven anti sacraments are
110. 5:57doubt disappointment disillusionment
111. 5:59depression defeat Despair and spiritual
112. 6:05death but you see fear plays a big role
113. 6:09in all of
114. 6:10this notice how many times in the
115. 6:12scriptures Jesus tells us Be not
116. 6:16Afraid fear
117. 6:18not peace be with
118. 6:21you in the New Testament the opposite
119. 6:24opposite of faith is not
120. 6:27questioning the opposite of faith is is
121. 6:32fear and fear can lead to doubt and all
122. 6:36those other Deeds that I just mentioned
123. 6:39that the enemy uses to defeat
124. 6:44us the enemy wants to convince you that
125. 6:46you're no
126. 6:49good you're not worth it who do you
127. 6:52think you are who do you think you're
128. 6:54fooling the problem is that many times
129. 6:57we buy into those lies
130. 7:02the first reading for this Sunday is
131. 7:04from the 38th chapter of the Book of
132. 7:07Job And if I would if I was on the
133. 7:10committee to choose the readings for
134. 7:12Sundays I would have given a little bit
135. 7:13more context
136. 7:15but I'll help you with that this morning
137. 7:18but through 37 chapters job has been
138. 7:22complaining about how God is treating
139. 7:26him and his so-called friends have been
140. 7:29trying to convince him that he's done
141. 7:32something wrong to incur the punishments
142. 7:35he's
143. 7:37experiencing job knows that no such
144. 7:39thing is
145. 7:40true but he still complains and
146. 7:43complains and
147. 7:45complains complains
148. 7:48bitterly and job keeps asking over and
149. 7:51over again why why
150. 7:56why job is not very patient
151. 8:00but he does have
152. 8:04faith through all of this he does not
153. 8:08lose his faith in God so in chapter 38
154. 8:12we pick up now where we read this
155. 8:14morning God answers
156. 8:17him but it's not the kind of answer that
157. 8:20job would have
158. 8:23expected or that we might expect in
159. 8:26similar
160. 8:27circumstances God does not explain why
161. 8:30this happened or nor does God make any
162. 8:34excuses instead in one of the most
163. 8:37beautiful and poetic passages of all
164. 8:39Hebrew scriptures God recalls the
165. 8:42wonders of
166. 8:44creation here's just a snippet but he he
167. 8:48asks job very clearly he goes let me ask
168. 8:50you something Were
169. 8:51You There When I founded the
170. 8:54Earth tell me if you have an
171. 8:58understanding
172. 8:59who determined its
173. 9:01size surely you know when I made the
174. 9:05clouds in its
175. 9:06garment have you ever in your lifetime
176. 9:09commanded the morning and shown the dawn
177. 9:11its place and he goes on and on asking
178. 9:14job these very beautiful
179. 9:17questions it's a passage that makes for
180. 9:20a marvelous prayer and contemplation I I
181. 9:22recommend that you use it this week
182. 9:25don't just read it but pray about pray
183. 9:28with it and ponder it
184. 9:32and what then is Job's response to
185. 9:35God job's response is deeper
186. 9:40Faith he says I have dealt with things
187. 9:43that I do not
188. 9:46understand things too wonderful for me
189. 9:49which I cannot
190. 9:50know I had heard of You by word of mouth
191. 9:53but now my eyes have seen you therefore
192. 9:57I disown all that I have said and I
193. 10:01Repent in dust and Ashes God's ways are
194. 10:05not our
195. 10:08ways out there in that storm tossed boat
196. 10:12that we just heard about in The Gospel
197. 10:15Jesus was teaching his disciples about
198. 10:17where to find peace and
199. 10:21security they would have it so long as
200. 10:24Jesus was at their side they come to
201. 10:27learn this
202. 10:30and that's the lesson that we need to
203. 10:31learn this Sunday that's the truth that
204. 10:34we need to see and
205. 10:36comprehend God himself comes to us in
206. 10:39his son Jesus Christ God with all of his
207. 10:43powers is with us when the forces of
208. 10:45chaos descend upon
209. 10:47us he knows what we face because in
210. 10:50Jesus Christ he Too Faced them and
211. 10:53continues to face them to this
212. 10:56day Jesus asks the disciples and he's
213. 10:59asking all of us why were you
214. 11:03terrified do you not yet have
215. 11:07faith so when Life deals its cruelties
216. 11:12and its Blows Its storms your life may
217. 11:16collapse around
218. 11:18you don't immediately jump to the
219. 11:21conclusion that God is punishing you or
220. 11:24that God is testing you or that God
221. 11:27doesn't love you
222. 11:30he may be a lot closer than you
223. 11:33think you may even come to realize that
224. 11:36he's in the same boat with you it's only
225. 11:39in the power of faith and in the
226. 11:41presence of Christ that we overcome all
227. 11:43of life's cruel
228. 11:46trials and so God requires job and Jesus
229. 11:51requires the disciples to have greater
230. 11:54faith and he demands of us the same
231. 11:58thing May maybe in times of trouble we
232. 12:00can think of Jesus always right there
233. 12:03with
234. 12:04us although he might seem to be sleeping
235. 12:07on a cushion or but then Awakening and
236. 12:11saying to us as he said to his disciples
237. 12:15why are you
238. 12:17terrified do you not yet have faith do
239. 12:20you not realize that I am with
240. 12:25you I remember being in Haiti with Arch
241. 12:28with the Archbishop after the January 12
242. 12:312012 devastating earthquake and we were
243. 12:35there with part of this team from the
244. 12:37USCCB we were um touring the destruction
245. 12:41and we were there in portter Prince at
246. 12:42the church of the Sacred Heart and I
247. 12:45remember seeing that church it had
248. 12:48completely been destroyed everything
249. 12:51crumbled except for this large crucifix
250. 12:54with Jesus on it everything else fell
251. 12:58except for that
252. 13:00crucifix powerful couldn't believe it
253. 13:03and of course that attracted a lot of
254. 13:06journalists and reporters to take
255. 13:08pictures of it and document it we were
256. 13:11there at that time and there was these
257. 13:12reporters and uh one such reporter asked
258. 13:16this woman who was very vocal in her
259. 13:19prayers to this crucifix that was
260. 13:21standing in the
261. 13:22rubble this reporter almost mocking her
262. 13:26asks her where is God now
263. 13:31and she shouted back to him with great
264. 13:34passion and she
265. 13:36said there right there hanging on that
266. 13:44cross you see Ellie wiel answers the
267. 13:47question where is
268. 13:50God he writes God is very much
269. 13:55alive God is in preparing a home for us
270. 13:58and
271. 13:59Paradise he Seated on the throne of
272. 14:02grace and moving within and walking
273. 14:05among us today leading us through the
274. 14:08darkness of death into the joys of
275. 14:10Abundant
276. 14:12Life my brothers and sisters we have a
277. 14:15great lesson today when Life deals it
278. 14:19storms we need to draw closer to Christ
279. 14:23not pull
280. 14:24away our response always needs to be yes
281. 14:28Lord
282. 14:29I trust in you amen amen