Homily May 5, 2024: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02today we celebrate the sixth Sunday of
2. 0:03Easter and we're approaching now the end
3. 0:05of the Easter season and in a couple
4. 0:07weeks we will return back to ordinary
5. 0:10time and as we know the church sets
6. 0:13aside 40 days before Easter to prepare
7. 0:16for the passion death and resurrection
8. 0:19of Christ those 40 days of course we
9. 0:22know are lent and this in a way
10. 0:25corresponds to the 40 days after the
11. 0:28resurrection of the Risen Christ when
12. 0:31Christ walked Among Us and was visible
13. 0:33to the faithful the faithful Apostles
14. 0:36and more than 500 of the early
15. 0:39Believers at the end of those 40 days
16. 0:42Jesus ascended to Heaven returns back to
17. 0:45the father it's an event that we will
18. 0:47remember and celebrate next
19. 0:50weekend but those two periods of time 40
20. 0:53days before Easter and the 40 days after
21. 0:57reflect the two major stages of of our
22. 1:00lives our current life a life and a life
23. 1:04Yet to Come Those two
24. 1:06stages the season of Lent before Easter
25. 1:09is filled with Penance and prayer and it
26. 1:12symbolizes our current life everything
27. 1:15that we go through the trials and
28. 1:17tribulations the Easter season in
29. 1:19contrast is filled with hosas with
30. 1:22Hallelujah and it symbolizes the life of
31. 1:25Heaven to be eternally enjoyed for all
32. 1:28those baptized and and those who are
33. 1:31faithful in Lent we recall the suffering
34. 1:34of the Lord on our behalf and in Easter
35. 1:37we recall his resurrection in
36. 1:40glory which those who are faithful will
37. 1:43all share that's the promise that Christ
38. 1:45makes to all of us so in addition to
39. 1:48those hosas and Hallelujah Easter is
40. 1:51marked by hope and the peace that the
41. 1:53world cannot give us or take
42. 1:56away in fact when we read the histories
43. 1:59of early Christian communities we find
44. 2:02that it was that hope it was that peace
45. 2:04that they possessed that they desired
46. 2:07and it was something that was so
47. 2:08compelling to those non-believers I want
48. 2:10what you have I want to know this Jesus
49. 2:14I want to have that peace I have a story
50. 2:17for you today it's a fictional one it
51. 2:19has to do with the Peace of Christ which
52. 2:21the world cannot give in fact Jesus said
53. 2:25that in the Gospel of John not as the
54. 2:27world gives peace do I give it to you
55. 2:31as I said the story is from F from
56. 2:33fiction in fact from one of the great
57. 2:35masterpieces of German literature a
58. 2:37story that became an archetype for
59. 2:40western
60. 2:41civilization was a story of a man named
61. 2:44faou who was re restless and depressed
62. 2:48and couldn't get anything going on with
63. 2:50his life he didn't know what was wrong
64. 2:53he had no peace in his
65. 2:55existence so he made a deal with the
66. 2:57devil making what we now call a f Ian's
67. 3:01bargain we have no doubt we've heard
68. 3:03some version of this original story as
69. 3:06it has been made into innumerable plays
70. 3:09and books and
71. 3:10movies fa agreed to sell his Immortal
72. 3:14soul to the devil and in exchange the
73. 3:17devil promised him all the great
74. 3:19pleasures of the world offering him all
75. 3:21the peace that the world could
76. 3:25give even if you've never read the story
77. 3:27you know how this goes
78. 3:30all of a sudden fa had everything he
79. 3:32ever dreamed of he was overwhelmingly
80. 3:35happy and he reveled in the power and
81. 3:38Prestige and the wealth and all the
82. 3:40pleasure that he had and his life was
83. 3:43great at first but deep down there was a
84. 3:47horrifying truth he could not Escape he
85. 3:50knew that this happiness would not
86. 3:53last he knew that the peace he now had
87. 3:57was an illusion
88. 4:00and as the story progresses he becomes
89. 4:02more and more miserable worse off than
90. 4:05he was before despite having all the
91. 4:08peace that the world could give him he
92. 4:10couldn't hold on to
93. 4:13it and as the story ends it ends in
94. 4:18tragedy there are a lot of
95. 4:20fian Bargains out there but the peace
96. 4:25they offer is an
97. 4:26illusion because it can't extend beyond
98. 4:29this
99. 4:31world this story illustrates the point
100. 4:33about God's Great promise to us in
101. 4:37Christ that only through Jesus Christ
102. 4:39are we offered forgiveness of our sins
103. 4:42the promise of sharing God's very life
104. 4:44and the hope of Eternal Bliss in his
105. 4:48kingdom Some people prefer a God who is
106. 4:51some sort of benevolent Emperor a sort
107. 4:54of a plantation owner who provides for
108. 4:57us as one would provide for his slaves
109. 5:01other people want God who gives a clear
110. 5:03law gives clear rules and regulations
111. 5:07one who sets out boundaries for us under
112. 5:10such a god there are no hard decisions
113. 5:13to make no real thought given to the
114. 5:16most creative responses we can make in
115. 5:18any given
116. 5:20situation under such a God all one needs
117. 5:23to do is simply follow the
118. 5:26rule nevertheless God continues to
119. 5:29insist I no longer call you slaves I
120. 5:32call you
121. 5:34friends that puts a burden on us we have
122. 5:38to figure out how to fully respond to
123. 5:40the
124. 5:41Lord Freedom has its burdens doesn't it
125. 5:45we have to make hard decisions there are
126. 5:47no simplistic solutions to be
127. 5:51had why then do so many in the world and
128. 5:54even in the church fail to see this
129. 5:56clear connection between love peace and
130. 5:59keeping God's
131. 6:01Commandments well I think it's because
132. 6:04we have a false notion of Freedom one
133. 6:06that makes us look at the Commandments
134. 6:08as something that enslaves us rather
135. 6:11than something that truly liberates us
136. 6:14many US many of us think to be free
137. 6:17means to do whatever we want to be able
138. 6:20to call the shots to be in control to be
139. 6:23totally unrestrained by anything outside
140. 6:25of
141. 6:27us even the truth
142. 6:31even by
143. 6:32God we view the Commandments and God who
144. 6:35gives them to us as a limit to Freedom
145. 6:38impelling us to do the things that
146. 6:40perhaps we might not want to
147. 6:42do but this type of freedom is an
148. 6:44idolatry of the self it's based on
149. 6:48pretending that we're God and that we're
150. 6:50the ones who are in
151. 6:52charge that we're the ones who know what
152. 6:54is best for
153. 6:56us the real notion of freedom is not to
154. 6:59do whatever we want to do but to do what
155. 7:02we ought to do what we've been created
156. 7:05to do namely to love God and love others
157. 7:09without
158. 7:12shackles Jesus pointed this when he
159. 7:14linked freedom to truth you will know
160. 7:18the truth and the truth will set you
161. 7:20free he says in the Gospel of
162. 7:22John the only way to be free is to live
163. 7:25in the truth of how God made us which he
164. 7:28indicates to was by the
165. 7:30Commandments The Ten Commandments are
166. 7:33like God's instruction manual on the
167. 7:35path to Perfection as human beings to
168. 7:38achieve the purpose for which we were
169. 7:41created to find love peace and happiness
170. 7:45happiness we need to acknowledge and
171. 7:47follow what God has programmed into our
172. 7:51hearts the code that he has placed into
173. 7:54our DNA a properly properly formed
174. 7:58conscience and
175. 8:01this is the clearest and possible way of
176. 8:04understanding The Commandments and
177. 8:06following them so my brothers and
178. 8:08sisters on this sixth Sunday of Easter
179. 8:12only through Jesus Christ can we truly
180. 8:15have lasting peace place all your trust
181. 8:19in him this world will want to divert
182. 8:23your attention will want to distract
183. 8:26you but the Lord reminds us today that
184. 8:29is a peace that the world can never take
185. 8:31away Jesus gives us this peace that the
186. 8:34world can never take away why because
187. 8:37it's a peace that the world can't give
188. 8:40only it is only in the Life of Christ
189. 8:42that we find true happiness true mealing
190. 8:45meaning and
191. 8:47fulfillment as I mentioned next Sunday
192. 8:49is Ascension Sunday when the Lord
193. 8:51returns back to the father and then we
194. 8:53have Pentecost Sunday and we return uh
195. 8:56to ordinary time I'll be home next
196. 8:58weekend for for Mother's Day weekend we
197. 9:00have priesthood ordinations as well I
198. 9:03ask for your prayers but I look forward
199. 9:05to being with you and to celebrating the
200. 9:07Eucharist almighty God bless us on this
201. 9:09Sunday so that we can really truly love
202. 9:12the Commandments to love the Lord in a
203. 9:15very deep way so that we can be truly
204. 9:18happy and truly free amen