January 11, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02In Victor's In Victor Hugo's lay
2. 0:05miserable,
3. 0:07there's a moment so decisive that the
4. 0:10entire story turns on it.
5. 0:14Jean Valjan, you may remember,
6. 0:18a man hardened by prison, injustice, and
7. 0:21survival,
8. 0:23is welcomed into the home of a Catholic
9. 0:26bishop.
10. 0:27He's fed. He's given a bed. He's treated
11. 0:32not as a criminal, but as a man with
12. 0:34dignity.
13. 0:37And yet, still trapped in the instincts
14. 0:39of his old life,
15. 0:42Jean repays mercy with betrayal,
16. 0:46he steals the bishop's silver and
17. 0:48disappears into the night.
18. 0:52When he is caught and dragged by back by
19. 0:55the the police,
20. 0:58Jean knows exactly what awaits him.
21. 1:02Everything, his future, his freedom, his
22. 1:05life depends on what the bishop will say
23. 1:08next.
24. 1:11And then comes the miracle.
25. 1:14The bishop looks at Jean Valjon
26. 1:17not with fear,
27. 1:19not with anger, but with the authority
28. 1:23that only mercy possesses. And he says,
29. 1:27"Oh yes, I I gave him the silver. In
30. 1:30fact, I'm glad that he returned because
31. 1:33I also gave him the silver candlesticks,
32. 1:36but he forgot to take them."
33. 1:40In that very moment, Jean Valjon is not
34. 1:44merely spared punishment.
35. 1:47He is reborn.
36. 1:50Grace overwhelms judgment.
37. 1:53Mercy interrupts destiny.
38. 1:56And John walks out of that house a
39. 1:59different man. Not because he earned it,
40. 2:03not because he deserved it, but because
41. 2:06grace claimed him.
42. 2:10That moment, that moment is one of the
43. 2:13closest literary images we have to
44. 2:16understanding what baptism actually
45. 2:19does.
46. 2:22Today, the church celebrates the baptism
47. 2:24of the Lord, the final feast of the
48. 2:27Christmas season.
49. 2:29And while we often ask why was Jesus
50. 2:32baptized in the first place? Why did he
51. 2:34need baptism?
52. 2:36It's an important rich necessary
53. 2:39question.
54. 2:40But the more urgent question for us
55. 2:43today is this.
56. 2:46Do we know what happened to us when we
57. 2:49were baptized?
58. 2:52Because if we truly understand or truly
59. 2:55understood, we would never live the same
60. 2:58way again.
61. 3:00Baptism is not a a religious right of
62. 3:03passage. It's not a cultural ceremony.
63. 3:07It's not some family tradition that we
64. 3:10do.
65. 3:13Baptism is an ontological rupture,
66. 3:16a decisive break with the old creation
67. 3:19and birth to a new one.
68. 3:23The church calls baptism vital
69. 3:26spiritualis.
70. 3:30The door the door to spiritual life.
71. 3:34It's not one sacrament among many. It is
72. 3:37the sacrament that changes what you are.
73. 3:42I always remind parents on the day of
74. 3:44when they're baptizing their children,
75. 3:46this today on this baptism is the most
76. 3:49important day of this child's life.
77. 3:53Which brings us to a deceptively simple
78. 3:56question.
79. 3:57What does it mean to be Christian?
80. 4:01Being a Christian does not mean being
81. 4:03polite. Does not mean being moral. Does
82. 4:07not mean well-intentioned.
83. 4:10Those things matter, don't get me wrong,
84. 4:13but they're not uniquely Christian.
85. 4:16People of good will, believers,
86. 4:19agnostics, even atheists can live
87. 4:21generous, ethical lives.
88. 4:24To be Christian is something far more
89. 4:26radical.
90. 4:28To be a Christian is to be grafted on to
91. 4:31Christ.
92. 4:33Jesus is the son of God by nature.
93. 4:36He shares the father's life eternally.
94. 4:40He is holy, sinless, and dwelling. It's
95. 4:43the dwelling place of the spirit.
96. 4:46And through baptism,
97. 4:49something staggering happens.
98. 4:51You are inserted into his relationship
99. 4:54with the father.
100. 4:57And the church teaches without
101. 4:58hesitation that in baptism,
102. 5:01every sin is destroyed.
103. 5:05You are incorporated into the body of
104. 5:07Christ not as a member of an
105. 5:09organization
106. 5:11but as a living cell inside the body.
107. 5:16The Holy Spirit takes upsidence in you.
108. 5:20You are adopted as a son or a daughter
109. 5:23of the father and you become a co-air
110. 5:26with Christ to eternal life. Now listen
111. 5:29carefully. Jesus is son by nature.
112. 5:33We become son or daughter by adoption.
113. 5:38And adoption is not secondass sunship.
114. 5:41It is full inheritance. That's why Jesus
115. 5:44then dares to say, "Come, let us
116. 5:46together pray to our father." Our
117. 5:50father.
118. 5:52St. Gregory of Nessensian said it
119. 5:54plainly, "Baptism is God's most
120. 5:56beautiful and magnificent gift.
121. 5:59It is called a gift because it is given
122. 6:01to those who bring nothing of their own.
123. 6:05It is a grace because it is given even
124. 6:07to those who are guilty.
125. 6:10That's John Bjan at the bishop's door.
126. 6:14That's every one of us at the baptismal
127. 6:17font.
128. 6:19And here's a part that should unsettle
129. 6:21us.
130. 6:22Jean Valjon was not changed because he
131. 6:25escaped punishment.
132. 6:28He was not changed because he walked
133. 6:30away with silver. He was changed because
134. 6:32mercy demanded a response.
135. 6:37Baptism is not magic. Grace is not
136. 6:40passive. Adoption carries obligation.
137. 6:45If baptism has grafted us into Christ,
138. 6:48then his life must begin to appear in
139. 6:51us.
140. 6:53How we love, how we forgive, how we
141. 6:57live. That's the Christian way.
142. 7:01At the Jordan, the father speaks. He
143. 7:03says, "You are my beloved son with whom
144. 7:06I am well pleased."
145. 7:09Those words were spoken over you at your
146. 7:11baptism.
147. 7:14And if that's true, then mediocrity is
148. 7:17no longer an option.
149. 7:20Then sin is no longer compatible with
150. 7:22your identity.
151. 7:25Then faith cannot remain private,
152. 7:27dormant or occasional.
153. 7:30Baptism does not simply forgive the
154. 7:33past. It claims the future.
155. 7:36It calls you to holiness. It calls you
156. 7:38to mission. It calls you to die to the
157. 7:41old self and again and again begin new.
158. 7:46The tragedy is not that many Catholics
159. 7:48struggle.
160. 7:50The tragedy is that many Catholics
161. 7:51forget who they are and who they belong
162. 7:54to.
163. 7:57They live as though baptism changed
164. 7:59nothing.
165. 8:01But today, standing at the Jordan, the
166. 8:03church says, "Remember,
167. 8:06I need you to remember. Remember the
168. 8:08grace you did not earn. Remember the
169. 8:11identity you did not choose. Remember
170. 8:14the inheritance you did not deserve and
171. 8:17then live accordingly.
172. 8:21Because when grace is truly received,
173. 8:23lives change.
174. 8:25Jean Vjan never went back to being who
175. 8:28he was.
176. 8:30Not because his past disappeared, but
177. 8:33because it no longer defined him. Mercy
178. 8:36did not erase his history. It reclaimed
179. 8:40it. Grace did not deny his sin. It
180. 8:43stripped it of its power.
181. 8:47And can't you see what that means for
182. 8:49all of us?
183. 8:52We are not our sins. We are not our
184. 8:55mistakes. We are not our failures. We
185. 8:58are not the names the enemy tries to
186. 9:00convince us that we are. Baptism
187. 9:04declares something stronger.
188. 9:06Our identity is no longer written by our
189. 9:09past, but by God's mercy.
190. 9:12John left the bishop's house carrying
191. 9:14silver.
192. 9:16But more importantly, he left carrying a
193. 9:18new self.
194. 9:20We leave the baptismal font carrying
195. 9:22something infinitely greater. The very
196. 9:24life of Christ within us.
197. 9:27To be a Christian is to understand this,
198. 9:31to proclaim, "I belong to Jesus."
199. 9:35Have you noticed lately how football
200. 9:37players and coaches are all proclaiming
201. 9:40their love for Jesus? Have you seen
202. 9:41this?
203. 9:43This is what I'm talking about.
204. 9:46They're declaring a truth. I am
205. 9:48Christian. I belong to him.
206. 9:52I was grafted onto the body of Christ
207. 9:54when I became a Christian at baptism.
208. 9:57That sets us apart.
209. 10:00So the question this feast leaves us
210. 10:03with is not whether baptism worked. The
211. 10:07question is whether we are living as if
212. 10:09it matters
213. 10:12because no one who truly encounters
214. 10:14mercy remains unchanged.
215. 10:18No one adopted by the father keeps
216. 10:20living as an orphan.
217. 10:23No one grafted onto Christ can live
218. 10:26small, guarded, half-hearted lives.
219. 10:30Jean Valjon never returned to his former
220. 10:33life because grace made that return
221. 10:36impossible.
222. 10:39Baptism has done the same thing for you.
223. 10:42And so my brothers and sisters, how will
224. 10:45you proclaim to the world that you
225. 10:47belong to Christ?
226. 10:49How will you live? The choice is yours.
227. 10:54Amen.