January 20, 2024 Homily: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Today, we hear from one of my favorite
2. 0:02books from the Old Testament, the book
3. 0:04of Jonah.
4. 0:06Nineveh was one of the oldest and most
5. 0:09populous city in the ancient Assyrian
6. 0:12Empire.
7. 0:14Its ruins are located on the east bank
8. 0:16of the Tigris River opposite of the
9. 0:20modern city of Mosul in Iraq.
10. 0:24The Ninevites The Ninevites were a great
11. 0:26empire known for their ruthlessness.
12. 0:31They were sworn enemies of the Jewish
13. 0:33people.
14. 0:35Each despised the other, and yet Jonah,
15. 0:39a Jew, was sent to Nineveh,
16. 0:42sent by God to preach to them.
17. 0:46The Ninevites were determined to end
18. 0:48Israelite civilization in a few years,
19. 0:50but it was them
20. 0:52who God sent Jonah to.
21. 0:56Jonah definitely did not want to go to
22. 0:58them, but made sure that he did in spite
23. 1:01of Jonah's efforts to avoid the task to
24. 1:04which God had sent him.
25. 1:06After the episode with the whale, Jonah
26. 1:09finally ends up on the shores of
27. 1:11Nineveh.
28. 1:13He went to them and repented They
29. 1:15repented of their evil ways. We know the
30. 1:17story well.
31. 1:19They acted immediately on God's word.
32. 1:22Jonah was there only a day
33. 1:26in what was to be a three-day journey.
34. 1:31And that's what I want you to understand
35. 1:33on this Sunday. That's the key
36. 1:36to understanding what the Lord is trying
37. 1:38to speak to us this weekend.
38. 1:40On hearing God's word proclaimed to them
39. 1:43by Jonah, they acted immediately and
40. 1:45changed their ways.
41. 1:48Today in the second reading from St.
42. 1:50Paul, he's proclaiming a similar
43. 1:51message. He says, "I tell you, brothers
44. 1:54and sisters, the time is running out,
45. 1:57for the world in its present form is
46. 1:59passing away.
47. 2:01Let that sink in.
48. 2:04Like Jonah, many people have a prop-
49. 2:06propensity to procrastinate the things
50. 2:08of God.
51. 2:10To put it off. Almost as to say, "Well,
52. 2:13I'll get to it. My prayer life, the
53. 2:16sacraments, going to mass."
54. 2:18A relationship with the Lord. Yes, it's
55. 2:20important, but I have other things that
56. 2:22are very important as well. And so, we
57. 2:24tend to put it off.
58. 2:28We should, however, consider what the
59. 2:29Lord is thinking about that.
60. 2:33The theme presented today in the gospel,
61. 2:35Peter and Andrew were grown men who were
62. 2:38in the fishing business.
63. 2:40They experienced God's call and
64. 2:42immediately dropped everything, left
65. 2:44their business, and followed Jesus.
66. 2:47No procrastination there.
67. 2:50They didn't say, "Well, we're going to
68. 2:51see how this all pans out. And we're
69. 2:53going to We're going to sit back and see
70. 2:55who this guy really is.
71. 2:58Not sure if I can commit yet."
72. 3:01But Jesus in today's gospel account
73. 3:03walked a little further and then meets
74. 3:05James and his brother John,
75. 3:08their father Zebedee, who also were
76. 3:10fishermen.
77. 3:12And Jesus is Jesus calls them
78. 3:14immediately
79. 3:16Jesus calls them and immediately they
80. 3:17drop their nets.
81. 3:20They leave their father Zebedee and they
82. 3:22follow Christ.
83. 3:25Being here in Rome these days,
84. 3:28I see so many young men studying for the
85. 3:30priesthood. Young men who have been
86. 3:33recently ordained. It's edifying.
87. 3:36Men from all over the world, priests
88. 3:38from all over the world, who are walking
89. 3:40the streets of Rome, hurrying to get to
90. 3:43class.
91. 3:45I see a lot of young women religious as
92. 3:47well.
93. 3:49What I want to say this Sunday is that
94. 3:51perhaps in your family
95. 3:53you have a family member that
96. 3:56in a less dramatic way than we hear in
97. 3:58the Gospels are experiencing a similar
98. 4:01call to God.
99. 4:04A similar call from God.
100. 4:07Could you respond as those first
101. 4:09disciples did?
102. 4:12In one way or another, we are all called
103. 4:15to follow God.
104. 4:17We all have a vocation.
105. 4:20But what about the Jonah's among us?
106. 4:24It's very likely that some young men or
107. 4:26women are feeling God's inviting call.
108. 4:31A call to go into this very modern
109. 4:34world, a world much like Nineveh
110. 4:37with God's message.
111. 4:40I know there are young men in our parish
112. 4:41and in campus ministry who are hearing
113. 4:44God's word to serve him as a priest.
114. 4:48I also know some young women
115. 4:49experiencing a similar thought about
116. 4:51being a religious sister.
117. 4:54Or in some other way of serving the
118. 4:56church.
119. 4:59There are young men and women who are
120. 5:00hearing God's call, God's invitation to
121. 5:03serve him in other special ways.
122. 5:07God's call is not limited.
123. 5:10Today we're bombarded with social media
124. 5:13presenting young men and women as
125. 5:15self-centered, self-absorbed, selfish,
126. 5:18pleasure-seeking.
127. 5:20But we all know of young men and women
128. 5:21in the military
129. 5:24who are serving our country in very
130. 5:25self-sacrificing ways.
131. 5:28We've seen accounts of young men and
132. 5:30women in on their spring breaks that
133. 5:32they desire to go and serve the poor or
134. 5:35to travel to the Dominican Republic. In
135. 5:37our own parish, we will travel to
136. 5:39uh the Dominican Republic to serve with
137. 5:41Blue Missions
138. 5:43helping to build aqueducts in order to
139. 5:45bring running water to communities that
140. 5:48are that have suffered from poverty and
141. 5:50misfortune.
142. 5:52There are adults in our own parish who
143. 5:54sacrificed their time to teach and to
144. 5:56lead others to the faith.
145. 6:00Small communities growing in faith,
146. 6:02experiencing growth not only in numbers
147. 6:04but in the quality of people.
148. 6:07All that being said,
149. 6:10our faith tells us that by our baptism
150. 6:12we're baptized into the priesthood of
151. 6:14Jesus Christ. In the sacrament of
152. 6:16confirmation we have been anointed by
153. 6:18the Holy Spirit. Do you feel the Holy
154. 6:20Spirit?
155. 6:23Called to go into a world like Nineveh
156. 6:26and how this world wants to distract us,
157. 6:29wants to pull us away from the things of
158. 6:32God.
159. 6:34We can all be edified by the fact that
160. 6:35many young men and women have come to
161. 6:37realize that special calling, that grace
162. 6:41in their lives, and then responding to
163. 6:44that call.
164. 6:46I also want to acknowledge all the
165. 6:47adults who have are having a conversion
166. 6:49in our own parish. Adults that
167. 6:53through different ministries and
168. 6:54different apostolates, different
169. 6:56activities are allowing themselves to
170. 6:59grow closer to the Lord.
171. 7:03And gearing their focus on what's really
172. 7:05what really matters, placing God first.
173. 7:09Today's words are not just pretty words.
174. 7:12I want to challenge you.
175. 7:15Just as Jonah challenged the Ninevites.
176. 7:20Being a priest, a pastor, a shepherd of
177. 7:23souls is not easy.
178. 7:25Bringing Christ's message to those
179. 7:27around us is not easy either.
180. 7:30God hasn't given us a how-to manual or
181. 7:34some agency in which we can refer to
182. 7:36people, "Oh, go see this guy."
183. 7:38No, God is calling us to bring his
184. 7:40presence to individuals, something that
185. 7:43we can only do individually. I want to
186. 7:45invite you
187. 7:48personally.
188. 7:50We must be his hands and feet.
189. 7:54We live in profound connectedness and
190. 7:56radical complicity in our world. Jesus
191. 7:59cries out to us and tells us that a
192. 8:01better world is within our reach.
193. 8:05It's within our grasp.
194. 8:08The reign of God is at hand, he tells
195. 8:10us.
196. 8:11A better world begins when we begin to
197. 8:13change our own personal lives, placing
198. 8:15God at the center of our lives,
199. 8:17acknowledging once and for all that I
200. 8:19must renounce all things, that I need to
201. 8:21drop everything,
202. 8:23everything that distracts me, blocks me
203. 8:25from a deeper relationship with the
204. 8:27Lord.
205. 8:29He tells us, "Reform your lives and
206. 8:31believe in the gospel.
207. 8:33Believe in the good news."
208. 8:36Taking life by the yard is hard.
209. 8:40But life taken by inch, slowly and with
210. 8:42purpose and with structure, is easier.
211. 8:46Take life as it comes to us one day at a
212. 8:48time, a moment at a time.
213. 8:51Expect perfect happiness in the next
214. 8:53life, only to be reasonably joyful in
215. 8:55this life now.
216. 8:58This is the only way we can deal with
217. 9:00reality, with what we are facing.
218. 9:04And so, my brothers and sisters, as we
219. 9:07look at the gospel for today, for the
220. 9:09readings for this weekend,
221. 9:11if you want to change the world,
222. 9:14are you willing first to change your own
223. 9:15life?
224. 9:17Change ourselves.
225. 9:20How can I have the energy to change the
226. 9:22mess around us unless I at least have
227. 9:25the energy to change myself and to stick
228. 9:27with it?
229. 9:29It's so easy for me to complain about
230. 9:31this person or or about this situation.
231. 9:35The call of Jesus to 12 individuals, the
232. 9:37call we just heard in the gospel today
233. 9:39account, is not an issue only to those
234. 9:4112 Jewish men 2,000 years ago.
235. 9:45It's an insistent call, a call that is
236. 9:47daily. It's an urgent call, a demanding
237. 9:50call that comes down through the
238. 9:52centuries, 2,000 years in this church of
239. 9:55ours, to you, to me, to all of us here,
240. 9:59to all of you.
241. 10:02Called by God to receive the bread of
242. 10:04life, and then to leave this church
243. 10:07building on mission.
244. 10:09We have to leave the pews
245. 10:13like the 12 disciples to change the
246. 10:15world, but it has to be by first
247. 10:17changing our own lives.
248. 10:20For the simple truth is that when we do
249. 10:22in fact change our lives,
250. 10:25you have begun to change the world.
251. 10:29I've seen it so many times.
252. 10:31You want real change in your life,
253. 10:34in your job, your marriage, your
254. 10:37relationship with your kids?
255. 10:39Leave behind all the nonsense once and
256. 10:41for all.
257. 10:42Follow Jesus. Give your complete heart
258. 10:44to him.
259. 10:46What are you waiting for?
260. 10:48To see how this all plans out? Oh, I'm
261. 10:50going to see if this is really what it's
262. 10:52all about.
263. 10:55Might be too late.
264. 10:57What is God whispering to you deep down
265. 10:59within your heart?
266. 11:01Do you hear it?
267. 11:04You might be ignoring it.
268. 11:07So, to what and to whom do you want to
269. 11:09give your life to?
270. 11:11My brothers and sisters, change begins
271. 11:13today.
272. 11:15Change yourself, and you'll be able to
273. 11:17change the world. Amen.