June 21, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:18One question.
2. 0:20What are these people afraid of?
3. 0:23What are they afraid to lose?
4. 0:26Because once you know what a person is
5. 0:28afraid to lose, you can control them.
6. 0:32Find the fear and you find the handle.
7. 0:35Pull the handle and the whole person
8. 0:37moves.
9. 0:40Maybe it's money, maybe it's reputation,
10. 0:42success, security, maybe it's the
11. 0:45approval of others.
12. 0:47Maybe it's the affection of someone
13. 0:49whose opinion matters.
14. 0:51Find the fear and you can find the
15. 0:54chains.
16. 0:56That's why Jesus has something
17. 0:58extraordinary in today's gospel.
18. 1:02He says, "Do not be afraid."
19. 1:06And whenever Jesus repeats himself, it's
20. 1:08because he knows how difficult it is for
21. 1:10us to believe.
22. 1:13Because if we're honest, fear follows us
23. 1:15everywhere.
24. 1:18Some people are afraid of losing their
25. 1:19health.
26. 1:20Some are afraid of losing their
27. 1:22marriage, their child. Some are afraid
28. 1:25of getting older and what retirement
29. 1:27looks like. Some are afraid of being
30. 1:29forgotten. Some are afraid of death.
31. 1:33Some are afraid of living.
32. 1:36And some of you came to mass today
33. 1:38carrying a fear that no one else knows
34. 1:40about.
35. 1:42You smiled, you walked in, you greeted
36. 1:44the people, you sat in your usual pew,
37. 1:47but deep down inside there is a worry.
38. 1:51A fear.
39. 1:53A question that keeps you up at night.
40. 1:58But Jesus knows it.
41. 2:00That's why he keeps saying, "Do not be
42. 2:03afraid."
43. 2:05Now, there's something strange in
44. 2:06today's gospel that most people miss.
45. 2:10In the same passage where Jesus starts
46. 2:12this gospel saying, "Fear no one."
47. 2:16He also says, "Be afraid of the one who
48. 2:19can destroy both body and soul."
49. 2:24Sounds like a contradiction.
50. 2:26Fear no one,
51. 2:28but fear someone.
52. 2:30Which is it?
53. 2:32The answer
54. 2:34unlocks the entire gospel.
55. 2:38Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that there
56. 2:40are two very different types of fear.
57. 2:44There is the servile fear, the fear of a
58. 2:47slave.
59. 2:49The slave obeys because he fears
60. 2:51punishment. He fears being whipped. He
61. 2:54fears the consequences. He fears the
62. 2:56suffering.
63. 2:58But then there's another kind of fear.
64. 3:01Aquinas calls it filial fear.
65. 3:04The fear of a son.
66. 3:07Why? Because a son is afraid is not
67. 3:10afraid of punishment.
68. 3:12The son is afraid of hurting the
69. 3:13father's love.
70. 3:16He fears losing a relationship that
71. 3:18means everything to him. He's afraid of
72. 3:21disappointing the father.
73. 3:23He fears being separated from the one he
74. 3:26loves.
75. 3:29Servile fear shrinks us, controls us.
76. 3:35Filial fear makes us stand tall.
77. 3:40And here's a paradox at the center of
78. 3:42the Christian life.
79. 3:44The person who fears God in the second
80. 3:46way, the filial fear,
81. 3:49becomes the freest person on earth.
82. 3:53Because once God becomes the treasure of
83. 3:55your life, there is nothing left that
84. 3:57can truly enslave you.
85. 4:01Fear makes us smaller than we really
86. 4:03are.
87. 4:05Fear makes us compromise, do things we
88. 4:07wouldn't usually do.
89. 4:10Fear makes us stay silent when we should
90. 4:12speak.
91. 4:14How many marriages are
92. 4:16have been damaged or or are being
93. 4:19damaged because someone is afraid to
94. 4:21have an honest conversation?
95. 4:23How many vocations were never followed
96. 4:25because someone was afraid of what
97. 4:27others think?
98. 4:29How many people remain trapped in the
99. 4:30same sin
100. 4:32year after year because they're afraid
101. 4:35to act?
102. 4:37Fear shrinks the soul.
103. 4:40Faith enlarges it.
104. 4:42That's exactly what we see in our first
105. 4:44reading.
106. 4:46Jeremiah is not fearless. Listen to his
107. 4:49words again. He says, "Terror is on
108. 4:52every side."
109. 4:54His enemies surround him. They whisper
110. 4:56behind his back. They wait for him to
111. 4:59fail. They want him destroyed. Jeremiah
112. 5:03feels the fear.
113. 5:06But he keeps going.
114. 5:09Why? Because the saints were not people
115. 5:10who felt no fear.
116. 5:13Saints were people who refused to let
117. 5:15fear make their decisions.
118. 5:18And that's why tyrants and dictators
119. 5:21have always feared the church.
120. 5:25Why? Because Christians who live out
121. 5:26their faith are only truly They are the
122. 5:29only true free people in the world.
123. 5:33Some of you can understand this better
124. 5:34than most Americans ever will.
125. 5:37Many of you are from Cuba,
126. 5:40Nicaragua, Venezuela, other countries
127. 5:42where entire systems were built upon
128. 5:45fear.
129. 5:47I can control someone by fear.
130. 5:51That's how tyrants and dictators
131. 5:53survive.
132. 5:55Not through love and care for their
133. 5:56people, not through truth and
134. 5:59well-being. No, through fear and
135. 6:01control.
136. 6:04But every totalitarian regime eventually
137. 6:06discovers something frustrating.
138. 6:09There are certain people they cannot
139. 6:11[music] control.
140. 6:13People whose souls are free. People who
141. 6:16fear God more than they fear the state.
142. 6:19People who cannot be bought. People who
143. 6:22cannot be intimidated. People who refuse
144. 6:24to sell their conscience.
145. 6:27That's freedom, even within a communist
146. 6:30system.
147. 6:32That's what Jesus is talking about
148. 6:34today.
149. 6:35Perhaps some of you are sitting here
150. 6:37thinking,
151. 6:39I admire the and the courage of the
152. 6:41saints and courageous people.
153. 6:44I respect men and women who have stood
154. 6:46up for truth.
155. 6:49But I'm not that strong.
156. 6:51I worry all the time. I'm anxious.
157. 6:55I worry about my adult children.
158. 6:57I worry about my marriage. I worry about
159. 7:00my finances. I worry about my business.
160. 7:03I worry about my health. I worry about
161. 7:05my retirement and future holdings. I am
162. 7:08afraid
163. 7:10all the time.
164. 7:12If that's you,
165. 7:14then I need you to listen carefully.
166. 7:17Because Jesus does not answer our fears
167. 7:19with a lecture.
168. 7:22He answers them with a sparrow.
169. 7:25A tiny bird.
170. 7:26A bird so insignificant that most people
171. 7:29would never even notice it.
172. 7:31But Jesus says, "Not one sparrow falls
173. 7:34to the ground without your father's
174. 7:36knowledge.
175. 7:37Not one."
176. 7:40At this very moment God knows every
177. 7:42sparrow,
178. 7:44every leaf blowing across the parking
179. 7:46lot, every wave breaking on the ocean,
180. 7:49every star hanging in the universe.
181. 7:51Nothing escapes God's gaze.
182. 7:55Nothing is forgotten. Nothing is
183. 7:57unnoticed.
184. 7:59Then Jesus turns to you and says,
185. 8:03"Even the hairs on your head have all
186. 8:05been counted."
187. 8:07Not counted 10 years ago, not counted
188. 8:09yesterday, counted today.
189. 8:12At this very moment,
190. 8:15the God who created galaxies knows how
191. 8:18many hairs are on your head.
192. 8:21The God who holds the universe together
193. 8:22knows exactly what kept you awake last
194. 8:25night.
195. 8:26The God who conquered death knows the
196. 8:28burdens that you carry inside.
197. 8:32He knows the diagnosis that you're
198. 8:34waiting for. He knows the adult children
199. 8:36that you pray for. He knows the marriage
200. 8:38that is struggling. He knows how your
201. 8:40business needs attention. He knows the
202. 8:43loneliness that no one else feels.
203. 8:45>> [music]
204. 8:46>> He knows the grief that you carry.
205. 8:49And today he says to you, "I know."
206. 8:53Trust me, I know. I see. I have not
207. 8:57forgotten you.
208. 8:58You are worth more than many sparrows."
209. 9:02That's the antidote to fear.
210. 9:05Not willpower, not more exercise, not
211. 9:09more positive thinking, not pretending
212. 9:11everything is fine. The antidote to fear
213. 9:14is knowing that you are loved by a
214. 9:15father who sees everything and forgets
215. 9:18nothing.
216. 9:21Saint John says it beautifully,
217. 9:24"Perfect love casts out fear."
218. 9:28When you know you are loved, fear begins
219. 9:30to lose its grip.
220. 9:32When you know you belong to God, the
221. 9:34world begins to lose its power over you.
222. 9:37When you know that Christ has conquered
223. 9:39death itself,
224. 9:41that even the greatest fears no longer
225. 9:43have the final word.
226. 9:46So, let me ask you this final question
227. 9:49that every tyrant and dictator asks,
228. 9:54but let me ask you for a very different
229. 9:55reason.
230. 9:58What are you afraid to lose?
231. 10:01What are you anxious about?
232. 10:04Name it honestly before God.
233. 10:07What is the thing that keeps you up?
234. 10:09What's the thing you're clutching to so
235. 10:11tightly?
236. 10:12What is the thing that frightens you the
237. 10:14most?
238. 10:15Bring it to the altar today when you
239. 10:18receive Jesus in the Eucharist.
240. 10:20Place it in his hands.
241. 10:23And when Christ enters your soul, fear
242. 10:25does not necessarily disappear
243. 10:27overnight,
244. 10:29but fear no longer gets the final word.
245. 10:32Christ does.
246. 10:34So, hear his voice one more time, not as
247. 10:37a command, not as a promise,
248. 10:40but as a promise where he says, "Do not
249. 10:42be afraid.
250. 10:44You are known.
251. 10:46You are loved.
252. 10:48You are counted.
253. 10:50I will always take care of you.
254. 10:53Trust me.
255. 10:54Why?
256. 10:56Because you belong to the Father.
257. 10:58Amen."
258. 10:59>> Amen.