June 28, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02There's something fascinating about the
2. 0:04human hand.
3. 0:06You can learn a great deal about a
4. 0:08person simply by watching what they do
5. 0:11with their hands.
6. 0:13A newborn reaches for his mother's
7. 0:16fingers.
8. 0:18A father takes his son's hand as they
9. 0:20cross the street.
10. 0:22A bride places her hand into the hand of
11. 0:25the man she loves.
12. 0:27Hands can bless.
13. 0:30Hands can heal. Hands can comfort.
14. 0:34But hands also reveal something else.
15. 0:38They reveal our fears.
16. 0:42Have you ever noticed someone sitting
17. 0:44outside an operating room while a loved
18. 0:47one is in surgery?
19. 0:50Without even realizing, their fists are
20. 0:52clenched.
21. 0:54Fear does that.
22. 0:56Fear closes the hand.
23. 1:01Listen to Jesus' words in the gospel
24. 1:03today.
25. 1:05Whoever loves father or mother more than
26. 1:07me is not worthy of me.
27. 1:10Whoever loves son or daughter more than
28. 1:11me is not worthy of me.
29. 1:15Those words should disturb us.
30. 1:18Because they force us to ask an
31. 1:20important question.
32. 1:22Who speaks like this?
33. 1:26Who stands between a mother and her
34. 1:28child and says, "Love me more."
35. 1:32Well, only God has a right to say those
36. 1:34words.
37. 1:36And that's exactly what Jesus is
38. 1:37claiming.
39. 1:40But here is what we often misunderstand.
40. 1:43Jesus is not asking us to love our
41. 1:46families less.
42. 1:49He's asking us to stop possessing them.
43. 1:53There's a world of difference.
44. 1:56Because the moment that love becomes
45. 1:58possession,
46. 2:00it stops being love.
47. 2:03Every parent knows this.
48. 2:06When your child is born, you hold on to
49. 2:08them tightly because he cannot survive
50. 2:11without you.
51. 2:13But if 25 years later you're still
52. 2:15holding on to him in that same way,
53. 2:21well, that's possession.
54. 2:24Something has gone terribly wrong.
55. 2:28Love protects.
56. 2:30Possession controls.
57. 2:33Love gives life.
58. 2:36Possession refuses to let go.
59. 2:40How many parents have unintentionally
60. 2:43wounded their very children they love
61. 2:45because they could not stop holding on?
62. 2:50How many marriages have slowly
63. 2:53suffocated because one spouse is
64. 2:55confusion confuses love with ownership?
65. 3:00How many friendships have collapsed
66. 3:02because affection quietly turned down
67. 3:04into control?
68. 3:08A closed hand always becomes a cage.
69. 3:13But an open hand says something
70. 3:15completely different.
71. 3:17It says, "You belong first to God.
72. 3:21I thank God for you.
73. 3:24I will sacrifice for you. I will pray
74. 3:27for you.
75. 3:29But I will never pretend that you belong
76. 3:31to me."
77. 3:34St. Augustine's once said that we never
78. 3:36truly love another person
79. 3:39until we love them in God for God.
80. 3:44In other words, when God comes first,
81. 3:48everything else falls into its proper
82. 3:50place.
83. 3:51Not less,
84. 3:53better.
85. 3:56Now, if we turn to the first reading, it
86. 3:58gives us this remarkable image.
87. 4:01A woman sees the prophet Elisha passing
88. 4:04through town.
89. 4:06She could have admired him. She could
90. 4:07have thanked him.
91. 4:09She could have waved him down.
92. 4:13But instead, she makes a room.
93. 4:16She tells her husband, "Let us build a
94. 4:18little room for the man of God."
95. 4:21A bed, a table, a chair, a lamp. Nothing
96. 4:25extravagant,
97. 4:26just enough room.
98. 4:30Have you ever noticed what she had to do
99. 4:32before God worked his miracle?
100. 4:36She had to give up something.
101. 4:38Part of her home, part of her comfort,
102. 4:41part of her privacy. She literally
103. 4:43surrendered her space.
104. 4:45She opened up her home.
105. 4:48And because she made room for God,
106. 4:51God made room for life.
107. 4:54She had been barren. Her future looked
108. 4:56closed.
109. 4:58Hope had quietly died years before.
110. 5:03But God filled the space she had opened.
111. 5:07That's how God works.
112. 5:10He fills what we're willing to
113. 5:11surrender.
114. 5:14Which leads us to a difficult question.
115. 5:17Is there any room left
116. 5:19in your life for God?
117. 5:22Or have you filled every room already?
118. 5:25Every hour, every thought, every
119. 5:27ambition, every desire, so much work, so
120. 5:30much to do, so much business, so much
121. 5:33noise, so much distraction, the anxiety,
122. 5:36the possessions, so many plans.
123. 5:40Well, until God opens and stands at the
124. 5:43door of your heart,
125. 5:46and there's simply no room.
126. 5:49Cuz God has become one of the many
127. 5:51things in your life.
128. 5:54Perhaps that's why Jesus says, "Whoever
129. 5:56finds his life will lose it.
130. 5:58Whoever loses his life for my sake will
131. 6:00find it."
132. 6:02The world will say to you, "Close your
133. 6:04hand. Protect.
134. 6:07Keep what's yours. Keep it close. Hold
135. 6:10tight.
136. 6:12Don't let go."
137. 6:14What does Jesus say? He says the
138. 6:16opposite.
139. 6:17"Open your hand.
140. 6:19Trust me.
141. 6:21Because you cannot receive with a
142. 6:23clenched fist.
143. 6:25Because you cannot receive."
144. 6:29And at the very end of the gospel, Jesus
145. 6:31something almost surprising.
146. 6:33After speaking about the cross, after
147. 6:36speaking about losing your life,
148. 6:39he speaks about giving someone a cold
149. 6:42cup of water.
150. 6:44Why?
151. 6:46Well, because open hands always become
152. 6:49serving hands.
153. 6:52If your hands are open, you can serve.
154. 6:56A saint is simply someone whose hands
155. 6:59remain open long enough for God to use
156. 7:02them.
157. 7:05What are you holding on so tightly?
158. 7:08What's going on in your life right now
159. 7:11that has your hands clenched?
160. 7:14Your plans, your success, your future,
161. 7:17your overworked, your your money, your
162. 7:20fears, your anxieties, what you're
163. 7:23trying to possess,
164. 7:25or perhaps someone that you love.
165. 7:29The safest place for the people that you
166. 7:31love
167. 7:33has never been in your hands.
168. 7:36It has always been in God's hands.
169. 7:39And now in a few moments, without even
170. 7:41thinking about it, you're going to
171. 7:43preach this gospel with your body.
172. 7:47You will walk down the aisle. You will
173. 7:49not make a fist.
174. 7:51You will not grab at Jesus.
175. 7:54You will not seize him.
176. 7:57You will simply open your hand like a
177. 8:00child.
178. 8:02Empty.
179. 8:03Waiting.
180. 8:05Trusting.
181. 8:07Perhaps we've done these gestures
182. 8:09thousands of times without realizing
183. 8:11what we're saying.
184. 8:15An act of humility with open hands says,
185. 8:18"Lord, everything I have comes from you.
186. 8:22Everything that I am is because of you.
187. 8:25Everything I love belongs to you.
188. 8:28Everything I fear losing, I place into
189. 8:31your hands. Take whatever you wish.
190. 8:34Give whatever you desire.
191. 8:37Only let me close my hand Never let me
192. 8:39close my hands against you."
193. 8:43Because here's the great secret of the
194. 8:45Christian life.
195. 8:47A closed hand can hold on to what it
196. 8:49already has.
197. 8:51But it can never receive anything new.
198. 8:55Only an open hand can receive Jesus.
199. 8:59Only an open heart can receive his
200. 9:01grace.
201. 9:02Only an open life can receive joy.
202. 9:06Perhaps the holiest thing you will do
203. 9:10today will not be saying amen.
204. 9:13It'll be opening your hands in trust.
205. 9:18Because God has never failed to fill
206. 9:20your hands.
207. 9:22What his children are willing to open,
208. 9:24he will give.
209. 9:26Surrender your complete and total trust
210. 9:28to the Lord. Live your life with open
211. 9:32hands.
212. 9:33Amen.