June 29, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02This Sunday across the world, the church
2. 0:05pauses to honor not one but two.
3. 0:09Two of the greatest saints in her
4. 0:11history.
5. 0:12Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
6. 0:15Two men who could couldn't have been
7. 0:18more different.
8. 0:21And yet whom God chose to be the twin
9. 0:23foundations of our church.
10. 0:27Their feast is more than just a
11. 0:29remembrance.
12. 0:32It's a challenge, a summons, a a
13. 0:35promise.
14. 0:37We often hear this phrase.
15. 0:40God doesn't call the qualified.
16. 0:43He qualifies the called.
17. 0:47Saints Peter and Paul are living proof
18. 0:50of that.
19. 0:52Their lives tell a story of what happens
20. 0:55when human weakness is met with divine
21. 0:57grace.
22. 1:00When sin encounters mercy.
23. 1:03When fear is overcome by love.
24. 1:07And when a very simple yes to Jesus
25. 1:11transforms the world.
26. 1:14I want to begin with Peter. Peter the
27. 1:17fisherman.
28. 1:19Peter the impulsive one.
29. 1:21Peter who tried to walk on water and
30. 1:23sank.
31. 1:25Peter who confessed Christ as the living
32. 1:27God and then hours later tried to talk
33. 1:30Jesus out of the cross.
34. 1:33Peter who swore loyalty and passion.
35. 1:37Then denied the Lord three times when
36. 1:39the crowed.
37. 1:41And yet Jesus did not give up on him.
38. 1:46Instead he called him to the be the
39. 1:47rock.
40. 1:49You are Peter and upon this rock I will
41. 1:51build my church.
42. 1:53Why Peter?
43. 1:56Certainly not because he was flawless,
44. 1:59but perhaps precisely because he wasn't.
45. 2:05Because he knew the taste of failure
46. 2:08and the burning need for mercy.
47. 2:12And Jesus wanted the church built not on
48. 2:14perfection, but on faith,
49. 2:17on humility,
50. 2:19on the strength that comes from being
51. 2:21forgiven.
52. 2:24Peter would spend the rest of his life
53. 2:26proclaiming Christ, first in Jerusalem,
54. 2:29then across the Mediterranean, and
55. 2:31finally in Rome.
56. 2:34Then, tradition tells us, during Nero's
57. 2:36persecution, he was arrested,
58. 2:39tried, and condemned.
59. 2:41He was crucified, crucified upside down
60. 2:45because he felt unworthy to die in the
61. 2:47same way as our Lord.
62. 2:50But before he died, there's one story
63. 2:52that I love, and I'm I'm sure I've told
64. 2:55you this before,
65. 2:58but Peter, it is said, tried to flee
66. 3:00Rome.
67. 3:02I'm sure many of his followers were
68. 3:03saying, "You're too important. You're
69. 3:05our leader. You need to be saved."
70. 3:07And so he's walking out of Rome upon on
71. 3:10the Appian Way, and he sees a man coming
72. 3:13towards him.
73. 3:14He recognizes that it's Jesus.
74. 3:18Startled, Peter asks,
75. 3:21"Quo vadis, Domine?"
76. 3:23"Lord, where are you going?"
77. 3:26And Jesus replies, "Back to Rome to be
78. 3:29crucified again in your place."
79. 3:33And with that,
80. 3:34Peter turned around and walked back to
81. 3:37Rome.
82. 3:39He knew what it meant to be a shepherd.
83. 3:41He knew what love required.
84. 3:45Then there's Paul.
85. 3:48Paul the scholar,
86. 3:50Paul the Pharisee, Paul the zealous
87. 3:52persecutor of Christians.
88. 3:55When we first meet Paul on the scene,
89. 3:58he's in the Acts of the Apostles. And
90. 4:01he's approving the stoning of Stephen.
91. 4:04And yet Jesus meets him on the road of
92. 4:07Damascus,
93. 4:08stops him in his tracks, blinds him with
94. 4:12light, and transforms Saul into Paul,
95. 4:17the greatest missionary the church has
96. 4:19ever known.
97. 4:21Paul would take the gospel further than
98. 4:24anyone imagined, across cities,
99. 4:27languages, cultures, and continents.
100. 4:31His letters form the theological
101. 4:33backbone to the New Testament.
102. 4:36But Paul also suffered, suffered
103. 4:39greatly.
104. 4:40He was beaten, stoned almost to death,
105. 4:44imprisoned, shipwrecked, mocked, and
106. 4:48eventually, like Peter, he was martyred
107. 4:50in Rome, beheaded by a sword because he
108. 4:53was a Roman citizen.
109. 4:56Listen again to those words in the
110. 4:58second reading from today. He says, "I
111. 5:00have fought the good fight. I have
112. 5:02finished the race. I have kept the
113. 5:05faith."
114. 5:07That wasn't pride speaking.
115. 5:10That was a man who had given everything,
116. 5:13who had nothing left to prove because he
117. 5:16had held nothing back.
118. 5:20And so today we honor these two giants,
119. 5:23not just because they were brave or
120. 5:25eloquent or influential,
121. 5:28but because they were transformed.
122. 5:31Because they allowed God to redirect
123. 5:33their lives, and because they gave
124. 5:35witness all the way to the very end.
125. 5:39Their feast reminds us that the church
126. 5:41is built not on ideas or policies,
127. 5:45they're built on people.
128. 5:48Real people
129. 5:50who had an encounter with the reason the
130. 5:52risen Lord, with Jesus himself.
131. 5:57And people who said yes to his call,
132. 5:59even when it cost them everything,
133. 6:03gave their lives freely to Jesus.
134. 6:07You have to understand that the early
135. 6:08church grew, and it grew so fast. Why?
136. 6:11Because people were sharing with one
137. 6:14another, this is what Jesus has done in
138. 6:16my life. I want to tell you and share
139. 6:19who Jesus is.
140. 6:23They would share with them in the
141. 6:24experience of Christ.
142. 6:28Peter represents the church's structure,
143. 6:31its continuity, its authority, its unity
144. 6:36under the office of the Pope.
145. 6:38Paul represents the church's fire, its
146. 6:41missionary spirit, its boldness, its
147. 6:44passion to reach others in the faith.
148. 6:48We need both.
149. 6:51The church need needs Peters,
150. 6:54leaders who keep us anchored, who
151. 6:56safeguard the deposit of faith, who
152. 6:59serve as visible signs of unity.
153. 7:03And we also need Pauls,
154. 7:06those who will stir things up, who
155. 7:09remind us that the Holy Spirit cannot be
156. 7:11boxed in, that the gospel must go out
157. 7:14into the world.
158. 7:17One without the other is an imbalance.
159. 7:20But together they give us the full
160. 7:22picture of the church's mission.
161. 7:25A mission that was entrusted to us by
162. 7:27Christ himself.
163. 7:29In every age, the Petrine ministry
164. 7:31reminds us that
165. 7:34that Jesus is the one
166. 7:36at the helm.
167. 7:39Again, Peter and Paul were not perfect
168. 7:42men.
169. 7:43Far from it.
170. 7:45Peter was impulsive, stubborn. He denied
171. 7:48knowing Jesus.
172. 7:50Paul began as Saul, a fierce persecutor
173. 7:53of Christians.
174. 7:55He stood by Stephen and was stoned.
175. 7:58Convinced that he was doing God's work
176. 8:00by hunting down other followers of
177. 8:02Christ.
178. 8:04And yet, these are the men that God
179. 8:06chose.
180. 8:08He did not choose them because they were
181. 8:10flawless.
182. 8:11He chose them because they were willing
183. 8:13to be changed.
184. 8:15Peter's fear became courage.
185. 8:19Paul's zeal for persecution became a
186. 8:21passion for the good news of Christ.
187. 8:25Their weaknesses did not disqualify
188. 8:27them.
189. 8:28They became the very places where God's
190. 8:30grace shone brightly.
191. 8:33This should give us hope.
192. 8:37We are not saints because we never fail.
193. 8:40We need to become saints because like
194. 8:42Peter and Paul, we let Christ pick up
195. 8:46pick us back up when we fall.
196. 8:49We keep returning.
197. 8:51We need to keep saying yes. We need to
198. 8:54be able to trust no matter how tangled
199. 8:56our story becomes.
200. 9:00So, how do we honor Peter and Paul
201. 9:02today?
202. 9:04Not simply by remembering their deaths,
203. 9:07by but we need to imitate their lives.
204. 9:10By letting Jesus meet us, redirect us,
205. 9:13and change us.
206. 9:15By believing that we can be changed.
207. 9:18By holding fast to the truth that they
208. 9:20preached and by
209. 9:22carrying their fire into the world.
210. 9:25Because here's the truth.
211. 9:27You and I are meant to be pillars.
212. 9:29Pillars of the church today.
213. 9:32Not apostles by title, but by witnesses,
214. 9:35by courage, by fidelity.
215. 9:38So, my brothers and sisters,
216. 9:41Peter and Paul aren't distant statues on
217. 9:43the calendar.
218. 9:45They are our our companions on the road.
219. 9:49They are praying for us now, cheering us
220. 9:51on from heaven, urging us to keep going,
221. 9:54to be faithful, to seek holiness.
222. 9:58So, today let us run the race.
223. 10:00Let us keep the faith.
224. 10:02And let us ask with open hearts,
225. 10:05"Quo vadis, Domine? Where are you going,
226. 10:08Lord?" Because wherever you're going,
227. 10:10Lord, I want to follow.
228. 10:13Amen.
229. 10:14Amen.