March 15, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03This Sunday in the middle of Lent, this
2. 0:06season of repentance, fasting, and
3. 0:10self-examination,
4. 0:12the church suddenly tells us to rejoice.
5. 0:17The priest may wear rose vestments. The
6. 0:20tone shifts.
7. 0:23The church gives us kind of an oasis.
8. 0:27This is Laetare Sunday from the word
9. 0:30laetare meaning rejoice.
10. 0:34But notice something important.
11. 0:37The church is not telling us to rejoice
12. 0:40because Lent is almost over.
13. 0:44We're not celebrating because the
14. 0:46discipline is about to ease up.
15. 0:50We rejoice because God is doing
16. 0:52something hopefully in us.
17. 0:56And the gospel today shows us exactly
18. 0:58what that something is.
19. 1:02Jesus encounters a man who has been
20. 1:04blind from birth.
21. 1:06Think about that.
22. 1:09This man has never seen the sunrise.
23. 1:12He's never seen his parents' face.
24. 1:16He's never seen the beauty of creation.
25. 1:20Darkness was the only world he knew.
26. 1:24And then Jesus does something
27. 1:26extraordinary.
28. 1:27He spits on the ground, makes mud,
29. 1:30places places it on the man's eyes, and
30. 1:34tells him to go and wash in the pool of
31. 1:36Siloam.
32. 1:39At first glance, it may seem strange.
33. 1:42Why the mud?
34. 1:45Well, the early Christians community
35. 1:48would have immediately seen the
36. 1:50connection.
37. 1:52In Genesis, God creates the man from
38. 1:55dust of the earth.
39. 1:57He forms Adam from clay and breathes
40. 2:00life into him.
41. 2:02So, when Jesus takes dust and forms mud
42. 2:05and place it it on the man's eyes, this
43. 2:09is not random.
44. 2:11It's an act of creation.
45. 2:14Christ is not simply healing the man, he
46. 2:17is recreating him.
47. 2:19>> [clears throat]
48. 2:20>> He's doing what only God can do.
49. 2:23But, here's the deeper point of the
50. 2:25story.
51. 2:27The miracle is not just about eyesight,
52. 2:30it's about vision.
53. 2:33Because something fascinating happens as
54. 2:35this story
55. 2:37unfolds.
56. 2:38The man who was blind begins to see more
57. 2:41and more clearly, not just physically,
58. 2:43but spiritually.
59. 2:46At first, he says, "The man called Jesus
60. 2:48healed me."
61. 2:50Then later, he calls him a prophet.
62. 2:54And finally, he says something
63. 2:55extraordinary. He says, "Lord, I
64. 2:57believe."
65. 3:00His eyes are open not only to light, but
66. 3:02to faith.
67. 3:04At that same time, the people who
68. 3:07supposedly see clearly, the Pharisees,
69. 3:09become more and more blind.
70. 3:13They have eyes that function perfectly
71. 3:15well, but they cannot see the truth
72. 3:17standing right there in front of them.
73. 3:21This is the real drama of the gospel.
74. 3:25A blind man begins to see.
75. 3:28And the people who think they can see
76. 3:32reveal that they are actually blind.
77. 3:36And that's where the gospel becomes
78. 3:38uncomfortable for us.
79. 3:40Because it forces us to ask the
80. 3:42question,
81. 3:44"What kind of sight do I have?"
82. 3:48Well, there are two ways to see life.
83. 3:51One is natural sight.
84. 3:54Natural sight looks at the world the way
85. 3:56everyone else does.
86. 3:58Sees all the success, the beauty, the
87. 4:01status, the pleasure, the security. It
88. 4:05measures life by comfort and
89. 4:07achievement.
90. 4:09But if that's the only way that you see
91. 4:12the world,
92. 4:13then life can become confusing and often
93. 4:17frightening
94. 4:19because everything is fragile.
95. 4:22Everything can be lost.
96. 4:26But the gospel speaks about something
97. 4:28deeper, the vision of faith.
98. 4:32Faith allows us to see the reality the
99. 4:34way God sees it.
100. 4:37Faith allows us to see Christ at the
101. 4:39very center of our lives.
102. 4:41Faith allows us to see suffering not as
103. 4:44meaningless, but as something that can
104. 4:46be united with the cross.
105. 4:49Faith allows us to see other people not
106. 4:51as obstacles or competitors, but as
107. 4:54brothers and sisters created in the
108. 4:57image of God.
109. 4:59Faith allows us to see eternity as the
110. 5:02true horizon of our lives.
111. 5:06And here's the difficult truth.
112. 5:09Faith is not automatic.
113. 5:12You can have eyes and still be blind.
114. 5:15You can go to mass every Sunday or go to
115. 5:17mass every day and still be blind.
116. 5:20You can know all the prayers, all the
117. 5:22responses, know all the rituals, and
118. 5:24still not be able to see.
119. 5:28The Pharisees knew scripture better than
120. 5:30anyone.
121. 5:32They were good people. These were
122. 5:33religious people.
123. 5:35They were disciplined,
124. 5:38but their hearts were closed.
125. 5:41And that's what Jesus is saying to us.
126. 5:45At the end of the gospel, he says, "I
127. 5:47came into this world so that those who
128. 5:49did not see might see, and those who
129. 5:52think they might see become blind."
130. 5:55In other words, the greatest obstacle to
131. 5:57faith is spiritual pride.
132. 6:01It's that quiet voice, that quiet belief
133. 6:04that everything's fine. I'm okay. I
134. 6:07don't need anything.
135. 6:09I don't need to change.
136. 6:11I don't really need to go through a
137. 6:13conversion.
138. 6:15And Lent exi- exists precisely to
139. 6:18shatter that illusion. You do need
140. 6:20change. You do need conversion.
141. 6:24But it's uncomfortable. It's
142. 6:25inconvenient.
143. 6:29Prayer begins to clear our vision.
144. 6:33If you fast, fasting breaks our
145. 6:36attachment to comfort.
146. 6:39If you give it almsgiving, it opens your
147. 6:42heart to others. Do you see how Lent can
148. 6:44be transformative?
149. 6:47Little by little, light begins to be to
150. 6:50bring be brought to the center.
151. 6:54That's why today the church says
152. 6:56rejoice.
153. 6:58This is, after all, good news.
154. 7:01Because if you're here
155. 7:03and you're listening to the word of God,
156. 7:05maybe not daydreaming or thinking about
157. 7:07what you have to do later on today, but
158. 7:09if you're really truly listening to the
159. 7:11word of God,
160. 7:14and something in your heart is stirring
161. 7:16even a little,
162. 7:18then Christ is already working on your
163. 7:20sight.
164. 7:22He's trying to lead you out of darkness
165. 7:24into light.
166. 7:27But here's another question that remains
167. 7:29for all of us.
168. 7:31Do we want to see?
169. 7:34Because the blind man had to do
170. 7:36something. He had to go and wash.
171. 7:39He had to respond to Christ's command.
172. 7:42Again, we're not Again, we're being
173. 7:44asked to move.
174. 7:47Grace always invites us, but it never
175. 7:49forces us.
176. 7:52Some of us here today know exactly what
177. 7:54Christ is asking of us. We know exactly.
178. 7:57We can see what Christ is asking of us.
179. 8:00To forgive someone that we haven't
180. 8:02forgiven, to break that habit of sin
181. 8:05that we keep falling into, to return to
182. 8:08confession after many years, to make
183. 8:10Sunday truly sacred,
184. 8:13to reorder our lives so that Christ is
185. 8:16at the very center and not just some
186. 8:18accessory.
187. 8:21And yet we hesitate.
188. 8:23The blind man did not hesitate. He went,
189. 8:26he washed, and he saw.
190. 8:30And so, my brothers and sisters, on this
191. 8:32fourth Sunday of Lent, we're halfway
192. 8:34through.
193. 8:36Don't waste it. If you've fallen off the
194. 8:38track, get back on.
195. 8:40Let Christ touch your eyes. Let him
196. 8:43expose what needs to change. Let him
197. 8:46lead you into the light, because the
198. 8:48greatest tragedy in life is not physical
199. 8:51blindness.
200. 8:52The greatest tragedy is to go through
201. 8:54life with perfect eyesight and still not
202. 8:57be able to see.
203. 9:00But the greatest miracle is when a
204. 9:02person encounters Christ
205. 9:05and can finally say what this man said
206. 9:08at the end of the Gospel.
207. 9:10Lord, I believe. Amen.
208. 9:13>> Amen.