May 11, 2025 Homily: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Every year on this Sunday, we hear from
2. 0:02this 10th chapter of John where Jesus
3. 0:06himself calls calls himself the good
4. 0:10shepherd, the one who knows his sheep,
5. 0:13calls them by name, and lays down his
6. 0:16life for
7. 0:17them. This image is one of the oldest
8. 0:21and most tender of our tradition.
9. 0:26If you ever travel to Rome, and I hope
10. 0:28you do, perhaps even during this Jubilee
11. 0:31year, that you make time to visit the
12. 0:35catacombs, the earliest Christian
13. 0:38cemeteries, the scabi beneath the St.
14. 0:41Peter's Basilica.
15. 0:43I had the great joy of accompanying
16. 0:45members of Legatus from all over the
17. 0:47United States to a pilgrimage just a
18. 0:50couple weeks ago as they walked beneath
19. 0:52the basilica to venerate the bones of
20. 0:55St. Peter himself. If you draw a line
21. 0:58directly from the high altar of St.
22. 1:00Peter's
23. 1:02down, there lies the bones of St. Peter.
24. 1:07And it was there that the Vatican
25. 1:08commissioned an excavation at that site
26. 1:10in the
27. 1:111940s where upon archaeologists in fact
28. 1:15found the burial spot of
29. 1:18Peter. But among other things they
30. 1:21unearthed Constantine's temple and the
31. 1:25tomb
32. 1:26itself. But the earliest Christian art
33. 1:29is there in the catacombs.
34. 1:32These images are very simple, unadored
35. 1:36compared to the art that will emerge
36. 1:39centuries
37. 1:40later. Yet these pictures are very
38. 1:43striking just because of their
39. 1:45simplicity and their
40. 1:47directness. One of the images is of
41. 1:51Jesus and Jesus is found there in the
42. 1:54catacombs as the good
43. 1:57shepherd. It's in the catacomb of St.
44. 2:00collected us. And it shows Jesus as a
45. 2:03young man, beardless with a sheep draped
46. 2:07over his shoulders, hoping holding a
47. 2:11bucket of water in his right
48. 2:13hand. Clearly, the image of Jesus as a
49. 2:16good shepherd that we find in today's
50. 2:18gospel spoke to the heart of those early
51. 2:22Christians, to the earliest church.
52. 2:25The shepherd image in the catacombs
53. 2:28appealed to these Christians from the
54. 2:30very beginning because it conveys this
55. 2:33personal nature, this relationship that
56. 2:37Jesus has with his
57. 2:39followers. It portrays the close
58. 2:41personal care that the shepherd has for
59. 2:44his
60. 2:45sheep. The shepherd has gone looking for
61. 2:48the one sheep that wandered off.
62. 2:51Having found it, he takes it home to the
63. 2:54flock upon his
64. 2:56shoulders. There's a bond between the
65. 2:58shepherd and this one sheep. And that's
66. 3:01what's being conveyed today in the
67. 3:04gospel. He declares that he knows his
68. 3:07own and his own know
69. 3:10him. Just as the father knows him, he
70. 3:13knows the
71. 3:14father. We need to understand that this
72. 3:16is an extraordinary statement.
73. 3:20Jesus is saying that the very personal
74. 3:23relationship he has with his heavenly
75. 3:25father is the model for the equally
76. 3:29personal relationship that he has with
77. 3:31each and every single one of
78. 3:34us. Jesus knows us as intimately as he
79. 3:37knows the
80. 3:39father and he wants us to know him
81. 3:42intimately as he knows the father.
82. 3:46There's a great deal to ponder here to
83. 3:49reflect
84. 3:51upon when it comes to the Lord. We're
85. 3:53not just one in the crowd lost in a sea
86. 3:57of
87. 3:57faces in a way there in a way that we
88. 4:02will never fully understand. The Lord
89. 4:05knows each and every single one of us by
90. 4:07name.
91. 4:09He relates to us in a personal way and
92. 4:12he invites us to relate to him in a
93. 4:14personal way. He wishes us to enter into
94. 4:17a personal relationship with
95. 4:20him. That's how the earliest Christians
96. 4:23imagined
97. 4:24Jesus. Not at first as a king, not at
98. 4:28first as a judge or a teacher. How did
99. 4:30they relate to Jesus? as a good
100. 4:34shepherd, a personal tender
101. 4:38caretaker, one who finds us when we're
102. 4:41lost and carries us when we're too weak
103. 4:43to
104. 4:44walk. That's the image that is that was
105. 4:47their anchor during time of heavy
106. 4:50persecution. And it should be our image
107. 4:53as well. Something that brings us
108. 4:57comfort. Well, as you all know by now, I
109. 5:00had a once-in-a-lifetime experience
110. 5:03being in St. Peter's Square when that
111. 5:06white smoke came out of the chimney to
112. 5:09announce the new pope, Leo I 14th. What
113. 5:13a moment. The square erupted with joy.
114. 5:18And among the thousands gathered, some
115. 5:21of you spotted me on
116. 5:23TV. Yes, I was in the crowd. and I
117. 5:27wanted you I wanted to be seen by you. I
118. 5:31saw the camera off in a very distant way
119. 5:34and I started to wave and cheer like a
120. 5:37kid on Christmas morning.
121. 5:40But in the sea of all these
122. 5:42pilgrims, what struck me was
123. 5:45this. That while I was among the
124. 5:48thousands, I felt
125. 5:51seen,
126. 5:53known, caught up in the mystery of the
127. 5:55church that is a church that is
128. 5:58alive. I was spotted in the crowd and it
129. 6:02reminded me that that's exactly how God
130. 6:05sees us.
131. 6:07Not as one in many but not as a face in
132. 6:10the masses but as his
133. 6:13own. The thing is that we need we need
134. 6:17to want to be
135. 6:19seen to be seen by the Lord to be healed
136. 6:23by the Lord to be taught by the Lord to
137. 6:26be cared for by the Lord. And that's the
138. 6:29promise of today's
139. 6:31gospel. I know my sheep and mine know
140. 6:34me. Jesus says, "Just as the father
141. 6:36knows me, I know the
142. 6:38father." Imagine that. The same deep,
143. 6:42intimate, unbreakable relationship
144. 6:44between Jesus and the father is what he
145. 6:47desires to have with each and every
146. 6:49single one of us. It's not just pretty
147. 6:53poetry. That's the divine reality. He
148. 6:56knows you. He calls you by name. He
149. 6:59carries you. And yes, he laid down his
150. 7:02life. Why? because he says you are worth
151. 7:04dying
152. 7:07for. Now, I don't know about you. I
153. 7:09don't know any real life
154. 7:11shepherds. I imagine that most of you
155. 7:14don't
156. 7:15either. I've only seen sheep from a
157. 7:18train on a window from the window of a
158. 7:21train. But I know
159. 7:23this. I can imagine that if you're in
160. 7:26danger and there's a wolf coming towards
161. 7:29you, most of us would say, "Hey, I'm
162. 7:32going to cut my losses. There's a sheep.
163. 7:34You want it? Go at it." But not the
164. 7:37shepherd. He lays down his life for the
165. 7:41flock. That's how much he matters to
166. 7:44him. That's how much the church matters
167. 7:46to him. That's how much our new pope Leo
168. 7:50the 14th matters to him. And now he
169. 7:53takes up the shepherd's staff of
170. 7:55Peter. And so today on this Good
171. 7:58Shepherd Sunday, we're not only
172. 7:59rejoicing in Christ our shepherd, we
173. 8:02also rejoice in the gift of a new vicor
174. 8:04of Christ on earth. And it's our duty to
175. 8:08pray for our new holy
176. 8:09father. That he may have a clear
177. 8:12voice, a heart that is a heart of a
178. 8:16lion, courageous. And may his his
179. 8:20example inspire us to holiness. May he
180. 8:24echo with the words of the true shepherd
181. 8:26and guide the church with love and true
182. 8:29devotion and fidelity to the teachings
183. 8:32of the
184. 8:33church. And as I mentioned, today is
185. 8:35also world day of prayer for
186. 8:38vocations. There's no better Sunday for
187. 8:41it because Jesus still
188. 8:43calls. He still knows. He still sends.
189. 8:48But the harvest is plenty and the
190. 8:50laborers are
191. 8:52few. So let us beg the Lord of the
192. 8:54harvest to call more young men to the
193. 8:57priesthood of Jesus Christ, more women
194. 9:00to religious life, more lay people to
195. 9:03live courageous, holy
196. 9:05lives, maybe even someone from this
197. 9:08parish, from your
198. 9:10family. And let us not just pray for
199. 9:12vocations. Let's live in a way that
200. 9:15inspires others to enter into the
201. 9:18priesthood or religious
202. 9:20life. Let our joy be
203. 9:22contagious. Let our faith be
204. 9:25attractive. Let our homes be little
205. 9:27chapels where the voice of the shepherd
206. 9:29is heard
207. 9:31clearly. So my brothers and sisters, on
208. 9:34this good sheeperd Sunday, I want to
209. 9:37tell you that Christ knows you
210. 9:40intimately and a very personal way.
211. 9:43that he loves you, that he's given us a
212. 9:46new shepherd on earth to walk with you,
213. 9:48Pope Leo. So may we each of us hear the
214. 9:53shepherd's
215. 9:54voice, hear the voice today and say with
216. 9:57great joy with waves and waving and
217. 10:01jumping up and down and saying, "Here I
218. 10:03am, Lord. I come to do your will." Amen.
219. 10:07Amen.