May 3, 2026 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01There are moments in life when we do not
2. 0:04need more information.
3. 0:08We need someone we can trust.
4. 0:11A child lost in a crowd does not need a
5. 0:13map. He needs a hand.
6. 0:17A patient waiting for test results does
7. 0:19not need a lecture on biology.
8. 0:23She or he needs a doctor who will look
9. 0:25them in the eye and tell them the truth.
10. 0:29A family standing at the grave does not
11. 0:31need more slogans. They need hope that
12. 0:35that it is that they will be stronger
13. 0:37than death.
14. 0:40And at the last supper, that is exactly
15. 0:42where the disciples are.
16. 0:45They are not confused because they lack
17. 0:47information.
18. 0:49They are afraid because everything they
19. 0:51trusted is about to be shaken.
20. 0:55Jesus has just told them that he is
21. 0:57leaving.
22. 0:59Judas has already gone into the night.
23. 1:03Peter is about to deny him.
24. 1:06The cross is no longer this distant
25. 1:08possibility, but it is just about a
26. 1:11couple hours away.
27. 1:14And Jesus says to them,
28. 1:16"Do not let your hearts be troubled."
29. 1:21That line is almost impossible to
30. 1:22understand unless we remember who is
31. 1:25saying it.
32. 1:27The one going to the cross is the one
33. 1:30comforting the ones who will run from
34. 1:33it.
35. 1:34That's Christianity.
36. 1:37Not man reaching up to God, but God
37. 1:40entering the room, sitting at the table,
38. 1:43looking into the eyes of frightened
39. 1:45people and saying, "Trust me."
40. 1:49And then Thomas says what all of us say
41. 1:52when life becomes uncertain.
42. 1:54"Master, we do not know where you are
43. 1:56going. How can we know the way?
44. 2:00This is not just Thomas.
45. 2:02This is every human heart.
46. 2:05How do I know the way?
47. 2:08How do I know that I'm making the right
48. 2:09decisions?
49. 2:11How do I know that my life is going
50. 2:12somewhere?
51. 2:14How do I know that I'm not wasting my
52. 2:16time, my love, my suffering, my
53. 2:18vocation, my marriage, my family?
54. 2:23But Jesus does not give Thomas a map.
55. 2:26He gives him himself.
56. 2:29I am the way, the truth, and the life.
57. 2:33Not I will show you the way.
58. 2:36Not I will explain this truth to you.
59. 2:40Not I will point you towards life. No,
60. 2:43he says, "I am."
61. 2:46I am the way.
62. 2:49That is the claim that changes
63. 2:51everything.
64. 2:53Because Christianity is not first a
65. 2:55system of ideas. It's not a moral code.
66. 2:58It's not a a cultural inheritance, some
67. 3:01nice philosophical ideas. It's not even
68. 3:04the first set of beautiful traditions.
69. 3:06Christianity is a person.
70. 3:10The way is a person. The truth is a
71. 3:12person. The life is a person.
72. 3:15And that means the deepest question of
73. 3:17your life is not
74. 3:19"What do I believe?"
75. 3:21The deepest question is
76. 3:23"Whom do I trust?"
77. 3:26Because everyone trusts someone.
78. 3:29We trust voices we follow. We trust
79. 3:31opinions we we repeat. We trust the
80. 3:35fears we obey. We trust the wounds we
81. 3:38let define us. We trust a culture when
82. 3:41it tells us what matters. We trust
83. 3:44success when it promises us an identity.
84. 3:47We trust comfort when it promises us
85. 3:49peace.
86. 3:52And then Jesus stands in the middle of
87. 3:54all of that and says,
88. 3:56"Trust me."
89. 3:58Not because the road will be easy,
90. 4:00because I am the road.
91. 4:04That is why he says, "In my Father's
92. 4:06house are are many dwelling places."
93. 4:09Notice what he does not say.
94. 4:12He does not say, "In my Father's house
95. 4:14there will be many ideas."
96. 4:16He does not say, "In my Father's house
97. 4:18there will be many theories."
98. 4:21He says, "There is a house,
99. 4:23a home, a place, a father."
100. 4:27That is what the human soul is starving
101. 4:29for. There is spiritual hunger, not just
102. 4:33for success, but a home. Not just for
103. 4:36achievement, but a home. Not just for
104. 4:39distractions,
105. 4:40but a home. Not just for applause,
106. 4:44a real home.
107. 4:47Every person in this church is trying to
108. 4:49have that
109. 4:51home.
110. 4:53Some people try to get home through
111. 4:54control. If only I control everything, I
112. 4:57will finally be safe in this situation.
113. 5:01Some people try to get home through
114. 5:03pleasure.
115. 5:04If I can only feel enough, I will be
116. 5:07alive.
117. 5:09Some people try to be home through
118. 5:10achievement and things and material
119. 5:13wealth. If only I can have this,
120. 5:16then I will finally matter.
121. 5:19Some people try to get home through
122. 5:21being through being needed.
123. 5:24If everyone depends on me, then I will
124. 5:26finally know who I am.
125. 5:29But none of those things is home.
126. 5:32They are all hotels.
127. 5:35You can't stay for a while. You can stay
128. 5:37for a while, but you can't live there
129. 5:39forever.
130. 5:41And Jesus says, "I'm going to prepare a
131. 5:43place for you."
132. 5:45That means your life is not random.
133. 5:47Your suffering is not meaningless. Your
134. 5:50future is not empty.
135. 5:53There is a place prepared for you and in
136. 5:56your heart.
137. 5:58But here's the hard part.
138. 6:01If Jesus is preparing a place for us
139. 6:03there,
140. 6:04he's also preparing for a place here.
141. 6:09That is where many of us resist him.
142. 6:12We want the comfort of heaven without
143. 6:14the conversion of discipleship.
144. 6:17We want Jesus as consolation, but not
145. 6:19Jesus as the way. We want peace, but we
146. 6:22do not want to surrender. We want the
147. 6:25Father's house, but we still want to
148. 6:27decorate it as our own little kingdom.
149. 6:32That's why this gospel is so powerful.
150. 6:35Jesus is not simply saying, "One day you
151. 6:38will have a place in heaven if only
152. 6:41you're good."
153. 6:43No, he's saying, "Let me reorder your
154. 6:45life.
155. 6:47Let me reorder your life now so you can
156. 6:49become the kind of person who can live
157. 6:51in the Father's house forever."
158. 6:54That's what holiness is.
159. 6:57Holiness is not some strange way.
160. 7:01Holiness is becoming a home with God.
161. 7:05And then the first reading shows us what
162. 7:07that looks like in real time.
163. 7:11In the Acts of the Apostles, we hear
164. 7:13that the church is in trouble.
165. 7:15It has its problems. There's tension.
166. 7:18There are complaints. There is neglect.
167. 7:21Some widows have been overlooked. In
168. 7:24other words, the church is already the
169. 7:26church.
170. 7:27Human, messy, complicated, holy, but not
171. 7:31perfect.
172. 7:33What do the apostles do?
173. 7:36They do not pretend there's no problem.
174. 7:38They do not panic. They do not abandon
175. 7:40the mission.
176. 7:42They pray,
177. 7:43they discern, and then they call forth
178. 7:46new servants.
179. 7:48That's the genius of the church.
180. 7:52The church does not become holy because
181. 7:54there are no problems.
182. 7:56The church becomes holy when problems
183. 7:57become an invitation to go deeper, into
184. 8:00deeper service.
185. 8:04That is a word for every parish.
186. 8:07That is the word for every family.
187. 8:10That is the word for every marriage.
188. 8:12A word for all of us.
189. 8:15Deeper service.
190. 8:17Stop asking for a life with no problems.
191. 8:21Ask for the grace to become holy through
192. 8:23the problems.
193. 8:26Because sometimes the thing you're
194. 8:28complaining about is the very place God
195. 8:30is asking you to serve.
196. 8:33The widows were being neglected, and
197. 8:35from the wound, from that wound came the
198. 8:38diaconate.
199. 8:39From that crisis came Stephen, the first
200. 8:42my the first martyr.
201. 8:44From that problem came a group of
202. 8:47saints.
203. 8:49That's how God works.
204. 8:51He builds roads through places we
205. 8:53thought were dead ends.
206. 8:55Allow yourself to be built into living
207. 8:58stones, to become a spiritual house, to
208. 9:01become people through whom others can
209. 9:03find the way.
210. 9:06So today, do not ask God only to show
211. 9:09you the way.
212. 9:10Ask him to make you be part of the way
213. 9:13for someone else.
214. 9:15Ask him to make your home, your
215. 9:17marriage, your friendship, your parish,
216. 9:20your words, your wounds, your service
217. 9:23into a place where someone else can say,
218. 9:26"Maybe God is real.
219. 9:29Maybe mercy is possible.
220. 9:32Maybe I am not lost.
221. 9:35Maybe there is a place for me too.
222. 9:38Because there is.
223. 9:41There's a place prepared. There's a
224. 9:43father waiting. There's a savior who has
225. 9:45gone ahead of us.
226. 9:47And there is a road.
227. 9:50A path. Not an idea, not a theory, not a
228. 9:53program, a person, Jesus Christ.
229. 9:58So my brothers and sisters, he is the
230. 10:00way,
231. 10:01the truth and the life.
232. 10:04Do not let your hearts be troubled.
233. 10:07Trust him.
234. 10:08Follow him.
235. 10:10Let him build you.
236. 10:12And then go out into the world and help
237. 10:14someone else find that same road back to
238. 10:18the home.
239. 10:19Amen.