November 2, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Today on the commemoration of all the
2. 0:04faithful departed, all souls day, the
3. 0:08church invites us to stand in that
4. 0:10sacred place where grief meets hope.
5. 0:16This is not a day of denial or of false
6. 0:19comfort. It's a day of truth.
7. 0:23We must face what we often ignore.
8. 0:28One day, sooner or later, every single
9. 0:30one of us will die.
10. 0:34We fill our days with noise, schedules,
11. 0:37errands, distractions, distractions,
12. 0:40anything to avoid the inedible.
13. 0:44But today, the church stops us in our
14. 0:46tracks and says, "Enough noise.
15. 0:50Enough distractions.
16. 0:52Look up. Wake up. There is more."
17. 0:57Let's face it, we don't like to think
18. 0:59about death.
19. 1:01We distract ourselves, fill our days
20. 1:03with noise
21. 1:05as if somehow we could overturn
22. 1:09or outrun death. But today, the church
23. 1:12is like a mother who loves her children
24. 1:15enough to tell them the truth.
25. 1:19Look us in the eye and say, "Remember
26. 1:22that the Lord has more for you."
27. 1:26Even Steve Jobs, who was not a
28. 1:28theologian, but a man who thought deeply
29. 1:31about life, once said something striking
30. 1:34at his 2005 commencement speech at
31. 1:37Stanford.
32. 1:39Reflecting on on his mortality, he said,
33. 1:44"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is
34. 1:46the most important tool I've ever
35. 1:49encountered to help me make the big
36. 1:51choices in life.
37. 1:53Because because almost everything, all
38. 1:56external expectations, all pride, all
39. 2:00fear of embarrassment or failure,
40. 2:03these things just fall away in the face
41. 2:05of death.
42. 2:07Leaving only what is truly important.
43. 2:10Remembering that you're going to die is
44. 2:12the best way that I know to avoid the
45. 2:14trap of thinking you have something to
46. 2:16lose.
47. 2:18You are already naked. There is no
48. 2:21reason not to follow your heart.
49. 2:25Jobs wasn't preaching,
50. 2:28but he stumbled upon something
51. 2:30profoundly spiritual.
52. 2:32Death has a way of stripping away
53. 2:34illusions.
54. 2:36Reminds us that life is fragile,
55. 2:39fleeting, and not meant to be wasted on
56. 2:41the trivial things.
57. 2:44But while Jobs saw death as a tool for
58. 2:47clarity,
59. 2:49the Christian sees it as a threshold,
60. 2:52not the end of meaning, but the moment
61. 2:55when meaning is fulfilled.
62. 2:57Christ takes that stark reality and
63. 3:00transforms it. For those who live in
64. 3:03him, death is [clears throat] not the
65. 3:05end of the story. It is the doorway to
66. 3:08glory.
67. 3:10As I said, every single one of us will
68. 3:13draw our final breath and the world will
69. 3:17go on and continue without us. So the
70. 3:20real question is not if we will die, but
71. 3:25what happens after?
72. 3:27Is it over? Is it just darkness,
73. 3:30nothingness, silence?
74. 3:32Or is there more?
75. 3:35The world urges us to cling to the
76. 3:37present, build our legacies, squeeze
77. 3:41every meaning out from from the little
78. 3:44time that we have.
79. 3:46But Jesus says something radically
80. 3:48different. He says, "I am the
81. 3:51resurrection and life. Whoever believes
82. 3:53in me, even if he dies, will live."
83. 3:57He entered death through betrayal,
84. 4:00agony, and violent and the violent
85. 4:02cross. He came through it to proclaim
86. 4:04that love is stronger than death. And
87. 4:07life is not swallowed by the grave. It
88. 4:10is transformed by it.
89. 4:13That's what we celebrate today.
90. 4:16We celebrate that death does not have
91. 4:18the final word. Love does.
92. 4:22See what love the father has bestowed on
93. 4:24us, says St. John.
94. 4:27He's practically shouting, "Open your
95. 4:29eyes. See how deeply you are loved. See
96. 4:34what God has done for you.
97. 4:37That love is not sentimental or vague.
98. 4:40It is tangible.
99. 4:42It is embodied in the cross, poured into
100. 4:45our souls at baptism, made real in the
101. 4:48eukarist. It is the love that leads our
102. 4:51loved ones through the darkness into
103. 4:53life. The love that refuses to release.
104. 4:57The love that sustains us when the chair
105. 4:59beside us is empty or the when the phone
106. 5:03does no the phone no longer rings.
107. 5:07That is why we pray for the dead
108. 5:10because love doesn't end at the grave.
109. 5:13Our prayers, our masses, our acts of
110. 5:17charity, they matter.
111. 5:20They speak love's language beyond the
112. 5:22grave. Because when we pray for the
113. 5:25faithful departed, we say to God,
114. 5:27remember them as we remember them, Lord.
115. 5:31Purify them as you purified us. Bring
116. 5:35them home.
117. 5:37We believe in the communion of saints,
118. 5:40heaven and earth.
119. 5:42The saints in glory pray for us. We pray
120. 5:47on earth for those still needing to be
121. 5:49purified.
122. 5:51In that exchange, love flows like oxygen
123. 5:54through the blood of Christ.
124. 5:57But this feast holds a mirror right up
125. 5:59to our faces.
126. 6:02And it's asking us, what are you living
127. 6:04for?
128. 6:06What are you building these days upon?
129. 6:09This does not apply only to them, but it
130. 6:12applies to us.
131. 6:14to the choices we make today that we may
132. 6:18love, that we may forgive and believe.
133. 6:21Because if we live as though this life
134. 6:25is all there is,
135. 6:27we will cling desperately to what fades.
136. 6:31But if we live in light of eternity,
137. 6:33everything changes.
138. 6:36Suddenly, forgiveness becomes vital.
139. 6:39Mercy becomes essential. Sacrifice makes
140. 6:42sense.
141. 6:44We begin to love diff differently
142. 6:47because we know where it is leading.
143. 6:50When St. Paul told his communities not
144. 6:52to grieve as those who have no hope, he
145. 6:55didn't tell them to hide their grief
146. 6:58because grief is human, sacred, the cost
147. 7:01of love.
148. 7:03But he did say, "Do not grieve without
149. 7:07hope."
150. 7:09Christian hope is not mere optimism.
151. 7:13It is the certainty that the God who
152. 7:16raised Jesus from the dead will raise us
153. 7:18too.
154. 7:21When we visit the grave,
155. 7:23whisper God, whisper goodbyes, we are
156. 7:26proclaiming not just with words but with
157. 7:29faith that death does not define us.
158. 7:34It will never define us. As Jesus says,
159. 7:37"This is the will of him who sent me
160. 7:39that I should lose nothing of all that
161. 7:41has been given to me."
162. 7:44I've stood at many graves in different
163. 7:46cemeteries as a priest and sometimes
164. 7:49even burying back tears.
165. 7:51But what I've learned is this.
166. 7:54Hope and sorrow are not enemies.
167. 7:57They are companions.
168. 7:59The deeper the love, the harder the
169. 8:01goodbye. But the deeper the love, the
170. 8:04stronger the hope
171. 8:06because love recognizes love.
172. 8:09And we know that when we stand before
173. 8:12the face of God, we will see his glory.
174. 8:16Because that's what Jesus promises us
175. 8:19today. The church asks us to remember,
176. 8:22but not merely with nostalgia, but with
177. 8:25faith. to light a candle, to say a
178. 8:29prayer, to visit a grave, but more than
179. 8:33that, to live your life so that your own
180. 8:35soul will one day be remembered with
181. 8:37joy.
182. 8:39Make peace with those who have wounded
183. 8:41you. Tell your family that you love
184. 8:43them. Do not postpone holiness and
185. 8:46disciplehip.
186. 8:48Do not wait until tomorrow to become who
187. 8:50God calls you to be today.
188. 8:54Death will come, but so will
189. 8:56resurrection.
190. 8:59We live in a world obsessed with
191. 9:00avoiding death. We paint it away. We
192. 9:03hide it. We disguise it. We do
193. 9:05everything to not age. But the Christian
194. 9:09does something bold.
195. 9:11We look in the eyes and say, "Death, you
196. 9:14have been defeated."
197. 9:16When we approach this altar today,
198. 9:18receive Jesus in the eukarist, we're not
199. 9:21mourers at awake. We are guests at a
200. 9:23banquet, a foretaste of the eternal
201. 9:26feast where every tear will be wiped
202. 9:29away.
203. 9:31Eucharist is heaven touching earth. The
204. 9:34living and the dead united in Christ's
205. 9:36one sacrifice.
206. 9:39In this very moment, your mother, your
207. 9:42father, your friends, your spouses,
208. 9:44those who have gone before you, they are
209. 9:47closer than you think.
210. 9:49Heaven is not distant. It is breaking
211. 9:52into the moment right here and now.
212. 9:56Yes, today is about death,
213. 9:59but it is even more about life, about
214. 10:02the kind of love that refuses to die,
215. 10:05about the God who keeps his words and
216. 10:08promises.
217. 10:10About hope that outlasts the grave, and
218. 10:12about all of us, how we will choose to
219. 10:16live, love, and believe from this day
220. 10:18forward.
221. 10:20See what love the Father has bestowed on
222. 10:23us. See it, believe it, live it. And
223. 10:29when your f when your own final day
224. 10:31comes, may you hear the voice of the
225. 10:33Lord saying what every heart longs for.
226. 10:37Welcome home. I've been waiting for you.
227. 10:40I've prepared a place for you.
228. 10:43But until that day, love deeply, forgive
229. 10:46freely, live faithfully, and never
230. 10:50forget death is not the end of the
231. 10:53story. The joy of the resurrection is
232. 10:57Amen.