November 27, 2025: Thanksgiving Mass Homily Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Today, the universal church celebrates
2. 0:04the Feast of the Miraculous Medal,
3. 0:07a gift heaven placed directly into our
4. 0:11hands.
5. 0:13I was so happy to see all the people
6. 0:14that came out last night for the prayer
7. 0:16vigil.
8. 0:19In 1830,
9. 0:22Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine
10. 0:23Laboure
11. 0:26and offered the world a medal
12. 0:27overflowing with graces,
13. 0:30a medal marked with these words,
14. 0:34"O Mary,
15. 0:35conceived without sin, pray for us who
16. 0:38have recourse to thee."
17. 0:42It was heaven's way of saying, "You are
18. 0:43not alone.
19. 0:46I am your mother.
20. 0:48I will intercede for you."
21. 0:52And what is the Miraculous Medal if if
22. 0:54not an invitation to gratitude?
23. 0:58It reminds us that God has woven mercy
24. 1:01into the very fabric of who we are.
25. 1:06That grace is poured out even before we
26. 1:08ask for it.
27. 1:11And that Mary, the Immaculate One, walks
28. 1:13with us as a sign of God's tenderness.
29. 1:19And so on this Thanksgiving Day,
30. 1:22when our nation pauses to remember its
31. 1:25blessings,
32. 1:27the Miraculous Medal calls us to look
33. 1:30deeper
34. 1:32to see that behind every gift stands the
35. 1:35giver.
36. 1:37Behind every grace,
37. 1:39a mother who intercedes.
38. 1:42Behind every blessing, a God who loves
39. 1:46without measure.
40. 1:49And so today across this great nation,
41. 1:51millions will gather around the table
42. 1:55filled with family, laughter, food, and
43. 1:59football.
44. 2:01Yes.
45. 2:04And yet here in this church, we begin
46. 2:07Thanksgiving exactly where it should
47. 2:10begin,
48. 2:11not at the table,
49. 2:13but at the altar.
50. 2:16Before Because before America ever had a
51. 2:20Thanksgiving Day,
52. 2:22the church had the Eucharist,
53. 2:25the great Eucharist, the great
54. 2:27Thanksgiving, the offering in which we
55. 2:30remember that everything we have,
56. 2:33everything we are, every breath we take
57. 2:36flows from the hand of God.
58. 2:40Thanksgiving is not just a holiday.
59. 2:43Thanksgiving is a truth.
60. 2:46We belong to God who gives.
61. 2:50And gratitude is how we live in right
62. 2:52relationship with him.
63. 2:55As Americans, we are heirs of a story
64. 2:59unlike any other nation on Earth.
65. 3:03We were born from a conviction that
66. 3:05freedom is a gift from God, not a
67. 3:09privilege from a government.
68. 3:12Our founding documents begin not with
69. 3:15our accomplishments,
70. 3:17but with our creator.
71. 3:21Our history, at its best, has always
72. 3:24understood that gratitude and faith are
73. 3:27guardians of liberty.
74. 3:31But to understand Thanksgiving, we have
75. 3:33to go back to the beginning.
76. 3:36We often imagine the first Thanksgiving
77. 3:39as we celebrated as kids in school,
78. 3:43colorful scenes with pilgrims and
79. 3:45Indians, overflowing tables.
80. 3:50But the But the truth is far more
81. 3:52moving.
82. 3:54When the pilgrims gathered in 1621, half
83. 3:57of their community had died from the
84. 3:59first brutal winter.
85. 4:02Half of that community.
86. 4:05Men, women, and children. Every single
87. 4:09member of that community was grieving
88. 4:11the death of a family one.
89. 4:15They had buried mothers in frozen
90. 4:16grounds. They had buried their children,
91. 4:20buried their fathers, their brothers.
92. 4:23And yet what did they do?
93. 4:25They paused, lowered, bowed their heads,
94. 4:28and thanked God.
95. 4:31They did not thank him because life was
96. 4:33easy.
97. 4:34They thanked him because life was hard.
98. 4:38And yet God had not abandoned them, and
99. 4:40that they had the freedom to worship.
100. 4:44They thanked him because gratitude is
101. 4:46not about abundance.
102. 4:50Gratitude is a declaration of faith.
103. 4:53Gratitude is what you say when you
104. 4:55choose trust over despair.
105. 4:59Gratitude is what happens when the soul
106. 5:01sees God's presence even in the shadows.
107. 5:07That first Thanksgiving teaches us
108. 5:09something the modern world forgets.
109. 5:12Abundance does not create gratitude.
110. 5:17Gratitude creates abundance.
111. 5:21Because gratitude opens the heart,
112. 5:24clears the vision, strengthens the soul,
113. 5:27and reminds us that our blessings do not
114. 5:29come from our circumstances.
115. 5:32They come from God.
116. 5:35George Washington understood this truth
117. 5:38when in 1789, he proclaimed the first
118. 5:41national Thanksgiving and asked the
119. 5:43people to give thanks to the great Lord,
120. 5:47the ruler of nations,
121. 5:49for the civil and religious privileges
122. 5:51that we enjoy.
123. 5:54Even at the dawn of our republic, our
124. 5:57leaders knew
125. 5:59that a nation that forgets gratitude
126. 6:01forgets God.
127. 6:03And a nation that forgets God forgets
128. 6:06who they are.
129. 6:08And so today we stand in a lineage,
130. 6:11a sacred chain that stretches from the
131. 6:14pilgrims' wooden tables to this very
132. 6:17altar.
133. 6:20And the question is no longer about
134. 6:21them, it's about us.
135. 6:24What does gratitude look like in your
136. 6:26life today?
137. 6:29What does Thanksgiving look like in your
138. 6:31family, your marriage, your worries,
139. 6:33your hopes?
140. 6:35Because the gospel teaches us something
141. 6:37powerful.
142. 6:39Gratitude is not an emotion.
143. 6:42Gratitude is a choice. Only one came
144. 6:45back to say thank you.
145. 6:49It should be a spiritual discipline.
146. 6:52It's a way of seeing the world.
147. 6:56If you think you have problems,
148. 6:59if you're suffering from sadness or from
149. 7:01a recent death of a loved one,
150. 7:04someone has it far worse than you.
151. 7:09To be Christian is to be grateful
152. 7:11because gratitude says, "I know where my
153. 7:13blessings come from.
154. 7:16I know who sustains me. And I know that
155. 7:19without him, I am nothing."
156. 7:24This is why we gather today,
157. 7:26not to celebrate a vague sense of
158. 7:29gratefulness,
159. 7:31but to proclaim with our whole hearts
160. 7:34that God has been good to us,
161. 7:37even when life has been hard,
162. 7:41especially when life has been hard.
163. 7:46So today I want to speak to your hearts.
164. 7:50If you're carrying a burden, a sadness,
165. 7:52a difficulty, be grateful. God is
166. 7:55carrying you.
167. 7:58If you're grieving,
168. 7:59be grateful.
169. 8:01Love is never lost in God.
170. 8:04If you're uncertain about the future, be
171. 8:07grateful. He goes before you.
172. 8:11If you're feeling blessed, be grateful.
173. 8:14He is near to the humble of heart.
174. 8:18May this Thanksgiving awaken us what it
175. 8:20awakened in the pilgrims, what it
176. 8:23awakened in George Washington and
177. 8:25Abraham Lincoln and in generation of
178. 8:27believers,
179. 8:29a deep and steady a steady conviction
180. 8:32that God is faithful, that he is
181. 8:34present, and that he is our beginning
182. 8:37and our end, and that gratitude is the
183. 8:39path on which we walk with him.
184. 8:43And together with Our Lady of the
185. 8:45Miraculous Medal,
186. 8:47may we remember that God has not left us
187. 8:49to walk this path alone.
188. 8:52He has given us his mother, the
189. 8:54Immaculate One, who outstretches her
190. 8:57hands on the medal, pouring out graces
191. 9:01to all those who seek her intercession.
192. 9:05May her gentle presence remind us that
193. 9:08every blessing flows from the heart of
194. 9:10her son.
195. 9:12And that with Mary beside us, gratitude
196. 9:15becomes not only our prayer, but our way
197. 9:18of life.
198. 9:21Father Adam, Father Alonso, and I will
199. 9:24remember you in our intentions.
200. 9:28May God bless you. Happy Thanksgiving to
201. 9:31you and to all whom you love.
202. 9:35And may God guide, bless, and protect
203. 9:38these United States of America. Amen.