November 9, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01Not sure if you know the song.
2. 0:15>> [music]
3. 0:26>> Well, I brought her.
4. 0:33Actually, Joanne, who's here, uh, Frank
5. 0:36Joanne Del Rio, went with me on the trip
6. 0:38and she saw it and she said, "We got to
7. 0:40take it back to the parish." So, she's
8. 0:42part of our parish community now. But
9. 0:47we were this morning at an ungodly hour
10. 0:50uh standing at in the tarmac of a very
11. 0:54rundown
12. 0:56uh shabyl looking airport there in
13. 0:59Santiago de Kuba. And we made it back
14. 1:02here to Miami about 1:30 this afternoon.
15. 1:05But what we saw really has shaken me to
16. 1:08the core.
17. 1:10no electricity and of course that was
18. 1:12happening before the hurricane so you
19. 1:14can only only imagine how compounded it
20. 1:17is now. No running water to see women
21. 1:20and older elderly women and children and
22. 1:23men standing in line in in a well trying
23. 1:27to uh put water into jugs and even with
24. 1:32uh carts to to bring water to their
25. 1:35homes. Entire neighborhoods affected and
26. 1:38wiped out because of the hurricane. The
27. 1:41streets are lined with broken trees and
28. 1:44down branches, fallen power lines,
29. 1:47really shattered homes.
30. 1:49Debris is everywhere. It's going to take
31. 1:51a while to pick up and clean up the
32. 1:54place. But in many areas where it's very
33. 1:56lush and green and beautiful, it just
34. 1:58it's just brown and ugly and burned.
35. 2:01Looks in some of the areas as if a bomb
36. 2:04had gone off.
37. 2:06But we went there precisely to represent
38. 2:09the arch dascese of Miami and the Order
39. 2:12of Malta and Catholic Charities to bring
40. 2:15down 43,000 pounds of food. And our main
41. 2:20goal was to make sure that that food was
42. 2:22unloaded off the plane and into the
43. 2:25trucks of the church and and that's what
44. 2:29happened. And so we were very happy to
45. 2:30do that. And then from there we went to
46. 2:33uh El to the sanctuary to pray before
47. 2:37our blessed mother to to help our
48. 2:39mission now to see how we can continue
49. 2:41to help uh them rebuild. One of the
50. 2:45things that is is incredible to me when
51. 2:47we were standing there and uh actually I
52. 2:49asked the pilot I said how many flights
53. 2:51have come down from Miami or come down
54. 2:54from Miami to help Cuba? He says this is
55. 2:56the first one. and he said, "I've
56. 2:59already done nine trips to Jamaica."
57. 3:02So when the doors opened up and we were
58. 3:05standing there uh watching the food
59. 3:08being unloaded off of the plane, I said
60. 3:10to myself, "This is what the gospel
61. 3:12looks like. This is what faith in action
62. 3:15looks like." And I have to tell you, I
63. 3:17was very proud of this community because
64. 3:19someone leaked that I was going to Cuba.
65. 3:21And uh within less than 24 hours, I had
66. 3:25$9,000 cash in my hand that I was able
67. 3:28to divide in four to the different
68. 3:30dascese to be able to hand to the
69. 3:32bishop. Um and Frank and Joanne are can
70. 3:36testify to that. Just an incredible
71. 3:38outpouring of what this community does
72. 3:40and how in just very quick time we're
73. 3:43able to respond.
74. 3:45And then we went to at Cobra, as I said,
75. 3:49to the shrine of Our Lady of Charity.
76. 3:51And it reminded me of a previous trip
77. 3:53that I when I had gone to um to a
78. 3:58different part of Cuba in a different
79. 4:00hurricane, but we had gone there to
80. 4:02visit the the the deestation. And I was
81. 4:06there visiting with the archbishop. I
82. 4:07was at I was a secretary at the time and
83. 4:10with the archbishop there. And we pulled
84. 4:14up to a church that had been decimated.
85. 4:16The only thing that was left was the
86. 4:18marble floor, just this foundation. And
87. 4:20when we pulled up to the the what was
88. 4:24the church before, there were people
89. 4:26there picking up the debris and
90. 4:28sweeping. And there was a lady there, an
91. 4:30elderly lady with a broom. And the
92. 4:32bishop said when as he got out of the
93. 4:35car, he says to her, "My dear, I'm so
94. 4:38sorry. Your church is gone." trying to
95. 4:41console her, but she reprimanded him.
96. 4:44She stopped sweeping. She said, "Oh, no,
97. 4:45Bishop. You're wrong. We are the church.
98. 4:49The body of Christ cannot be blown
99. 4:52away." I never forgot that.
100. 4:55Her words preach the gospel better than
101. 4:58any homaly could ever
102. 5:01because that, my friends, is exactly
103. 5:02what we celebrate today. Today the
104. 5:05church celebrates the somnity of the the
105. 5:07feast of the dedication of the Lateran
106. 5:09Basilica, the mother church of the
107. 5:11world. And as I mentioned at the
108. 5:13beginning of mass, that is the pope's
109. 5:15cathedral.
110. 5:18You see it today. It's not really about
111. 5:20a building in Rome. Yes, St. John Ladan
112. 5:23is the Pope's Cathedral. It's
113. 5:25magnificent. It's ancient. It's holy. In
114. 5:27fact, if you go to St. John Ladine, the
115. 5:31baptismal font where Constantine was
116. 5:33baptized is still there.
117. 5:36But today's feast reminds us that we are
118. 5:40the living stones, the dwelling place of
119. 5:42God. The church is not just marble and
120. 5:46mortar. The church is men and women who
121. 5:49are sweeping the foundation when the
122. 5:51roof is gone. The church is volunteers
123. 5:54in action trying to bring food to those
124. 5:56who are hungry. The church is the young
125. 5:59people who are refusing to give up hope.
126. 6:02The church is Christ very much alive in
127. 6:05his people even when everything else has
128. 6:08been taken away even freedom.
129. 6:11St. John Laden itself, the church has
130. 6:13been through earthquakes, fires, wars,
131. 6:16scandals, betrayals, and yes, and yet
132. 6:20there it is. You go to Rome, it's one of
133. 6:22the papal basilas,
134. 6:24but her foundation isn't made of stone.
135. 6:26on her foundation is Jesus Christ
136. 6:29himself.
137. 6:31The Basilica in Rome has been rebuilt
138. 6:33many times, but so have we.
139. 6:37Each of us here, every single one of us
140. 6:39is a work in progress. We still have a
141. 6:42lot of work to do.
142. 6:45We, our temple, as the second reading
143. 6:48was talking about, we this our the
144. 6:50temple of the Holy Spirit is always in
145. 6:53constant renewal
146. 6:55and in need of repair. And if we're
147. 6:58honest, you know that there are some
148. 7:00cracks in our walls and some broken
149. 7:03beams in our hearts, some corners of our
150. 7:06souls that need attention.
151. 7:09And that's okay. Why? Because the church
152. 7:12has cracks, too.
153. 7:14The point is not perfection. The point
154. 7:16is that we are constant renewing
155. 7:18ourselves and seeking conversion.
156. 7:21And conversion is what we desperately
157. 7:23need right now. Our world is in trouble.
158. 7:27The constant division and bitterness.
159. 7:30We've grown too comfortable living in
160. 7:33the ruins.
161. 7:35We've learned to live among the rubble
162. 7:36and call it normal. We scroll through
163. 7:40social media finding some sort of
164. 7:42fulfillment. We argue. We divide. We
165. 7:45blame. We are miserable. And we forget
166. 7:47that the church isn't them. The church
167. 7:50is us.
168. 7:51It's easy to complain about what's wrong
169. 7:53with the church, but it's harder to
170. 7:55admit what's wrong with me. Where do I
171. 7:59need change? It's easy to point to the
172. 8:01bishops or to point to Rome or to
173. 8:03Washington DC, but it's harder to sweep
174. 8:06the foundation of our own souls.
175. 8:10That woman in Cuba that I talked to you
176. 8:12about with a broom in her hand and tears
177. 8:13in her eyes preached the whole of
178. 8:16theology of today's feast. She wasn't
179. 8:19waiting for Rome to fix anything. She
180. 8:21wasn't even waiting for her dascese to
181. 8:23fix anything.
182. 8:25She was rebuilding there with her
183. 8:27community. She knew that faith begins
184. 8:30with action.
185. 8:32When the world falls apart, we don't
186. 8:34just sit in the rubble and complain.
187. 8:36When the world is falling apart around
188. 8:37us, we need to get up. We need to start
189. 8:39sweeping. And that's what the church,
190. 8:42what that's what it means to be church,
191. 8:44a collective body helping those who in
192. 8:47need. Because when one part of the body
193. 8:50suffers, we all suffer. And maybe, just
194. 8:53maybe, that's what God is asking of us
195. 8:55today. That's what God is teaching us
196. 8:57today. to rebuild, to help those in
197. 9:01need. Not with bricks and mortar, but
198. 9:04with mercy, with forgiveness, with
199. 9:06action. To be a people who sweep the
200. 9:09foundations of faith in a broken world.
201. 9:12To be a testament, a witness that we can
202. 9:15be better. To stop talking about what's
203. 9:18gone, to stop talking about what could
204. 9:20be and start building what can still be.
205. 9:24If you're wondering what the blueprint
206. 9:26for rebuilding looks like, St. Paul in
207. 9:29the second reading tells us. He says
208. 9:31there's no other foundation than Jesus
209. 9:33Christ. That's it. Jesus Christ. Every
210. 9:38parish, every priest, every Catholic
211. 9:40must come back to that foundation. Must
212. 9:43understand that realization.
213. 9:46If we build upon him, Jesus Christ
214. 9:49becomes a cornerstone of our marriages,
215. 9:52of our families, where we work, every
216. 9:56decision that we make. And then when
217. 9:58those hurricanes come, and they do come,
218. 10:01we will not fall. We will be strong.
219. 10:07I've seen it with my own eyes.
220. 10:10In a country that's been ravaged with
221. 10:13communism and stupid ideologies,
222. 10:16a comp a country that has no power at
223. 10:19all, I still found people who are
224. 10:22beautiful and joyful and so full of
225. 10:25light in a town that has absolutely no
226. 10:28running water. People standing in line
227. 10:30from a a dirty pipe are people who are
228. 10:34still looking for hope. In a place where
229. 10:38church has churches have fallen, I stall
230. 10:40them standing there trying to rebuild
231. 10:43and pick up the debris.
232. 10:46That's the type of world that I want to
233. 10:47live in.
234. 10:49No more arguments or miser misery, but
235. 10:54witnesses of the faith.
236. 10:56And so, my friends, I ask you, when
237. 10:58people look at you, do they see a church
238. 11:01that is alive?
239. 11:03When people look at your home, when they
240. 11:05visit your home, do they see a domestic
241. 11:08church? Do they know that Jesus Christ
242. 11:10dwells in your home?
243. 11:14When people look at our parish, do they
244. 11:16see a community that is welcoming? A
245. 11:19community that is growing in the faith,
246. 11:20a community that is forgiving.
247. 11:24The walls of St. John Ladan have been
248. 11:26torn down and rebuilt many times.
249. 11:28There's a history there. When you go to
250. 11:30St. John Latter and it's it's been built
251. 11:32upon basilas and built upon different
252. 11:35other churches but every generation adds
253. 11:38a new stone.
254. 11:40You and I are that generation now. But
255. 11:44the question is what will we add to the
256. 11:46beauty of the church? Will we add beauty
257. 11:49or do we add problems? Do we contribute
258. 11:52to the cracks and the leaks?
259. 11:55If you want to rebuild the church, if
260. 11:57you want to start with a broom, you need
261. 11:59to start with a broom in your hand. And
262. 12:01do whatever God tells you,
263. 12:05sweep your corner,
264. 12:07love your family, forgive your enemies,
265. 12:11help those who are in need, pray without
266. 12:15ceasing.
267. 12:16Because when the Son of Man returns, he
268. 12:18will not be looking for perfect
269. 12:20buildings. He's going to be looking for
270. 12:22faithful hearts. It's going to be
271. 12:24looking for those who gave when there
272. 12:27was the most need.
273. 12:29That woman in Cuba got it right. The
274. 12:32roof may fall. The walls may crumble.
275. 12:35But the church of Christ, the body of
276. 12:37Christ will always stand strong. Why?
277. 12:41Because Christ is always victorious.
278. 12:46And if we rebuild our faith on him, on
279. 12:48Jesus Christ, then like St. John Laden,
280. 12:51like that little Cuban parish, like the
281. 12:54cross itself, we at the end of the day
282. 12:57will be victorious because we will rise
283. 13:00in Jesus Christ. Amen.
284. 13:02>> Amen.