October 12, 2026 Homily: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03Have you ever noticed how gratitude can
2. 0:06change a room?
3. 0:09When someone says thank you, truly says
4. 0:12thank you, not because they have to, but
5. 0:15because they really mean it,
6. 0:19something in the room shifts.
7. 0:22The air lightens.
8. 0:24The space feels softer.
9. 0:27Gratitude has this mysterious power to
10. 0:30open hearts and to close wounds.
11. 0:36It takes what ordinary
12. 0:38it takes what's ordinary and makes it
13. 0:40holy.
14. 0:42That's what today's readings are all
15. 0:44about.
16. 0:46Not politeness, not about being kind or
17. 0:50having good manners,
18. 0:52but this deep kind of gratitude that
19. 0:55only comes from faith.
20. 0:59Because gratitude and faith are
21. 1:01inseparable.
22. 1:04You can't have one without the other.
23. 1:08Just to give a little context and for
24. 1:10today's first reading,
25. 1:12Nahiman shows us what gratitude is
26. 1:16about.
27. 1:17He wasn't even Jewish.
28. 1:20He was a Syrian general, a powerful man,
29. 1:23successful, respected.
30. 1:26But beneath the medals and the armor,
31. 1:29there was a man who was diseased,
32. 1:31ashamed, isolated by leprosy.
33. 1:37And what he when he hears there's a
34. 1:39prophet of Israel that can heal him, he
35. 1:42goes,
36. 1:44but with his pride still intact.
37. 1:48Alicia the prophet doesn't even come out
38. 1:51to meet him face to face.
39. 1:55He simply sends word with an attendant
40. 1:57saying, "Tell him to go wash in the
41. 1:59Jordan seven times."
42. 2:03Non says, "That's it.
43. 2:07No ceremony,
44. 2:09no lightning bolts, just some muddy
45. 2:12water that I have to dunk into seven
46. 2:15times.
47. 2:16Non was furious.
48. 2:19He wanted a spectacle,
49. 2:22not simplicity.
50. 2:24He wanted to control the situation.
51. 2:28But someone, maybe a friend or someone
52. 2:30he was traveling with, said to him, "If
53. 2:34this prophet had told you to do
54. 2:36something very difficult, you probably
55. 2:38would have done it.
56. 2:40Then why not do this, which is much
57. 2:43simpler?"
58. 2:45So Naaman goes, he humbles himself.
59. 2:50He steps down into the Jordan, and when
60. 2:52he rises, he's completely clean. The
61. 2:55scriptures tell us that his skin is that
62. 2:57of a baby.
63. 3:00More importantly, his heart has been
64. 3:01transformed and cleaned. The real
65. 3:05healing was his pride.
66. 3:08He returns to Alicia overflowing with
67. 3:11gratitude and declares, "Now I know that
68. 3:14there is no God on all the earth except
69. 3:17the God of Israel."
70. 3:20Gratitude made him a believer.
71. 3:24faith healed his body
72. 3:27and the two become one. Faith and
73. 3:30gratitude.
74. 3:32Then the gospel takes us a little
75. 3:34deeper.
76. 3:3610 lepers stand at a distance because
77. 3:38that's what leprosy does. It separates.
78. 3:42It isolates.
79. 3:44It says you don't belong. And from a
80. 3:47distance they cry out, "Jesus,
81. 3:50master, have pity on us." And Jesus
82. 3:54doesn't come closer. He doesn't shout,
83. 3:57"Be healed." But what does he do? He
84. 4:00says, "Go show yourselves to the
85. 4:03priests."
86. 4:04Which is fascinating if you think about
87. 4:06it. That's what you do after you've been
88. 4:08healed,
89. 4:10not before.
90. 4:12But they go they go to the priest in
91. 4:16obedience, in a step of faith,
92. 4:19and as they're going along their way,
93. 4:22they realize that they've been healed.
94. 4:26Imagine that moment when one is able to
95. 4:30look down and see new skin, a hand
96. 4:34restored, a face no longer scarred.
97. 4:37Imagine the joy these men were facing at
98. 4:41being able to return into society.
99. 4:4510 hearts must have been bursting.
100. 4:48But only one of them turns back.
101. 4:51Only one returns to Jesus, falls at the
102. 4:54feet of Jesus, gives him thanks. Wasn't
103. 4:58even a Jew. He was a Samaritan. He was
104. 5:02an outsider among outsiders.
105. 5:07But Jesus says to him, "There were 10 of
106. 5:10you, weren't there? 10 were made clean.
107. 5:14Where are the other nine?"
108. 5:16"Rise, go your way. Your faith has saved
109. 5:20you."
110. 5:22The others received healing,
111. 5:25but this one received salvation.
112. 5:28Why? Because gratitude completes the
113. 5:31miracle. That's something we need to
114. 5:34understand. Gratitude is part of the
115. 5:37faith cycle.
116. 5:39Faith and gratitude, they feed off of
117. 5:42each other. Faith says, "I believe you,
118. 5:45Lord." Gratitude says, "I trust you,
119. 5:49Lord."
120. 5:51And together they become worship.
121. 5:54The truth is most of us are really good
122. 5:57at asking God for help. Lord, I need
123. 6:00this. Help me from this. Where are you?
124. 6:04I need help with this difficult
125. 6:06situation.
126. 6:08I need help with a a diagnosis.
127. 6:12We know how to pray for things.
128. 6:17And that's good. Why? Because God wants
129. 6:19to help his children.
130. 6:22But when the storm passes, when the
131. 6:24prayers are answered, do we return back
132. 6:27to God in thanksgiving?
133. 6:30Most do.
134. 6:33What I want to stress is that gratitude
135. 6:35is the memory of the heart.
136. 6:38It's how we keep close to God. It is how
137. 6:41faith grows within us from something
138. 6:43that we say to how we live.
139. 6:50St. Paul understood this better than
140. 6:52anyone
141. 6:53when he writes to Timothy in the second
142. 6:56reading. He's sitting in prison,
143. 6:59a man chained,
144. 7:01forgotten by the world. But he's not
145. 7:04bitter. He's not begging for release.
146. 7:08He's thankful.
147. 7:11He's thankful because Paul remembers all
148. 7:13that God had done for him. Saul, the
149. 7:17persecutor, the man who hated Christ,
150. 7:20who hunted down Christians, and he
151. 7:23remembers what Christ did for him. how
152. 7:27Christ met him on the road, blinded him
153. 7:29so he could finally see, forgave him
154. 7:33when he deserved condemnation.
155. 7:36Paul never forgot that.
156. 7:39So even in chains, St. Paul says the
157. 7:42word of God is not chained.
158. 7:46He knows that gratitude isn't about
159. 7:48circumstances.
160. 7:50He was in prison,
161. 7:52but he was thanking God for his
162. 7:53salvation.
163. 7:56He doesn't thank God for comfort. He
164. 7:58thanks God for mercy.
165. 8:01That's faith that is matured. That's
166. 8:04gratifi. That's gratitude that's been
167. 8:06purified.
168. 8:09And that brings us here today to us
169. 8:11around this altar
170. 8:13because the eukarist we celebrate right
171. 8:16now means exactly that. Thanksgiving.
172. 8:20Every mass is a school of gratitude.
173. 8:24We come here not just to ask God for
174. 8:26things, but we need to come around this
175. 8:29altar and remember everything that God
176. 8:32has done for us. So when you come
177. 8:35forward today to receive Jesus in the
178. 8:37eukarist,
179. 8:39come like that Samaritan,
180. 8:42that one who came back to Jesus giving
181. 8:44thanks. Come with gratitude. Come
182. 8:48saying, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you,
183. 8:51Lord, for healing me. for forgiving me,
184. 8:54for never giving up on me.
185. 8:57Don't come out of habit. Same old, same
186. 9:01old.
187. 9:02Come with a heart that's full of
188. 9:04thanksgiving.
189. 9:06Why? Because gratitude changes
190. 9:08everything.
191. 9:10Gratitude makes faith alive.
192. 9:13Gratitude turns fear into trust, worry
193. 9:17into worship, and pain into purpose.
194. 9:21Naaman the Naaman the foreigner found
195. 9:25faith through thanksgiving.
196. 9:28The Samaritan the outcast found
197. 9:30salvation through gratitude.
198. 9:33And Paul the prisoner found joy through
199. 9:36mercy
200. 9:37remembering all that God had done for
201. 9:39him.
202. 9:41Every one of them was transformed
203. 9:44not by getting what they wanted but by
204. 9:47realizing what God had already done for
205. 9:49them.
206. 9:52And so when we come to the eukarist,
207. 9:55the great thanksgiving,
208. 9:58maybe with burdens, maybe with a heavy
209. 10:00heart, maybe with life issues, maybe
210. 10:04even with questions,
211. 10:07or maybe today you're feeling a bit far
212. 10:09from God.
213. 10:11But even then, even now, there is a
214. 10:15reason to give thanks to Almighty God.
215. 10:18Thank him for the breath in your lungs.
216. 10:21Thank him for the people sitting next to
217. 10:23you. Thank him for the mercy and for all
218. 10:26that he's done to carry you through
219. 10:28life. For the forgiveness that keeps
220. 10:30chasing you and for a love that he has
221. 10:33for you that won't let go.
222. 10:36Because when you live with the attitude
223. 10:38of gratitude, everything shifts.
224. 10:42You stop comparing yourself to others.
225. 10:45You start praising God. You stop
226. 10:48demanding and start thanking. You stop
227. 10:51chasing what's missing and you start to
228. 10:53notice around you all that has been
229. 10:55given to you.
230. 10:58So be the one that returns.
231. 11:01Be the one who comes back to Jesus. The
232. 11:05one who kneels at his feet and says,
233. 11:08"Thank you, Lord. Thank you for what
234. 11:10you've done for me. Thank you for what
235. 11:13you're doing for me. and thank you for
236. 11:16who you are in my life.
237. 11:19My brothers and sisters, gratitude is
238. 11:21not just a word we say. Gratitude is a
239. 11:24way we must live.
240. 11:28It is the way we live. When we finally
241. 11:31realize how much we've been loved. And
242. 11:34when you live this way, faith deepens,
243. 11:38hope grows, and life itself becomes a
244. 11:42prayer of thanksgiving.
245. 11:44Amen.