October 6, 2024 Homily; Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03one of the things that I've always tried
2. 0:05to teach you for from my homy or from
3. 0:08preaching is that context is very
4. 0:12important why was that said when was it
5. 0:15said who said
6. 0:17it today's Gospel count presents us with
7. 0:20an occasion when the religious
8. 0:22authorities of the day were trying to
9. 0:25trap
10. 0:26Jesus trying to trick him so as to
11. 0:30discredit
12. 0:32him there were two schools of thought
13. 0:34back then among the Pharisees and other
14. 0:38authorities in one there was a a
15. 0:40stricter rule a stricter understanding
16. 0:45taught that a man could divorce his wife
17. 0:48only for a very grave
18. 0:51reason and the other more LAX allowed a
19. 0:54man to divorce a woman if she no longer
20. 0:57pleased him
21. 1:00the episode we just heard in today's
22. 1:02Gospel occurred in
23. 1:04Judea in the area where King Herod was
24. 1:08the king of the
25. 1:09Jews he was a king who had if you
26. 1:12remembered married his brother's wife
27. 1:15herodias the woman who caused her
28. 1:18daughter to dance a sensually
29. 1:20provocative dance that captivated King
30. 1:23Herod herodias then told her daughter to
31. 1:27request of Herod that the head of John
32. 1:30the Baptist be brought to them on a
33. 1:33platter John the Baptist you will
34. 1:36recall had strongly denounced Herod for
35. 1:40divorcing his wife in order to then
36. 1:43marry his brother's wife you remember
37. 1:46this
38. 1:48right the trick situation set up by the
39. 1:51Pharisees was such that if Jesus opted
40. 1:55one way he would be betraying John the
41. 1:58Baptist's martyrdom
42. 2:01and if he opted the other way he would
43. 2:04then incur the wrath of King Herod and
44. 2:07his
45. 2:09wife either way the Pharisees thought
46. 2:12that they would get rid of themselves
47. 2:14they would get rid of this Jesus of
48. 2:17Nazareth how can we once and for
49. 2:20all get rid of this itinerant
50. 2:26preacher so Jesus asks them a question
51. 2:30well what did Moses command
52. 2:33you they responded that Moses allowed a
53. 2:35man to divorce his wife if the husband
54. 2:37found a defect in his
55. 2:41wife but if we continue with more
56. 2:44context and further
57. 2:46background we should remember that women
58. 2:49in those days had few if any legal
59. 2:54rights they were considered to be the
60. 2:57property of
61. 2:58men marriage marriage was a business
62. 3:01contract between
63. 3:03men a prospect groom had to enter into
64. 3:07negotiations with his bride's
65. 3:11father a cash or Pro property settlement
66. 3:14was agreed upon and then the father
67. 3:16would agree for them to be
68. 3:19married once married a woman's Act of
69. 3:22adultery was an offense against her
70. 3:24husband's property rights not against
71. 3:28hers for she had had no
72. 3:31rights moreover the right to secure
73. 3:33divorce was a man's right the woman had
74. 3:37no such right to ask for a
75. 3:40divorce only men could seek
76. 3:44divorce so in this
77. 3:47context we find Jesus rejecting all this
78. 3:50nonsense and calling everyone to return
79. 3:53to the original intent and purpose of
80. 3:57God to the very beginning
81. 4:00where God created man and woman in his
82. 4:03own image and
83. 4:05likeness when a man marries a woman he
84. 4:08cuts all away he cuts away all previous
85. 4:11ties and legal obligation and gives
86. 4:13himself totally and completely to his
87. 4:16wife as an equal
88. 4:19partner she is made of the same stuff as
89. 4:22the man he takes his rib and makes a
90. 4:27woman the man was put to sleep
91. 4:30thus returning him to the condition from
92. 4:32which God made
93. 4:34him then God enters into another Act of
94. 4:37Creation creating for him a suitable
95. 4:39partner one that suits him because she
96. 4:42has the same status as the man because
97. 4:46she's made of the same
98. 4:50stuff the two are mingled and become one
99. 4:53new
100. 4:55entity what does Adam say finally this
101. 4:59one at l last bone of my bone Flesh of
102. 5:02My Flesh he doesn't say oh this one will
103. 5:04do for
104. 5:06now moreover the woman is made in the
105. 5:09image likeness of God just as the man
106. 5:14is there's an equality in being the man
107. 5:18is not superior to the
108. 5:21woman Pope John Paul II St John Paul II
109. 5:24later would describe man and woman as
110. 5:27complimentary to each other and not inom
111. 5:29competition with each
112. 5:32other thus if a man divorces his wife
113. 5:35he's not only going against God but he's
114. 5:38going against his very
115. 5:41nature Jesus's teaching totally shocked
116. 5:45and
117. 5:46dismayed the crowds everyone that was
118. 5:49listening to
119. 5:51him a teaching which likewise threw the
120. 5:54tricky legalistic religious authorities
121. 5:58into confusion and
122. 6:01disarray in effect it was giving women
123. 6:03rights that were unheard
124. 6:06of furthermore it gave a woman equality
125. 6:09in the status of God's in God's
126. 6:12eyes it dethroned all the Notions of
127. 6:15male dominance and
128. 6:19superiority the problem of divorce is
129. 6:22both ancient and among us
130. 6:26today I want you to listen to words from
131. 6:29this bishop named asterus who lived in
132. 6:32what we what what is now called turkey
133. 6:36he died around the year 400 after Christ
134. 6:40and his dicese was located in the Roman
135. 6:44Empire an Empire that was lapsing into
136. 6:47moral Decay corruption and
137. 6:50decadence but he was preaching on this
138. 6:54gospel setting forth sacred character of
139. 6:58marriage and
140. 7:00he be he he he says this to the
141. 7:03congregation listen
142. 7:04carefully such is the response that
143. 7:07Christ made in the past to the
144. 7:10Pharisees today listen to me you
145. 7:12merchants of marriage you change your
146. 7:15wives as you change cloaks you who build
147. 7:19homes as flimsy as the stands at the
148. 7:22fair you who marry wealth and traffic in
149. 7:25wives you who at least grievance write a
150. 7:28bill of divorce you in a word you still
151. 7:31alive leave
152. 7:33widows be persuaded that only death and
153. 7:36adultery can break
154. 7:40marriage there are those who accuse the
155. 7:43Catholic Church of imposing man-made
156. 7:46laws on others when it comes to the
157. 7:48question of marriage and divorce they're
158. 7:52quite
159. 7:53wrong the church stands today on the
160. 7:55issue where it stood 16600 years ago
161. 7:582,000 years years
162. 8:00ago the Catholic Church did not create
163. 8:03the sacrament of matrimony it was
164. 8:06received by Christ
165. 8:08himself marriage is the building block
166. 8:11of our human
167. 8:13society in our community we acknowledge
168. 8:15the reality that not all marriages
169. 8:20endure for those who find themselves
170. 8:23divorced the church teaching might feel
171. 8:26like a heavy
172. 8:27burden a reminder of of broken promises
173. 8:31and fractured
174. 8:34relationships But Here let us not forget
175. 8:36the boundless mercy of
176. 8:39God our faith teaches us about the
177. 8:42sanctity of marriage yes but it also
178. 8:45teaches us about forgiveness about
179. 8:48healing about about unending love of Our
180. 8:53Savior Jesus did not come for the
181. 8:56righteous but for
182. 8:57Sinners for those who need
183. 9:01healing so if you are among the ones who
184. 9:03have experienced
185. 9:05divorce know that the church like Christ
186. 9:09invites you not to
187. 9:11despair but to
188. 9:13hope to seek reconciliation wherever
189. 9:16possible and to find
190. 9:19peace peace in the love of God which
191. 9:22surpasses all
192. 9:26understanding Jesus lived in hard times
193. 9:28times in which both marriage and women
194. 9:31were not held in a very high
195. 9:34regard early Christians lived in such a
196. 9:37way you just heard this ancient Bishop
197. 9:39talk to his dasis about the challenges
198. 9:42of marriage and we too live in such
199. 9:47times we live in radical times times
200. 9:51therefore in which we need to be radical
201. 9:54to radically return to our
202. 9:57roots to the very beginning and def find
203. 10:00there the intent and purpose of
204. 10:04God let us all as a community Embrace
205. 10:08this teaching both reverence for the
206. 10:11marital Covenant and compassion for
207. 10:14those whose Journeys have been marked by
208. 10:17pain and
209. 10:20separation our call is not just to
210. 10:22uphold the ideal but to walk alongside
211. 10:25each other in our human Frailty
212. 10:29offering not
213. 10:31judgment but support understanding and
214. 10:36love perhaps with better formation and
215. 10:40catecheses that's what we've been trying
216. 10:42to do here at St
217. 10:44Augustine's to build up
218. 10:47marriages if you haven't been to one of
219. 10:50our date nights as a married couple ask
220. 10:52yourself
221. 10:53why or to one of the marriage formation
222. 10:56nights marriage just doesn't happen
223. 10:58automatically
224. 11:00is something that needs
225. 11:02care
226. 11:05formation
227. 11:06gentleness
228. 11:08support so our challenge is to build up
229. 11:11marriages to teach them to form
230. 11:14them and to reflect on the words of
231. 11:17Jesus who always invites us back no
232. 11:19matter how far we've strayed to correct
233. 11:22our path and to seek Holiness to seek to
234. 11:26seek righteousness
235. 11:30and so my brothers and sisters this
236. 11:32Sunday we're invited to take another
237. 11:33look at the readings from today from
238. 11:35Genesis and from the gospel of
239. 11:38Mark read them not with cynical with a
240. 11:42cynical eye of the world but with the
241. 11:44eyes of
242. 11:47faith faith which marriage can is seen
243. 11:50as a sacred sign of Grace and a
244. 11:54sacrament of Christ's love for his
245. 11:57church so on this Sunday as we receive
246. 12:00the Eucharist of Jesus let us recommit
247. 12:03ourselves to supporting one another and
248. 12:06to support the sanctity of marriage amen