September 1, 2024 Homily: Fr Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Our
2. 0:02Catholic faith is filled with many
3. 0:05exterior gestures, particularly when we
4. 0:09come into the church for mass.
5. 0:12Gestures like blessing ourselves with
6. 0:15holy water when we enter the church.
7. 0:19We genule to the tabernacle before we
8. 0:23sit down.
9. 0:25And then there are many other gestures,
10. 0:28standing, kneeling, bowing, little signs
11. 0:32of we do little signs of the cross
12. 0:34before we hear the gospel and many other
13. 0:37gestures.
14. 0:40I remember telling our CCD kids about
15. 0:42making a nice, crisp, clean sign of the
16. 0:46cross and how much I like to see that
17. 0:49instead of some sloppy thing that looks
18. 0:52like you're swatting a fly.
19. 0:56But they're all external signs
20. 0:59and they're good to do them.
21. 1:02I like them. I'm a believer in the idea
22. 1:05that where the body goes, the spirit
23. 1:08will follow.
24. 1:11We bless ourselves with holy water among
25. 1:14other things to remind us in a very
26. 1:16special way of our baptism
27. 1:20to remind us of our identity as children
28. 1:23of God and members of the body of
29. 1:26Christ.
30. 1:28When we genulect to the tabernacle
31. 1:30before we take our seats, it is in
32. 1:33reverence and humility as we approach
33. 1:36the sacred presence of Christ the King,
34. 1:40Christ present in the Holy Eukarist
35. 1:43because Jesus Christ is truly there.
36. 1:48It is out of reverence,
37. 1:50out of love.
38. 1:53We stand in respect as we pay as we pray
39. 1:56or as we listen to the gospel as it is
40. 2:00proclaimed.
41. 2:02We kneel in worship as the holy
42. 2:04sacrifice is convected upon this altar.
43. 2:10We do all of these things and other
44. 2:12gestures as external signs
45. 2:16that reflect the inner belief and the
46. 2:19love that we have for our Lord Jesus
47. 2:22Christ.
48. 2:25In ancient Judaism and even today, they
49. 2:29also had external rituals.
50. 2:33external rituals that were to be
51. 2:35followed
52. 2:37even in everyday life
53. 2:40such as washing of hands, cups, and jugs
54. 2:44as we heard in the gospel today.
55. 2:48Those gestures were a good thing.
56. 2:51They symbolize the interior desire to be
57. 2:54clean, to be free from sin, to be pure
58. 2:59in the eyes of God.
59. 3:02As I said, from ancient Jews to us
60. 3:04today, we do all of these external
61. 3:08gestures in order to reflect an inner
62. 3:11belief and love that we have for our
63. 3:14Lord.
64. 3:17At least that's what it should reflect.
65. 3:21But there's a danger though,
66. 3:25and it's precisely what Jesus is
67. 3:26speaking about today in the gospel. what
68. 3:28he's talking what he's how he's calling
69. 3:31out these Pharisees.
70. 3:34The danger is that the external signs
71. 3:37become more important
72. 3:39than the inner attitude of the heart.
73. 3:44That's the measure of what we believe or
74. 3:46how much we love the Lord. How it is
75. 3:50determined by our perfect adherence to
76. 3:53these external gestures.
77. 3:57If someone makes a perfect sign of the
78. 4:00cross, we think, "Oh, that's beautiful.
79. 4:02That's very pious. They must love the
80. 4:05Lord very much."
81. 4:07Or someone who serves and volunteers at
82. 4:10mass because they love to be seen.
83. 4:15There are differences here. And worse,
84. 4:18we ourselves begin to believe it or fool
85. 4:21ourselves into believing that the
86. 4:22perfect execution of these external
87. 4:25rights or of our faith are a sign that
88. 4:28we have true faith or a genuine love for
89. 4:32the Lord.
90. 4:34That's what the Pharisees were doing
91. 4:36today.
92. 4:38And that's what led them to the rebuke
93. 4:41that Jesus gave them.
94. 4:45Quoting from Isaiah, we heard Jesus say,
95. 4:48"These people honor me with their lips,
96. 4:51but their hearts are so far away from
97. 4:54me."
98. 4:56They prayed all the right prayers. They
99. 5:00washed their hands and all the cups.
100. 5:02They purified everything externally. And
101. 5:05I'm sure it was all perfectly and very
102. 5:07beautiful. But they didn't know the
103. 5:10Lord. And they didn't love the Lord.
104. 5:15He concludes with these chilling words,
105. 5:18in vain do they worship me.
106. 5:21Because you see, it's the inner love of
107. 5:23the Lord that really matters.
108. 5:26It's the inner love of our Lord that
109. 5:29will then help us with the those
110. 5:32external gestures.
111. 5:35I say all the time that our Catholic
112. 5:37faith is not about a philosophy. You've
113. 5:39heard me here say this many times. It's
114. 5:42not about a a list of rules.
115. 5:46Yes, we have philosophy and yes, that's
116. 5:48all very good and we have plenty of
117. 5:50rules and those are all very good and
118. 5:52very important. Don't get me wrong,
119. 5:55but our faith cannot be reduced or our
120. 5:58faith cannot be defined by those rules.
121. 6:03I might also add that our Catholic faith
122. 6:05is not about making the sign of the
123. 6:07cross or genulecting or kneeling and
124. 6:09bowing.
125. 6:11We have all those things too and they're
126. 6:14good. But our faith is not about them
127. 6:17either.
128. 6:19Our faith is about a person.
129. 6:22That person is Jesus Christ.
130. 6:26About our love for him, our obedience to
131. 6:29him, our faith to him.
132. 6:33Do you see and get that? The Jesus we
133. 6:36meet in the gospels is always exciting,
134. 6:42always relevant to the problems and the
135. 6:44needs of the people,
136. 6:46always challenging to those who need to
137. 6:49be challenged,
138. 6:51always helping us grow where we need to
139. 6:54grow.
140. 6:55Always open to those who seek help.
141. 6:59Always a friend to the stranger. Always
142. 7:02a support to the tired and the
143. 7:03depressed. always an inspiration to
144. 7:06anyone who's tried to follow him.
145. 7:10The Jesus we meet in the gospel is the
146. 7:13most amazing, most charismatic, most
147. 7:16lifechanging man we will ever meet.
148. 7:22Shouldn't coming to mass be about that
149. 7:24encounter with Christ?
150. 7:28Last week I gave you the state of the
151. 7:30parish homaly
152. 7:32and during this past week I was speaking
153. 7:35with one of our parishioners and he
154. 7:37reminded me of something that father
155. 7:38David Russell used to say. He used to
156. 7:41tell his parishioners he would ask for
157. 7:43money or he would remind them of their
158. 7:46duty to take care of God's house once a
159. 7:48year.
160. 7:50And he used to tell his parishioners, "I
161. 7:52don't want your money.
162. 7:54I want your heart."
163. 7:57Because if you give your heart to Jesus,
164. 7:59then everything else falls into place.
165. 8:02People will give and are and contribute
166. 8:06and participate where their heart is.
167. 8:10And that's what Jesus is telling us
168. 8:12today.
169. 8:14I want your heart because if you give me
170. 8:17your heart, everything else falls into
171. 8:20place.
172. 8:22As important as external gestures are,
173. 8:26they are secondary to love. They are
174. 8:29secondary to obedience, faith in the
175. 8:32Lord.
176. 8:34Obedience and faith in the Lord and
177. 8:36those thing those things that represent.
178. 8:39That's the admonition and the lesson of
179. 8:41these words for that Jesus is teaching
180. 8:43us today.
181. 8:45So my brothers and sisters, on this 21
182. 8:4822nd Sunday of ordinary time, we're
183. 8:52given a very important lesson.
184. 8:55Be careful.
185. 8:59Truly love Christ with all of your
186. 9:01heart. Give your heart to him and
187. 9:03everything else will fall into place.
188. 9:06Because if you love the Lord and
189. 9:09genuinely desire to serve him,
190. 9:13then you've figured out our faith.
191. 9:17Making the perfect sign of the cross can
192. 9:19sometimes look sloppy. And you know
193. 9:22what? I'm okay with that. Amen.
194. 9:25Amen.