September 14, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03Today the church gives us one of her
2. 0:05most astonishing feasts and we need to
3. 0:09understand it in that way.
4. 0:12The exaltation of the holy cross.
5. 0:16At first glance the very name sounds
6. 0:19strange.
7. 0:21How can you exalt an instrument of
8. 0:24torture?
9. 0:26How can you lift high something that was
10. 0:28meant to humiliate, to destroy, to
11. 0:32silence?
12. 0:34Crucifixion was Rome's way of saying,
13. 0:37"Your life doesn't matter. Your voice
14. 0:40does not count. Your truth, your
15. 0:43religion has no place here."
16. 0:46And yet here we are.
17. 0:49The cross, once a sign of defeat, is now
18. 0:53the greatest symbol of victory.
19. 0:56The cross, once meant to silence, has
20. 0:59become the loudest proclamation of love
21. 1:02the world has ever known.
22. 1:05The cross that was once meant to erase
23. 1:08is now engraved in all of our churches,
24. 1:11our homes, and our hearts.
25. 1:14Why?
26. 1:16Why? Because Jesus Christ has
27. 1:18transformed the cross.
28. 1:21He has taken the worst that the world
29. 1:23can do and has turned it into the
30. 1:25greatest sign of God's redempting power.
31. 1:30That's why St. Paul says the cross is
32. 1:32the power of God and the wisdom of God.
33. 1:37It is power not domination
34. 1:41but of love stronger than death.
35. 1:45It is wisdom not of arguments or clever
36. 1:48philosophies but of self-giving that
37. 1:51reveals what life is really for.
38. 1:56That's exactly what we celebrate today.
39. 1:58That is what we are exalting.
40. 2:02But here's the uncomfortable truth.
41. 2:06If the cross really is the center of our
42. 2:08faith, then it's not a decoration.
43. 2:12It is a demand
44. 2:15to look at the cross is to look in the
45. 2:17mirror
46. 2:19and that can be unsettling
47. 2:22because a cross will always ask you will
48. 2:25you follow Jesus all the way?
49. 2:29Will you love him more than your own
50. 2:31comfort?
51. 2:32Will you love him more than your pride,
52. 2:34more than your opinions? Will you love
53. 2:37him more than your even your life
54. 2:39itself?
55. 2:42We heard last Sunday in the gospel,
56. 2:44"Whoever does not carry his cross and
57. 2:46follow me cannot be my disciple."
58. 2:50There's no middle ground.
59. 2:53Lukewarm faith, polite admiration, a
60. 2:58Christianity that wants blessings and
61. 3:00protections without surrender. That's
62. 3:03not disciplehip.
63. 3:05The cross is not an optional accessory.
64. 3:08It is what shapes our lives.
65. 3:12And here, my friends, is where I must
66. 3:14speak with urgency
67. 3:17because we're living in a time when the
68. 3:19cross is being forgotten,
69. 3:21not only by the world, but sometimes
70. 3:23even by Christians themselves.
71. 3:27The world tells that strength is
72. 3:29domination.
73. 3:31That truth is whatever I decide it to
74. 3:33be. that if I don't like what you say, I
75. 3:37can silence you.
76. 3:39But the cross says otherwise.
77. 3:42The cross says that truth is not imposed
78. 3:45by violence, but by a witness of love.
79. 3:50The cross says that dignity is not
80. 3:52granted by government. It is given by
81. 3:54God.
82. 3:56The cross says that the only real
83. 3:58victory is not when your enemy is
84. 4:00destroyed, but when your enemy is loved.
85. 4:06And so when we see s when we see
86. 4:08violence enter our public life when we
87. 4:11see voices threatened instead of
88. 4:13answered when we see fear replacing
89. 4:16dialogue
90. 4:18we need to go to the cross.
91. 4:22Violence that silence speech is not only
92. 4:25an attack on democracy. It is a betrayal
93. 4:28of the cross
94. 4:30because Jesus himself was silenced. He
95. 4:33was mocked and condemned.
96. 4:36Of course, he could have fought back
97. 4:37with force,
98. 4:39but on the cross, he showed us a
99. 4:41different way.
100. 4:43He showed us that truth does not need a
101. 4:45sword. It needs witnesses.
102. 4:49The tragedy of this past week confronts
103. 4:52us with that reality.
104. 4:54Charlie Kirk, a young man whose words
105. 4:57provoked both admiration and criticism,
106. 5:01was gunned down simply for speaking.
107. 5:05In these last days, I've spoken with uh
108. 5:07so many students who admired him and
109. 5:10also those who disagreed with him
110. 5:12deeply.
111. 5:14And yet, they all said the same thing.
112. 5:16No one no one should ever be killed for
113. 5:20sharing their views.
114. 5:23That my friend is something we all
115. 5:25should be able to agree upon.
116. 5:28His death is a wound in our democracy.
117. 5:31But even more, it is a wound in our
118. 5:33humanity.
119. 5:35Because when violence replaces dialogue,
120. 5:37when bullets replace words, we lose.
121. 5:42Even those who disagree with him have
122. 5:45spoken clearly. Free speech is sacred.
123. 5:49The foundation for individual rights and
124. 5:51expression said it best. Political
125. 5:53violence is never an acceptable response
126. 5:56to speech. Free speech allows us to
127. 5:59settle our differences peacefully and is
128. 6:02essential to a free and democratic
129. 6:04society.
130. 6:07This is why the cross must remain at the
131. 6:09very center
132. 6:11because it shows us that truth is not
133. 6:13defended with violence but with witness,
134. 6:17with sacrifice, with love.
135. 6:21This Sunday, we celebrate family weekend
136. 6:24here at the University of Miami. We have
137. 6:27parents that are visiting their
138. 6:28students.
139. 6:31Parents want their children to thrive,
140. 6:35to stretch, to learn,
141. 6:38but they also want their children to be
142. 6:41safe. Not just from physical harm, but
143. 6:44from a culture that tells them to be
144. 6:46silent, to cancel, to hide their faith.
145. 6:51Let me be clear.
146. 6:53Our goal as a parish family and a campus
147. 6:56community, it is to protect our students
148. 6:59not only with locks on the doors, but
149. 7:01with freedom to think, to speak, to
150. 7:04pray, to search for truth without fear.
151. 7:09That's what the cross demands.
152. 7:13And the students, I will challenge them.
153. 7:17Why? Because the cross is the challenge.
154. 7:20and invite them not to retreat into
155. 7:22silence or fear. Do not settle for
156. 7:25lukewarm faith that admires Jesus from a
157. 7:28distance and encourage them to be
158. 7:31courageous, to speak truth with love, to
159. 7:35listen with humility, to ask real
160. 7:39questions, and to carry your cross,
161. 7:41knowing that you're doing that in doing
162. 7:44so, you are not alone. Why? Because
163. 7:46Christ himself walks beside you.
164. 7:51And for all of us, the cross is not
165. 7:53simply wood and metal on the altar.
166. 7:56It is alive here and now.
167. 7:59Some of you sitting in the pews are
168. 8:01carrying crushing burdens, illness,
169. 8:04grief, family struggles, fears for the
170. 8:07future. And yet you remind us that the
171. 8:10cross does not crush us when we carry it
172. 8:12with Christ.
173. 8:14It becomes a place where he is closest,
174. 8:17where he becomes the doorway not to
175. 8:20despair but to life eternal.
176. 8:23On this feast day, I ask you,
177. 8:27look upon the cross with new eyes.
178. 8:30See not just suffering, but see love in
179. 8:33action.
180. 8:35See not just defeat, but triumph. See
181. 8:39not just death, but the doorway to
182. 8:41eternal life.
183. 8:43And then let it ask you in the question,
184. 8:45will you follow him all the way? Will
185. 8:48you carry your cross with him? Will you
186. 8:50let your own suffering and the suffering
187. 8:52of our broken world become a witness of
188. 8:54love?
189. 8:56Because if the love teaches us because
190. 8:59if the cross teaches us anything, it is
191. 9:02this.
192. 9:04Hatred does not have the last word.
193. 9:08Violence does not have the last word.
194. 9:11Death does not have the last word, love.
195. 9:15And love alone always has the last word.
196. 9:20So today, my brothers and sisters, as
197. 9:22family students gather, as a nation
198. 9:25wounded by violence, as a church called
199. 9:28to be on mission, let us stand before
200. 9:31the cross together.
201. 9:33Let us hear his voice again saying,
202. 9:35"Follow me.
203. 9:38Forget the craziness. Forget the world
204. 9:40and the noise. Follow me faithfully.
205. 9:46Not when it's easy.
206. 9:49Not when it's safe. Not when the world
207. 9:51applauds.
208. 9:53But when it cost us, when it hurts, when
209. 9:57it takes everything that we have.
210. 10:00With the blood of martyrs in our memory
211. 10:02and the fresh wounds of this weekend
212. 10:04still aching in our nation. Let us make
213. 10:07that choice not to walk away, not to
214. 10:12hide, not to settle for being lukewarm,
215. 10:14but to fix our eyes on cross, on Christ,
216. 10:17and to live as his disciples who lift up
217. 10:20high the cross, his cross in our homes,
218. 10:25on campuses, in our broken worlds. And
219. 10:28may our voices, our lives, and the very
220. 10:30tears proclaim with unshakable faith.
221. 10:33Aix cross specs unia. Hail O holy cross,
222. 10:38our only hope. Amen.