You are Ridiculously Celebrated
Sermon Notes – March 20, 2022 – “Are We There Yet?”
“Are We There Yet?”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
March 19 – 20, 2022
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
If a tree does not bear fruit, it shall be cut down. Our Lord wants to see fruitfulness. What sort of fruit is He looking for? Our love. He comes and gives us His love and the fruits of His love. When we love Him in return and keep His Commandments, that is love in action. His Commandments are not an obligation. They are works of love. He said, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” He tells us how to love. But He tells us that our time to love and seeing love in return is not infinite. Our Lord tells us in the Gospel that He is coming back for us. In case you haven’t heard, we are all going to die. So, is that good news or bad news? It’s good news. Those who love Him will find fulfillment in Him. We will possess and be possessed by the One we have longed for. . .the One we have struggled to grow in love with while carrying our daily crosses. We will reach complete fulfillment in the Beloved.
Where we reside in the next life is solely up to us. Everyone in hell is a self-made man. It is our choice. He is coming for us soon. “Oh, He is trying to threaten us!” No, it’s a promise. We look forward to His coming like kids at Christmas. “How many days until Christmas?” And at Thanksgiving . . . “When is dinner?” We can smell all the good food. I smell SpaghettiOs while others may smell turkey. Each to his own. I look forward to Theresa Cutrone coming by with some Uber-eats and with pies being dropped off. Oh yeah. I’m also that way with the collection. But anyway. We all look forward to certain things.
When you are in love, you cannot wait to be reunited with your loved one. When I was sending my soldiers home, the hardest part for them was sitting around and waiting for 10 days for the aircraft to take off. I could keep them occupied with my jokes for just so long. They got really antsy. “I’ve got to get home.” Don’t worry. We haven’t failed you yet. We’ll get you home. “Is the flight coming early?” Can you name one thing in the military that came early? No. They couldn’t wait to get home and to be reunited with their loved ones. Their love would be complete inasmuch as it could be.
The same goes for our Lord. We look forward to being united with Him. Not perfectly because we all have sins. We have grievous sins and sins committed since our baptism. You heard in the Collect, the first prayer of the Mass, about fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. By the way, almsgiving covers a multitude of sins. It says so in scripture in the black part. When we have that little Tete-À-Tete with our good Lord, with that face-to-face, He will go over our personnel file. If He says, “Hmm, you didn’t love Me did you?” you will be separated from Him. But you have time. The Lord is giving us time. More time to turn and embrace love.
God wants everyone to come and be with Him. Why did He make us? Because He loves us. That’s the first question in the Catechism. The second part of that answer is that He made us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to reign with Him in the next. When someone chooses not to love Him in return, His divine heart is broken. Just as if it were pierced by a lance, it is pierced by the unrequited love of our Lord. But there is still time.
Father’s Afterthoughts:
I have some encouraging news to share. At the VA on Thursday, I was asked to stop and see a patient who is a new admission to Hospice. So, I went down there and talked to the young lady. She’s 62, has COPD, lung cancer next to the bone which has caused several fractures, and gangrene on her big toe. So, I was sitting there talking with her, and I could see that she was in some distress. I told her that she looked like she was in pain. “Oh, no, no. I’m fine.” I love it when they lie to me! I talked to the staff about her, and she won’t be with us for very long. So, I asked the men and women who came to daily Mass to pray for her. I went in on Friday and saw her. She was having a ham sandwich for lunch. She finished all her soup. She had French fries and apples or whatever they were. She said, “Oh, this is really good!” She was really upbeat and not in pain. I could tell she was better because her foot was covered whereas before they couldn’t cover it because of the pain. That is the power of prayer. You never know if it works., but this time I found out. To all of those who prayed for her, I want to thank you. So, keep up your prayers!
How will you apply this message to your life?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to http://AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.” Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”
4th Week of Lent – The Prodigal You – Will You Return to Him?
The story of the prodigal son is a picture of God’s deep love for us as His beloved children. God, the compassionate Father, longs for you to return to Him and welcome you home with outstretched arms.
This week, we place ourselves in the shoes of the prodigal son and search in our hearts where we need compassion from the Father. No matter what mistakes you’ve made in the past, now is the time to return and allow God’s infinite mercy and forgiveness to embrace you.
God wants to give you more. How will you respond this Lent?
3rd Week of Lent – See Yourself as Jesus Sees You
Imagine if you could see yourself the way Jesus sees you. Even in the midst of our sins, struggles, and failures, Jesus looks upon us with love as His Beloved. All He asks for us is to meet His gaze and fall in love with Him in return.
This week, we turn toward Jesus and let ourselves be fully seen by Him no matter where we find ourselves in life. Be not afraid of standing before Jesus unhidden and allow God to clearly see and completely love you.
God wants to give you more. How will you respond this Lent?
2nd Week of Lent – What Can Jesus Do for Me This Lent?
Do you long for direction in your life? Do you find yourself creating your own path, and getting lost? Hitting dead ends?
Life can hit hard, and when it hits hard, who do we run to? We sure don’t run to a fantasy. Who is Jesus? We’ve learned these past few weeks that he was a human just like us. But is he more than that? More than just a nice guy, or a wise teacher? Is he truly our Lord who can save us?
God wants to give you more. How will you respond this Lent?
Fr. Mark Toups, an experienced spiritual director, leads readers inward to invite the Lord to heal those areas where they need it most. He follows the same format that more than a hundred thousand people enjoyed in Advent with his popular Rejoice! journals. Readers will receive daily guidance as well as supplemental videos, to help enter more deeply into Lent and remain focused throughout the season.
The Ascension Lenten Companion: Year C Presented by Fr. Mark Toups Product Owner: Julia Bernetsky
Producer/Director: Matt Pirrall
DP: Sean Boyd
Production/Editing: Coronation Media
First Week of Lent: From Uncertainty to Trust
Fr. Mark Toups shows us how Mary and Joseph had to rely on God. They couldn’t do anything by themselves, and neither can we. We all have uncertainty about the future sometimes, but God wants to transform this uncertainty into trust in Him.
The Generosity Habit – Regrets
The Generosity Habit – I Can Do So Little
The Generosity Habit – Confused About Needs and Wants
//Dynamic Catholic//
Best Lent Ever – Generosity Looks Good on You
Generosity is not passive. It’s alive and dynamic, proactive, always looking for ways to express itself. When I ask people to tell me about the most generous person they know, this is the type of thing they say, “She is always looking for opportunities to be generous.”
The most generous people I know are not just thoughtful and generous with their money and things. They are generous in every way imaginable. This all-around generosity makes them much loved by everyone who knows them and a beacon of God’s love in their community. Their generosity is proactive. They don’t wait to be asked.
Here’s an example of creative, proactive generosity. Life-changing generosity.
Anastasia Petrov is a Russian immigrant and a nurse. “I love America,” she says to me with her sixty-two-year-old smile. A few years ago, one of the nurses she works with at the hospital got cancer and had to take some time off work. Anastasia didn’t know her very well, but she knew that the other nurse had three kids and that she needed to work. Anastasia knew this woman would be out of sick days very quickly and one day at lunch Anastasia heard some of the other nurses talking about doing one of those online funding projects to help out.
“We can do better than that!” Anastasia said to her colleagues. They all turned and stared at her; you see, Anastasia was a quiet woman. She was a listener. Plenty of lunch breaks would pass without her saying a single word. “What do you mean?” one of her colleagues asked her. “Everyone loves Jane [the sick nurse]. She is always doing kind things for people. We all have three twelve-hour shifts a week; all we need to do is find three nurses to volunteer an extra shift each week and Jane can keep getting paid until she is well and can come back to work.”
The other nurses stared at her with astonishment and admiration. “I’ll organize the schedule,” Anastasia added. And so she did. Each week while Jane was out of work, Anastasia found three nurses to do an extra shift so that Jane could continue to be paid her full salary.
I learned about this from Sophia, another nurse at the hospital. “How long was Jane off work?” I asked. “Three years!” Sophia replied with a smile. “Anastasia is amazing,” she continued.
This was life-changing generosity. It was creative and proactive.
Now, here is today’s generosity habit.
Make someone’s day! Go out of your way to do something to make someone’s day today. You don’t need me to tell you what to do. The creative genius of generosity is alive and well within you. Seek its counsel and follow where the spirit of generosity leads you. It doesn’t have to be something spectacular. Small and simple acts of generosity can make people’s day.
Matthew Kelly
//Dynamic Catholic//