Month: June 2022

Posted on

Minute Meditation – A Friend

The next twenty-one years were a time of total dedication to serving the sick and the poor in the burgeoning city of the Midwest, Detroit, Michigan. Sent by the superiors to be the assistant to Br. Francis Spruck, monastery porter for over twenty-five years, Solanus soon became the one friar whom everybody wanted to see.… Poor Br. Francis, who was provincial tailor and porter at the same time, had hoped that the new porter would lessen his work at the office. Now, as Solanus became more and more known, the doorbell rang constantly. The friars finally put a sign over the bell, “WALK IN.”

The fame of Solanus spread by word of mouth all over the city. When people were sick or in difficulty, the word was, “Go see Father Solanus.” He was everybody’s friend, and like a good friend he was always available. On a typical day at the monastery office, all the chairs lined up around the room would be occupied. People patiently waited a turn to speak with Solanus, who sat at a plain desk in the center of the room. Sometimes he would be interrupted by the telephone on his desk. He would turn his attention to the caller, always with patience and equanimity. Every visitor was important to Solanus. He never hurried anyone. With complete attention he patiently listened to each tale of concern for a sick child or parent or friend. Gently he would speak of God’s love and how God turns trials to blessings. He would try to share his own deep faith and trust in God with the person before him.

—from the book Gratitude and Grit: The Life of Blessed Solanus Casey,
by Brother Leo Wollenweber, OFM Cap, page 43

Posted on

Sermon Notes – June 12, 2022 – “All Are Welcome”

“All Are Welcome”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 June 11 – 12, 2022

Gospel: John 16:12-15

While I was up north on vacation, I did some touring and saw a lot of churches.  Rhode Island is a small state with only about 1,000 square miles in land mass.  Stanly County has 404, so Rhode Island is just a little larger than our parish.  So is Massachusetts.  It’s funny that even in little West Warwick there are two off-brand Catholic Churches.  “We are Catholic, but we are not part of the diocese in Providence.”  Well, that means you are not Catholic.  You are catholic with a small “c” and not a big “C.”   All the churches I saw had signs out front that said, “All people are welcome.”   We don’t have a sign like that here.  Have I ever thrown anyone out?  No.  Would I?   No… well maybe Doc, but that’s another matter.  So, these churches have signs welcoming everyone, and it reminds me of Genesis when God asked Adam and Eve: “Who told you that you were naked?”   Who told you that you were not welcome? 

Christ calls everybody without condition to Himself.  He came so that we might all share in His love and the fruits of His sacrifice so that we might live in Heaven with Him.  That’s why He created us…to love and serve Him in this world and to reign with Him in the next.  Remember your Catechism.  Our Good Lord called everyone to Himself, however, apparently there are qualifications . . . a response to that call of love.  That’s why I have never thrown anybody out.  Remember Tommy Morton who was a Baptist for 55 years?  Like Saint Dismas, he stole Heaven at the end.  I loved that guy.  Everyone is welcome here, but only practicing Catholics can receive Communion. 

When our Good Lord called everyone to Him, He said, “Come and follow Me.”  He calls all of us to receive the gift of redemption.   Now, according to Scripture, there are requirements which are really acts of love.  People say, “Well Christ wants everyone to partake of His love regardless of their state.”   No.  That’s not what Scripture says.  Scripture says, “unless you deny your very self and take up your cross and follow Me, you will not be My disciple.”  In order to receive the gift of His love which transforms us from our old sinful ways, we have to surrender ourselves to Him.  Remember the rich young man?  He said that he had to go bury his mother and father, and he walked away from Christ.  Did Christ go running after him to say He was only kidding?  No.  Three times He was left with only His apostles.  Everyone else left Him when He spoke about the Doctrine of the Eucharist – eat My flesh and drink My blood as food; the doctrine of marriage – it is between a man and a woman for life; and the doctrine of suffering – He would have to go to Jerusalem and suffer and die.  There are many others, but the mind will hear only what the seat can endure.  The Holy Father said that a sermon should only go for eight minutes. 

God wants a total response to our love.  When I was ordained, I was given the power to absolve sins.  I have the power of binding and loosening.  What can I bind and what can I not let go?  People who are not sorry for their sins and who haven’t resolved to make amends for their wrongs.  We all have the resolve to change.  We all fall but we get up again.  If you say, “I am living with whoever, wherever, and doing whatever, and you have to love me the same as everyone else,” Christ will say, “No.”   “But how could you excommunicate anybody?”  Paul said we should.  Those who eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ are worthy and guilty of His death. 

So, our Good Lord calls everyone to His side.  Everyone is welcome here.  I don’t think any of the ushers have ever asked anybody for their Baptismal Certificate.  I don’t think we say, “Well if you don’t have a proper Baptismal Certificate, you’re not going to Heaven.”  I have never said that.  I am just hoping to get there myself.  If I eat bacon, I might get there a lot sooner than I planned.  Just putting that out there.  God asks us to renounce our very self.  In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, there’s a man there without a wedding garment and he got thrown out.  He would not change in order to come to the feast.  Christ calls us to change from our sinful selves and to open our hearts without reservation so that we may conform to the great things in life.  It’s always a work in progress.  But if we fall down, we get back up and keep trying. 

Everyone is welcome.  However, God wants more than your physical presence.  It’s a good start, but He wants us to open our souls and renounce our sins.  He cannot force us because love is a free-will act.  Open your hearts so that you can be transformed.  It’s not a matter of attendance, of making people feel good, or singing “Kumbaya” together.  It’s a matter of salvation…of changing and healing souls. 

All are welcome.  We don’t need to put up a sign out front for that.  I’ll tell you one more story about Bishop Waters, the Bishop of North Carolina.  In the early 60’s, there was only one diocese in the state.  Someone asked the Bishop, “Hey Bishop, how many black Catholics do you have?”  He said, “I don’t know.  We only have Catholics in our church.”  We have no distinction.  When people say to me, “Father, I’m not Catholic,” I say, “First of all, I didn’t ask, and 2) We are all children of God.”  Everyone has a right to be here.  This is our Father’s house and not a club.  But our Good Lord wants more than our physical attendance. He calls all of us to come, but not all will accept His love the way God wants to give it.  And that’s a real tragedy.

How will you apply this message to your life? __________________________________

Father’s Reflections . . .
We all go through trials and temptations.  As of late, I have been very troubled with a very grievous and troublesome temptation.  I have two fairies on each shoulder whispering in my ears  “Bacon is good for you.”   And everywhere I go there is a Hardees “Baconator” sign.  Really?  Well, that’s just food pornography….I don’t care who you are!

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”  From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page).  There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.

Posted on

Sermon Notes – June 5, 2022 – “The Feast of Pentecost”

“The Feast of Pentecost”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 June 4 – 5, 2022

Gospel: John 20:19-23

We celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when our Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.   Remember that He received His human nature from the Blessed Mother, and He asks us to continue His work with ours.   He takes our human nature and graces it with the Holy Spirit; first in Baptism and then the other Sacraments.  Now at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments reveals His new human nature down through the ages in the Church.  We are part of the Church so that we may bring back what has been separated.   What separates us?  Sin. Sin drives us away from God and then away from each other.  It separates us from what unites us.  Remember the Tower of Babel in Genesis when they were building a tower to God?  And God said, “You’re bringing that?  Is that the best you’ve got?”   Sin drove us apart. 

You heard in the opening prayer about the different languages.  Was Peter a linguist?  No, he was a fisherman but through the Holy Spirit, everyone heard him.   They heard Jesus speaking through Peter.  We are all together in the one Body of Christ in the Church.  We are supposed to use the universal language which is Christ.  He may give us the gift of tongues.  If anyone has been to the 12:15 Mass which is in Spanish, you know that I don’t have that gift.  It’s more Spanglish.  I speak Spanish with a French accent.  That’s a wonder for you right?   People at the 12:15 Mass tell me that my Spanish is pretty good.  No, it’s not.  In my lifetime I have tried to learn seven different languages: English, French (Canadian and Parisian), Latin, Army, and Spanglish.  I gave up on Greek. . .I just grunt and people seems to understand.  So, I’m not a linguist.  What we now have in the Church has balkanized Christ.  We have Mass in Spanish, we have Mass in this language, that language, and whatever language there is.  But you know what?  It doesn’t work because fewer come.  What does work is Christ. 

We all have the capability of speaking the language to reach people.  What is that language?  It is the language of love. . . the language of Christ.  We are called to speak the fullness God’s love through the Holy Spirit no matter our vocation or our place in the Body of Christ.  Mine is different than yours.  But yours is no less important in bringing God’s message to the world.  Even though we cannot speak their language, this is how we touch and teach people and bring them to Christ.  Words are not necessary.  People have asked me, “Father, how do you work with all those soldiers?”  Do I understand everything they did?  Oh, heck no.  “So, why did they love you?”  I just showed up and shared in their sufferings.   I remember when I got to Iraq and the commanding officer asked me, “What are you doing here?”  Being a lowly lieutenant with a smart mouth, I said, “I’m your chaplain, Sir.  Where else am I supposed to be?”  The commander said, “Oh, good point.”   Just be there for people and share in their sufferings.  We are all quick to share in their joys, but now share in their sufferings.  Do acts of charity.  This is the language of Christ.  Even a smile is an act of charity and love.  That is the universal language.  You don’t need a course for it.  What you do need is a heart full of God’s love.  Become a carrier of that love.  We can carry a virus, so too we can carry God’s love.  Bring that to people.  The greatest gift of the Holy Spirit is love and not all the other stuff. 

When I was overseas, workers were imported from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.  They would come to our Mass.  Did they understand it?  Probably not.  Did they understand my English?  Probably not.  But they were afraid that the Interior Ministry would tell them they couldn’t come to Mass.  The Interior Ministry would harass them and do all sorts of nasty things.  They don’t have the same sense of justice we do.  I told them they were surrounded by 500,000 heavily armed American soldiers and that nobody was going to bother them.  Trust me on this one.  We didn’t want to be there, and we had an attitude.  So, nobody was going to bother them.  They came because it was the Mass.  If you look out at a military chapel, you will see the United Nations.  We had a Filipino priest whose English was about as good as mine.  “How can you go to those people?”   I said, “Because they are priests.”  I was assigned to Gitmo for three months.  I got “hey you” orders after I returned from a month at Fort Polk.  Did I speak Spanish?  No, but the Army didn’t care.  I told them, “I am your brother.  I am your son.  I am a priest.”  And they understood that. 

When we speak the universal language of love, it unites everyone.  The universal language of love is your charity, both spiritual and corporal.  You don’t have to go to school for it.  If you have to go to school for it, you’re missing the whole boat.  Fill yourself up with Christ.  In Room 1 at the VA Hospital, we had a new hospice patient.  He was a medic on D-Day.  A church member brought him in, and she asked him if there was anything she could get for him.  He said, “Yeah, a dozen roses for my wife.  It’s our 65th wedding anniversary.”  This guy was in Hospice care.  I took that story and made it part of his medical record so that the staff would know.  His wife came in to visit, and she was a hot ticket.  She reminded me of Frankie.  She was the church organist and pianist, and I could see her going Jerry Lee Lewis on somebody.  She was rocking it.  She was so funny.  A couple of nights later, another patient in Room 2 was about to get his celestial discharge.  He was passing from this life to Almighty God.  His wife was repeating the words to his favorite hymn.  The nurse came by and heard her.  She thought about it and went to the wife of the man in Room 1 and said, “Mam, I understand you were a church organist.”  She said, “Yes, I was.”  The nurse asked her if she played the piano, and she said yes.  Then the nurse asked the lady if she knew this hymn.  She did.  The nurse asked the lady if she would mind playing the hymn because the gentleman in the next room was dying.  The lady said, “Oh, I’d love to.”  She went down to where the piano was, and the nurse got some other nurses to come.  Doctor Phoul who had a beautiful voice also came.  They sang that hymn as the man passed from this life to the next.  Now I’m not aware that they taught that course in medical school.  I’m also not aware that they taught it in nursing school.  It is not within any of the treatment parameters that we have.  I’ve been doing this job for a long time, and I’ve never seen it happen.  What led them to do it?  It was the love of Christ being present.  It was a great act of love. This is the love we speak.  You don’t have to speak a different language.  What you need is an open heart for God to come in and take possession and manifest His love throughout the world.

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”  From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page).  There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.