Daily Reflection – A Smile is an Invitation
Daily Reflection – He Seeks Us Before We Dream of Seeking Him
Sermon Notes – November 21, 2021 – A White Fence Must be Maintained
A White Fence Must be Maintained
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
November 20 – 21, 2021
Gospel: John 18:33-37
I think it is time for a Catechetical lesson. From time to time, we need to review best practices because even a white fence must be maintained otherwise it turns black. During the Mass last night, there were two accidents that upset me greatly. Two people dropped the Host. In the United States, there are two ways to receive Holy Communion if you are in a State of Grace. One way is on the hand. If you choose to receive on the hand, one hand is held beneath the other. You take the Host from your free hand and put it into your mouth. Now, it is my right to refuse to give you Communion. I’ve seen all sorts of things… like stamps from the bar where someone was the night before. Yeah, I had a life too before I became a priest. Also, I served with paratroopers at Fort Bragg. But giving you Communion on the hand would be sacrilegious. The normative way of receiving Holy Communion in the Universal Church is on the tongue. You may kneel at the altar rail if you choose, or you may stick out your tongue and say “Amen” after I say, “Body of Christ.” I don’t take your sticking out your tongue at me personally. But please don’t pretend you’re an iguana. I will give it to you. Extend your tongue and leave it there. And don’t lick my hand, okay? I expect that from Tilley and Marley and all the other puppies who love me. I’ve been doing this a very long time – for 38 years – so I’ve got it. I’m a professional. Please don’t try to help me. Also, don’t open your mouth, stick out your tongue, and smile at me. Please remember “Who” you are receiving. Jesus is a “Who.” He is not a “what.” That’s blasphemy. You are receiving God Himself. Oh, and my arm is only so long, so when you come up to receive Communion, don’t stand back at the pew. What am I supposed to do, launch it at you? Get up here! I tested negative twice last Friday, so I’m safe, alright? Just come up and after I say, “Body of Christ” and you say “Amen,” put the Host in your mouth. I must see you put it in your mouth. If you walk away and I don’t see you put it in your mouth, I will hurt your feelings. . . dramatically. In my best military manner, I will hurt your feelings because I have vowed to protect the Blessed Sacrament with my life. So, do not try to walk away without putting it in your mouth. Remember the sacredness of what is happening during the Mass and with Holy Communion.
Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King. We acknowledge Christ as King. What does that mean? We come here and sing songs from the hymnals? No. He’s the king of what? Why is He a king? Who is the king in your heart and soul? It’s the ones you love. They have priority. Everything you do in this life is for the sake of the ones you love. . .your spouse, your children, and your grandchildren. Everything is focused on them within Christ. That’s how you learn to love. Because we love Him, we do the things that help us love Him more. He is the sole source of our life and our joy. You say that Christ is coming back to judge us. Uh-Oh. It’s like a teenage party and Mom is coming. Quick! Time to clean the house. Too late now! By the way, it’s never too late to say “I’m sorry” to God. If we love God, we look forward to that moment.
We were never meant to die. That’s why it takes bodies so long to die. We have a man in Hospice at the VA hospital who has ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He’s a textbook case. The nurses and doctors are amazed at how slowly he is dying, and it’s so painful to watch. Our bodies were never meant to die. That’s why we fear it. But we are all going to see Jesus one way or another. When we go to our Lord, we prove our love by the works of love we’ve done. What are works of love? Saint Augustine said that the work itself is love. We keep His Commandments. “Oh, Father. That’s so old-fashioned and very judgmental.” Well, Jesus is judgmental. Remember, there is a final exam during which He judges us. What are the works of love? Well, what does it say in Scripture? “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” So, the Commandments are not just punishing acts. “We are over the Commandments. We are full of love and joy!’ No, no, no. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” By the way, there are more than ten. If you read the Book, just the black part, don’t read the white, you will be more content. This is how we prove that we love Jesus. He is the source and summit of our love. We try to keep His Commandments. Are we perfect? No. But that doesn’t mean we stop trying. This is how we prove the primary love in our heart and Who we love above all. “We need just laws.” No, we have more laws than we know what to do with. We need just people. We need holy people. We don’t need more laws. We need holier people. Have you noticed that the SWAT team has never raided Belmont Abbey? And I don’t see Mother Angelica’s sisters being raided by the Feds. Just saying. Want to save money on police? Want to take money out of prisons? Become holier. That’s how God will judge us. The throne in our soul was created for our Lord to reside. At the time of our passing, God will look to see if His Son is there. He will look into our souls to see if love and peace reside there.
How will you apply this message to your life?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/, clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.” They can also be found on Facebook by searching for “Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”
The Little Way
The Little Way makes holiness accessible to us despite our weaknesses and our ordinariness. It is a way of trust and love. This fresh application of the Gospel message is the legacy of the Little Flower. She lived the Little Way as it sprang from her heart, then left it to the Church she loved.As we deal with family, friends, neighbors, employers, co-workers, teachers, and especially those who are difficult, we can each do the “little.” Even in encounters with strangers, we can do the little, in love, for Jesus. The Little Way is manageable, not overwhelming. It is a means by which any one of us can become a saint.That is not to say that St. Thérèse’s Little Way is easy! To love in each moment may not mean we achieve a desired outcome or response. There are times when loving is a heroic act of the will. It may simply mean that we make every effort to give our best in that moment. Then we offer those moments to God in a childlike spirit of trust and abandonment. We make this offering with confidence, knowing that He sees our hearts and our intentions. We entrust all of our small efforts to the Lord, believing that He receives them as our Heavenly Father.
//Good Catholic//
Minute Meditation – Christ Is Proclaimed by Our Lives
The Franciscan path of prayer that leads to peace is a path of transformation and witness. Christ is proclaimed not by words but by the example of one’s life, one’s willingness to suffer or perhaps offer one’s life for the sake of another. Christ lives in that Christ lives in us––in our bodies, our hands, our feet and our actions. This is the challenge for our time with its emphasis on rationality and materialism, the challenge of divine risk, of allowing God to enter our lives and lift us out of the doldrums of mediocrity, privatism and individualism. We are called to be vulnerable to grace so that we may be transformed into the living Christ.
—from the book Franciscan Prayer
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Prayer Is a High-Risk Enterprise
Prayer that allows the mystery of Christ to change our lives, is a high-risk enterprise—an uncontrollable experience. Yet, the power of God’s grace is such that one who, like Francis of Assisi, is able to trust God sufficiently can enter into the “cave” of the heart, the place where Incarnation takes place, and be transformed into the triumph of love. Franciscan prayer, therefore, is Christ-centered, affective, contemplative, cosmic and evangelizing. The goal of prayer is to make Jesus Christ alive in the believer. To bring Christ to life is the way to peace.
—from the book Franciscan Prayer
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Peace Is the Fruit of Love
The life of Christ is the life of all life––the peace of creation, the justice of humanity and the unity of humankind. That is why the Franciscan path of prayer must ultimately lead to peace because it leads to the compassionate love of the crucified Christ. Peace is the fruit of love. Francis became a person of peace because he became a person of love—a love shown in his body and in his willingness to spend himself for others.
—from the book Franciscan Prayer
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – The Spirit Brings All into Christ
Franciscan evangelical life strives to live in this mystery more deeply through a life of unceasing prayer. God is to descend and take on flesh anew in our lives through the indwelling Spirit that joins us to Christ and expresses itself in the body of the believer. Prayer is the breath of the Spirit within us, the Spirit who brought about the Incarnation of the Word of God and who continues to incarnate the Word in our lives. The one Spirit who joins together the Father and Word in love brings us finite creatures into this infinite relationship of love. Because the one Spirit is sent by the one Christ, the fullness of Christ is the fullness of love that is the work of Spirit. The Spirit not only forms one to Christ but brings all into unity in Christ.
— from the book Franciscan Prayer
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – The Heart Longs for God
Spiritual desire is the longing of the heart for relationship with God that brings happiness and peace. Francis of Assisi was a passionate person, a dreamer, a lover and a person of desire. When he felt his desire filled in hearing the gospel, he found the answer to his deepest longings and changed his life accordingly. He became a follower of Christ. Francis’ life shows us that we must be attentive to our desires if we are to find the fulfillment of our lives in God.
— from the book Franciscan Prayer
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – God Feeds Us with Loving Kindness
Food freely given exacts from us a promise to go beyond its selfish reception to the unselfish realm of deep gratitude. There we commit ourselves to give to others what we have received. My food mentors—grandmother and mother—cooked not because their sense of dignity depended on others’ opinions of them but because they knew that treating tablemates to the best they could offer was the backbone of every family and nation. Though ingratitude and indifference might have come to their table, it disappeared when they left it. Poured forth from previously pursed lips was a litany of gratitude complemented by what these good souls always wanted to see: sighs and smiles of contentment.
—from the book Table of Plenty: Good Food for Body and Spirit
by Susan Muto
//Franciscan Media//