Month: January 2022

Posted on

Sermon Notes: January 1-2, 2021 – “Even Superman Gets Sick”

 “Even Superman Gets Sick”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 January 1 – 2, 2021

Gospel:  Matthew 2:1-12

As you may already know, the word “epiphany” means a manifestation or revelation.  There have been other epiphanies which are a revelation of who God is.  By our own reason, we can come to the knowledge of God through natural law and reason, but that only gets us so far.  God has to reveal Himself as He did in Genesis so that we can come to love Him.  We cannot gain knowledge of Him without His help. He made prudent use of the Wise Men to reveal Who His son was. 

Remember who Jesus is…the second person in the Blessed Trinity.  He was one “Who” but He was also two “What’s.”  He was one person which is the “Who,” and two “What’s” which are His two natures, human and divine.  We only have a human nature.  That’s all we have; it doesn’t get any better than that.  Jesus had both a human and divine nature.  His human nature He took from the Blessed Mother and is the one He suffered with and that was assumed and lost in His divine nature.  This is shown in the Mass.  I put one drop of water in the chalice of wine, not more and not less.  If I don’t put just one drop of water into the chalice, the Mass is invalid because that is a symbol of Christ’s humanity being assumed and lost in His divinity.  Our eventual goal is to know who He is…King of the Universe.  The Jews worshiped God and offered incense in the Temple.  We use frankincense which symbolizes God.  Read the Old Testament.  Read Revelation in the New Testament.  Incense is the prayers of God’s holy people.  That’s why we use it in church.  It is scriptural prayer. He was presented with myrrh because He was God.  Myrrh was used in burials and represented His coming into the world to die so that we may have an opportunity to get to Heaven.  So, this is a Christological feast. 

Our good Lord reveals Himself so that you can know His Son.  The Wise Men revealed our response to His great love.  They came from a far distance.  We don’t know how far they came or from where.  It could have been from Aquadale, but it was a long distance.  Travel back then was very dangerous.  When the Wise Men came, they left everything to find Jesus.  They risked everything to find Him.  They came to worship and knelt in His presence.  The Wise Men were in the presence of the King, and they knelt in a posture of prayer.  This is our response, whether convenient or inconvenient, to come see God’s great presence.  The Wise Men were no more blessed than we are.   We have God made present.  Yes, the Wise Men saw God in the guise of a child.  We see God in the Blessed Sacrament in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  But we see the same God.  How do I love Thee, God? 

Father’s Afterthoughts:
I am still very, very tired, and the nurses tell me this could last for a while.  One of the symptoms of my illness has been insomnia.  I have been blessed to have so many wonderful people in my parish and also family and friends.  They have all been concerned and called to ask how I’m doing.  And I may not have handled that very well.  I had a beautiful chance for long-suffering patience, and I think I blew it most of the time.  Well, think about it.  A couple of people would call and ask how I’m doing and then want to chat.  Shut up!  My cousin called and asked, “How are you doing?”  I told her I was resting at which point she wanted to chat.  Shut-up!  I’m sick!  I do this for a living, trust me.  You don’t stay long; it’s not a discussion.  Eventually, one of my cousins by-passed me and asked Lori how I was doing.  One of my chaplain friends at the hospital who I’ve known for 33 years and served with overseas was asked by the nurses if he had called me.  He told them he texted me every few days.  He’s sick.  He’s a soldier – just leave him alone.  They occasionally walk by the house and if there’s no smell, they know he’s okay.  So, if I have been short with anyone and been in anything but perfect character, I do apologize and ask for your forgiveness.  Illness is not an excuse, nor does it develop character.  It reveals it.  So, please forgive me.

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://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”

Posted on

Minute Meditation – Everything Connected

The psalms keep teaching me that to be emotionally and spiritually whole, there’s no drawing lines inside the human heart. It’s like my students keep showing me. We can feel it all. Rejected and radiant. I think the psalms show our inner lives are a celestial place, a Milky Way, and as John Muir wrote about everything being connected, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

—from the book What Was Lost: Seeking Refuge in the Psalms by Maureen O’Brien

Posted on

Sermon Notes – December 24, 2021 – The Wonder and Awe of Christmas

“The Wonder and Awe of Christmas”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

December 24, 2021

Gospel:   Luke 1:67-79.

I think of some of the Christmases I have had, and I’ve had some pretty interesting ones, like the one when I would got into a vehicle with no seat belts and a loaded weapon with a round in the chamber.  Because I have been sick, this Christmas hasn’t been a fairly pleasant one, but all in all, not bad. 

We all think about Christmas and how beautiful it is.  The elves have done so much work to make it so.  My brother priests send me pictures of their churches.  I do not send them a picture of ours, because I don’t want to hurt their tiny little feelings.  Sissy boys!  When I was a child, Christmas time was so beautiful.  We helped serve at the Mass and were seated by the Red Cassocks.  It was a step up from the regular action and was the closest I ever got to being Monsignor.  Do you ever wish you had the time to reflect on the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of a child?  To see again the wonder of God?  What happened to that wonder?  No matter the age in your reflections, you would have missed so much.  That was just the beginning.  Part of God’s revelation is that He draws you closer to Him to become part of His sacrifice, to receive His life thru the Sacraments, and to receive more knowledge and deeper love. 

Your wedding day is not the same as your 50th anniversary.  The 50th anniversary is supposed to be better.  Different yes, but deeper.  Change is not always bad.  Change can be very good.  Heraclitus, a 5th Century Greek philosopher said, “you cannot step into the same river twice.”  And that’s true.  You never do because there have been changes.  We are called to change and to grow in love so that the Christmases we are called to now are felt deeper and are even more wonderful.  There’s a way to do it but I’m all preached out and running out of energy.  [Father Fitz is recovering from COVID-19.]  But to have a deeper wonder and awe of a child.  Scripture says, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”  (Matthew 18:3).   We are supposed to be true to that wonder and awe in the simplicity of love, to the resignation of ourselves to the Savior, and to be lost in that great gift of love…to be grateful and to experience it. 

Each day we have the opportunity to grow in that love, and one day it will come to its fulfillment in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Do not sell yourself short by wanting to go back to your childhood.  Don’t.  You will miss so much.   If there have been intervening problems during the years from then and until now, that can all be fixed and done away with.  God can restore the beauty and majesty of life.  He has come to give the gift of Himself as promised by the Profits.  The gift is His death and resurrection.  Once we receive the fullness of it, we will finally enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

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”