Contemplative Monk – The Friendships that Never Die
Sermon Notes – August 14, 2022 – History is Not Destiny
“History is Not Destiny”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
August 13 – 14, 2022
Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples:
49 “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! 50 There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
That last sentence in the Gospel made me think of the movie, “The Quiet Man.” There were two women in one house, and one was a red head. Not good thing. There can be only one dominate mare and that’s it. Go to any pasture, and if there is more than one mare, they will settle the score and determine who is boss.
When a person tries to grow in holiness, a lot of things will happen. They will begin to change by taking up their cross every day and participating in the Sacraments frequently. As we strive for holiness, we will make progress if we never give up our cross. We may fall a lot, but we never stop trying to practice our faith. We are not perfect and won’t be until after we die and are in Heaven. The good part about that and the bad part about that is you probably won’t notice. You will probably notice that you are doing all this stuff and don’t feel any better and things aren’t going any better. “So, what’s the point? Am I really making progress?” It can be very disheartening.
I’ll tell you how you will know when you are making progress because you won’t notice it yourself. Two will happen to you. As you grow in holiness, you realize that you have a lot more room in which to grow. You won’t become inflated; in fact, you will become more humble. “Whoa! I’ve got a lot more work to do. This is God’s gift and not my doing.” Also, you will have someone notice the change in you. “Wow. What’s the change in you? I don’t know what it is, but it’s a nice change.” Some may notice and not say anything. Others, who do not accept His word, will hang around to make your life miserable and crucify you. They will bring up all this nasty stuff. “You know you had a booze problem.” They may call you a jerk. “You darn Catholic! You used to blah blah blah!” Really? That’s the past, and I am more than my past. History is not destiny. They will do this because the person who is trying to grow in holiness is bringing the light of Christ that is within them to others. You are not consciously “witnessing” or evangelizing, but because of Who is in your soul, you are bringing Him to others. Our Lord has forgiven and forgotten all our sins. And we are grateful for God’s gift to us.
This is the division that Christ comes for. We try to practice our faith. We let His light shine through our conduct and how we treat others. Some do not wish to grow in the light. I remember walking into the Iredell hospital and this woman approached me. She asked me if I was a Catholic priest. I said, “Yes.” And then she let loose on all these nasty words. I said, “Mom, stop! What is wrong with you?” I’ve been cursed out many times, and I probably deserved it many more times when I wasn’t. But it wasn’t me who offended them. It was what I represented. When people do that, it hurts, because we always like to be commended and encouraged. So, when they do that, and they will, be glad because they are affirming your growth in holiness. They see someone inside you that they have rejected. So, keep that lamp burning brightly and eventually they may see that light and place that light into their own souls.
In 12 stop programs, people admit to being alcoholics, drug addicts or whatever. Therapeutically that is true. Spiritually, it is not. Spiritually, I am a person with that cross. But we are not our crosses. Our crosses are God’s gift to us to keep us humble. Many times, those who have been given great gifts have great crosses to keep them humble. For those who are striving in holiness, fair warning. . .some people won’t approve. I will give you a personal example. My Aunt Teresa died, and so I was at the wake in Massachusetts at what was a French funeral home but is now owned by an Irishman. . .we are taking over. My cousin came up to me and said, “You still believe all that stuff?” Sweetheart…check the collar. I get clergy rates at the airlines. Your mother went to Mass every day. What’s wrong with you? So do not be disheartened. Know that they treated our Lord the same way. Remember the reproaches of our Lord on Good Friday: “My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer Me!”
So, we try to grow in holiness. We may become the temptations of others who do not appreciate our growing closer to the Lord so that we can love better and love them better. One side effect is knowing our salvation. Another is passing that love and openness onto others. So don’t be despondent. Instead, we pray for them. And we take their sufferings upon ourselves. This is the division which comes from those who refuse His love.
How will you apply this message to your life? _______________________________
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Minute Meditation – We Each Have Our Own Path
God loves us so much that, not only did he make us a creation unto ourselves, but in doing so, he gifted us with a particular way to return that love that is fit for no other person. In simply being our true selves, doing nothing more than becoming the unique person that God created us to be, we give glory to God and follow our own particular path of holiness. That’s it! We are not to imitate the lives of the saints or do what others define for us; our path to holiness is not made by scrupulously following the path of a holy person who has gone before us. What is asked of me may not be asked of you. What you are capable of may not be what I am capable of. Each and every one of us has been created differently, for God’s own glory, and we each have our own path to follow.
—from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship
by Casey Cole, OFM, page 15
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Christ Calls Us to the Here and Now
Following Christ does not mean that we have to give up our jobs, schools, love of sports and entertainment, playing video games, or our social media handles. At least, not necessarily. What it means is that we need to let go of everything that produces anxiety in us and takes up our time without any benefit to ourselves or the world; it means giving up the trivial worries that merely keep us busy, give us something to think about, offer an escape, or hide us from what really matters. Christ calls us to the here and now. He wants us to be present to people and things that actually make a difference. If we want to be his disciples, there is no time to waste living in a world that doesn’t exist. The kingdom is at hand, and it’s the only world we need.
—from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship
by Casey Cole, OFM, page 50
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – What Do We Expect?
Despite knowing from the onset that following Christ means two sure things—God is ultimately in charge, and nothing we can say or do will prevent God’s plan from being successful in the end—we have certain expectations, even certain demands, for the way things should go. Sometimes, even when we know these two constants, we find ourselves on the road to the kingdom but instead of being filled with joy, we’re frustrated and disappointed. Often we discover that our hopes are not of the kingdom at all, but of our own creations and fantasies. If we want to follow Jesus, we must let go of our hopes and expectations, our visions for the future, our demands for the present, and remain radically open to what God is doing right in front of us.
—from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship
by Casey Cole, OFM, page 20
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Who Are You, God, and Who am I?
For St. Francis, this search for himself began and ended by asking the only one whose opinion mattered: Jesus. Rather than filling his head with the opinions of the world, getting bogged down by his own self-doubt, letting his successes fill up his ego, he went to God in prayer and asked the two most essential questions anyone could ask: “Who are you Lord, and who am I?” So simple and pure, and yet so powerful. In these words and the response that follows is everything that could ever matter. How we come to answer them will define everything.
In my case, these questions inevitably draw me to littleness. When I ask God, “Who are you Lord, and who am I?” the image that always returns to me is that of a child of God. My place is not off alone ruling my own kingdom, but as the beloved in the kingdom of my Father. Despite being a finite creature in the midst of an all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present Being—an absolute nothing next to God, in every way dependent and with no reason to boast—I never feel insignificant or unwanted. I am God’s child, chosen and adopted out of love, called to love and serve in his kingdom.
—from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship
by Casey Cole, OFM, page 16
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Clear, Precious, and Beautiful
Francis wrote his immortal Canticle of the Creatures while in Clare’s care at San Damiano. The incredible power and poetry of this song has long fascinated all who read, study, or sing it. One word in that poem, written in Umbrian dialect, and written during a time of daily nursing by Clare, catches the eye. It is the word clarite. “Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful” (Canticle, 5). This is the adjective for the stars. They are “clarite et pretiose et belle,”—clear, precious, beautiful. In the long dark time of his illness, was it Clare who was this “pretiose, belle, clarite” companion whose light helped him endure encroaching blindness and searing pain? She had been—and would remain—the North Star for all who wanted to follow his way.
— from the book Light of Assisi: The Story of Saint Clare
by Margaret Carney, OSF
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Clare’s Charism
Clare offers two extraordinarily important lessons. The first is obvious. It is the recognition of how important women—and this woman in particular—are to the Franciscan story. The second is more subtle. It is the lesson that Clare’s importance stems from the fact that she was the recipient of a powerful charism of her own—a gift bestowed by the Spirit of the Lord and given to her in a fullness and forcefulness that was hers alone. That charism, matched with the equally full and forceful charism of Francis, created something akin to nuclear fission. It unleashed a mighty power of example and of hope for people who wanted to live the authentic Christian message.
Too often we suppose that our study and imitation of these great saints is a sure path to our own beatitude. Her story shows us that what matters is not the effort to “draw down” from the spiritual wealth of others whom we admire as though only a supplicant’s sharing of another’s gift can make us good. What she shows us is that we need only have the courage to unlock what is within us, to spend our days powered by the graced anointing that we already possess.
— from the book Light of Assisi: The Story of Saint Clare
by Margaret Carney, OSF
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Creating a Rule
As Clare had labored over the years in doing the fine handwork that helped support the monastery, she now set herself the task of a written text. As with the many hours spent creating corporals and altar linens using needle and thread, she made a plan for her design. Her threads were the various strands of regulation and admonition, imitation of other exemplars, and the hard-won wisdom of her sisters. Each of these threads had its own color, its own heft and weight, its own role to play in creating her design. She would center the most important words of all, Francis’s dictates, in the most vivid colors.
These would be encased within a carefully tailored web of words of darker threads that manifested obedience to pontiff and church. For that reverence was also at the heart of the Franciscan way and the threads of somber color conveyed the solemn obligation. Small hints of color and original stitchery would reflect the unique San Damiano spirit, the evidence of women’s ways of walking in Jesus’s footprints. Thus, she and her sisters embroidered an enclosure of words chosen to protect their vision as surely as their stout outer walls. Little by little the work moved forward. As with Francis, the written record was firmly rooted in a lived experience.
—from the book Light of Assisi: The Story of Saint Clare
by Margaret Carney, OSF
Minute Meditation – Reflect God in Your Life
Clare’s emphasis on the person of Jesus Christ is an emphasis on the human person as well, what we are and what we are called to be. Christ crucified is the mirror in which we are to see our reflection, our strengths and weaknesses, our failures and our capacity to love. She wants us to reflect Christ in our lives, to help build up the Body of Christ through transformation in love, and to participate in the church. She is a mystic who calls us to go forward into God by letting Christ take on our flesh so that we may reflect the face of Christ to the world. She tells us not to be dissuaded in the path to God, to be resolute in our convictions and trust the guidance of the Spirit in our lives. Her thought is centered on the essence of human identity: Be yourself and allow God to dwell within you. Christ will then be alive and the world will be created anew.
— from the book Clare of Assisi: A Heart Full of Love
by Ilia Delio, OSF
//Franciscan Media//