“He Will Make Us an Offer We Cannot Refuse”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
August 23 – 24, 2025
Gospel: Luke 13: 22-30
One day, this will happen. I don’t know what the exact date will be, but I’m preparing for it. Our Good Lord will come down from Heaven and put the whack on me. It will happen to us all. In my case, I won’t blame Him since I’m probably past my sell-by date. However, for now, I have a chance to live a life of prayer and penance. After the divine snuff, our Good Lord will take me from this world to Himself, and I will stand before Him in judgment. Particular Judgement happens at the moment of death.
God will ask me, “Do you love Me? Do you love My Son? Can I recognize My Son in you?” And before I can say, “Oh, You know I love You; You’re a real great Guy,” everything from my life will be opened to my mind as it is His. He will see if I love Him. The Gospel of Matthew has the final exam questions. “Did you love Me?” We love Him by doing His Will, keeping His Commandments, feeding and helping the poor, bearing sorrows, and illnesses. It’s all there in the Book. If someone slaps you, turn the other cheek. I’m sorry, but that ain’t happening; I wasn’t trained that way. I played hockey as a hobby, so, Dude, you are going down with prejudice! But we should bear and carry the sins others have committed against us as Christ would.
He will look at us and try to see in us a body of good works. Non-Catholics will say, “Oh, you think you can earn your way to Heaven.” These are acts of love as our Good Lord told us, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” By keeping His Commandments, we are transformed. He will see the nail prints on our hands, the crown of thorns on our head, the wound from a spear on our side, and our backs torn up from the whip. That is how He will recognize us as belonging in His Father’s Kingdom. Be ready for our Good Lord. Conform yourself to Christ, not only by keeping His Commandments but by doing good through Corporal Works of Mercy. Works of love make us beautiful and conform us to Him with a beautiful soul like it was before Original Sin and the sins committed after Baptism. If we conform to Him, and we can enter into His Kingdom.
All those acts of love draw us closer to Him and remove our fear of death. We all have that fear because we were never meant to die. Our first parents did that to us, and we helped it along with all the sins we have committed. But the fear of death can help us to walk closer with our Good Lord. For the faithful, after the change in venue, our souls will be at peace. We use the means God has provided in the Sacraments. I am sure you have no lack of opportunity for doing acts of charity and bearing the sins of others. All those crosses we carry transform us and give us a celestial makeover. They make us look like Christ.
We can be joyful when we leave this life and go with Christ. But it is constant work. Some days I feel good about it, and on other days, not so much. But that’s okay. As long as I pick up my cross every day and follow Him, I am preparing, as we all should, for that moment the Lord makes me an offer I cannot refuse. Yes, it’s a bit of a Godfather sermon. You talking to me? “Yeah, I’m talking to you!” The divine beauty treatment that comes from Christ is available to us all, and our Good Lord gives us the strength to achieve it.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
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