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Sermon Notes – March 8, 2026 – “We are All Fallen”

“We are All Fallen”

 Father Peter Fitzgibbons

March 7 – 8, 2026

Gospel: John 4:5-42

When I was a young priest, and that was quite a while ago, I would hear priests say they didn’t like going to hospitals.  Well, I don’t like going to meetings, but I still go.   But that begs the question: who actually likes going to hospitals?   Does anyone really enjoy it?  Unless you are there to have a baby, most of the time being in the hospital is not much fun.   I have had chaplain students shadow me as I made my rounds at the VA Hospital.  Some of them wouldn’t go into smelly rooms because they hadn’t become nose-blind.   They saw a lot of stuff, especially in the trauma center.  It’s not like what you see on television, but you get used to it.  One of the students who was shadowing me left and went somewhere else after I told her that, in order to put her ministry into perspective, she needed to realize that every patient in that hospital has been taught to kill on command, and a lot of them have.  This is not Atrium or Novant.   It’s a whole different cast of characters you have here.   She did not stay very long after that.  Was it something I said?   But it was the truth, and she needed to be prepared for that. 

One question that Jesus never asked in the Gospel: “Do you feel called to it?”  Many priests don’t like going to prisons.  I’m not crazy about it either, but the guards let me out.   Even so, it’s not in the top 10 things on my bucket list.  When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said, “Because that’s where the money is.”   Why do I go to prisons?  Because that’s where the sin is.   Most priests probably wouldn’t want to do what I did for Uncle Sam for a long time, and I can understand that.  You can get killed doing the type of work I used to do.   But priests are called to go to the vilest places on earth for the salvation of souls.   “I don’t feel called to it.”  Jesus didn’t ask if you feel called to it; He said just do it.  We are all called, each in our own vocation, to seek out the vilest people and bring the light of the Gospel to them.  Many people wouldn’t do what I have done, and I wouldn’t recommend it.  However, we are supposed to seek out everyone who was created by God.  I was at a funeral the other day and was talking to the wife of the guest of honor, who was lying nearby.  She was telling me about her husband and some of the things he had done, and I said, “He was a child of God. Nobody gets better than that.”   God loves that man with an infinite love, and He loves us.   Jesus died on the cross because He loves us. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus went to the Samaritan woman, the so-called fallen woman.  By the way, we are all fallen.   If you read the longer version of the Gospel, she was living with a guy and had several husbands before that.  Jews considered Samaritans to be dogs, and they did not like them at all.   The Samaritan woman had been ostracized, which is why she was at the well at noon, during the hottest part of the day.  Nobody goes outside at noon in the Middle East, especially a woman alone.   The American Army does because we are stupid, but none of the civilians do.  We go outside and walk around with 60 pounds of gear that Uncle Sam gave us.  I can tell you that it’s very slimming.  But even though our Lord was hot, hungry, and thirsty, He went out to search for the Samaritan woman.   We are called to do the same, to seek the fallen and most vile.   We are called to bring Christ to those people because He loves each of them.   Did Jesus berate the woman?  No.   Did Jesus threaten the woman?  No.   Instead, He gave her hope.  He showed her His love.   God, Himself, went out and retrieved her soul.   Each of us, in our own vocation, shares in that work as God opens the pathways for us.  We have had patients in the VA Hospital who committed murders.  What do I say to them?  I ask them, “Are you sorry for everything you have done wrong?”  Nobody is too vile and reprehensible for us to show the love of Christ.  Nobody. 

There was a patient in room 12, and I was talking to his wife.  She said her husband wanted to be baptized.  Okay.  However, his church had to vote to approve his baptism.  So, I advised her to go to church on Sunday and ask the pastor after the service for permission for me to baptize her husband.   If the church approves the baptism, I’ll be back next Friday, and I’ll baptize him.   When I returned the following week, I asked the wife how the vote went at her church. The wife said the church voted for her husband to be baptized.  I asked her husband if he wanted to be baptized, and he said yes.  So, I got some water and baptized him right there.   Another soul for Heaven.   It’s what we are supposed to do. 

Nobody is beyond God’s mercy.  We are all children of God, and nobody gets any better than that.   Whether comfortable or not, go and bring Christ to people, even to the most vile and reprehensible.  When I go to Felon University (the prison) over by the airport, you don’t think that’s a monastery filled with monks, do you?  But God wants them to be saved, too.   He does not want anyone to be lost.   Who is going to bring Christ’s love to them other than us?  We are the hands and feet of Christ to bring salvation, even to the most repugnant places, to those who have wandered away.   

Father’s Reflections:

Yesterday, I had a funeral at Stanly Funeral Home.  They had the choir from a Primitive Baptist church sing for them, and the choir was very good.  I always wondered if they had flush plumbing, but apparently, they don’t have musical instruments.  They sang a few hymns, without instruments, before we started, and after the funeral service, I told the choir, “I appreciate your singing for us. You have beautiful voices.  If you aren’t busy on Sunday morning around 9:30, I could use you.”   While the family loved what I said, not a single choir member smiled.   Some people have no sense of humor.  I have another funeral there on Monday. 

I get calls from people who think their houses are haunted.  So, I go out and bless the house, and they no longer have any problems with hauntings.  People ask me, “Are you afraid?”   No, I know a Guy.  Do you know Who I work for?


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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – February 22, 2026 – What Cannot Be Overcome Must be Endured

“What Cannot Be Overcome Must be Endured”

 Father Peter Fitzgibbons

February 21-22, 2026

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

Here is a bit of a rhetorical question – how many of you would like to step on a land mine?  It’s not recommended.  Do you know what the best way to avoid stepping on a land mine is?  Don’t go into a minefield.  Simple enough.   The problem is that land mines are not always labeled.  So, we must always be very careful.

It is the same thing with avoiding the temptation to sin.  Avoiding temptation is not always easy because sometimes it is not clear.  So how do we not sin?  First, don’t go where the temptation exists.   If you don’t want to drink, don’t go into a bar.  If you don’t want a haircut, don’t go into the barber shop.    Stay away from what leads to sin – people, places, and things.  But, like the minefield, we don’t exactly have signs that say, “This is a minefield. Don’t walk here.”  People, places, and things can easily lead you into sin.   That is never advertised.     Some of the things we have can be used for good.  But not always.  I’m talking about laptops, phones, Kindles, and whatever electronics you have. They are things that can be used for good, and they advance our lives.   I am blessed that I have no idea how to use any of them.  But they can all be occasions of sin.   If your computer offends you, turn it off, unplug it – you’ll save money.  Although television, computers, books, and movies are occasions of sin, do you know where the biggest occasion for sin is?   The biggest occasion of sin lies on top of our shoulders.   The devil can get into our heads.  If we stay by ourselves for too long, that is a terrible place to be.  You may be thinking, “Father, I have bad thoughts.”   I do too.  Whenever I drive by Hardees, I have lust in my heart.  But that’s just me.    We have to be very careful about what we allow inside our heads and what we allow to remain there.  One bad thought can lead to another and to another.  We cannot trust that all our thoughts will be pure and nice, so we must be careful. 

Remember, we are not responsible for our thoughts.  Thoughts come in and out for a number of reasons, many times by the evil one.  They are not sinful in themselves; we are only responsible for what we do with them.  We are not supposed to enjoy or prolong evil thoughts, take them out to lunch, chauffeur them, or diaper them.   That is when they are sinful.  We are supposed to fight against them.    Now, do we have the ability to fight against the devil?   Yeah, but we have long odds, and we will lose every single time.   We cannot fight evil thoughts directly.  Instead, we crowd them out through intense activity and through prayer.  Or you could do what Saint Francis of Assisi did.  They never tell this story about Saint Francis.  He was a little feisty.  He had a temptation of impurity, and do you know what he did?  He threw himself down a hill of thorn bushes.  That will leave a mark.   But we are supposed to go to that extent to avoid sin.  However, we don’t always have a hill of thorn bushes nearby.    If pop-ups appear on our phones and computers, we can say, “No thanks” and move on.  Sometimes things cannot be gotten rid of that easily.  So, we pray, and we struggle because what cannot be overcome must be endured.    

Bishop Sheen said that the temptations of Christ were:  1) To hunger.  Everybody hungers.  Give them all bread, and they will be holy.  No, they won’t.   There are plenty of fat, evil people.  We’ve got some correctional officers here.  Ask them how many fat people are in FU (felon university/prison).   2) It’s all about the show.  Give them a show.  Make the Mass entertaining, where everybody has a role.  Bring in the clowns.  No.  Nobody comes, and people leave.  The Mass is not a show.  It’s like when somebody dies – is that a show?  I’ve never met anyone who had a great time while watching a loved one in hospice die.  Watching the Most Beloved die in the Sacrifice of Christ is not a show, and it’s not for our entertainment.  It is a sacrifice for us to be a part of.   

Some people think we need to change the laws and create more.  You know, lawyers and police officers cannot memorize all the laws we have.  There aren’t enough cops to enforce them or prisons to hold felons.   Just having laws doesn’t change anything.  Many felons have accumulated several felony counts over the years.  Why?  Because they don’t learn even though they are given state-sponsored fish – blech.  Nothing changes.  It’s not about politics.  It’s not about laws.   It’s about the person.   But be careful about changes.  They may appear good, “Oh, it’s so great.  This is such a better way. We were so right!”  No.  Be very careful. 

How will you apply this message to your life? _________________________________________

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Sermon Notes – February 15, 2026 – He Cleans Up Our Mess

“He Cleans Up Our Mess”

 Father Peter Fitzgibbons

February 14-15, 2026

Gospel: Matthew 5:17:37

A friend of mine told me this story, so I don’t take credit for it, but I thought it would be a good one to share at the beginning of Lent.  One morning, my friend woke his young son and asked him, “Are you hungry?  Do you want breakfast?”  His son said, “Yay! I’m going to make my breakfast!” and he flew downstairs to the kitchen.  My friend tried to catch up with him, but his son said, “I’m going to make it myself.”  He grabbed a bowl and a box of cereal.  As with any five or seven-year-old, some of the cereal made it into the bowl, but a lot of it fell on the floor.  My friend asked his son if he wanted help with the milk.  “No, I got this.”  Famous last words.   There was milk splashed all over the place.  But his son was so happy with himself.  “I made my breakfast! I’m going to show mommy what I did,” and he took the bowl and ran back upstairs.  When his son came back downstairs, what did he find?  Nothing.  The kitchen was perfect because his dad had cleaned up the mess.    Did his dad reprimand him?  No.  It was a teachable moment, but not in the way most people think.   Dad cleaned the mess in the kitchen, and it was as if nothing ever happened, like Servpro.  He never told his son about it.  Perhaps years down the road, his son may realize what his dad did for him – that he cleaned up all the mess he had caused – and maybe one day he will do the same for his own children.  

As we begin the Season of Lent, we meditate on our failures, sins, and lack of progress in our faith.   We should think about our own lives, where our Good Lord has cleaned up our messes.  All sin causes a mess.  We can minimize it . . . some people minimize it a lot.  “Oh, my sin wasn’t that bad.”  Some people go in the opposite direction and think their sin caused the Titanic to sink.   No.  But realize the enormous debt God paid for us and how much of our messes He cleaned up.   

God wants our hearts to turn to Him and to love Him.  Think of what our God has done for us by cleaning up the damage we have done to our relationship with Him and the damage we have done to our relationship with others by our sins.   He did not repay us according to our inequities, nor did He rub our face in it.  “See what I did for you?”   He does not do that.  So, this Lent, let’s call to mind and meditate on the great act of forgiveness our Good Lord has done for us.  What is the greatest experience of God’s love?   It is the experience of His mercy and forgiveness.

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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – February 8, 2026 – When We Fall, We Get Back Up

“When We Fall, We Get Back Up”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

February 7-8, 2026

Gospel: Matthew 5:13:16

While I was trying to meditate on the Gospel this morning, I thought about a gentleman I had the grace to tend to during his dying days. I remember that he was in Room 1 in Hospice. His name was on the door to his room, but it wasn’t his real name. He was a retired FBI agent, and his fingerprints were not his. He was deeply buried in an organization that he couldn’t talk about. I was visiting with him and his wife, and while he was dying, I heard him say to his wife, “If I had known that dying was this hard, I would have kept my suicide pill.” This guy worked in a very dark area and did all sorts of good things for us.

I remember reading about Saint Therese de Lisieux, the Little Flower. In her day, you had to be at least 12 to receive Holy Communion. It was Pope Pius X who lowered the age to seven. When Saint Therese was a little girl, she would put her head on her mother’s lap whenever her mother returned from receiving Holy Communion. Her mother asked why she did that, and Therese said, “Because you have Jesus inside you.” Isn’t it amazing that, even as a young girl, Therese knew that?

We are the light of the world. We have been given that light by our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments. We are called to bring that light to the world. How do we do that? We do it by living a good life. However, we cannot think our way into good actions. If we go to school because knowledge is key, then why are some doctors fat? They are the ones telling us to lose weight. Do you know how many nurses smoke? Don’t you think they know that smoking is bad for you?

You cannot think your way into good actions. You must act your way into good thinking, and that changes everything. The military is based on that, and 12-Step Programs are too. They don’t talk about what you think or how you feel about something. They don’t care because these are things you must do. And that is when everything changes. Your whole outlook, spiritual and mental, is changed. I have had people say, “I don’t think I’m getting any better.” Yes, you are. In 12-Step programs, other people can see that you are getting better before you do. Keep doing corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Keep coming to Confession. Keep praying the Morning Offering. Offer up all the sufferings you endure – real or imagined. The worst thing I ever lived through never happened. Real or imagined, offer it up to God.

We make our prayers and visits. You may be thinking, “I don’t always feel good doing it.” So? I don’t always feel good about having my blood checked. Last time, I had to have blood drawn twice because the phlebotomist, the vampire, caught the needle on her sleeve and yanked it out. That wasn’t pleasant. She stuck the needle back in, and I was good. But that was just a little something I could offer up to our Good Lord.

We act our way into good thinking. People see that. We don’t have to consciously try to evangelize. We evangelize by the way we live. People see our actions. After a while, our acting becomes spiritual muscle memory. We are not conscious of it because it has become routine. And that’s a very good thing.

See your light. You have the power within you, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, and God the Son, given to us in the Sacraments. That’s how we have the power to do good works, both corporal and spiritual. That power also helps us get back up when we fall. We cannot be perfect, but salvation lies in always getting back up and carrying our crosses after our Savior. This is how we do it. People will see it, will wonder what we have, and they will ask about it.

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.” On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.” Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.” Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church. Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – January 18, 2026 – “Treat People as if They Were Christ”

“Treat People as if They Were Christ”

 Father Peter Fitzgibbons

Gospel: John 1:29:34

While I was hearing confessions the other day, I had the thought that confessions are like a celestial car wash for the soul.  You go in one side with a soul that is full of all sorts of grime and dirt from sin.  After a couple of minutes, through the grace of God, you are washed with the Precious Blood of Christ and leave with a soul that is like brand new.  How cool is that?  In a couple of minutes, your soul is restored.  And it’s free!  “I never realized I felt this bad!”  You also never realize how dusty your house is until you see dust bunnies and wonder how they got there.  It’s the same with the sin in our souls. 

Venial sins accumulate in our souls and dull our awareness.  John came to testify to the Lord, and after that, he left the scene.  According to Scripture, he was convicted and martyred.  We are also called to testify to our Good Lord.  When I was in Statesville, I was still in the Reserves, so I had to keep in shape.  On nice nights, I liked to run downtown near Mitchell College.  The architecture there is beautiful.  On my runs, I would see this guy in the middle of the town square screaming at people about the Bible.   The police knew him and were not too concerned.  I wondered about his medical prescriptions, but I admired his zeal, I really did.  However, I don’t know if that was the best way to testify to Christ. 

We testify to Christ through our actions.  We bear witness to Christ not only by the good we do that people see – a lot of the good we do, people don’t see – but God sees it.  Remember that.   Malcolm Muggeridge, an agnostic/atheist, heard about Mother Teresa and went to Calcutta to observe her work with lepers.  Mother Teresa and her sisters cared for the sickest people in the most disgusting conditions.  It was not like the nice, clean hospice we have at Atrium Health, and there were no air fresheners.  When people have leprosy, there is quite an odor.   Malcolm witnessed the great love and care that Mother Teresa and her sisters gave them, and he was amazed.  Sometimes he would see a glow around Mother and the sisters while they worked with the lepers.  In the spiritual life, we call that glow, ‘Shakina.’  You know what happened to Malcolm?  He became Catholic.   

We can witness with the testimony of our lives and all the good we do without being asked.  We also testify to our good Lord by how we bear evil and with people who hate us and who may have done bad things to us.  How?  Well, I no longer carry a tape measure to see if they will fit into the trunk of my car.  Those days are over.  The price of cement is too high.   But they could be right because even on my best days, I may not be so charming.  So, how do we deal with people who have offended us or who don’t like us?  By treating them as if they were Christ.   Maybe we have given them a reason, or maybe there is no reason, and they are just having a bad day.  Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.  Our Lord told us to pray for them.  The beautiful thing is that we don’t have to like it.  I think of the police in Minneapolis, or anywhere, and the people screaming at them and calling them all sorts of bad names.  But the officers do not react.  We also do not have to react.  We should react by feeling sorry for them.   It is easier, and people appreciate it more, if we have visible signs of our own handicaps.  But when we don’t, when our suffering is interior, and when we are really suffering, that spiritual crown of thorns drops down over our heads.  My mother taught me a valuable lesson after I was already a priest.  She said, “Peter, would you do something for this guy?  He was nice to me.”  Warwick is a small place, so everybody knows everybody, and I knew this guy, but I didn’t like him.  I would rather have broken his kneecaps, but since he was good to my mother, I was good to him.  Besides, why was I carrying around that grudge?  I doubt he thinks about me one bit. 

Everyone has bad days, and if one thing doesn’t go just right, the cork can pop, and everything flows out of our mouths.  It could be something as simple as the wheel on our shopping cart at the supermarket locking up.  We don’t know, but we have to bear that evil.  How?  And how do we bear our own sufferings, visible and invisible?  How we bear them and how we deal with others is a testimony to Christ because He gives us the power.  Do we bear it perfectly?  Oh, heck no.  If some idiot cuts me off in traffic, I might make a rude hand gesture even though I shouldn’t.  Don’t do that.  But we don’t give up.  We may be down, but we get back up and get back into the fight.  There is no Three Knock Down Rule.  We keep going back in.  This is how we testify to our love of Christ. 

Bear evil as Christ did.  People see that.  They may be having a really bad day, or they may be the village idiot in need of a job.  I don’t know.  But we endure evil as Christ did.  We bear in our bodies the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body, that is, the Church.  We bear witness to Christ by what we do for Christ and what evils we bear for Him.  Offer up your works, joys, and sufferings each day to our Savior in the Morning Offering.  If people ask us why we do those things, what should our answer be?  Because I love Christ, and He loves me.

Morning Offering

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day

for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart

in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,

for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins,

the reunion of all Christians,

and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month.  Amen.

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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – January 11, 2026 – He Understands Our Fear

“He Understands Our Fear”

 Father Peter Fitzgibbons

January 10 – 11, 2026

Gospel: Matthew 3:13:17

Every good sermon should have three main points:  1) by the Baptism of our Lord, more is fleshed out that was only hinted at in the Old Testament, including the nature of God and God in three Persons.  It became more objective, allowing us to see it, and continued through the New Testament.  2) The baptism of our Lord was done with water, which corresponds to the three baptisms of Aaron, the high priest.  Aaron entered the meeting tent, and Moses washed him with water, anointed him with oil, and then anointed him with blood on his right ear, the thumb on his right hand, and the big toe on his right foot.  Jesus would also have three baptisms.  He was baptized with water, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and baptized with blood on the Cross.  We will have those three, too, and our Lord, in His humility, showed us how to do it.  Did He need to redeem us this way?  No.  But He showed us we could do it because He did.  3)  Finally, His Baptism is a sign of His great love for us and His humility.  He was baptized by His own creature, His cousin. 

Jesus began His public ministry after His Baptism.  In that one act, He showed us great humility and demonstrated extraordinary leadership.  He showed us the precise way to follow Him and to enter and enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven.  Good leaders show their followers the correct way to accomplish things.  When I was in the military, we would do physical training (PT) in the morning.  I would usually do it with the headquarters company, so a lot of officers were there.  If the First Sergeant dropped somebody for pushups because they were having an attack of stupidity, we all went down for pushups to set a good example for that soldier.  

Our Lord also showed us how to bear illness.  “Father, Jesus was never sick.”  I realize that, but when He cured the sick, what did He do?  He sighed and groaned.  He took upon Himself all the pains and fears of every sick person in the world then, and those who ever would be at that one moment.  He took all the pains of our sins and physical ailments because of sin to the Cross.  When I was much younger, my brothers and I were sick with strep throat.  In those days, doctors still made house calls.  Doctor Figman took a cotton swab and inserted it down my throat.  It felt like he inserted it all the way into my stomach.  BLEAH!!  Doctor Figman gave us medicine, but I hated it, so my father took it and said, “Oh, it’s nothing! See, it’s fine!”  Okay, Dad.  My father didn’t need the medicine, but he showed my brothers and me how to take it.  That is what Christ does.  He shows us how to take His medicine so that we can get to Heaven.  We must do exactly what He did so that we can receive His promises.  He also understands our fear, as He showed us in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He worked through His fear to show us that we can too.

We see the humility of Christ every day.  You see His humility here now at the altar, where God makes Himself subject to His creatures.  Through a very imperfect creature – me, He comes down to the altar in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and becomes the Most Precious Body and Blood made present for His faithful to receive as an intercession to the Heavenly Father.  This is the great love brought by His humility. 

Our Lord’s baptism was the beginning of His public ministry.  He showed His humility from the beginning and throughout His ministry by His obedience to the Father’s commands, His obedience to Mary and Joseph, and His obedience to His creatures.  Why?  Because He loves us.  Follow His ways.  Do what He did, and you will get what He got.  We will see Him one day in His Kingdom in 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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – January 4, 2026 – “A Spiritual Autopsy”

“A Spiritual Autopsy”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

January 3 – 4, 2026

Gospel: John 1: 1-18

When does the Christmas season end?   It ends with the celebration of the Baptism of our Lord.  So, the Christmas season is not over until next Sunday, January 11th.   Now, here we have the crèche, or nativity scene, which was given to us by Saint Francis.  This particular nativity is an expensive one, thanks to your generosity.  The nativity is more than a decoration; it is a marvelous representation of Scripture and a handbook of Theology.  Inside the nativity, the figures represent: Mariology – the study of Mary, the Mother of Jesus; Soteriology – the study of redemption; Christology – the study of Christ; Ecclesiology – the study of the Church; and Eucharistic theology.  

Let’s do a spiritual autopsy.  If you look at the people in the nativity, who do you see?  You see the very holy, Mary and Joseph.  You also see the very learned and the very unlearned.  Both the learned and the unlearned know the same thing.  They know that they do not know everything.   The shepherds knew they didn’t know everything.  You would not find a Mensa card in their wallets.  The Wise Men were learned, but their education taught them that they didn’t know everything.   The Wise Men, who were not Jewish, followed the star and came to see the source of all knowledge – Christ.  This is the Church.  We are all one in Christ.  Paul said there is no Jew or Gentile.  In the nativity, Christ unites everyone.  He is the Savior for all people, everywhere.   

When did Christ first use the word ‘Church’ in Scripture? He used it when He made Peter the pope.  “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:18).   The Greek word for ‘rock’ is ‘Cephas.’   In the old days, Jewish people called themselves ‘qahal,’ a Greek word meaning ‘assembly.’  However, our Good Lord used the word ‘ecclesia,’ which is also Greek.   Christ didn’t say He was going to write a book.  No, He said, “I will build My church,” My new Body.  Before Paul joined the Church, he was not among those who had read the book.  Christ appeared before him and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4).  The Church is His Body.  Who makes up His Church?  It’s all there in the nativity.

Now, when I look around the church, I see another manger scene of those who make up the Church.   I see people of all family origins.  We have doctors, firemen, cops, and we have lazy people like me.  We have all sorts of people here.  We have people of all nationalities.  We even have Yankees here.  God forbid.  I need to ask the ushers to check IDs at the door more thoroughly.  We have people who are well-off and people who are not.  We have retirees and young people.  We have all sorts of people.  We are the Church and the Body of Christ.   Christ does not divide.  Yes, it can be a problem not having Mass in every language.  Gosh, I miss the Latin Mass.  It was a lot easier for me.  I cannot learn everyone’s language.  If you think I can, you are wrong.  

Catholicism is not a hyphenated faith.  There is not a different Redeemer depending on your ancestry or the melanin in your skin.   Christ’s offering and teaching are the same for everyone.  Sin divided us, but Christ unites us in Him.   There are no hyphenated Catholics, and saying otherwise is blasphemy.  Hyphenating Catholics using their family of origin divides the Body of Christ.  Four generations on my father’s side are from Ireland, and two generations on my mother’s side are from Canada, but I am not an Irish-French-Canadian Catholic.  I’m just Catholic.  We are all one in Christ.  One Lord.  One faith.  To make up anything else, to hyphenate the faith according to ancestry, would be to deny who Christ is.  There is not a different Lord for each family of origin.  The message doesn’t change.  He came to be the Savior for all, with one message: Himself. 

One of the greatest soldiers I served with was a Sergeant First Class.  I called him “Homie.”  His wife, however, was a pain in the keister, so we had to send him home.  Homie was a flight medic, and we crossed paths on several occasions during our careers.  We were having a Cuban cigar, which was legal to buy where we were.  I wanted to get smoking a Cuban cigar off my bucket list, but it was the most God-awful thing I have ever had.  If I hadn’t been around a real man, I would have thrown up.   But I had to smoke it because Homie gave it to me.  While we were smoking our cigars, Homie said, “Sir, can I ask you a question?”  Anything, Homie.  He said, “Do you marry people of different races?”  I said, “No.”  Homie gave me a strange look, so I said, “I do not marry anyone who isn’t a member of the human race.  If the marriage is between a man and a woman, I’m good.  But that’s where I draw the line because it is how God created us.”   

I will tell you one more story before we move on.  I spent a month in the field in Louisiana, and a week later, I was on a plane headed to Guantanamo in Cuba, where I spent three months.  I just love government-paid vacations; they are always fun.  So, how many words in Spanish do you think I could speak in 1994?  Zero.  How many words in Spanish do you think I can speak in 2026?  Zero.  Anyway, we were lodged in a camp with Cuban refugees.  We stayed in the best available accommodations, but it was not Motel 6.  We had regular Army Military Police who were locked and loaded.  The Protestant chaplains were in awe of Catholic chaplains, as they should be, right?   They were all surprised at how much the people loved us.  “You come here, and they all love you.  You aren’t Cuban, and you don’t even speak the language!”   I said, “We are their priests, and we bring them Christ.”  In the Army, it was the same thing.  Chaplains couldn’t understand why people loved their priests.  If you looked at our congregations, we had people from all over the world.  We are all God’s children, and we are one in Christ.  

So, when you see the nativity, you can reflect on Who the Church is.  It is not a ‘what’.  Remember that.  The Church is a ‘Who.’  It is the Body of Christ.  We are all part of the Church with one Lord and not a hyphenated Lord.  Our Lord didn’t make a different deal with the Polish than He did with the Americans.  The same deal goes for everybody.  It is the manifestation of God’s love. 

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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – December 28, 2025 – They Always Said “Yes”

They Always Said “Yes”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

December 27 – 28, 2025

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family.  What made the Holy Family holy?  They were holy because they had Christ in their family.  How did they bring Christ into their family?  They were obedient to God’s Word.  Keeping the Lord’s Commandments are works of love.  What was Mary’s response when the angel said to her, “Oh, by the way, you are to conceive a child without a husband.  Are you good with that?”  That would have been a death sentence in Israel at the time.   But Mary loved God so much that her response was, “Okay, that sounds like a great idea, God.  I’d love to.”   Neither Mary nor Joseph was read into what was going to happen in the fullness of God’s Revelation.   They did not know.  God just asked them, “Will you do this?” and they always said, “Yes.”  Joseph’s faith was strong, and he did a lot of work.   “Hey Joseph.  Mary is pregnant, but you are going to marry her anyway.”  “Okay.”  He was also told to take Mary to Bethlehem in the middle of the night using the shoe leather express.  Now, nobody walks around Palestine in the middle of the night.  First of all, it’s freezing, and it’s also very dangerous.  When our military was there, the only time we ventured outside at night was with heavily armed soldiers with nasty attitudes. 

When the Holy Family returned from Bethlehem, Joseph was told to take her all the way to Egypt, again by the shoe leather express.  When they returned from Egypt, Joseph had to take Mary and the Baby to Jerusalem for Christ’s presentation in the temple, still again by the shoe leather express.  When Christ was 12 years old, they had to make that same trip.  Joseph did a lot of walking.   Did he have an explanation for why?  No.  Did he understand any of it?  No.  The angel did not deem it necessary to enlighten him because Joseph lacked the necessary divine security clearance.  He did it because God asked him to.  Love dwelt in that family because they were obedient to God.  The Blessed Mother and Joseph proved their love for God by their obedience.  What did Christ say?  “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.”  By the way, there are more than ten Commandments.  If He asks, always say “Yes.” 

When priests are ordained, they take three vows:  poverty, chastity, and obedience.  The hardest vow for priests to keep is obedience.  “Who the heck does that clown with the funny hat think he is?”  Some of us are educated far beyond our abilities.   Obedience has two parts: objective and subjective.  Objective obedience is external.  Subjective obedience is internal assent to a superior’s will and is the most challenging form of obedience.   The marvelous thing about Mary and Joseph’s obedience is that it was both exterior and interior.  While in the military, when I gave a soldier an order, most of the time they would say, “Yes, Sir. I’d be happy to,” and then they would carry out the order.   However, sometimes soldiers really didn’t want to do what I had ordered, although that was irrelevant because I could literally put someone in prison for disobedience.   Those soldiers followed my orders even though they didn’t want to, but in the back of their minds, they were probably thinking, “You are such an idiot!”   

Subjective or internal disobedience resulted in Original Sin by our first parents: “I will not serve. I will not do what God says.”  Obedience is always a struggle.  You say that you love God, but sometimes your internal assent may be like, “Oh, I gotta go to Mass.”  “It’s a Holy Day, so I have to go to Mass.”  “I have a hard time receiving Jesus.”   If you find it difficult to become a part of God’s sacrifice and receive Holy Communion, you really need to think through those objections.  Does that even make sense to you?  No.  But because of our fallen nature, we want to rebel: “I don’t like being told what to do!”  When God knocks on the door to our hearts, if Christ lives within us, we will open it and invite Him inside to sit and eat with us.  If our hearts are hardened when God knocks, we will say, “No thanks. I’ve got this.”  Even at the end of people’s lives, I have had some refuse the Sacrament of Last Rites.   Usually, I wait until they are in a sweet state of reasonableness, which occurs about ten minutes after the drug cart has come by and they are bombed out of their ever-loving minds.  It’s a spiritual tool that I have used many times. 

Interior obedience is the most challenging struggle each of us faces because of Original Sin and the sins committed after Baptism.  But it is our obedience to God’s commands that enables us to become like the Holy Family.   Obeying His commands is how we increase in His love, to ensure the maximum happiness we can be afforded in this life, and to have life eternally.  You think obedience is hard?  Think about the Baby in the Manger, the 2nd Person in the Blessed Trinity, whose Father sent Him into the world.  Jesus obeyed two of His creations, and you think you have trouble being obedient.  Imitate the Christ Child, Who was obedient to His parents, Divinity being obedient to His creatures who were obedient to God.  What a wonderful example of internal assent.   

If you wish to be holy, you have to be obedient. Obedience to God is not always fun.  Each day, I have to say the Divine Office, which takes about 20 minutes, and on really slow days, about 25 minutes.  “Oh, it’s so hard to do!”  Really?  “Father, come down from the Cross; we need the wood.”  It’s only hard for those who don’t want to love.  There is no sacrifice in love.  If there is, the sacrifice itself is love.  To become like the Holy Family, we must follow their example by saying “Yes” to God.  Jesus Christ said ‘Yes’ to God, and as a result, we have Him in the world as our Savior and Redeemer.  He gave us two perfect examples to follow: Mary and Joseph.

Father’s Reflection: Someday, tomorrow will start without you.

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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – December 21, 2025 – “Christmas is a Holy Day, Not a Holiday”

“Christmas is a Holy Day, Not a Holiday”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

December 20 – 21, 2025

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24

This is a very beautiful season, and we take a lot of joy in it.  Our church is a beautiful setting for our Lord’s coming, just like our hearts are after we go to Confession.   In a few days, we will celebrate the solemnity of Christmas when God was made visible to us in the form of human flesh.  It is such a joy.  But there is usually something that distracts from the beauty of Christmas and why Jesus came.  It’s always something besides His coming for our sins, because we don’t want to talk about sin.  People can take anything sublime and use it blasphemously.   They think they are smarter than the average bear, and they try to transform Christmas into a ‘deeper meaning’ for society.  Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph.  It meant something different in first-century Jewish culture than it does in our culture today.  “She was an unwed mother.”  Please.  They will say anything to detract from the reason Jesus came and why we should be joyful.  Some say that Mary and Joseph were poor, and that is why they had to stay where they did.  Really?  Scripture does not support that, nor does common sense.  Joseph was a talented man.  He was a carpenter.  Look at how much carpenters make these days.  They make some serious ching.   Carpenters in Joseph’s time did too, but wood was not as readily available as it is today.  So, they could not afford to make many mistakes.  But Joseph was a craftsman.   

A priest in Boston, Father Stephen Josoma, who I think was my classmate from seminary, decided that his church’s nativity scene would not have a baby in a manger.  Instead, his church displayed the following sign:    “ICE was here.”   Jesus was deported?  This priest was trying to do the trendy thing, but it is blasphemous, and it is not true.  Jesus was born in Palestine.  Who governed Palestine?  Rome.  Jesus was a Roman citizen, so He could not be deported.   Just like they cannot deport any of us from Acquadale or Oakboro.  We are North Carolinians.  That church in Boston changed the nativity for blasphemous purposes.  If given the opportunity, I would say to that priest, “Father, we were in the same classes, and you were far brighter than I was.  I must have missed that particular class on the nativity.”        

Caesar decreed that everyone return to their ancestral birthplace to enroll in the census.  Mary and Joseph had to stay where they did because they were late getting to the party.  Apparently, they did not get into the high-speed lane and arrived late.  It was nothing personal.  Nobody knew Saint Joseph, that Mary would be the mother of God, or that He was riding around inside her stomach.  They knew none of that.  If you have tickets to a Panthers game and you get there ten minutes before game time, will you be getting a parking space near the stadium’s front door?  Common sense tells us that you won’t.  “Oh, sure. We have one just for you. It’s in Gastonia.”  That’s just common sense. 

On Christmas Day, the remedy for sin will arrive, Heaven will be opened, and we will be given the means to dwell there with our dear Lord.  God’s promise of salvation made after the fall of our first parents is now made present.   Love becomes incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ.   The 2nd Person of the Trinity assumed our humanity and became visible.   He would die on the Cross 33 short years later so that the Gates of Heaven were opened for us, giving us the means for salvation through the Sacraments.  That is the great joy of Christmas.  The centuries of waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled, which seemed much delayed, prepared us to receive that promise.  In the same way, before you can go to any graduate school, you have to take the basic courses.  You have to be prepared.  All of God’s promises come true; we just have to wait for them and be prepared. 

Who is Jesus?  Jesus is our Savior Who came to save us from our sins.  He comes to take our worst to give us His best, which is Himself.  This is our joy at Christmas.  He offers peace on Earth.  That peace comes with peace in our souls for each and every one of us.  During this time in the Gospel, the world was at peace.  Do you know why?  The Romans ruled it.  If you stepped out of line, you got whacked.  The Romans had very little tolerance for stupid.  That is why the world was in a state of objective peace and not subject to interior peace. 

Christ comes to be our peace . . . peace in our soul.  He comes to take away our sins and, by taking away our sins, to infuse His divine presence in us.  This is the joy of Christmas.  We don’t have to wait for it.  Yes, we have to wait a few more days to commemorate His coming.  But each day Christ is made present, sacrificed on the altar, and we are given all the great gifts of His love in the Sacraments.  You cannot receive a greater gift than divine love and the gift of Christ Himself.  That is the joy of Christmas.  To say anything else debases the holiday.  It is a holy day, not a holiday.  God has come to us so that we can go to Him at the end of our days.  You know what is beautiful on Christmas Day?  Instead of looking up to Heaven to pray, you can look down at the manger. 

Father’s Reflections . . .

I had an interesting day yesterday.  I was hearing confessions, and I kept yawning.  One of the penitents asked, “Father, are you okay?”  I said, “Yeah, I’m just an old man. I sit down, and I fall asleep.”  Sometimes, hearing confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn. Then there was a lady who was waiting for someone in the church parking lot.  She rang my doorbell and said that she had been bitten by a snake.  Okay, I was looking forward to drinking my coffee, but I guess this comes first.  I called the paramedics, and they told me to turn her on her side if she threw up.  Gosh, I really look forward to that, although it’s not exactly how I planned to spend my Saturday morning.  I really miss hospital work!   So, I sat at the kitchen table and waited for the paramedics to arrive, while she waited outside for them.  I took my hometown newspaper out to her and said, “Hey, if you get bored, read this.”  I wanted to keep her amused so that she didn’t wander out into the road.  After that, I went to Harris Teeter.  I bought some things and got into the checkout line.  The store was playing “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives.  The song was being played in a loop, over and over again.  The checkout clerk was a young man, and I asked him, “One of your favorites?”  He said, “It’s torture.”   It was like at Gitmo when music was played to get the enemy to talk.  That young man should get combat pay. 

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.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – December 25, 2025 – I got God for Christmas

“I got God for Christmas”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

December 25, 2025

Gospel: John 1:1-18

Last week, I had to call 911 for a lady who thought she had been bitten by a snake. That was a lot of fun. But it was not the first time – I have called 911 several times for other people. I hope you never have to call 911, because when you do, you are upset, anxious, excited, and all wrapped up in the situation. When you call 911, the operators are very good, and they get all of your information. After you hang up the phone, you wait, and you wait, and you wait. Soon, you begin to wonder why they aren’t there already. As the crow flies, the EMTs are only two miles away. Less than three miles away, there are five fire stations: three regular and two volunteer. Also, less than a mile away, there are two cop shops: sheriff and police. After you call, you begin tapping your fingers and wondering when they will arrive. After what seems like an eternity, you hear sirens in the distance. So, you know they are on their way. They are coming, and they are coming, and they are coming, very slowly, but they are coming. “This is an emergency! Someone is hurt. I need help!” However, the police and rescue squads are constrained by the speeds at which they can drive in the city. That’s the theory, but I have seen sheriff deputies and EMTs whizz by the church. When I see an ambulance scream by on the way to the hospital, I know someone is in really bad shape. When the police, fire department, EMTs, or rescue personnel finally arrive, the healing can begin. They take charge and assure you that they will do everything they can to improve the situation. They work their magic, and your anxiety level lessens.

The same is true about our salvation and redemption. When our first parents hurt themselves and us badly by Original Sin, we needed help. But amazingly, we did not call 911 or GOD. God did that Himself because the offense was so grave that we alone couldn’t make amends. It was a divine offense. In the garden, we walked with God and talked to God. Then we gave God the shaft because we wanted to do what we wanted. But God loves us so much that He didn’t want us to wander away from Him. He said, “I will send you a savior” to remedy the divine offense. This divine offense could be fixed by only one Person – His divine Son, the 2nd Person in the Blessed Trinity. He came to be our Savior. On this day, we commemorate His appearance in the world made visible in the form of human flesh that He took from the Blessed Mother.

When you look at the manger scene, which was originally created by Saint Francis of Assisi, you can foretell the future. Our Lord came to be our Savior and to be sacrificed as atonement for our sins. The wood of the manger became the wood of the Cross 33 years later. The hay He laid on was food for the animals and became our food in the Holy Eucharist. There’s enough just on that for two sermons, but we don’t have the time. He came as our Savior, and that’s what we rejoice in. Today, as we celebrate His coming, our healing has begun. The straying from God is over. God has come to heal the damage in our souls due to sin, to remove the cancer, and to help us live so that we can go to where we were created to be, which is Heaven. He came to heal us and to reconcile us to God. That is the beauty of this day and the great joy we should have.

Who do you see around the Christ Child? You see Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. The wise men wouldn’t come until much later. But wouldn’t you love to have been there at the beginning of the First Century? Well, you don’t have to be envious. Know why? Because you have Him right there in the Tabernacle, although not under the appearance of human flesh, but of the Host. You have Him right here at Mass. What is our Savior’s greatest gift to us? His greatest gift to us is Himself. He offers Himself to us in the Sacraments, which is the greatest gift at Christmas. If you ask, “What did you get for Christmas?” My answer is, “I got God.”

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.” On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.” Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.” Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at OLA.Catholic.Church. Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”