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Sermon Notes – May 2, 2021 – His Sacred Heart

“His Sacred Heart“

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

May 1 – 2, 2021

Gospel:  John 15:1-8

I was talking to one of my fellow chaplains with whom I share an office at the VA.  We call it the cell.  So, I said to my cell-mate, “Hey Gary, you’re a bright guy, even though you went into the Air Force, you’re a bright guy.”  He was too old for Girl Scouts, but he does have a master’s degree in Divinity.  “Where are the green pastures that our Lord, the Good Shepherd, leads us to give us repose?”  Gary said “Heaven.”  That’s true.  Then, I said, “Would you say that, before we get there, He leads us to heaven on Earth…to a place in His Sacred Heart?”  That is Heaven.  Our Savior’s heart beats with love for us, and our two hearts will beat as one in Heaven.  The Good Shepherd calls us, not just to follow Him, but to be part of His Sacred Heart and to take our rest there.  It is in our Lord’s Sacred Heart that we will find peace and rest for our souls. 

Our Lord said in Matthew 11:30:  “…my yoke is sweet and my burden light.”  The sweet yoke is our crosses that are just for us and not for anyone else.  In that lovely green garden and pasture where He gives us repose, He also gives us strength, courage, and consolation as we carry our cross.  We carry our cross with the Good Shepherd, if we let Him, so that we are able to carry it for our redemption and the redemption of others.  And sometimes, but not nearly often enough, we will find joy in it.  We will find joy in carrying our cross. 

The Good Shepherd would like to lead us to His Sacred Heart.  Saint Augustine said, “Our heart is restless until it rests in thee.”  We will find peace for our souls which is what our souls need, but we try to fill it with every person, place, or thing.  In His Sacred Heart, we will find rest.  We will find strength, and we will find contentment.  We walk with our Lord by the way of the Cross.  First He leads us to His Sacred Heart, and then He walks with us all the way through to our passion and death.

How will you apply this message to your life? Will you let Him help you carry your cross for your redemption and the redemption of others?

Father’s Afterthoughts: 

I had a meeting with the Bishop the other day.  Sadly, I’m still not a monsignor.  I had to drive 50+ miles to hear that bad news.  Anyway, I felt safer in Iraq while driving to Charlotte on Hwy 485.  Those people are crazy!   I was never so glad to see Walmart in Locust and Mecklenburg County in my rear view mirror.  One thing we discussed at the meeting is that, in the next couple of months, the Bishop will probably reinstitute the Sunday Mass obligation.  When he does, the Mass will be a bit longer than those I’ve been giving. 

I really don’t like the word “obligation.”  Are you are obligated to remember your mother’s birthday or remember her on Mother’s Day?  If you have to be told that, you need to be taken outside with a few of the guys for a chat.  We come here out of love.  If we say, “Oh, I’m too tired” or “I’m too whatever,” we lose the opportunity to grow in love. 

Also, keep in your prayers, Father Michael Kottar.  He’s 57 years old and a great priest.  Father Kottar has been diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease.  There is no treatment, so please keep him in your prayers. 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”  From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page).  There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.

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Minute Meditation – Mary’s Story

Story. That is the great gift the Scriptures give us in the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke. And it is those stories and a few other short vignettes in the Gospels of Mark and John that form the basis of what we call mariology, the study of the theology that derives from the story of Mary and her son Jesus. And her son Jesus was and is the reason, the root, and the complementarity that makes her story complete… That is why we lift up our hearts and pray, as Christians have prayed for centuries, “Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

— from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Saint of the Day – May 7 – Saint Rose Venerini

(FEBRUARY 9, 1656 – MAY 7, 1728)

Saint Rose Venerini’s Story

Rose was born at Viterbo in Italy, the daughter of a doctor. Following the death of her fiancé she entered a convent, but soon returned home to care for her newly widowed mother. Meanwhile, Rose invited the women of the neighborhood to recite the rosary in her home, forming a sort of sodality with them.

As she looked to her future under the spiritual guidance of a Jesuit priest, Rose became convinced that she was called to become a teacher in the world rather than a contemplative nun in a convent. Clearly, she made the right choice: She was a born teacher, and the free school for girls she opened in 1685 was well received.

Soon the cardinal invited her to oversee the training of teachers and the administration of schools in his diocese of Montefiascone. As Rose’s reputation grew, she was called upon to organize schools in many parts of Italy, including Rome. Her disposition was right for the task as well, for Rose often met considerable opposition but was never deterred.

She died in Rome in 1728, where a number of miracles were attributed to her. She was beatified in 1952 and canonized in 2006. The sodality, or group of women she had invited to prayer, was ultimately given the rank of a religious congregation. Today, the so-called Venerini Sisters can be found in the United States and elsewhere, working among Italian immigrants.

Reflection

Whatever state of life God calls us to, we bring with us an assortment of experiences, interests and gifts—however small they seem to us. Rose’s life stands as a reminder that all we are is meant to be put to service wherever we find ourselves.

//Franciscan Media//

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Meditation of the Day – Hope in God

“The freshness of a living hope in God fills the soul with such energy and resolution, with such aspirations after the things of eternal life, that all this world seems to it—as indeed it is—in comparison with that which it hopes for, dry, withered, dead, and worthless. The soul now denudes itself of the garments and trappings of the world, by setting the heart upon nothing that is in it, and hoping for nothing that is, or may be, in it, living only in the hope of everlasting life. And, therefore, when the heart is thus lifted up above the world, the world cannot touch it or lay hold of it, nor even see it. The soul then, thus disguised and clad in the vesture of hope, is secure from its second foe, the world, for St. Paul calls hope the helmet of salvation. Now a helmet is armor which protects and covers the whole head, and has no opening except in one place, where the eyes may look through. Hope is such a helmet, for it covers all the senses of the head of the soul in such a way that they cannot be lost in worldly things, and leaves no part of them exposed to the arrows of the world.”
— St. John of the Cross, p.175

//The Catholic Company//