The fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known by the name Laetare Sunday. This name is taken from the Introit at Mass, Laetare Jerusalem which means “Rejoice, O Jerusalem.” Laetare Sunday marks the halfway point through the Lenten season of fasting, abstinence, and penance, and because of this it is a day of joy in anticipation of the close arrival of Easter. This day corresponds with Gaudete Sunday halfway through the Advent season, where the priests wear rose-colored liturgical vestments and the altar is decorated with flowers, often roses.
“This is the great work of man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.” — St. Anthony of the Desert
A lot of people quote scripture in their arguments, and that’s very good. It’s what you should do. However, when you do, you have to know and understand scripture. You have to be accurate, because good intentions can lead to very bad things. People say, “The death penalty is immoral, because in the Old Testament it says, “Thou shalt not kill.” So, we cannot have capital punishment, and we cannot go to war? Look at the laws of Israel; they had the death penalty on the books. So, you are saying that they got it wrong from the time of Moses for a 1,000 or so years before Christ came? They went to war all the time. “But, God said, “Thou shalt not kill.” He said thou shall not murder or take life unjustly. Under the 4th and 5th Commandments, you have an obligation. Under the 4th Commandment, you have the right to self-protection, and under the 5th Commandment you have a moral obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. If you want to get the living you-know-what beat out of you, be my guest. Be a conscientious objector…it’s your right. However, you have no right to aggregate that right to someone else. “Oh, I don’t believe in violence, so I’m going to watch you get the living you-know-what beat out of you.” No, no, no. That’s a grave sin.
Now, I have lulled you into a false sense of security, I’m going to give you a pop quiz. What makes this building special…besides the collection? It’s not a “what” that makes it special; it’s a “Who.” Who resides in this place that makes it so special? It’s the physical presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. That’s what makes this place special. This is His house. He is physically present here. This is where God resides in every Catholic Church which is the new temple. The temple is the Presence of God and the Holy of Holies. We are blessed, because when we come here, we can speak to God face-to-face like Moses did…as one person speaks to another. At the old temple, the Arc of the Covenant, inside the Holy of Holies, only a priest at a certain time could go in there. Jesus said, “You have forgotten what this place is. Yes, you have the sacrifice as required by law. But, you didn’t have to bring it inside the temple.” That defiled the temple. That’s why our good Lord went crazy and decided to do a little church renewal. I heard someone say that Jesus preached nonviolence. I don’t think so. He kicked behind. He went in to the temple and drove out a lot of people. He said, “Get out of My House. My house is a house of prayer.” Our souls, too, as much as the temple was, and the Church is, are meant to be God’s house of prayer. And, until God is present in our souls, we will never be happy.
Jesus preached violence against sin. Remember when He said, “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away….And, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out.” Yes, that’s hyperbole. However, we are called to use violence on our souls. We are not called to maim ourselves like having an extra piece of chocolate cake…you don’t need it. That would be a sin against both the 4th and.5th Commandments. However, we are supposed to use that same level of violence to protect from defiling the temple that we carry within us which is our souls. Oh, by the way, now you know why I ‘shush’ people who are talking in church, chewing gum, using their cell phones, and everything else. The Presence of God is here. This is His resting place. This is where He wants to come to us. We are supposed to do violence to anything that would impugn or impede His presence in us and drive Him from our souls…whether a person, place, or thing…the three sources of temptation. We are supposed to do whatever is necessary to rid of ourselves of anything that threatens His presence in our souls.
The Law of Physics says that two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time. So, God cannot abide in our souls at the same time sin is there or the attraction or affection for sin. We are supposed to use violence against ourselves to preserve the beauty of our souls. Not physical violence, although that has been done. Saint Francis of Assisi was tempted by impurity, so he rolled himself down a hill of thorns. So grave is the abhorrence of sin, that he went to that extreme. So be violent against sin. Realize the great gift of His presence that we have. If you are having trouble with that, come see me in Confession, and I’ll get rid of that stuff for you, and you’ll be all set.
People complain about so many things in the world. “Oh, people don’t have a computer.” “Oh, people don’t have this or that.” You know, it’s been that way since the beginning of time. What people need is God. Mother Teresa didn’t have a computer. She had one change of clothes. She seemed like a pretty happy woman, didn’t she?. She had nothing else except God in her soul. Our souls are meant to be ready for God’s presence. Like the temple in the Old Testament and like our beautiful church which is a testimony, by the way, of your great love. Everything here is your love for our good Lord made present. We must do what is necessary to make our souls a resting place for Him to come and dwell within us. Realize the gift of Him that dwells in your soul. The same Him who dwells in the Blessed Sacrament. The same Him who dwells in the temple. The same Him who dwells in Heaven. And, when you realize that gift, and achieve the constant realization of that gift, you will do anything to preserve it.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you rid your soul of whatever hinders God from residing there?
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 looking for a specific topic.
There’s a poster that reads, “Let us begin again,” St. Francis of Assisi, with a speckled bird soaring above the looping letters. Us, not me. Begin again. It doesn’t say “begin again while looking back at the past that still hurts and confounds us” or “begin again while worrying about the bad things that might happen in the future.” I’ve been studying psalm-words—Lord, refuge, mercy—and isolating them, but now I need to put them back together. I disassembled the psalms to examine them closely, like a leaf under a microscope, finding the opening and closing of the stomata. But the true beauty of a leaf, like our human lives, exists when you watch it bud, grow, and fall with all the other leaves. Together. So I am looking out over the breathtaking view of the psalms as I hope we never forget to begin, again and again. To know, no matter what, that we are walking in love and beauty when we seek.
St. Eulogius of Cordoba (9th c.) was a priest from a prominent Christian family in Cordoba (Cordova), Spain. He was well-educated, humble, gentle, friendly, and a gifted leader with the charism of encouragement, especially towards Christians facing martyrdom. In his time Cordoba was the capital of the Muslim conquerors of Catholic Spain.
The Muslim leaders allowed Christians to live in relative peace until a persecution arose when some of the Muslim population began converting to Christianity. They imprisoned the clergy, including Eulogius. While in prison Eulogius read the Bible to his companions and exhorted them to faithfulness in the face of martyrdom. He also wrote to two other young female converts who were facing threats, instructing them that no matter how terribly they were physically abused, it could not harm their souls, and that they must fight for their faith till death and leave God to defend his Church.
St. Eulogius was released and later jailed again for hiding a young female convert who fled from her family in fear of her life. St. Eulogius’ judge offered him escape if he would weaken the practice of his religion, but instead he preached the Gospel to the presiding court. He was immediately beheaded. St. Eulogius’ feast day is March 11th.
“Temptation to a certain sin, to any sin whatsoever, might last throughout our whole life, yet it can never make us displeasing to God’s Majesty provided we do not take pleasure in it and give consent to it. You must have great courage in the midst of temptation. Never think yourself overcome as long as they are displeasing to you, keeping clearly in mind the difference between feeling temptation and consenting to it.”— St. Francis de Sales
“When an evil thought is presented to the mind, we must immediately endeavor to turn our thoughts to God, or to something which is indifferent. But the first rule is, instantly to invoke the names of Jesus and Mary and to continue to invoke them until the temptation ceases. He who trusts in himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.” — St. Alphonsus Liguori
How many times have you, or someone you know, pressed down the overwhelming grief inside them, judging their own lament? Betraying the truth of their own sorrow, their need to cry? It happens so often—but what if we think of these expressions as love songs? I think we’d accept, even welcome, their expression. Jesus quoted the psalms, and I’ve been moved by the assertion that Jesus sang the psalms as he grew up. A part of daily Jewish life, people knew them by heart. I let my imagination wander. What did Jesus sound like when he sang? You know his voice was beautiful. But not at that end. Not at that hour of torment. It was undoubtedly a gruesome and gut-wrenching sound. The lesson for us is this, I think—if Jesus turned to the psalms in his deepest hour of pain, why wouldn’t we?
St. Macarius of Jerusalem (4th c.) was the Bishop of Jerusalem from 312-335 A.D. Little is known of his life before this time. He took part in the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and vigorously opposed the Arian heresy, which greatly threatened the early Church. It is believed that he was one of the bishops who helped draft the Nicene Creed. St. Athanasius, his contemporary, refers to Macarius as an example of “the honest and simple style of apostolical men.”
After the council, St. Macarius accompanied St. Helen, the queen mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, in her successful search for the True Cross that Jesus was crucified upon. It was he who suggested to St. Helen that she would identify the real Cross by touching all three of those she found to a seriously ill woman, and observe which one brought immediate healing.
Following the discovery of the True Cross in this miraculous manner, Constantine wrote to Bishop Macarius requesting that he oversee the construction of a magnificent church in Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, to commemorate the sites of the Crucifixion and Burial of Christ, which still exists today as one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in the world. His feast day is March 10th.
“From the natural point of view we come to know God from the vestiges of Himself that He has left in the splendors of the visible universe: the blazing red sunset, the snow-covered mountain peaks, the graceful flight of a bird, the breathtakingly magnificent complexity of a single living cell. On a still more exalted level we know Him in the loveliness of the saints – but it remains a knowledge of the infinite through the finite.”— Fr. Thomas Dubay, p.188-89
