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Sermon Notes – August 18, 2024 – “If You Believe Scripture, You Have to be Catholic”

“If You Believe Scripture, You Have to be Catholic”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

August 17 – 18, 2024

Gospel:  John 6:51-58

6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

6:52 The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.

6:54 Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

6:55 For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

6:56 He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.

6:57 As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.

6:58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.


Do you know what the most common vocation in the Catholic Church is?  Ministers.  You wouldn’t think so.  If you are a minister at a Protestant church, you are making a 6-figure salary plus benefits.  Are you going to toss all that away?   The reason ministers come is because they read Scripture in the original language.   “Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).   The original text means just that, “to chew, masticate and consume into your stomach.”   That’s exactly what the original text says.   Another meaning of the word “eat” is “to take within your very self.”  They realized from the Gospel of John that they had to become Catholic.  Read any part of scripture, and you have to become Catholic.  Read the Gospel of Matthew, and you have to become Catholic.  Read any parts of Scripture, and you have to become Catholic.  If you believe what Scripture says, you have to become Catholic.  Holy Communion in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which we receive His Most Precious Blood gives us eternal life.  This is the only way we can take our good Lord into ourselves, and it is how we can have life and have it to the fullest. 

This morning, I was talking to a couple in marriage preparation class, and I remembered this story from many years ago when Atrium was Stanly Memorial Hospital.  I used to see this young lady in the left wing at Bethany Woods.  She was a profoundly disabled woman.  Her room was caged off, and she had all her playthings.  They took such wonderful care of her.  When I visited people there, I would look in on her.  One day, I was making some calls over at Stanly Memorial, and I saw her in a room where the staff was working on her.  I got a chance to talk to her mother while the doctors were busy with her.  She told me her story.  They are from Mt. Gilead, the land that time forgot and where the Feds stash their witnesses.  That’s true.  She told me when she became pregnant, the doctors told her that the child would be profoundly disabled, and they advised her to have an abortion.  She said, “No.”  She gave birth and brought the child home. She, her friends, and her neighbors took care of that child.  Children with profound physical disabilities usually have internal problems too.  I looked for her after that, but I never saw her, and I assumed she had passed.  When I drive through Mt. Gilead, I think of that mother and daughter.  And in my mind, they have a special place in Heaven.  “Why, Father? Did they know Jesus?”  Maybe, although I’m not sure about that.  But this I am sure of . . . they took care of Jesus.

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.”