Category: Sermon Notes

Transripts of weekly sermons

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Sermon Notes – June 5, 2022 – “The Feast of Pentecost”

“The Feast of Pentecost”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 June 4 – 5, 2022

Gospel: John 20:19-23

We celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when our Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.   Remember that He received His human nature from the Blessed Mother, and He asks us to continue His work with ours.   He takes our human nature and graces it with the Holy Spirit; first in Baptism and then the other Sacraments.  Now at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments reveals His new human nature down through the ages in the Church.  We are part of the Church so that we may bring back what has been separated.   What separates us?  Sin. Sin drives us away from God and then away from each other.  It separates us from what unites us.  Remember the Tower of Babel in Genesis when they were building a tower to God?  And God said, “You’re bringing that?  Is that the best you’ve got?”   Sin drove us apart. 

You heard in the opening prayer about the different languages.  Was Peter a linguist?  No, he was a fisherman but through the Holy Spirit, everyone heard him.   They heard Jesus speaking through Peter.  We are all together in the one Body of Christ in the Church.  We are supposed to use the universal language which is Christ.  He may give us the gift of tongues.  If anyone has been to the 12:15 Mass which is in Spanish, you know that I don’t have that gift.  It’s more Spanglish.  I speak Spanish with a French accent.  That’s a wonder for you right?   People at the 12:15 Mass tell me that my Spanish is pretty good.  No, it’s not.  In my lifetime I have tried to learn seven different languages: English, French (Canadian and Parisian), Latin, Army, and Spanglish.  I gave up on Greek. . .I just grunt and people seems to understand.  So, I’m not a linguist.  What we now have in the Church has balkanized Christ.  We have Mass in Spanish, we have Mass in this language, that language, and whatever language there is.  But you know what?  It doesn’t work because fewer come.  What does work is Christ. 

We all have the capability of speaking the language to reach people.  What is that language?  It is the language of love. . . the language of Christ.  We are called to speak the fullness God’s love through the Holy Spirit no matter our vocation or our place in the Body of Christ.  Mine is different than yours.  But yours is no less important in bringing God’s message to the world.  Even though we cannot speak their language, this is how we touch and teach people and bring them to Christ.  Words are not necessary.  People have asked me, “Father, how do you work with all those soldiers?”  Do I understand everything they did?  Oh, heck no.  “So, why did they love you?”  I just showed up and shared in their sufferings.   I remember when I got to Iraq and the commanding officer asked me, “What are you doing here?”  Being a lowly lieutenant with a smart mouth, I said, “I’m your chaplain, Sir.  Where else am I supposed to be?”  The commander said, “Oh, good point.”   Just be there for people and share in their sufferings.  We are all quick to share in their joys, but now share in their sufferings.  Do acts of charity.  This is the language of Christ.  Even a smile is an act of charity and love.  That is the universal language.  You don’t need a course for it.  What you do need is a heart full of God’s love.  Become a carrier of that love.  We can carry a virus, so too we can carry God’s love.  Bring that to people.  The greatest gift of the Holy Spirit is love and not all the other stuff. 

When I was overseas, workers were imported from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.  They would come to our Mass.  Did they understand it?  Probably not.  Did they understand my English?  Probably not.  But they were afraid that the Interior Ministry would tell them they couldn’t come to Mass.  The Interior Ministry would harass them and do all sorts of nasty things.  They don’t have the same sense of justice we do.  I told them they were surrounded by 500,000 heavily armed American soldiers and that nobody was going to bother them.  Trust me on this one.  We didn’t want to be there, and we had an attitude.  So, nobody was going to bother them.  They came because it was the Mass.  If you look out at a military chapel, you will see the United Nations.  We had a Filipino priest whose English was about as good as mine.  “How can you go to those people?”   I said, “Because they are priests.”  I was assigned to Gitmo for three months.  I got “hey you” orders after I returned from a month at Fort Polk.  Did I speak Spanish?  No, but the Army didn’t care.  I told them, “I am your brother.  I am your son.  I am a priest.”  And they understood that. 

When we speak the universal language of love, it unites everyone.  The universal language of love is your charity, both spiritual and corporal.  You don’t have to go to school for it.  If you have to go to school for it, you’re missing the whole boat.  Fill yourself up with Christ.  In Room 1 at the VA Hospital, we had a new hospice patient.  He was a medic on D-Day.  A church member brought him in, and she asked him if there was anything she could get for him.  He said, “Yeah, a dozen roses for my wife.  It’s our 65th wedding anniversary.”  This guy was in Hospice care.  I took that story and made it part of his medical record so that the staff would know.  His wife came in to visit, and she was a hot ticket.  She reminded me of Frankie.  She was the church organist and pianist, and I could see her going Jerry Lee Lewis on somebody.  She was rocking it.  She was so funny.  A couple of nights later, another patient in Room 2 was about to get his celestial discharge.  He was passing from this life to Almighty God.  His wife was repeating the words to his favorite hymn.  The nurse came by and heard her.  She thought about it and went to the wife of the man in Room 1 and said, “Mam, I understand you were a church organist.”  She said, “Yes, I was.”  The nurse asked her if she played the piano, and she said yes.  Then the nurse asked the lady if she knew this hymn.  She did.  The nurse asked the lady if she would mind playing the hymn because the gentleman in the next room was dying.  The lady said, “Oh, I’d love to.”  She went down to where the piano was, and the nurse got some other nurses to come.  Doctor Phoul who had a beautiful voice also came.  They sang that hymn as the man passed from this life to the next.  Now I’m not aware that they taught that course in medical school.  I’m also not aware that they taught it in nursing school.  It is not within any of the treatment parameters that we have.  I’ve been doing this job for a long time, and I’ve never seen it happen.  What led them to do it?  It was the love of Christ being present.  It was a great act of love. This is the love we speak.  You don’t have to speak a different language.  What you need is an open heart for God to come in and take possession and manifest His love throughout the world.

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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Sermon Notes – May 15, 2022 – The Sacrament of Confirmation

Sermon Notes

 “The Sacrament of Confirmation”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 May 14 – 15, 2022

Gospel:  John 13:31-33, 34-35

This is one of those days when we have First Communion which is wonderful.  All this hard work is coming to fruition.  It is works of love coming to fruition in the Sacraments.  Your parents’ love they took in their wedding vows and baptism like their parents before them who brought their marriage vows to fulfillment and brought them to receive divine life in the Faith and the Sacraments.  So, I want to thank the parents and teachers for their hard work especially during COVID.  I also want to thank the kids.  It was rather difficult.  Things are always changing.  If distance learning is the worst thing that ever happens to you, your life is going to be great.  You have to be flexible in life because everything changes.  This is a wonderful day.  You all look so nice.  Now you can come to church every Sunday like that.  That would be great.  I would love that!

Confirmation is an interesting sacrament.  It is one of the three Sacraments you cannot repeat. You cannot repeat Baptism.  You cannot repeat any of the three stages of Holy Orders.  Confirmation also cannot be repeated.  If Last Rites are given to someone and they recover, they can be given Last Rites again later.  On this day these young people receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ in Holy Communion.  This is not the first time they will have received Jesus.  If you are thinking, “They are receiving Jesus for the first time.”  No, they aren’t.  That’s blasphemy.  It denies the Sacrament of Baptism and Penance.  When you receive the Sacrament, you receive the whole Body, and not just pieces of Him.  When you receive the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, you receive Him in all the Sacraments.  You receive the whole Body. But each Sacrament is different at each stage of life.  There is the Sacrament of vocations such as marriage and Holy Orders.  There is the Sacrament of Last Rites and of a new birth and baptism.  Confirmation strengthens us so that we can carry our crosses and become like martyrs of the faithful in this world.  This is a great Sacrament to strengthen the soul for the crosses people inflict upon us.  All the names they call us – misogynists, homophobic, and blah, blah, blah.  Really, is that the best you’ve got?   I’ve got a sister who scares rugby players.  I had a First Sergeant.  You are not going to scare me by calling me names.

Today you receive Holy Communion and, like you did before when you received the Sacrament of Penance, you will receive the most precious Body and Blood of our Lord so that you will be strengthened.  The gift of Holy Communion is not like belonging to a particular club where you get prizes.  It is a Sacrament of longing – not belonging.  Saint Pope John Paul II said, “understanding Holy Communion, a living Sacrament, brings you to the Sacrament of Penance.”  Properly prepare for the Sacrament of Holy Communion.  This too drives us on to greater love and to seek a greater union with Almighty God.  This is why the law of the Church changed.  Before, you were only allowed to receive Holy Communion at one Mass per day.  But now the law has changed, and you can receive it at every Mass you attend up to three times per day.  You want faith strengthened so that you don’t grow tired on this journey.  Strength is found in the most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In Holy Communion the actual grace sustains our strength as we carry our cross every day as our Savior.  If you sin, that can be fixed through the Sacrament of Penance which takes away and heals the wounds in our soul inflicted by sin.  Christ offers you this grace within your soul.  Now, you have to use the grace.  Grace doesn’t come with its own powers…we have to cooperate.  We have to take the necessary actions.  For example, if you say, “Oh, I have a headache! God, please cure it.”  God says, “Love to.  Get up.  Walk 10 feet to the bathroom. Take a couple of aspirin.  You’ll be fine.”   So, we need to cooperate.  The same is true for God’s graces.  If we cooperate, we can make those graces manifest.  Will we always feel it?  No.  Will we always see results?  No.  But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. 

Next week I’ll be on vacation, but you can go to Mass at Saint Luke’s and receive Holy Communion.  Will it be different?  Probably.  You won’t have all the usual people around you.  Will it be a little less sad?  No.  It will be different.  Different is not always bad.  Different can be good because you grow in love.  Now kids, ask your parents, “Mom and dad, is your love greater today than when you first got married?”  The answer should be yes.  If not, come see me…we need to talk.  But it is different.  The love has deepened, and it has grown by the acts of God’s grace and through the prayers and sufferings of self-denial.  The love of those who are 67 is different than when they were 21.  It is deeper, and they have grown closer together.  It is far better if they have done it right.  The same is true for you with Holy Communion.  Will you always receive spiritual thrills?  No.  Does that mean it doesn’t work?  No.  It always works.  Each day I have to take a bunch of pills because I’m old.  Do I feel each of those pills working?  No.  Do I know they work?  Yes.  How do I know they work?  By using a blood pressure cuff.  If I don’t take the pills…oops!  Bad move.  I know they work even though I don’t feel it.  Just because you don’t feel something, doesn’t mean it’s not working.  Let me ask you, “Do you feel or see your guardian angel?”   I have once.  His name is Bruce.  God really has a sense of humor.  You don’t feel it, but it’s always there.  He/she/it…spirits have no gender.  When you are away at school, do you feel your parents’ love?  You see it.  I saw it in a brown bag lunch and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I like peanut butter and jelly.  I could always tell who made my sandwich by how much jelly was on the sandwich.  Mom always put more than Dad.  I always knew.  So just because you don’t feel it, doesn’t mean it’s not working.  Don’t ever say, “I’m doing something wrong. It’s not working.”  That’s not true…it always works.  Be confident and don’t let anything keep you away from the Sacrament.  Come as often as you can, even during the week for extra credit.  John Paul II said, “Penance prepares you for the Sacrament.  And you will be happy. 

Students, may I ask for a favor?  Today, before you go home, thank your teachers and your parents for bringing you to this day because you don’t drive do you?  Tell me you don’t drive.  We have cops in the congregation…so please tell me you don’t drive.  You can’t really get here on your own.  And no matter how adorable you all think you are, there are times when you are less than adorable and have caused your parents and teachers great anguish.  Thank them for their acts of love and sacrifice that they made to get you here today.  The most important prayer you can ever say is the prayer of thank you.

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”

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Sermon Notes – May 8, 2022 – “Felon Approved”

Sermon Notes

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

“ Felon Approved “

May 7 – 8, 2022

Gospel: John 10: 27-30

I can say this for the first time in two years:  This sermon is felon approved.  I took it on the road the other day to the local prison – what I call Felon University or FU.   You will be happy to hear that the usual crowd is still there.   We also had a couple of new people.  It was a little confusing at first because they only let inmates who are Catholic in for the Mass.  Technically, they can’t do that but with COVID they’ve gone a bit crazy.  Now, everybody likes to go to church because it is air conditioned there.  The living and sleeping quarters in prison are not.  Hey – nobody asked you to commit a felony in North Carolina.   You don’t like it?  Don’t commit a felony.  So, this one guy came in and the guard looked in the records and saw that his religion is Christian.  The inmate said, “No, I’m Catholic.”  The guard said, “It says right here that you are Christian.”  The inmate said, “I was born a Catholic and for over 20 years at Central Prison I was a Catholic.”  Sweet!  Aren’t we lucky to have you!  Some of the others were newcomers, so I told them a little bit about myself.  I told them I had worked with paratroopers and special operations and that if they had a sin I hadn’t heard before, I’d pay them for the privilege to hear it.  “Oh, you don’t understand, Father.”  Yeah, I do.  Been there and done that.  Got a t-shirt. 

One thing I learned as a young soldier and abided by my whole career is that when you are out and about, when you are going from here to there, doing the sneak and peek, you always watch the guy ahead of you.  War movies portray soldiers wandering all over the place and not paying attention.  That’s just not true.  We made sure that we walked in the same footsteps as the guy ahead of us.  We walked in their exact same steps or something very unpleasant might happen . . . something similar to the old Army song, “You’re Coming Home in a Body Bag.”  So, you made sure to walk in their footsteps because it was safe. 

In the Gospel, our Lord said, “Follow Me.”  Follow Him in His footsteps.  If we do what He did, we will get exactly what He got.   During the heights of our self-esteem, we think that we are the only ones who have or ever will have our problems.  And that’s not true.  Look at the writings of the saints.  We are not unique.  Billions of people have done this before with God’s help.   There is help with all our crosses and temptations.   The Church has given us her teachings to help us stay the course.  We also have 2,000 years of the saints’ histories who bore the same crosses that we do and even greater ones. They walked in the same steps as Christ.  When they didn’t, bad things happened to them because they thought they knew better.  When they tidied up and got back to walking in the same steps as Christ, they were safe.  Nobody is safe outside of God’s direction.  He gave us the means and compass directions for exactly where we are going and where satan can’t touch us.  So, if we go to Hell, we are self-made men and women.  Satan sits on the sidelines saying, “Hey, you’re missing a lot of fun out here. . .the water is fine!”  Ah, no.  “I don’t know why you’re putting up with all that stuff; everybody goes to Heaven.”   Yes. . . some go for a cup of coffee and others get to stay for eternity.  Because of our fallen nature, sometimes more often than we’d like to say, we toy with the illusion of how much fun we might be missing.  You aren’t.  The real fun is inside. 

Satan tempts us with false happiness.  Then the Four Horsemen come carrying with them the guilt, fear, shame, and remorse that comes as a result of sin.  Satan is always on the sidelines.  And as soon as you leave our Lord’s marked footprints, guess what happens.  Your soul goes BOOM!  Do what Christ tells you to do.  Stay in His footsteps.  Try not to listen to the distractions.  Don’t look for an easier path.  When you look around you may see some steps that have strayed off the path and a BIG hole.  Whoa, that had to hurt!

One thing I’ve heard about Special Forces is that they have what’s called the “Q” course.  It’s a land navigation course that is really tough.  You have to find a lot of places in the dark and everything else.  You never know when it ends.  You never know when you are finished. . . sometimes not until you turn the corner.  I heard one guy say that a couple of soldiers were just 100 yards away from the endpoint, and they gave up.  They were 100 yards away from finishing the Special Forces Q course, and they gave up.  We never know when the end comes, and we go to heaven.  Keep walking in His steps.  Don’t be distracted from what’s going on around us . . . that’s none of our concern.  Follow Christ where He leads you.  That promise has always worked. 

We have a joy that nobody can take from us.  We are strengthened against temptation by the Sacraments and by the sufferings and praises of the saints in Heaven.  Nobody can snatch this joy from our hands.  The devil can’t.  It’s on us.  Nobody can make us do anything.  I always love it when people say, “I left the Church because of blah blah blah. They made me leave.”  Nobody made you leave.  “There are sinners in the Church.”  Yeah.  I’m one of them.  Church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.  People make mistakes.  We are all struggling with our crosses.  No one makes you leave the Church.  That’s just an excuse for your own bad behavior.  No one makes you do anything unless they have a gun to your head and even then, it’s a choice.  No one can snatch us out of God’s hands except us and that’s when we become like our first parents . . . we want to be God and will not serve.

How will you apply this message to your life? 

Father’s Afterthoughts . . .
One time when I was overseas and had to go from Point A to Point B, I was walking and paying close attention to the footsteps.  Suddenly, I came to a place where there were no more footsteps.  Houston, we have a problem.  Back up boy.  Back up all the way. . . very slowly.

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com, clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the Church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”

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Sermon Notes – April 24, 2022 – I Love Chocolate Bunny Ears

“I Love Chocolate Bunny Ears“

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

April 23 – 24, 2022

Gospel: Jn 20:19-31


This past week ends the octave of Easter.  People say, “We wish you Easter joy.”  Thank you!  Can you define Easter joy?   Is it the day for biting the ears off Easter bunnies?  You barbarians!   I love chocolate bunny ears.  I’ll be a real man and say it. . . I love chocolate bunny ears!  Anyone who wants to make fun of that, I’m a real man and can take it.  However, I don’t do the hard-boiled egg thing.  Is Easter joy about having lamb with mint jelly?  You know what I had for Easter dinner?  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  You know why?  I was out of SpaghettiOs.  Welcome to bachelor living!  

So, what is Easter joy?  Easter joy exists on two levels. . .intellectually and internally.  We can have it on an intellectual level by knowing that our dear Lord suffered and died for our sins and then rose again.  In doing so, He opened the doors of Heaven for us so that we might have eternal life.  We all now have a chance to get to Heaven, and He showed us the way.  He also gave us the means to get there.  What are the means in which we can get to Heaven?  Through the Sacramental Life of the Church.   The source of our internal joy is the gift of the Sacraments and by taking advantage of the gifts He gave us by His sacrifice, death, and resurrection.  From His wounded side, the one that Saint Thomas touched, flows the Blood and Water to the Sacramental Life of the Church. 

The Sacraments are the life of the Church.  Our Lord ordained the apostles on Holy Thursday and later gave them the power to forgive sins.  We still hold to that tradition in the Church.  I’m ordained a priest, and I said my first Mass with my bishop.  After that, in the sacristy, I received a document called “faculties” which gives me permission to absolve people from their sins.  Only a priest and a bishop can act in the person of Christ.  They celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and therefore, have the power to administer the Sacraments of the Church which are the fruits of our Lord’s Passion and death. . .the Holy Sacrifice.    Only a priest or bishop can do that.  Remember what is said during the Mass?  “This is My body.  This is My blood.”  I don’t say “This is Christ’s body. This is Christ’s blood.”   During the Sacrament of Penance, I act in the person of Christ.  I don’t say “Christ absolves you.”  I say, “I absolve you” . . .not the “Church absolves you” or “We absolve you” but “I absolve you” while acting in the person of Christ.   The words are very important so that we can have that joy inside of us, and so that we may have the joy of Easter and the fruits of it. 

Through our Good Lord’s Passion, death, and resurrection, we are strengthened so that we can follow Him.  It is through our own Calvary’s and our own resurrections that we can be with Him forever.  Pop quiz:  When do you receive the Holy Spirit?  At Baptism.  “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.”  When is the second time you receive the Holy Spirit?  Penance.  Penance comes before Holy Communion.  One happens before the other.  During Holy Communion, you receive the Savior.  What does He save you from?  Our sins.  If you aren’t sick, there’s no need to see a doctor, and you’re just wasting the doctor’s time. 

In the Sacraments, you see the full Divinity. . .all of It.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  You may be thinking, “In Confirmation, you also receive the Holy Spirit.”  I like it when I get asked that question.  Yeah, that’s true but we don’t subdivide God with a little slice here and little slice there.  When you receive the Sacraments, you receive all of God, not just parts of Him.   This is how we internalize and experience the joy of Easter, especially the joy of the forgiveness of our sins.  And the joy of receiving our Good Lord like the apostles did from His own hands.  That’s why I am the only one who gives Holy Communion.  I am the priest acting in the person of Christ, so I give you Communion by my own hand.  It’s not that I think that much of myself – I really do – but it is Christ who feeds you.  I am a symbol of Christ, acting in the person of Christ, so it is He who feeds you the Body of Christ.  It is the fruits of our Good Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection. 

That’s how we experience Easter joy.  It’s not from all the beautiful Easter flowers – we got a great deal on them by the way.  It’s not from how beautiful the church looks – and it does.  True Easter joy comes from experiencing God’s love.  Love that was forsaken by sin and rejected by sin.  But that’s not the end of the story.  Most people are happy when they see their loved ones.  In my family, we were happy when they left . . .but, that’s just us.  Aren’t you happy when you have your loved ones with you after being separated from them before their visit?  So too is our Lord.   We have Easter joy by God coming down and infusing His very self into our souls for our salvation.  That is true Easter joy. 

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.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the Church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”

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Sermon Notes – March 27, 2022 – “The Oreo Confession”

“The Oreo Confession”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 March 26 – 27, 2022

Gospel:  Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

I’ve been here a long time and have had the opportunity to become ill several times.  When that has happened, I’ve gone to see either Phyllis or Cindy.  Last time, I had Lori drive me up to the VA hospital.   She wouldn’t give me a gun and a cigarette so I could cure myself.  Oh no!  Let’s make you enjoy COVID to the fullest!  You know what they told me at the VA?  They told me I was sick.  Gosh, those people are really good!  When you go there, they will ask, “What’s wrong?”  My brother was captain of the rescue squad, and he brought somebody into the emergency room over at King County Hospital.  Now, my brother was dressed in his fire and rescue uniform, and the nurse asked, “What’s the matter with him?”  My brother goes, “He’s sick.  What do I look like to you?”   Healthcare providers need to ask what your symptoms are.  Unfortunately, there is not yet a universal pill that you can take, and everything will be cured.  Take two aspirin and have a good life.  No, the medicine you are given depends on your symptoms. 

The parable of the prodigal son and his older brother is demonstrated every day of the week in the Church.  Both brothers needed God’s forgiveness but for different reasons.  Even though Jews don’t touch pigs, the prodigal son fed them which was very sinful.  Leaving his father went against the Fourth Commandment which, in the Old Testament, carried the penalty of death.  But his father welcomed him back.  Somebody told me once that the older son got a raw deal.  Well, the older son had some grave problems too.  He was ungrateful.  “I’ve slaved for you, Dad, all these years!”  So let me see…he called to one of his servants.  Really?  You were really slaving away, kid, if you had servants!   “You never gave me a goat to celebrate with my friends.”  Did he ever ask?  Dads are not psychic, believe it or not.  He never asked.  He was not grateful, and he didn’t care about his brother…he was just jealous.  Then, he cast aspersions on his brother.  “He spent money on loose women!”  Excuse me…how do you know?   First of all, it is scandalous to repeat such a statement.  Second of all, if he did, you have no idea what those women’s situations were.  It was a rash judgement.  It was ingratitude and self-righteousness. 

This is where priests function as the Divine Physician.  We apply the mercy of God’s love to souls.  When healthcare providers figure out what’s physically wrong with us and offer the appropriate remedy, they are offering us God’s love because a doctor’s wisdom is a gift from God.  God’s love and healing power is manifested in healthcare professionals.   Likewise, God’s healing love is manifested in priests as the Divine Physician so that when you come in for Confession, I can apply the appropriate remedy.  To have God’s mercy properly applied, you have to tell me what your sins are.  My mother always wanted to have doctors in the family.  Well, she got two.  My brother earned two doctorates, and I am a physician for souls.  I diagnose severe illness, and I treat it.  Rather, I offer treatment, and people take it, or they don’t.  Sometimes I get “Orio confessions.”   “Father, I was mean to my dog, I killed two people, and I…”   Whoa!  You’re trying to slip one in there hoping Father didn’t hear it.  I ain’t deaf!  I hear everything in there.  “Bless me Father for I have sinned.  I have told some white lies.”   Lies are not color coded.  It’s either a lie or it’s not.  Just putting that out there.  Sometimes, I have to ask questions – not that I’m nosey – but I have to find out the gravity of the sin.  People have different crosses at different times in their lives.  I have to assess the sin and offer the proper remedies to heal your soul.  Like the two brothers, both were in need of God’s forgiveness but for different reasons. 

We always get jailhouse lawyers.  They stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, now they know everything.  They’ll say, “Father, I was taught in Catechism that a mortal sin must have three conditions:  grave offense, sufficient knowledge and reflection, and full consent.  So, that’s not a mortal sin.”  Well, you may be brighter than me, and you probably are.  There is no Mensa card in my pocket.  My brother had one, I don’t.  He had to pay $400 to get it, so how bright was he? For those who truly love God, do you know the difference between a mortal and a venial sin?  It’s the same difference as punching y ,m.our wife or slapping her.  That’s the difference. 

People try to see God in elaborate things.  I have been blessed to be in this beautiful church for a long time.  I look at the beautiful vestments, the beautiful adornments on the altar, and the beautiful music from Frankie and the choir.   For most of my priesthood, I have not been favored with all that.  I’m used to a bit more rustic environment when I offered Mass.  I didn’t have an organist or a choir, but God was present.  Surroundings mean nothing.  My spiritual advisor told me once that the greatest experience you will ever have with God is the experience of His forgiveness.  In the Sacrament of Penance, God forgives and forgets all our sins.

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.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”



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Sermon Notes – March 20, 2022 – “Are We There Yet?”

 “Are We There Yet?”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 March 19 – 20, 2022

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

If a tree does not bear fruit, it shall be cut down.  Our Lord wants to see fruitfulness. What sort of fruit is He looking for?  Our love.   He comes and gives us His love and the fruits of His love.  When we love Him in return and keep His Commandments, that is love in action.  His Commandments are not an obligation.  They are works of love.  He said, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.”  He tells us how to love.  But He tells us that our time to love and seeing love in return is not infinite.  Our Lord tells us in the Gospel that He is coming back for us.  In case you haven’t heard, we are all going to die.  So, is that good news or bad news?  It’s good news.   Those who love Him will find fulfillment in Him.  We will possess and be possessed by the One we have longed for. . .the One we have struggled to grow in love with while carrying our daily crosses.  We will reach complete fulfillment in the Beloved. 

Where we reside in the next life is solely up to us.  Everyone in hell is a self-made man.  It is our choice.  He is coming for us soon.  “Oh, He is trying to threaten us!”  No, it’s a promise. We look forward to His coming like kids at Christmas.  “How many days until Christmas?”  And at Thanksgiving . . . “When is dinner?”   We can smell all the good food.  I smell SpaghettiOs while others may smell turkey.  Each to his own.   I look forward to Theresa Cutrone coming by with some Uber-eats and with pies being dropped off.  Oh yeah.   I’m also that way with the collection.  But anyway.  We all look forward to certain things.   

When you are in love, you cannot wait to be reunited with your loved one.  When I was sending my soldiers home, the hardest part for them was sitting around and waiting for 10 days for the aircraft to take off.  I could keep them occupied with my jokes for just so long.   They got really antsy.  “I’ve got to get home.”  Don’t worry.  We haven’t failed you yet.  We’ll get you home.  “Is the flight coming early?”  Can you name one thing in the military that came early?  No.  They couldn’t wait to get home and to be reunited with their loved ones.  Their love would be complete inasmuch as it could be. 

The same goes for our Lord.   We look forward to being united with Him.  Not perfectly because we all have sins.  We have grievous sins and sins committed since our baptism.  You heard in the Collect, the first prayer of the Mass, about fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.   By the way, almsgiving covers a multitude of sins.  It says so in scripture in the black part.  When we have that little Tete-À-Tete with our good Lord, with that face-to-face, He will go over our personnel file.   If He says, “Hmm, you didn’t love Me did you?” you will be separated from Him.  But you have time.  The Lord is giving us time.  More time to turn and embrace love. 

God wants everyone to come and be with Him.  Why did He make us?  Because He loves us.  That’s the first question in the Catechism.  The second part of that answer is that He made us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to reign with Him in the next.   When someone chooses not to love Him in return, His divine heart is broken.  Just as if it were pierced by a lance, it is pierced by the unrequited love of our Lord.  But there is still time.

Father’s Afterthoughts: 

I have some encouraging news to share.  At the VA on Thursday, I was asked to stop and see a patient who is a new admission to Hospice.  So, I went down there and talked to the young lady.  She’s 62, has COPD, lung cancer next to the bone which has caused several fractures, and gangrene on her big toe.  So, I was sitting there talking with her, and I could see that she was in some distress.   I told her that she looked like she was in pain.  “Oh, no, no.  I’m fine.”  I love it when they lie to me!  I talked to the staff about her, and she won’t be with us for very long.   So, I asked the men and women who came to daily Mass to pray for her.  I went in on Friday and saw her.  She was having a ham sandwich for lunch.  She finished all her soup.  She had French fries and apples or whatever they were.  She said, “Oh, this is really good!”  She was really upbeat and not in pain.   I could tell she was better because her foot was covered whereas before they couldn’t cover it because of the pain.  That is the power of prayer.  You never know if it works., but this time I found out.  To all of those who prayed for her, I want to thank you.  So, keep up your prayers! 

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to http://AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle” 

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Sermon Notes – March 13, 2022 –  “The Temptations”

 “The Temptations”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 March 12 – 13, 2022

Gospel: Luke 9:28-36

Pop quiz:  Do you know what hypostatic union is?  I didn’t think so.  Hypostatic union is the union of the two natures in Christ.  Christ is one “Who” or one person and two “What’s.”  We, however, have just one “what.”  Our nature is human, and it’s the only one we have.  Christ has two natures – one that is human and one that is divine.  The human nature He took from the Blessed Mother was assumed and lost in His divine nature.  That’s why in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, when I’m preparing the gift, you see me pour wine into the chalice and then one drop of water.   That blood and water is a symbol of His human nature being assumed and lost into the divine nature of Christ.  If that drop of water is not in there, it is not the proper matter, and the chalice cannot be transubstantiated, i.e., it cannot change into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  For the Sacrament to be valid, there must be proper matter and form.  The proper matter consists of the wine and the drop of water.  The proper form is to say the words that Christ said.  If one of those two things is missing, the Sacrament is invalid. 

Sometimes people complain that they no longer get the wine.  Well, you never got the wine.  When it was possible, and only in this country did it happen and probably won’t happen ever again, you were offered the Most Precious Blood of Christ.  You were not offered the consecrated wine.   You were offered the wine with water that had been transubstantiated or changed into the Most Precious Blood of our Savior.  Anything else would be blasphemous.  Priests were trained, unless they were sick during that time, to say the correct words.  People have an appreciation for that because anything else would be blasphemous.  Blasphemy is holding something sacred up for mockery or ridicule.  During the transfiguration, our Good Lord exposed and made present to the three apostles His true nature in Christ.  He lowered the veil of His humanity so that they could see some of His divinity.  They could see on Earth what will happen in Heaven, and so can we.  If you have any doubts about getting to Heaven, come see me and I’ll help you out.  It’s my job.   

Moses and Elijah were talking to God face-to-face as one man talks to another.  There was no knowledge gap because, like God’s presence, Heaven is the eternal now.  God has no time.  They talked about the events about to happen in 10 days.  So, how did Peter, James, and John know who Moses and Elijah were?   Of course, Christ may have called them by name.  But they were also enlightened and could see.  It was a gift.  One of the great miracles was the manifestation God when the apostles heard His voice, “This is my Son, the Chosen One.”  It was no coincidence that this miracle occurred 10 days before the Passion.  It was to prepare them for the scandal of the Passion.  Our good Lord comes and gives us consolations although not as often as we would like them.   He comforts us when we need it . . . sometimes before a great tribulation and sometimes afterward.    I don’t get consolations as often as I would like.  Maybe you do, but I don’t.  I’m a real whiner in prayer.  I don’t normally admit that in public, however I just did. 

What happens after He gives us His consolation?  The great temptation of the devil: “You are not doing something right, so God is allowing this to happen.”  “He is punishing you.”  “He withdrew Himself from you; therefore, you are bad.”  And none of that is true.   It’s the great lie of the devil.  “If you prayed right, God would be with you all the time.”  No.  If you thought God was elevating you all the time, you’d be in a mental hospital.  It’s not true.  We do not constantly live in God’s consolation like what Peter, James, and John experienced.   But we do have the consolation that He is always present to us.  So, God will come to us every now and then, not as often as we want, but more often than we think.  He comes to us to show His love.  He loves us not because we’ve said the right word or combination of words in prayer.   No.  God comes and consoles us because He loves us.  God comes to even the most hardened sinner.  Why?  Because He loves them too.  His Son died on the cross for them too.  God wants them to turn around and embrace Him.  He did not make them to be condemned to hell.  He made them, and all of us, so that we could know Him and love Him. 

If you want more heavenly consolations, the tangible and non-blasphemous ones, pray for them.  It couldn’t hurt.  You can pray for anything you want; just don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it.  But keep praying.  I’m still not a Monsignor after 38 years in the priesthood, and I haven’t given up.  I’ll be writing my Christmas card to the bishop on the back of a $100 bill.  It’s the Rhode Island way.

Keep praying but be careful about the temptations of satan.  Pray even if you don’t feel it.  Feelings are so fickle and are not a basis of spiritual life.  People say, “I don’t feel consoled” and “I don’t feel this or that.”   I don’t care what you feel.  Feelings are not reality.  Reality is that God is always with us.  Where else is God supposed to be other than with us?   “I feel alone.”  That’s a temptation.  Where is your guardian angel?  Your guardian angel is always with you.  The Church is always praying for you.  So, you are not alone.  You are not unprayed for, and you are not unloved.  That is another great temptation and an easy one for us to fall into because like Peter, James, and John, we want our heaven here on Earth. 

Do not be discouraged if you don’t receive the consolations that you think you should have.  It doesn’t mean you are bad.  It doesn’t mean you are praying wrong.  It doesn’t mean you have to give more to the church although that would be a good thing. . . you should do it anyway.  Just saying!   Right after Communion is the best time to receive certain gifts.  We need and appreciate them.  Remember when your parents let you walk to school all by yourself?  You didn’t know that half the neighborhood was watching as you walked to school.  You didn’t see the trooper behind the tree watching all the kids as they walked to school.  You thought you were so grown up, right?  No!  The neighbors and the state troopers made sure you were safe and got to school okay.  So do not be discouraged with your passions.  Do not be discouraged with your ordinary walk in life or think that God is not with you.  Because that is a lie.

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to http://AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle” 

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Sermon Notes – March 6, 2022 – Where is the Love?

 “Where is the Love?”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 March 5-6, 2022

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

One of the great temptations that snares a lot of people because it sounds really good, besides bacon, is to do things for other people out of compassion.  There is a lot of false compassion out there.  “If you love me, you will do this for me.”  “Oh, doctor, I hurt really bad.  May I have some OxyContin?”  That’s false compassion.  Saint Luke recounts our Lord’s first three temptations.  There are others, but these are the first three.  With the first temptation of Christ, which happens to us in one form or another, the devil used false compassion.  “People are bad because they lack stuff.  They lack food.  They lack education.  They lack computers.  They don’t have Facebook.  They are poor, and they need stuff.  If they had stuff, they wouldn’t be bad.”  None of that is true.  How many rich people have had abortions?  In my own life, my mother’s family was very poor, and none of them went to prison.  I take that back – my uncle went to prison, but he worked there.  He was a Correctional Officer.  The State of Massachusetts had him on work release for thirty years and finally told him he was too old and gave him his pension.  He was from the Joe Cutrone School of Correctional Officers.  He was a nice guy, and the murderers liked him.  Give them some cigarettes, and they were happy.  My cousin Philip was murdered, and they sent his murderer to the prison my uncle retired from.  The inmate state employees there knew who he was.  “We’ll take care of it as a favor.”  They were going to take care of some business for him.  My uncle told them, “No, no.  Don’t do that.”  That’s false compassion.  Now, I go out to our local FU (Felon University), and there are doctors there, people with medical degrees, and lawyers.  There are people there with advanced degrees and people with no degrees.  There are rich people and poor people.  People choose evil.  If they don’t have a choice, they are put into a state hospital.  They choose evil because they choose satan over Christ.  It’s not a lack of anything.  It’s a choice.  Fat people go to prison.  And believe it or not, inmates get fat in prison. So, it’s not a lack of anything.  People are using false compassion when they say, “Let’s give all this charity to poor people, and they won’t be bad.”   We have spent nine trillion dollars on various charities, but we don’t tell them about Jesus.  Instead, we tell them how to work on a computer.  I don’t have much computer knowledge, so I’m lucky that I know people.  

The next temptation was all about power.  Do you know who the most powerful person in the Church was?   Saint Theresa of Calcutta.  She wasn’t zealous for power, nor did she flaunt it.  But look at the power of this little nun.  She weighed about 120 pounds soaking wet with lead weights in her pocket.  Which of our cardinals ever went up to the sitting president and vice president wagging their finger about abortion? Which one?   Which one could have an audience with the Pope anytime she wanted?   Which one spoke at the United Nations?  Which one taught us how to love by living that love?  Saint Theresa was the most powerful person in the Church.  It’s not about getting into office, being ordained, having big titles after your name, or anything like that.  I have titles after my name and some before my name.   Whoopee!  They mean nothing.  They don’t even get me out of tickets anymore with these atheist cops down here. 

There is power in love.  It’s not political power, and it’s not power in the Church.  “Oh, I have a position in the Church.  I’m so and so!”   Shut-up!   Where is your love? When you are sitting with a sick person about to die, where is your love?  “I’m in charge of programming.”  You come with me, and we’ll see how that love in action does.  I’ll have you throwing up in about an hour.  That’s love in action.  Come and take care of the sick.  Sometimes, they’ll make it just inside the door before they catch a whiff of the smell. Ugh!  What?  Love is action.  It’s not a position.  

We don’t need to change any laws.  We have more laws than we know what to do with.  We can’t even incarcerate people because there’s no room for them.  People want to change the Mass.  They want to change the Sacraments.  If you can do it better than Jesus, let me know.  Now, husbands and wives . . . has your spouse ever told you they love you?  I would hope so.  Does that ever get old?  Does it need to be changed?  Does it need to be updated?  Does it need to be made more relevant?  Do you need a praise band going on there?  Do you want some dancing down the hallway?   We don’t need to change the Mass or the Sacraments.  The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a divine act of love, and it doesn’t get old.  What gets old is our pride when we think we can make it better.  During the Sacrifice of the Mass, what is Jesus saying?  He is saying, “I love you. This is how much I love you.”  That never gets old.  It only gets old if you don’t have room in your heart to say to Jesus, “I love you too.”

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to  http://AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”

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Sermon Notes – February 27, 2022 – “Unchain Your Heart”

 “Unchain Your Heart”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 February 26-27, 2022

Gospel:  Luke 6:39-45

This week, we have Ash Wednesday for which we have rules of fasting and abstinence.  You can look them up online for a reminder.  People call this the Penitential Season.  “Ugh!  I have to give up something.  It’s 40 days of punishment!”  It’s more than 40 days because we don’t count Sundays, and it ends on Holy Thursday.  That is 40-50 days of no cake, no coffee, no pie, no soda, and no booze.  Be happy about it.  I prefer to think of it not as a Penitential Season in the sense that it’s about deprivation, but as an exercise of spiritual freedom.  We free ourselves from bondage to things so that we may be able to love.  We are trapped in pleasures not worthy of us.  Chocolate cake will satisfy us for just so long.   Believe it or not, I have not had a piece of bacon in two years.  Medical quacks!  Anyway.  We are enslaved to things rather than free to love.  When you break those chains, you achieve freedom.  If you are not chained to Facebook, games, or whatever else you have, you are free to love and free to experience God’s love.   Satan stirs up all these things in our heart.   But Jesus said, “My ways are easy.”  His ways are not difficult…He said that.  Denying our fantasies is not difficult.  If we say that they are, we are accusing Jesus of lying.  We make it difficult by listening to Satan and instead, we wind up pole vaulting over mouse droppings where everything is so hard and so dramatic.  Hey!  Come down off the cross, we need the wood! 

I’ll tell you this story.  I was at a Christmas dinner years ago with the bishops and the abbot, a priest, was there.  He was telling us about how he offered Mass to the people in Venice, and it was so cold, he could see his breath.  I said, “Well, Father, I offered Mass in Iraq in 136 degree weather and during a sand storm.  But to me, that was just another day at the office.  Would I do it again?  Yes, because I love my soldiers.  Was it pleasant?  Not really, but it was a work of love free from attachment.  You will find that you have greater happiness.  You will find a greater love to allow more love into your soul rather than a love of things.  Rather than having things taking up space in our souls, God is there.  He is the one for whom our souls were made.  As Saint Augustine said, “Our heart is restless until it rests in You.”  Our souls were made for God alone.  Everything else does not satisfy.  People are so unhappy because they keep trying to fill that void with people, places, and things that are not God.  

During this season and our works of love, I urge you to come to Confession, and make it a frequent habit.  I urge you to offer more prayer.  And don’t say, “Oh, I’m going to say two Rosaries every day.”  Just try a decade at a time, okay?  Start out small with baby steps.  You aren’t monks.  You aren’t cloistered.  You aren’t consecrated and can sit there for an hour.   In seminary, we sat there for hours praying for vocations in the world.  Just pray.  Hey, that computer has an off switch.  It won’t hurt you a bit.  Honest.  I promise it won’t hurt you a bit.  Those people on Facebook will not miss you.  TikTok videos will go on without you.   Someday, we will get our celestial discharge, and they will still go on without us. 

This season is a time for us to grow.  It is not a time for brutality or self-flagellation.  It’s a time for freedom to free ourselves from bondage to things; to improve our vision so that we can see what is really important to us; and to grow in the joy of our spiritual lives.  This is not transitory joy that’s good for only a few seconds, then gone, and we are left to deal with the consequences.  Rather, this is a joy that nobody can take from us.  This is what we do.  Seek His love.  Don’t ask anyone, “What are you giving up for Lent?”  First of all, it’s none of your business.   And yes, it is my business as your priest. 

People ask, “What are you going to do for this Lent?”  Well, I’m going to try to be holier.  I’m going to try to free myself of the bondage to things.  We all have our fun and things that we like to do.  They are innocent in and of themselves.  They are not sinful.  But, putting them down and turning to prayer might be a much better alternative.

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to http://AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”   Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”

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Saint of the Day – February 28 – Pope Saint Hilary

Pope Saint Hilary (5th c.) was Bishop of Rome from 461 to 468. Not much is known of his early life other than that he was from Sardinia. He rose to prominence in the Church when he became archdeacon under Pope St. Leo the Great, working closely with him as a trusted aid. St. Leo sent Hilary as one of the papal legates to the Council of Ephesus in 449. There St. Hilary fought bravely against the monophysite heresy, for which his life was threatened. He was forced into hiding and fled back to Rome for safety. He was so highly esteemed that after Pope Leo’s death he was elected to the papacy. As pope, St. Hilary fought for the rights of the papacy in spiritual matters against the Roman Emperor, and increased organization and discipline between the bishops and the Holy See. He also did much work in building, remodeling, and decorating Roman churches and other public places. Pope St. Hilary’s feast day is February 28.

//Catholic Company//