“He Raises Us Up”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
August 29-30, 2020
Scripture: Matthew 16:21-27
When Christ ascended in to Heaven with the human nature He took from the Blessed Mother and the one He suffered, redeemed, and was glorified in, His temptations didn’t stop there. His temptations go on. But, how do the temptations go on when He’s not here? Yes, He is. As the Book of Acts tells us, Christ asked Saul, “Why do you persecute Me?” He was talking about the Church. Christ is His Church. You cannot separate Christ and His church. No, no, no. You cannot separate them. Christ is His Church. He said, “Why are you persecuting Me?” He didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting the people who go into a building and who think I’m a great guy?” No. He said, “Why are you persecuting Me?” You cannot separate Christ and His church. So, the temptations of Christ go on and on and on. When I was in college, Class of 75, the private college I was at had a brand new library. It was a beautiful place…great for naps. Actually, I studied very hard. Now, even though this was a Catholic college, they couldn’t teach religion, because if you use federal money, the government can tell you what you can and cannot do. When you have Catholic housing, the government can tell you exactly who to let in. If you take their money, they call the shots. Look at the Little Sisters of the Poor. They take care of God’s unwanted people…the old. I don’t see anyone else taking them in. The Sisters make sure the people in their care are all washed, fed and dressed before they get their breakfast. The Sisters were told they had to provide birth control for all people. Really? The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. How much hate for Christ does it take to do that? People are always trying to change Him. One of my personal favorites….it’s a minor thing, but it’s one of my personal favorites: “Father, I’m not coming back to church until priests can be married.” Really? Even my mother didn’t care about me that much. Come on! You are basing your eternal salvation on whether or not I have a spouse? Are you kidding me? I can’t keep a flower alive. Dogs don’t like me. Really? “Well, unless the doctor is this or that, I’m not going to him.” Oh, okay. Good luck with that. I’ll see you at Hartsel’s Funeral Home. “Unless Mass is in English or Spanish I’m not coming back.” I can only speak one language and I don’t speak it very well. I have Spanish Mass, and as you all know, I really try. I speak Spanish with a French accent. When I was in Korea, I tried to learn Hangul and that didn’t happen. When I was in the Middle East, I tried Arabic and that didn’t happen. I remember some Latin, but I don’t use it in conversations except with pharmacists and doctors. We always want to change the wrong things. We try to change Christ. But, Christ is calling us to be like Him. He wants to raise us up to be with Him. We spend so much time and energy trying to change the wrong things. Instead, we need to change ourselves.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you focus on changing yourself to be like Christ instead of trying to change Him?