Sermon Notes – What is Your Price?

“What is Your Price?”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

June 20-21, 2020

Scripture: Matthew 10:26-33

You may have heard the following advice: “to graduate, you have to cooperate” or “to get along, you have to go along.” And, that is true in a lot of situations. It is great guidance for life, because often we get into discussions that end up in arguments, especially on social media. By the way, addiction to social media is a disease. People get into huge fights over nothing. It’s what I like to call pole vaulting over mouse droppings. They get into arguments over the strangest stuff, and that’s sad. Patriots! Green Bay! Panthers! Who the heck cares…they’re all millionaires! Are they going to share their millions with me? No. Were they in Iraq with me? No. So, I don’t care! I really don’t care! “This is so-and-so.” Whoopee! When I call 911, is so-and-so going to come out and save my keester? No. Are they going to ride with me in the “meat wagon” and keep me alive so that the doctors at the hospital can save me? No. Well then, call me, and we’ll do lunch. People get into fights over the stupidest things, and they won’t back down. So, the fight escalates and escalates. There is no need for that. But, we keep going back, because we want to get along, and that’s good, because we need each other…we were made for each other.

People sometimes ask, “What do you think about our president?” I don’t discuss politics. “Well, what do you think about this?” I don’t discuss that either. They are looking for a fight, not for a discussion. You know, I just let it go. I’m an expert on one thing, and I’ll talk about that, but I won’t talk about anything else in which I’m not an expert. I’m an expert at being a former soldier; I’ve got that part nailed down really well. Once a month, Uncle Sam sends me a check, because he tried hard to kill me. He tried really hard, so he gave me a pension. I mean, he tried, really, really hard to kill me…but I made it out alive…ha-ha. It wasn’t personal…just business. Anyway, we want to get along, because we are afraid we won’t be included, and we all want to be included. We are afraid of being cut-off…of being isolated. That is so sad. Now, it is true there are some things in which we can compromise. We can compromise on a lot of things like sports, the best restaurants, or the kind of guacamole you like…whatever. We can compromise on a lot of things, but the one thing we cannot compromise on is the Faith, because there is no part of the Faith that is not Christ.

We have all heard, many times, people say, “I’m a Catholic but…” That sentence is so wrong. Grammatically, as the sisters taught us, it is correct. What is incorrect is the noun and the conjunction. Catholic means universal, and the word “but” is a qualifier. You cannot qualify a universal with a particular. Either it is or it isn’t. We learned that in Philosophy 101 on the first day of class. “I’m a Catholic, but I don’t go to Mass.” Well, I’m a Marine, but I didn’t go to Paris Island…does that qualify me too? “I’m a Catholic, but I don’t believe in this.” Then you are not Catholic. Catholicism is not a smorgasbord that you can pick and choose from. Now, you can debate whether the Mass should be in English or Latin…I prefer Latin. That’s a fair debate. However, the rest of it is not up for debate, since everything after that crosses the line. Because, if you are wanting to go along to get along, you are selling our Lord out for something. Judas sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. So, what is your price? How much did you sell Jesus out for? “I am a Catholic, but…”

People say, “I used to be Catholic.” Well, I still am…what’s your problem? I don’t say, “Oh, that’s nice…at least you go to church somewhere. Now let me see, which church? Oh yeah, they all commit abortion…aren’t you special!” I have to throw the Barbara Streisand flag on that one. Are you kidding me? It’s abortion! It’s murder of an innocent life! We hung Nazis for that. There are YouTube videos and movies about it. We hung them or we shot them, either or. There were trials of doctors in Nuremberg who took a long fall on a short rope. So, what are you going to get for selling out Christ? “Well, I’m going to try to save my relationship.” Dude, if you’re selling out our Lord over a relationship, that’s not a relationship. Alright? Forget it. Pack it in. Get over it, go cry in your beer, and start over somewhere else. When you qualify your faith, how much are you willing to sell our Lord out for? Just what are you afraid of? As they say in counselling, fear is false expectations approaching reality. Fear paralyzes us; however, most of what we fear will never happen. If we act out of fear, we will lose everything. We will lose our good Lord. The most common phrase in scripture is “do not be afraid.” Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” So, don’t be afraid. The only thing we need to fear is losing our salvation. Proclaim the truth. How would you feel if someone said, “I do not know you”? Do not be afraid. When we proclaim God’s truth, we are planting seeds wisely even though sometimes we would like to use a sledgehammer.

I’ll tell you one story before we get on with Mass. Many years ago, I belonged to an organization called the Downtown Albemarle Ministerial Association (DAMA). Pastors who were members would meet and discuss stuff. One day, there was a discussion about abortion. Uh-uh…I don’t play. This one Methodist minister, who is no longer here, got so angry that he almost came over the table yelling at me. I can guarantee you that it would not have been a healthy move for him. I was in much better shape back then. “It’s all about abortion for you Catholics!” I really wanted to go charismatic and lay hands on him. Instead, I looked at him and said, Reverend, (dripping with sarcasm of course), on which moral hill are you willing to die? No other church has a higher moral code than the Catholic Church. If you are willing to sacrifice a baby in the womb, there is no moral equivalent to that. Everything else is okay. Just say you love Jesus, and everything will be alright. But, if you look in scripture, especially in Matthew 25 and John 6, you will find that the final exam is much more than that.”

We do things that are contrary to Church law, because we are afraid that we won’t fit in. This results in politics, even in the Church. Many suck up to those in power. There are cliques in the Church Priesthood worse than those in a girls’ school, and these are grown men! They are grown men. But, it is fear. We will sell out Christ for a job or a relationship. “Oh, I can’t live without him!” Really? You are trading Christ for someone or something else. “They may unfriend me on Facebook.” Really? Boy, I’m so sorry. I almost teared up. You don’t need friends like that. If they are asking you to compromise yourself, you don’t need them. If they ask you to deny Christ, to deny your faith or any part of your faith which is the whole faith, you are better off without them.

How will you apply this message to your life? Are you going along to get along? If so, has it caused you to compromise your faith? What was the price for selling out Christ?

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