“You Can Never Step on the Same River Twice“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
December 12-13, 2020
Scripture: John 1: 6-8, 19-28
I met an interesting person at the hospital the other day. I started talking to him and realized I had actually met him ten years earlier. He is in his 90’s and was a WW II veteran. There are so few of them still alive. He was a glider trooper and was involved in a glider attack in Normandy. Those guys couldn’t buy life insurance. If you were not blasted out of the sky or crashed on landing, you had to face the best soldiers the German army had at the time. This guy was tough…a great guy and an interesting fellow. He was so happy that I remembered him. He is in declining health, so please pray that he has an easy passing…he did a lot for our country.
So, let me ask you a question: What time is midnight mass? 5 pm. We don’t want to get picked up by the Albemarle police department. But, don’t worry … the police have real crime to worry about. It’s not that slow in Albemarle. We aren’t New York City, but we aren’t that slow, and we don’t need the money that badly.
You may remember from your philosophy classes, a man named Heraclitus who was an ancient Greek philosopher. Heraclitus said, among many things, that you can never step on the same river twice. And, that’s true. Life is always in flux. Things are always changing. Who could have anticipated this Christmas – this season – how different it is. We didn’t want this and no one expected it. This Christmas will be different from all the Christmases we’ve had and probably all the Christmases we will have. We are accustomed to getting the flu, but something like this? It’s very unusual and nothing we could ever have anticipated. I’ve spent a few Christmases in places that I never anticipated, and they were interesting to say the least. Now, just because something changes doesn’t mean it’s not good. Good can be wrought from anything, no matter the situation.
We are thrust into situations because God allows them to happen. Remember, God has both a direct will and a permissive will. It is by His permissive will that He allows us to have free will. During this time of great stress and anxiety, make sure you are home by the 10:00 curfew. You may say, “Everybody is under a lot of stress.” Most stress is self-imposed. Sometimes we get ourselves wound up over absolutely nothing. People tell me, “Oh, this is horrible!” Relax. You aren’t taking incoming. It isn’t that bad. You know my definition of a crisis: 1) there’s a huge number of people dying around you…they’re not; 2) there’s no money for checks, especially mine…there is, at least right now; and 3) we are taking incoming fire…we’re not. So, relax. God still loves us. Let it go.
I’ll give you a prescription on how you can make this situation we are in feel better. I did not write this prescription; I just happen to remember it. It was written several hundred years ago by a little guy who is often pictured with birds hanging around him, but that’s not really true. Saint Francis of Assisi wrote the prescription for our tensions and struggles. We all want to be comforted, and we all want peace. Saint Francis said, “Lord make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love.” I’ll let you read the rest of the prayer for yourself. If you want help during this stressful time, take the prescription that Saint Francis wrote and put it into action.
The cure to stress and anxiety is to be immersed in love. How do we immerse ourselves in love? Well, first, we have to ask, “What is love?” Jesus told us that love is an action. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” So, if you want to help yourself during this time of great stress, anxiety, and discomfort that we all feel, partly because we can’t do what we want when we want, look up Saint Francis’ prayer. It will provide you with the blueprint of how you can feel better.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you immerse yourself in love? Will you put your love into action by keeping His Commandments?