“You Are God’s Q-Tip“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
November 21-22, 2020
Scripture: Matthew 25: 31-46
Okay, I hope you are taking notes, because what I’m about to talk about is on the final exam. In the Gospel, you see what is called the Corporal Works of Mercy. They are very important, and we need to study them, even memorize them. Protestants don’t like this part of the Gospel, because nowhere on the final exam does it ask, “Do you claim Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” Excuse me, Reverend, you are studying the wrong thing. Our Lord never asked that question. It’s not on the final exam. If you flunk it, don’t blame God. He gave you the questions ahead of time, but you neglected to do the work. So don’t blame Him if you fail.
I had a thought this week while I was at the VA where all sorts of interesting fun can be had. Every time I go there, the day is filled with interesting experiences and downright sarcasm…and that’s just from the staff. Around 10:20, I began a rather deep acquaintance with a Q-Tip…the COVID test, and a good time was had by all. I was actually laughing during the test while trying to hold the Q-tip in for 10 seconds; 1…2…3…. Ten seconds in our time is different than it is in medical or VA time. ..3…4… The test doesn’t hurt, but I really wanted to sneeze. I knew the staff who were there, and they were laughing. Go ahead and laugh! …5…6… There are worse ways to get a sample, and I’ll leave it at that. …7…8… Q-Tips have a 1001 uses, and medical communities have found 1002. You know, when you think about it, if that Q-Tip had any intelligence, you think it would want to go up my nose? …9…10! Granted, I have a very cute and adorable nose. I mean, I look at it in the morning and think, “Oh God, how great am I. Perfect!” On the outside, it’s not too bad; but on the inside – yuck! If the Q-tip had any intelligence, it would not want to go to a lot of the places that doctors put it…places you don’t want to know about. But, that Q-Tip is a means that God uses to bring His healing and His will to people. The test is not that bad, so don’t whine to me about it…you won’t get any sympathy. I’ll tell you exactly what it is. It’s a means to an end. God uses that Q-tip as an instrument of His healing just as He uses us. We are supposed to be God’s hands and His feet to bring His love to the world in whatever vocation He has assigned us in the Body of Christ. Our parents gave us, and then we gave ourselves, to God to be instruments of His love in the world. Many times, He places us in situations that we don’t really care for, but it’s still His work. God puts us there, whether we like it or not, to do His will as instruments of His love. “I don’t like it!” Yeah, that’s alright. You don’t have to like it; just do it. It’s fine. Teachers don’t always like what God asks them to do, but they do it anyway, even though they may never see the end result or know God’s plan.Years ago,
I was offering Mass at the female prison over in Troy, another little gated community I loved visiting. I called it Female Felon Friday. I asked some ladies if they would mind going there to teach Catechism. The inmates had requested it, but I couldn’t get there very often…only about once a month. “Oh, I don’t like going in there.” Who does? Unless you work there and get a paycheck, nobody likes going in there…that’s why they call it a prison. There are people in there that we want to stay there. You would be there only for an hour and a half, and then they would let you out. You don’t have to eat the food there. Actually, the women eat better than the men. It’s only one star, but is better than the food in the men’s prison. A lot of times, we may find ourselves in situations where we may be uncomfortable. We may not be happy, and it may not please our senses, but we are supposed to bring Christ to that situation as instruments of His love. When we find ourselves doing work we don’t like, it probably means we are doing His.
While in the military, I was overseas in a combat support hospital where I was doing my visitations. I had an area of concern about three times the size of Stanly County. While I was inside the field hospital, I heard on the radio that we had a Black Hawk go down with four crew members onboard…the pilot, crew chief, and two door gunners. The Black Hawk tried to remove a sand dune, and it didn’t work out. So, I told my assistant, Bubba, I always called my assistants Bubba or Bubbette…depending on their gender, so I told Bubba that we were going to stay there. The only thing in the military you always have too much of is the enemy. You never have enough of the good stuff. There’s always too much of the enemy and never enough of what you need. So, I told Bubba, you’re going to be a stretcher bearer. When the ambulances arrived, we went out there and brought the injured soldiers in to the hospital. Mass trauma from an air crash accident is messy and not like what you see on television. Unlike the television series “Mash,” this is smell-o-vision. They say you can’t remember smells; but, I can remember the smells of that place. One guy walked by who had just evacuated a man’s stomach, and asked, “Hey, Doc, do you see any blood in there?” Welcome to the world of medicine…it’s not like television. After working in this place with all the smells, the blood, the sweat, the screams, the crying, and everything else, Bubba came up to me, a 19 year old soldier, and said, “Sir…sir.” Yeah? “What do you want me to do, sir?” Turn your head. Better safe than sorry. I told Bubba to go outside, get some fresh air, and to come back inside in case we needed him. A lot of people get sick their first time out of the box. Did Bubba like being there? Heck no! He was ready to rid himself of his breakfast and lunch. Did his organs really want to be where they were? Oh, no. They were trying to leave his body as fast as they could and in no particular order. This was something Bubba had never seen before. But, he did the job I asked him to do. He was God’s missionary, and, although Bubba was really, really, sick, he did God’s work. We are called to do the same. So, when God asks you to do something that may be difficult or unpleasant, realize that He has chosen you to be His missionary in that situation to do His will and to show His love.
How will you apply this message to your life? When the work is difficult or unpleasant, remember you may be doing God’s work, and that you are called to do His will and to show His love.