“Are You Blowing Off God?”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
April 27 – 28, 2024
Gospel: John 15:1-8
I appreciate the warm welcome back from my vacation. Many of you have asked how my vacation was. It was exhausting. Now you may be thinking, “But Father, you were on vacation. You had a chance to rest.” When does a mother and father have a chance to rest? Just asking. I’m going back to the area I grew up as a priest, and I have my own little parish there. Everyone wants to talk to me. My vacation started this way: I got up in the morning and when I went into the kitchen for coffee, I stepped in a bunch of cat poop. Okay, this is going to be fun! After that it just got weird. I encountered a lot of episodes of WTMI (way too much information) during which I just sat there and said, “Uh-huh, Uh-huh, okay, yeah.” I went to see my aunt, who is also my godmother, and my two cousins Sheryl and Lisa. At one point, all three women were talking to me at once. Now, I can’t tell my 95-year-old godmother to “shut up” but my cousins I can, and I did. Shut up! “What do you mean?” Did I stutter? I love you but together you two drive me nuts! This is why I live alone and why living in a monastery appeals to me.
Every day I went to the diner which is like the TV show “Cheers” with grease on a plate. I have my own little parish there too. I saw this one man who I’ve known for years. When I first met him, he told me he had been in Vietnam. He came home after basic training and AIT (job training) and got married. Ten days later he was on a plane to Saigon. When he got back home, he became an Elvis impersonator. Gotta love a guy like that! When I talked to his wife, I said, “He wasn’t the same young man you sent away, was he?” She began to cry and said, “No.” I complimented her, and I still do because she was the one who brought him home from the war. It’s a type of on-the-job training. My mother and aunts had to do it for my father and uncles without a textbook or instruction manual to guide them. They didn’t talk about it although a few of them mentioned it to me before they died. They had to bring their husbands home, so they taught their children not to sneak up on their dads. Do not surprise Dad. So, I’ve watched this man’s health deteriorate over the years. I’m not “House” but there have been obvious signs. He has had a lot of maladies due to his time in Vietnam. During the first part of my vacation, he told me that his doctors had placed him in palliative care. Well, some people live forever on palliative care, so I wasn’t concerned about that. Near the end of my vacation, he told me that his doctors had given him the bad news that he had six months to a year to live, and he started to cry a bit. The agent orange had caught up with him. On the last day I was home, I told him I would see him in September, and he said, “No, you won’t.”
This is a funny story about another guy. Remember I told you that I know a guy? Well, this is the guy. I mean the Feds even bugged his phone, so he is the guy. He’s not in the business anymore, however, he’s open to referrals. So, I do know a guy. About 30 years ago, his friend helped him get out of the business and become the wonderful guy he is today. But his friend is dying and is in a trauma unit at a hospital in Rhode Island. He wanted to see him but felt bad about intruding on the family. So, he called his friend’s daughter and asked, “May I come to see your father? I don’t want to interrupt the family if it’s a bad time.” She said, “Yes, of course. He wants to see you.” So, he went. Even though his friend had tubes protruding from every possible place you could have them, he motioned to him that it was okay. He talked to his friend and made peace with him. He left the hospital, and an hour later his friend was dead.
Coming home I was privileged to sit next to a guy who had three hot toddies starting at 10:30 in the morning. Everyone is trying to be a paratrooper. I said, “Really? That’s the amateur hour.” Then, to top it all off, I called the church office to see how things were going and learned that the visiting priest had been vomiting all Sunday night and Monday morning. So Servpro came to the house and disinfected everything. Never a dull moment. On Friday afternoon, I drove from Charlotte back to Albemarle to take care of the mail and then drove to St. Luke’s in Mint Hill to hear confessions and drove back. Otherwise, I’m really relaxed.
While I was hearing confessions at St. Luke’s, someone said, “I don’t go to Mass the way I should.” Well, you can. Nothing is stopping you. The doors here are open. In many ways, it comes down to poor teaching about what the Mass is. The Mass is not a function. It is the event that redeemed creation and opened Heaven up for us. It gives us the means to get there by the sacrifice of Christ which is always before the Father and made present for us. In some parishes, the Mass is treated like a performance. They have these big screens that come down from the ceiling, and somebody is at the front of the church cheerleading. I didn’t read that in Scripture about Calvary. Did they have a cheerleader? Maybe I’m wrong. I may have been sick for a day or two while in seminary. Some parishes have a practice before the Mass or they have a Mass that goes on and on – like the guy last week – and on. You get no more salvation with a Mass that goes for an hour and a half than one that lasts for 13 minutes, which I have done several times because of extenuating circumstances.
Why is missing Sunday Mass so bad? The greatest sign of God’s love is made present on the altar on Sundays and every day, but Sunday is a holy day of obligation. Our good Lord asks those who say they believe in Him to come and be a part of the greatest act of divine love the world has ever seen. But people don’t show up. This is a little vulgar, but it’s true – they give God the middle finger. “I’m too busy.” “I don’t like it.” “I was there last week, and it’s just a rerun.” “I went to Mass a lot in grade school.” Really? I drank a lot of water back then, and I still drink water. So, they give God the middle finger and go about their business. That’s all ego. The true way to spirituality, as evidenced by people who get sober, clean, or slimmer or whatever 12-Step program they are in, is by humility or ego deflation. Once humility is achieved, along with the other steps supporting it, you never have to drink or abuse drugs again. Humility is one of God’s gifts and is the first step in spirituality. Does God chuckle at my not eating bacon? Maybe but doubtful. But He wants to see what I do with the sacrifices made on my behalf. He made such a great sacrifice Himself by sending His only Son to suffer and die. What is my response to that love? By complaining and crying that I can’t eat bacon or that I have to eat fish? That’s a big one. Did I tell you I hate fish? Ego deflation is the key to spiritual life.
“What a beautiful Mass, Father.” Don’t judge the Mass . . . all Masses are beautiful. The beauty comes in the person who is suffering in the Mass and that is Christ. What is the Mass? It is Christ and that is where the beauty comes from. The only way to improve the Mass is not from the outside but from inside us. That’s how we come to appreciate the Mass and not by judging it by our standards like ‘America’s Got Talent’ or thinking that our trip to Walmart is more important. The key to the Mass is humility and realizing what we are and what the Mass is. The humble say, “Speak Lord your servant is listening” and not “Listen Lord your servant is speaking.”
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
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