“Stop Running!”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
May 24 – 25, 2025
Gospel: John 14:23-29
While I was home, I met a correctional officer from the prison. Rhode Island is a small state, but we have our fair share of felons. This correctional officer asked me, “Father, how do you find God?” I said, “That’s easy – Just stop running.” People run from God, although they say they are looking for Him. No, they aren’t. They are running from Him. What are you looking for, and why are you running? It may be the fear, shame, remorse, and guilt for what they have done. It may not only be for the fear of their sins, but also for what God will ask of them. What is the worst thing God will ask of you? To renounce yourself. Christ said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). “Do not tell Me what I should be or what you conceive Me to be. I will let you know who I am.” People try to get rid of God. Ask Judy Wentzel. She deals with antiques and sees a lot of crucifixes, rosaries, and medals in her antique shop. People run from God, “I will not serve.” You find God by renouncing yourself.
People come up to me and say, “Father, where does it say this in the bible?” Sometimes I take it as a good-natured question, but at other times it is annoying. We have a wonderful invention now called Google. There is also this great book called the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Look it up yourself, or are you trying to play “Stump the Chump”? Yes, I did go to seminary, and I had to pass many tests. During my last year of seminary before we graduated and were ordained, we participated in “Murderers Row.” All the professors you had during your years of undergraduate studies and graduate seminary studies were sitting there, and they could ask you any question from your last eight years of school. Yeah, that was a bit nerve-racking, especially when the professor from your first year of philosophy starts quizzing you, “What is the principle of identity?” Oh God, no! We learned that on the first day of class.
Now, this will be an interesting weekend, and many people are going to save a lot of money. Do you know why? There will be Memorial Day mattress sales! It is really killing me that I’m here with all those sales happening! I saw a survey recently that showed 27% of Generation Z said they don’t know why we have this holiday. They really should be at the Parris Island Marine Corps base. Only 47% of Baby Boomers know why we commemorate Memorial Day. A couple of years ago, I received a note from the Chief of Chaplains at the VA about a veteran whose wife had died and who wanted to talk to a Catholic chaplain who was also a veteran. I’m the only guy on staff at the VA who meets those qualifications, so I made an appointment with him. This veteran came into my office with all these books. Now, these were post-graduate books and rather worn and ragged. I was rather impressed because I hadn’t seen some of these books since seminary. He had lots of questions, and when he finally ran out of steam, I said, “I heard your wife died.” Yes. “Did you love her?” Yes. “Do you miss her?” Yes. Then I asked, “What branch of service were you in?” Army. “Were you in Vietnam? Yes. I knew all the answers to my questions before I asked them, like any good lawyer. “What did you do in the Army?” I was a medic. “Alright, Doc. How many soldiers did you save?” He didn’t know, and I believe that. “Doc, how many soldiers did you lose?” He knew every one of them by name, and each day he would see their pictures in his head. His wife helped him keep it together. Now, not only is he grieving the loss of his wife, but he is dealing with the trauma from his military service alone.
There was a priest in our diocese, Father Tom Scott. His parish was in Mount Airy, and he retired for medical reasons. He had Leukemia and Agent Orange poisoning. He was a corpsman in Vietnam for two tours. One was planned, but he volunteered to go back as a Marine, and he got himself really blown up. He still had shrapnel in his hand. Sometimes he would show me a piece that had worked its way out. On his patten, which is the little gold plate that the priest’s host is placed on, he had the names of all the Marines he lost. Some priests made fun of him, and they make fun of me. I agree that, except for former military service, everything else is fair game. You might be thinking, “Father, it has been 50 years since that war.” Yes. With most things, through God’s grace, the passage of time makes it easier for us. But pulling the trigger and the stress that comes with it are a whole other matter. I give books to the medical staff who say, “Oh, I can’t read that! It’s too graphic.” But it’s what we lived and what some of us are still living. The war never left us. If you want to learn about it and the cause of PTSD, read the book “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society” by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman. Usually, with the passage of time and grace, you adjust.
Eventually, as you grow older, defenses become weaker. Your family leaves, dies, or whatever. We had one veteran who was dying in Hospice, and he asked his nurse, “Would you hold my hand till I fall asleep?” Although I’m not Dr. House, I know when these old timers are about to pass because they start telling me all these things they never told their wives. When they tell me what happened, I know they will be gone in a couple of weeks. They are cleaning house. There are a lot of grey-haired old men and ladies, whose faces soldiers and Marines were the last ones they saw before they passed from this world to the next. Read “Chicken Soup for the Veteran’s Soul.” Most people forget what this weekend is about because they were not involved in that part of life, but they all benefited. Those soldiers and Marines remember it every day. The benefit of their service is our freedom and not mattress sales.
Father’s Afterthoughts: One more story – I have bunches of them. We were training with medical mannequins, and one of the nurse trainers approached me and asked, “Padre, can you go talk to this guy?” What’s wrong? “No matter what we do, the patient is going to die.” Sometimes, if you fix one crisis, you create another one. So, I went in to see him. He was a full-bird colonel. I said, “Doc,” and he said, “Chaplain.” I stood beside him, and he said, “I’m not going to lose him. I sent too many soldiers home in body bags. I’m not going to lose this one.” He had been in Vietnam as a battalion surgeon. I said, “Okay, Doc.” I went back to the training nurse and said, “He’s back in Vietnam, having a flashback about the soldiers he lost. He won’t lose this one.”
How will you apply this message to your life? _________________________________________
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