“We Do Not Know”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
October 7 – 8, 2023
Gospel: Matthew 21:33:43
While I was proclaiming the gospel, I thought about the servants the master dispatched. They were cursed at and thrown out. I can empathize with that. I’m glad you are sitting down because I’m sure you will be stunned when I tell you that sometimes I have not been treated very well by people. Shocking, isn’t it? Blanch and John’s little boy has been mistreated. I’ve been cursed at and thrown out of patients’ rooms. My cousin yelled at me one time while I was attending my aunt’s funeral. She said, “You still believe in this stuff?” to which I replied, “Yeah, what happened to you?” Our Lord created us out of love, sustains us in His love, and wants us to respond to His love so that we can be with Him for all eternity. That’s why He not only sent prophets, but He also sent His Son to remind of us His great love. People treated them not so well. He begs us to respond to His gifts. He begs us not to grow weary or to become jaded. He begs us to continue the walk to salvation. He tells us in the Gospels, point blank with no grey area or ambiguity, what we should do and not do. And if we happen to stumble, He gives us the means by which to pick up our cross and follow Him. He continues to show His everlasting love because He doesn’t want anyone to be separated from Him for all eternity. That’s not His plan. That’s our plan, not His.
We are called to judge people for we will know them by their fruits. I do not want to eat a sandwich made by someone who just came from the bathroom without washing their hands. Call me fussy, but I do not like that, and I’ve been to some pretty disgusting places. So, you will know them by their fruits, but you can never judge them for eternal salvation. You can never judge people beyond God’s mercy. About eight years ago, I was making my rounds in Hospice and a nurse came up to me and said, “Father, the patient in Room 3 has a statue of Buddha in his room.” So, I went into the patient’s room, and we talked for a while. He was a Marine during World War II. He had three island landings, and the second one hit him badly. It took him out of the game, but they fixed him up and sent him back in. The third one hit him so badly that he could no longer be a Marine. So, we were sitting there talking and he said, “I’m Buddhist.” Now it was time to talk about the elephant or the Buddha in the room. We take people where they are. The patient asked me if I knew anything about Buddha, and I said not much. I mean I know if you rub the fat guy’s belly it’s supposed to bring you wealth. But that’s about it. What did Buddha say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one with everything. The patient loaned me a book about Buddhism, and I took it home and read it. The next time I saw the patient, I told him that I had read the book and that it was very interesting. Then he told me why he became a Buddhist. After his tours of duty during World War II, he was sitting on an island, and he looked down at his left arm where he was wearing a silver ID bracelet. There were 28-29 notches on the bracelet which meant he had personally put the whack on 28-29 Japanese soldiers. Marines get up close and personal. When he came home from the war, he tried to be a good husband and father. He talked to the clergy to find help for what was going on inside him. But he could not find the answer for the damage the war had done to him, so he found peace in Buddhism. I can live with that. I came out of the room and told the nurses not to worry about the Buddha. The Buddha is fine. The upside of the story is that this patient got better and left Hospice although not in the usual way. He actually walked out of Hospice and moved to Florida to live with his daughter.
We had this woman come into hospice at the VA. She was acting very ugly and was throwing staff members out of her room. If she was in a good mood, she would let one nurse and one doctor enter her room. Finally, one of the chaplains went in and talked to her. Know why she was in Hospice even though she was only in her early thirties? She put herself there by living a very bad life. She was self-medicating because of the severe abuse she experienced as a child. Some might say, “She doesn’t know Jesus, so she’s not going to Heaven.” You know, I wouldn’t be so sure about that considering the crosses she has had to carry. That’s why we don’t judge other people.
We don’t judge people because we don’t know the crosses they carry. We don’t know what the heck has happened to them or to those they love. God judges that. The Gospel says, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold” (John 10:16). We don’t know, so we pray for them, and we implore the merciful judgment of God’s mercy upon them. In the future, I will probably be thrown out of more rooms. Will it hurt my feelings? Maybe. But that’s what I’m supposed to do. Before HIPAA rules, which every hospital and nursing home has, the staff would let me know when someone was dying, and I would go in and say the Prayer for the Departing Soul. I’ve told the funeral directors here that if someone doesn’t have anyone to pray for them at their graveside, call me and I will come and say the Prayer of the Dead. Because we are all children of God created in His image and likeness. We all deserve that. We don’t wish for God’s judgment on anyone. If we do, we are wishing it for ourselves. We don’t know the agony other people have endured, so we implore God’s mercy on them.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.” On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.” Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.” Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at ola.catholic.church. Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”
