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Sermon Notes – “In the Quietness, God Lets Us Know He Hears Us” – December 15, 2024
“In the Quietness, God Lets Us Know He Hears Us”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
December 14-15, 2024
Gospel: Luke 3:10-18
Today Holy Mother Church celebrates the 3rd Sunday of Advent. I hope and pray to be here for the 4th and final Sunday of Advent. At 71 years of age, I have more time behind me than I probably have ahead of me. My chaplain friends ask me if I’m ready for Christmas. Yeah. How do you get ready for Christmas? Saint John the Baptist told us how, as he prepared Israel for the coming of the Savior, he said, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths”(Luke 3: 1-6).
We pass this law and that law so that we can get everybody straightened out and decide how they will live. Our Lord did not mean that. He meant us. We are great at prescribing for other people, but not for ourselves. We must make straight the paths of the Lord in our own hearts, and He tells us exactly how to do it. If you have two coats, give one to someone who is cold. If you have more than enough food, give some to a person who is hungry. Soldiers should not bully anyone (we never do). Tax collectors should not take any more than they should. He tells us how to prepare our souls for the coming of Christ. Live a moral life. Living a moral life burns away the stain of sin and prepares our souls to be at peace when our Savior comes, whether it’s in Holy Communion, at our death, at His 2nd coming, or at the commemoration of His incarnation coming on December 25th.
There are a lot of books on prayer. “Say these prayers, and everything will be all right.” No. I had this one secretary at the VA who said, “I said this prayer, and I claimed that miracle.” Really? Do you think that God told the parents who have children in St. Jude’s that if they didn’t pray correctly, He would let their children die? No. Prayer is an act of love. Why do we do acts of love? For the sake of the Beloved, not for ourselves.
Now, He never says that by doing all these things, you will feel better. You may not. He also didn’t say that when you pray you would levitate. He said, “Pray. Stay with Me for a while.” He didn’t say you would be happy all the time and doing the happy dance. Sometimes we can be weak and terrified, so when someone gets sick on pea soup, we panic: “Oh, my God! It’s satan!” No, it’s just bad pea soup.
Living a moral life is very noble. You all are here, so I know you are trying to live moral lives. Sometimes it’s not fun, is it? For example, on doctor’s orders, I have to eat fish twice a week. It’s part of the Fourth Commandment, so I have to obey it. Do you know how I feel about the thought of eating fish? Nauseous. I hate fish but I have to eat it. It’s a work of love. I’m not saying love of self wouldn’t expand my lifespan, but I trust in Almighty God who has given physicians medical knowledge and wisdom. Doing acts of love does not always feel good. Occasionally, every now and again, once in a while, our Lord will favor us with His consolation. In the military, we call that an “atta boy.” It can be disappointing because I like being told I’m doing a great job. I have been a priest for 40 years, and I’m still not a monsignor. That’s really crushing! I’m a Very Reverend, but that’s just an honorary title. I wish that were true.
When you pray through your works of charity, you may feel like, “Hey, God. I’m doing all this stuff and getting nothing in return.” Yes, you are. You are growing away from self-love and toward your love for Him. You are preparing your soul for Christ. You are doing a great job, so do not be disappointed. That’s a great temptation of the devil. You may be disappointed because you are not getting atta-boys or atta-girls. But every now and then, God will let us know as He did Elijah in the cave. Don’t look for a huge and momentous event; that scares people. But in the quietness, God lets us know He hears us and that we are safe in the palm of His hand. Our Lord said, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12). So, when we do all these acts of love and do not get anything back from our Lord, that is when we are growing more and more in love with Him.
So, how do we prepare for Christmas? We do as we are told.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com, clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and 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.
Forgive Yourself First
Feast of the Day – Our Lady of Guadalupe – December 12
Saint of the Day – Saint Pope Damasus I – December 11
Sermon Notes – December 8, 2024 – “We Have Christmas Every Day”
“We Have Christmas Every Day”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
December 7-8, 2024
Gospel: Luke 3:1-6
I heard confessions on Monday night in Statesville and Thursday night at St. Lukes. On Monday night, we were invited to dinner at Outback. One priest had never heard the phrase “circling the drain.” My gosh! Where have you been all your life? You haven’t spent much time in hospitals and around nurses, have you? On Thursday night, I had to educate one of the older priests when he said, “Well, the patient’s mother and wife wanted him to be given Last Rites, but the patient wouldn’t take it, so I left without giving it to him.” I told this priest I’m a trained hospitalist, and this is how you handle that situation. You wait until you see the nurses go by with the medication cart. Then, have a cup of coffee and, after about ten minutes, go back into the patient’s room while he’s bombed and ask him, ‘Would you like Last Rites now? Oh, I thought you might say ‘yes.’” Or you could ask the nurses when the patient will be medicated again and wait about ten minutes after that to ask him if he wants Last Rites. Get the mission done, Father. But God takes care of that anyway. That’s just my bed-snide manner. That night at dinner, Father Rossi ordered some hors d’oeuvres. He asked me if I would like some tuna ahi. It looked like undone roast beef. I said, “That’s very kind, Father. Would it get me any time off purgatory?” No? In that case, they don’t make a pharmaceutical strong enough to make me eat that thing. I don’t eat fish. I have a rule.
In 17 days and a wake-up, we will celebrate the incarnation of God. Our good Lord became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Mother and made visible on Christmas. We do not have to ask what love looks like because we can see it. It’s a wonderful day. God becoming incarnate was a great act of love by God. But was it His greatest act of love? No. His greatest act of love was the crucifixion. People say, “I wish we could have Christmas every day.” You do! I don’t get cookies every day like I do at Christmas, but God comes to us every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Jesus, as the 2nd Person in the Blessed Trinity, was hard to see under the veil of human flesh and blood. He is also hard to see under the veil of bread and wine in the Mass when it becomes His Most Precious Body and Blood. But this is our faith. His human nature was united with His divinity in what is called hypostatic union. In the Mass, that happens when I put a drop of water into the chalice of wine. That is His human nature being assumed into His divine nature. At every Mass, God becomes flesh again. He is incarnate in the Most Blessed Sacrament in every Catholic church in the world. So, we have Christmas every day but without bad music like, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause” and “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Shut up! Those songs make me want to rip out the loudspeaker.
God is present in our world. On His ascension, Jesus took the flesh that he received from the Blessed Mother and brought it to Heaven. But He did not leave our world. He didn’t say, “I’m going up to Heaven, and when it’s time, I’ll come back to get you and take you home.” God is made present in our world every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It was hard for the Apostles to see our Lord and believe He was truly God. Because of our fallen human nature, it is also difficult for us because we see with the eyes of our bodies instead of the eyes of our souls. The trouble is our vision. I appreciate all the hard work my eye doctor, Dr. Billingsly, has done for me. He has saved me from walking around with a stick and a dog. But the ability to see with the eyes of faith is most important to me.
We have God’s physical presence every day, just like the Apostles. We have Christmas every day. Isn’t that wonderful? It truly is. Granted, we don’t have cookies and baked goods every day. I will leave my back door open if anyone would care to make a donation. I would be most grateful; just don’t tell my doctor. We have Christmas every day without the bad music, wreaths, trees, and lawn statues, but that is unimportant. What is important is what resides in the Tabernacle. God came into the world, and He never left.
Father’s Afterthoughts:
We had a new patient in hospice. He’s 91 years old. So, I went into his room and started talking to him to see if he was oriented to time and place. He was pretty “gah-gah.” My final question was, “Do you remember the branch of service you were in?” He said, “Marines!” That question always gets through.
How will you apply this message to your life? _______________________________________
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to AnnunciationCatholicAlbemarle.com, clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and 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.”
