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Sermon Notes – We Find God in the Silence – December 1, 2024

“We Find God in the Silence”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

December 1, 2024

Gospel:   Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Before Mass, I was talking to a lady who just returned from Lourdes.  I’ve been to Fatima several times but never to Lourdes.  Before you enter the shrine area, the grotto, or the church itself, signs ask for silence and appropriate dress.  Shorts are not allowed.  If you are not silent, someone will come to remind you; if one reminder is not enough, they will ask you to leave.  The silence is out of respect for Who dwells there.  Exterior silence is essential for prayer.  C.S. Lewis wrote “The Screw Tape Letters.”  Screwtape was one of the senior devils, and he had a little devil who was trying to rise up the demonic ladder.  This little devil said he was trying to think of innovative ways to get people away from God.  Screwtape told him that they already had an excellent method called noise.  Noise is very distracting.  It takes you away from who you are talking to or who you are trying to listen to. 

In the Mass, there are certain sections for reverential silence.  Unfortunately, the Mass has developed into something where people are moving, singing and doing whatever.  Someone said that those are supposed to be moments of meditation.  No, they are not.  Whoever said that did not go to a proper seminary.  Meditation takes about 20 minutes, and there is a reason for that.  Not only do we get the noise from outside that interferes with our concentration, but we also have silent, distracting noises in our hearts.  So, no matter how quiet it is in church, except for now, while I’m speaking, the hamsters are going and going, aren’t they?

We all have difficulties, and we all think about these things we must do whirling around in our heads.  Ideally, we leave all those things at the door.  But we bring them into church and give them to our Lord.  What happens when we have the stillness of the soul or as best we can?  Remember, we are men, not angels.  It is then we can hear God speak to us as He did to Elijah while he was in the cave.  God was not in the storm.  God was not in the earthquake.  God was in the silence afterward.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord asked the Apostles, “Can you not spare an hour to watch with Me?”  He didn’t ask them to talk.  He didn’t ask them to sing.  He asked the Apostles to watch with Him.  That is a huge part of prayer.

Last week, the hospice chaplain asked me if I would sit with a man who was actively dying.  He had been actively dying for three days, so he was a little slow at it.  I said, “Sure.”  I have done that many times.  Did I know him?  No.  Did I know his family?  No.  Did I know if he was a good man?  No.  What I did know is that he was a child of God.  So, I sat with him and reminded him to breathe.  He was trying to break the habit.  But in that room, in that reverential silence, I knew God was either there to take him or would be coming soon.  I prayed that he would have a merciful judgment and go joyfully to his loving God.  God was in that room, and I was listening.  That is a part of preparing for Advent. 

People ask, “Father, are you ready for Christmas?”  My response is, “I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but what difference does it make?  It’s going to come whether I am ready or not.”  It makes no difference.  Christmas is coming.  All these things we have to do are wonderful.  However, the most important thing we have to do is our interior preparation, which makes all the exterior preparations worthwhile.   All those gifts people give each other are expressions of God’s love.   The love within them is the love of God expressed by giving to others.  How much more expressive would they be if their souls were holier?  Do yourself a favor this first week of Advent and read “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry.

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.”

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Sermon Notes – “Do the Routine Things Routinely” – November 24, 2024

“Do the Routine Things Routinely”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

November 23 – 24, 2024

Gospel:  John 18:33-37

33 So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him and asked Him, ‘Are You the king of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others said it to you about Me?’ 35 Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is Your own people and the chief priests who have handed You over to me: what have You done?’ 36 Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if My kingdom were of this world, My men would have fought to prevent My being surrendered to the Jews.  As it is, My kingdom does not belong here.’ 37 Pilate said, ‘So, then You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to My voice.’

When I was growing up there was a very famous coach.  His name was Don Cherry who coached the Boston Bruins hockey team and the Gas House gang.   Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Dallas Smith, Rick Smith, and Kevin Hodge were all inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.  God love them.  Tommy Karmiris was a short little guy and an instigator who was always starting fights.  That’s good old-fashioned hockey.  One thing that Coach Cherry did that made the Bruins so successful was that he drilled his team on the basics – basics – basics.  Do the routine things routinely and don’t be a show-off.  The old-fashioned things always work.  The guy who comes across the blue line cannot score if he is on his butt.  Stick to the basics. 

Attention to basics is how we grow in spiritual life.  Sometimes we have to be called back to that.   Each little act of love is not done just by rote; they are acts of love.   I see people making the Sign of the Cross and it looks like they are getting ready to throw a fast ball, a curve ball, or getting ready to steal second base.  What are you doing?   Stick to the basics.  Slow down when you say your prayers.  Don’t be like me.  I have French ancestors who could say the Rosary in seven minutes.  I was there.  Dude!  God has all day.  Relax.  Doing the small things routinely is how we grow in holiness and advance in the spiritual life.  Do the routine things routinely and they will become spiritual muscle memory.   In Catholic school, we used to do the spiritual lean with our butts on the seat, and the nuns would come by and thump us on the back of the head.  Sit up!   They were telling us that Mass is important.  Your act of kneeling is a prayer in of itself.  It is an act of love.  All these little things are acts of love, acts of obedience, and acts of submission of our will as we give ourselves to all mighty God. 

Doing routine things routinely is how we advance in spiritual life.   Save yourself a ton of money by not going to conferences and other things that take your money.   You don’t need it.  It’s right here in church.  All those little acts are acts of preparation.  So, when the time comes that something bad like an accident happens, God forbid, and it happens to all of us, we will do routine thing routinely.  Before the Gospel is read, we make the Sign of the Cross on our foreheads, lips, and hearts.  This is a prayer for the Lord to be in our minds, on our lips, and in our hearts.  Making the Sign of the Cross should be done slowly and deliberately, not quickly.  It takes an act of will to stand up here and watch these things.  But I know it’s well intentioned.  We do the Catholic thing.  At funerals I tell people if they have a question, don’t ask a Catholic, come ask me.   We need to pay attention to what we are doing because our minds are easily distracted . . . look – squirrel!   But we can become saints just like members of the Bruins team became Hall of Fame hockey players – by doing the routine things routinely.

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.”