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Sermon Notes – “We Must Give Up Everything to Receive Everything” – September 29, 2024

“We Must Give Up Everything to Receive Everything”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

September 28 – 29, 2024

Gospel:   Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

 38 John said to him, ‘Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in Your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’

39 But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in My name could soon afterwards speak evil of Me.

40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 

41 ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward. 

42 ‘But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck. 

43 And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out. 

45 And if your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 

47  And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,

48 where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’p


We have a doctor in the parish who operated on me. I kept the receipt, just in case. He had trouble with the hospital because of the surgeries he would not perform. They wanted him to do gastric bypass surgery on patients, and he said, “No.”  The hospital was not pleased because there was a lot of money in it. “What do you mean by ‘No?’”  He said, “Because I would be operating on the wrong organ. There is nothing wrong with the patients’ stomachs – the malady is in their brains.”  Doctors are allowed to operate on an organ only if it is diseased or broken. That is the only time they can do surgery on patients. Here is a bit of medical trivia – your skin is the largest organ you have. Doctors cannot whack things off people just because they have body dysmorphia and do not like the way they look. That goes against the Fifth Commandment.

The problem is not the organ – it is just fine and doing everything it is supposed to. The problem is in the brain, and whacking things off people does not change the brain. You must change the brain. Our good Lord said if you do something wrong, cut off your hand, cut off your foot, or poke your eye out. But He was using hyperbole like He was when Scripture says He fed 5,000 men, not counting women and children. Can you count to 5,000? Our Lord was using hyperbole, which you will find in the preface of every 12-step program: “If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it — then you are ready to take certain steps.”  Any length. But that does not include body mutilation. It means sacrificing people, places, and things –   everything for health. The most challenging thing to sacrifice is self. That is what our Lord asks of us: to be willing to sacrifice everything for Him. Whatever we think reality is, that is not what it truly is. We must give up everything to receive everything. We cannot allow any person, place, or thing to stand in the way of possessing love and being possessed by love itself.

Father’s Reflections . . .

People have asked, “Father, how was your vacation?”  It was great until it ended. My flight was changed three times and then finally canceled. The next day, I had to get up at o’dark-thirty and drive to the airport. You know, there is no more beautiful sight in the morning darkness than seeing a bright light shining ahead of you, and that light screams, “Duncan Donuts!”  There is a God. I finally got back around noon and was on the go until last night. So, if you want a favor, today is not the day to ask for one. Although my vacation was not what I planned, it was a lot of fun. As the military says, no order of battle survives the first gunshot. I went up to see the Godmother, and she is sinking. I also saw my cousin.  Now, I do not know what I did to her, but as I was leaving her house, she said, “Oh, you must try this drink. I love it! It is so wonderful and very good for your health!”  Okay, I would love to. I got into the car and began the 45-minute drive back to my sister-in-law’s house in Rhode Island. I thought I would try the drink since my cousin had recommended it. I took a swallow, and you know, I almost spit it out, but I was too cheap and did not want to pay the cleaning fee for the car. Blech! When I got back to my sister-in-law’s house, I read the ingredients, and it was full of celery, parsley, and cucumbers. Yuck! My cousin tried to put the whack on me! Who am I, Fredo?

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 – September 15, 2024 – “Stop Pole-Vaulting Over Mouse Turds”

“Stop Pole-Vaulting Over Mouse Turds”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

September 14 – 15, 2024

Gospel:   Mark 8:27-35

If you read the gospels, and I hope you do, just the black part – not the white part – you may think, “Gee, it seems awfully hard to be a follower of Christ.”  Remember what Christ told the rich young man?  He said, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21).   Well, the young man didn’t.  Our Lord said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).   What happened?  His disciples left Him.  God created male and female, i.e., original equipment.  Regarding marriage, Jesus said, “They are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Matthew 19:6).  Jesus told the disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).  That means to imitate Him which doesn’t seem pleasant now does it?  “Oh, it’s so hard!”  I always like it when people want to talk about stuff.  They say, “Can we talk about this?”  When people want to talk about their sinful ways, they are trying to negotiate your surrender. They want you to take their side and co-sign their garbage.  They are not seeking clarification; they are seeking change.   

 What is the purpose of instruction?  To instruct – not negotiate.  Christ did not negotiate because He had the truth.  “But the truth is so hard!”  Do you know why it’s hard to follow the truth?  Because of a lack of love.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.  They are not burdensome” (John 5:3).   We do it out of love.  Love finds no burden.  If someone asks you to go one mile, go two miles with them.  If someone asks for your coat, let them have your shirt as well.  If someone hits you on the right cheek, offer them the left cheek too (Matthew 5:39-41).  That’s not exactly pleasant.  If someone hits me, I may lay them out.  It’s a muscle memory from when I played hockey.

Love never asks how little it can do.  “Hey, Father, what’s the least I can do to get into Heaven?”  “Does God grade on a curve?”  Love never asks that.  Love says, “Is that all I can do?  Can I do more?”  Sometimes, an act of love is a little difficult because no matter how far we have advanced in our spiritual lives, we are all prone to “king baby” syndrome.  “I want what I want when I want it!”  It’s easier dealing with a terrorist.  Love never set limits and always seeks to do more.  Now, remember this, it is very important to spiritual health: Love is not an emotion, nor is forgiveness.  Love is an act of the Will.   Our emotions are disoriented because of the effects of original sin, the sins we have committed after Baptism, and those sins committed against us by others.   But Jesus commands it, so it can be done. 

An act of Love is to do something for the sake of another, whether you understand it or not.  Sometimes, it is most unpleasant, even egregious, and we don’t want to do it.  I do a lot of work in health care, and sometimes the work is a little less appealing to my senses, but I do it anyway.   I was in Hospice, and one of the nurses asked if I could help her clean out a patient’s trachea tube.  I wouldn’t recommend it to most people because it’s not the most appealing smell.  But I’m a ghoul, so I said, “Sure!”  It’s not about me – it’s about that poor schmuck who wants to breathe.  It’s not about us, and it’s not about emotions.  When I was a young priest, I went on a Hospice call for an older woman who had lung cancer.  She was staying at her son’s house.  Her son had served in WWII and earned a Purple Heart.   He had to do a lot of bad stuff.  I went in to see his mother and gave her the Sacraments.  But her son wouldn’t go into the room and just stood by the door.  His wife went into the room and had to give her husband’s mother a morphine suppository for pain.  Do you know what she did after that?  She went into the bathroom and vomited.  That was love, and it’s the kind of love we are supposed to be examples of.  Parents, think about the times you took care of your children when they were sick.  Sometimes, it wasn’t exactly pleasant to the senses, but you did it because you loved them. 

Now I may find things a little less pleasant to my senses, but I do it anyway because it is not about me.  I have to see Christ in the person in that situation.  “My God!  I’m so tired. I can’t say all my prayers.”  Shut up and say your prayers.  They are not that long.  You are pole-vaulting over mouse droppings.  “Oh!  These things God asks me to do are so hard!”  No, they aren’t.  God asks us to do little acts of love by a denial of self, which is what love is.  Love does not think of self.  That’s how we do what Christ asks us to do.  Yes, sometimes it will be unpleasant.  But the unpleasantness itself is another gift to our Lord.   Love enables us to do things that might be repulsive.  Remember the television series, “The Band of Brothers”?  What bound them together?  Love.  There is no price too high to pay for a brother.  Cost is not important.  It is just a measure of how much we love.

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.”