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Saint of the Day – Saint Gregory the Great – September 3
Saint of the Day – Saint Justus of Lyon – September 2
Sermon Notes – September 8, 2024 – “The Wonder of His Love”
“The Wonder of His Love”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
September 7 – 8, 2024
Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
31 Returning from the territory of Tyre, He went by way of Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee, right through the Decapolis territory.
32 And they brought Him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked Him to lay His hand on him.
33 He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle.
34 Then looking up to Heaven He sighed; and He said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’
35 And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.
36 And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more He insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it.
37 Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, ‘Everything He does is good, He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.’
I was at the VA hospital in Salisbury, and when I visited the Memory Loss Unit, I heard that this one patient had a very distinctive accent. So went into his room and said, “Hey! You from New York?” He said, “Yeah!” I said, “You know a guy?” “Yeah!” I said, “I know a guy. We may know the same guy!” He laughed and then went back into his confusion, which is how it is with people with memory loss. Sometimes, you can say the magic word and bring them out of their confusion for a moment. I visited a lady in a local nursing home who was also in a memory loss unit. She was staring at the wall, and my gosh, she was very proficient in medical/military language, which I cannot repeat here. I was very impressed, but I yelled, “Mom! Stop!” And just saying that magical word got through to her. I saw another patient who was in bed, and one of the staff was feeding him. So, I went in and was talking to them, and I asked the nurse, “You know, while you are taking care of him, do you ever think that when you are looking down at him, you are seeing the face of God smiling back at you?”
In the Gospel today, Jesus performs miracles. There are two kinds of miracles – extraordinary and ordinary. Jesus sighed and groaned, and that groan was for all eternity from the beginning of time to the end times. He took all the pains of our illness upon Him like He did on the Cross. We were never meant to die or be sick. Our illness is a result of Original Sin and the sins we committed after our baptism. Our Lord Jesus took them upon Himself. Did He know pain? Yes. Think of the pain He endured on the Cross. Throughout Scripture, our Lord performed extraordinary miracles, such as raising the dead to life. There were also what are called ordinary miracles. Do you know what they are? You can find them at Atrium Hospital – they are the geniuses in white coats whose job it is to make us well. You can find them in psychologist offices, in 12-step meetings, and in families where love is restored and relationships healed.
Ordinary miracles happen all the time. God is still active. One thing about all those miracles, the physical and spiritual acts of love God does for us, what is the reaction of all those He cured? Well, one person came back and said, “Thank you.” Our Lord said, “Do not tell anyone.” What did they do? They told people because they had joy. The more our Lord told them not to tell anyone, the more they proclaimed what He had done for them. That comes from the joy of receiving the gift of God’s great love. That is the key to evangelization. The key to evangelization is telling people about the good things the Lord has done for us. And they are innumerable when you think about it. Just in my short, uneventful life, I’ve been saved from an accident when a car ran over me. Oops! I guess I wasn’t meant to be a stunt double. He kept me safe during my exotic travels, including trips to Oakboro, when things got a little harried. He helped me during my illnesses. And those are just the things I am aware of; I am not aware of those things He preserved me from. I will only know that when I see Him in Heaven – at least on Judgement Day; hopefully, I will get to Heaven.
There are so many gifts our Lord has given us to tell people about. As for me: 1) My parents had me baptized, which took away Original Sin; 2) I went to Confession, and my sins were forgiven; 3) I received the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord at Holy Communion; 4) I received the Holy Spirit at Confirmation; and 5) I received Holy Ordination. There is so much to tell people about the love of God. God forgives my sins, and He gives me His Most Precious Body and dwells in my soul. Those are the great joys you can tell people about. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit which is the key to evangelization.
We should always be joyous about God’s gifts. Some of His greatest gifts to us are ones we hate. Do you know why? Because we see them as crosses. But He gives us those gifts to keep us humble. I know many people who are very gifted and who have heavy crosses so that they remain humble. God is the source of all gifts. Those gifts are given to take care of the obligation for justice and to build up the Body of Christ. So whatever cross you have and whatever crosses I have – you have to buy the book because I’m not giving that away for free – they are gifts. They are opportunities for us to stay humble – I’m not doing a great job at that. But they are also opportunities for us to do penance for our sins. Sometimes we don’t realize the great gifts He has given us. This is how we evangelize – spreading the good news about our Lord’s love. We evangelize by telling people about the wonders of what He has done for us.
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.”
Saint of the Day – Saint Giles- September 1
Saint of the Day – Saint Aristides – August 31
Saint of the Day – Saint Jeanne Jugan – August 30
Saint of the Day – Saint John the Baptist -August 29
Saint of the Day – Saint Augustine – August 28
Sermon Notes – September 1, 2024 – “Stop Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic”
“Stop Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
September 1, 2024
Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
I’m a part-time hospital chaplain, so I deal with a lot of sick people. Sometimes I come across patients in the emergency room who are hooked up to a banana bag. That’s a yellow IV bag shaped like a banana. I’ll say, “Coming off the booze, are we?” And they’ll say, “How did you know?” This is not my first rodeo. From the drugs and alcohol, they smell like burnt cork. People who are addicted and in the hospital are not at all happy. I always ask them, “Have you had enough? As much fun as this is, you are not going to be enjoying the next three days. No matter how much stuff they give you, I guarantee it’s not going to be pleasant.” Some will actually say, “Father, I don’t want to do this anymore. How do I stop?” That’s a great question, and I can give you an answer. You have to change one thing. “Oh, what’s that, Father?” Everything.
We are all addicted to something – alcohol, drugs, pizza, fish–no, cucumbers-probably not, chocolate cake, and sin – that’s why we are all here. The first thing you have to do is change yourself. “Do you mean I have to make new friends?” Did I say that? “Well, I was living in a really bad place, so I moved here.” But you are still overdoing it with drinking, drugs, and pizza – if that’s even possible. However, that’s a theological question I’ll work out later. But you’re still doing it; the geographical cure isn’t working. You have to change. Saint John the Baptist said, “I must decrease; He must increase” (John 3:30). “Well, I’ll move and get some new friends.” That won’t work because you haven’t changed. No, you’ll just move to another place and befriend the same type of people. You are just substituting places and people. You haven’t changed anything. The change cannot happen by simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The change must be in you. Recovery happens when you establish a relationship with God. We all have to change if we want to grow closer to Christ. We must die to self by renouncing our opinions and ideas. It’s a long, slow process, but it always works. I’ve never known it to fail. We have to listen to our Teacher and do what our Lord asks us to do.
I think the Church is gravely, almost culpable, of spiritual malpractice because they do not tell people about the means for salvation. Some of you may remember Monsignor Showfety. He used to fill in for me when I did Reserve duty. He once told me, “We need to make reconciliation rooms so people can talk to you face to face.” No, that ain’t happening. I don’t like them that much. The Church spent a lot of money on them, and finally, Rome said “no” to reconciliation rooms. The confessional is there for the protection of the priest and not the comfort of the penitent. We deal with spiritual granola – fruits, flakes, and nuts. That’s why there must be an impenetrable screen between the priest and the penitent. That’s the rule. “Oh, but if we had Mass on Saturday and Sunday nights, we’d have more people.” Mass attendance has been going down. “If we had Mass in all the languages of the world, we’d have more people.” Uh no. “Well, the Mass on Sundays at 12:15 is in Spanish, so I don’t go.” Really? It’s not in Spanish. “What do you mean, Father?” It’s in Spanglish. I don’t speak Spanish, alright? They tell me I speak Spanish with a French accent. My second language is French, okay? “Well, if we translated the Bible generally, people wouldn’t be offended by sexist words, and we’d have a lot more people.” Well, the English language is sexist, and the translations, especially the new ones, are horrible. They are not Scripture. The transliteration is horrible. If you want a non-sexist language, go back to the original Latin or Greek. They are better translations and are absolutely correct.
We try to change everything except what we are supposed to change – ourselves by using the tools God gave us. “I don’t want any medical tests; they are degrading.” Being degraded or winding up in Hartsell’s Funeral Home – it’s your choice. I once had a patient in hospice who was dying of Colon Cancer. He was from this area. So, we were talking, and the guy said, “This is my own fault.” I said, “Really?” He said, “I didn’t follow directions. The doctor told me to go home and do certain things and then come back to see him.” Well, he never did, and as a result, he cut his life shorter than was necessary. By the way, if you are going for a colonoscopy, I don’t care how cute you think you are from that angle; you aren’t. I’ve been doing hospital work for 40 years; nobody is that cute. If you’ve got a body part I haven’t seen, I’ll pay you for the privilege of seeing it. Nobody is that cute. “But I don’t like it.” What would you rather have – a little shame or a dirt nap? What’s your choice?
Instead of changing the Sacraments that our good Lord gave us, we can use them to change ourselves. Otherwise, we are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “Oh, if we just had (whatever), things would be great!” Really? How has that been working out for the last 60 years? Not well. My parish growing up, which doesn’t exist anymore, is now a Catholic high school. We had Mass in Latin, so I had to learn Latin to serve the Mass. When we began doing Mass in English, it was really difficult. Know why? Our priest was French Canadian, and we had no idea what he was saying. “The Lord be with you, eh.” Let’s use the faith to change us instead of commenting about it like a sports commentator. “I don’t like this.” You are just looking for reasons not to do it. The real reason is we don’t want to. Do you know which of the vows I took when I was ordained are the hardest? Both obedience and chastity are difficult, but obedience is the most difficult. The interior sins are the hardest part of spiritual life, but we must trust Him that everything will work out okay. He must increase, and we must decrease. And that’s hard. We have to change ourselves. Don’t worry about anything else. “Oh, it’s really bad out there.” Not really. There are tons of good people and good things out there. I see it all the time. Once we change our perspective, the outside will change too. We have to change instead of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Father’s Reflections . . .
On Monday, September 2, our church will officially turn 90 years old. Catholic churches are not dedicated; they are consecrated. During the Mass at the consecration of the church, the bishop anoints the four walls of the church with sacred chrism. Theoretically, those walls should be marked with candles, but in our case, the priests before me did not do that. So, I put the candles where I thought they should be. Only two days of the year are they lit – the day the church was consecrated, September 2, and on our feast day – Our Lady’s Annunciation, the patroness of this parish. Just a bit of trivia about our history.
How will you apply this message to your life? ____________________________________