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“God Does Not Want Us Separated From Him”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons

March 22 – 23, 2025

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

In the past two months, I have done seven funerals…I must be good at it. On Friday, I had a double header— a father and son. I asked the family why we couldn’t hold both funerals together. But they said, “No. Our mother hated our father, who was her ex-husband, so we have to have two separate funerals.” But maybe she would just like to come to gloat and make sure he’s dead. Well, that wasn’t happening, so we had two separate funerals and committed both of their souls to Almighty God and His mercy.

In the Gospel, we hear that God gives the vineyard owner’s tree another year to see if it produces fruit. God gives us all the time we need to make our way to Heaven. Do you know why He does that? It’s why God made you…because He loves us. Why does God give us time to repent? Also, because He loves us. God doesn’t want anyone to be separated from Him, and He is always pleading for our mercy. He spoke from the Cross seven times, which is called the seven last words. The sixth time He spoke from the Cross, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24). We do not know how grievous sin is.

God gives us the time and means to achieve our salvation because He doesn’t want anyone to be separated from Him. He loves us. Love is His nature. He created us out of love. But we have free Will, and we all sin. He keeps following us, hoping that we will reform so that we may have life and have it to the fullest in the Kingdom of Heaven. We were created to experience happiness in Heaven, and He provides us with the time and means to get there and to achieve our salvation. Anybody in hell is a self-made man or woman… I don’t want to be sexist or transphobic. People go to hell because they turn their backs on God and flip Him off. “Hey, I’m a self-made man and I can do what I want.” People who do not want God’s help wind up in hell. God did not want them there. He did not create us to be in hell. But even at the point of death, they turned their backs on God’s love. I have a little technique that I use at the VA Hospital, and hopefully I’ll have a chance to teach it to my replacement before I retire. When I see older men, and sometimes older women, at the VA, I wait until they are bombed from their meds to give them Last Rites just in case I don’t see them again before they pass. There are so few of us priests nowadays, so I always do that.

A guy came by my office on Friday, and he asked me, “Why did they hit Christ 39 times?” Because hitting Him 40 times would have been illegal. It was terrible, but that was to show us how evil sin is. Meditate on that… the 39 strikes with a whip. That’s how bad sin is. God gives us the means for salvation, and He is always calling us even unto the point of death. Unfortunately, I receive calls to administer Last Rites to people when they are already at the funeral home, and I have to say, “No, it’s a little late for that. They need to be a little warmer than they are now.” Last Rites must be given within two hours of clinical death or before signs of rigor mortis. Additionally, the body must be intact and not scattered throughout creation. Remember, I was an Army chaplain and a chaplain at a trauma center. The Sacraments are for the living. When I administer Last Rites to someone after clinical death, I always say under my breath, “Si vivis – If you are living.” I say it in Latin and in a low tone so that the family cannot hear me.

That’s how much God loves us. No matter how bad we think we are or how bad the things we have done are, He does not want us separated from Him. I’ve gotten out of my sick bed to give Last Rites to someone because that is what God wants. One time I was going up the stairwell at a hospital, and a nurse was coming down the stairs. She asked me, “Are you a priest?” Yeah. “Somebody in ICU needs Last Rites.” Okay. So, I went to the ICU, gave the patient Last Rites, and I never saw her again. I do know she died. Sometimes it just happens. When I was still an Associate Pastor, I served as the Catholic chaplain at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, which is now part of Novant Health, Atrium Health, and Mercy Hospital. So, I had a busy job. One day, I was at Novant Hospital, deciding which wing to visit first. Once I made the decision, I walked into a patient’s room, and a man in the room said, “My wife is dying. Would you give her Last Rites?” Certainly. As I administered the Last Rites, there is a point in the Rites that states, “At or near the point of death, say these words.” And it was at that precise moment that the woman took her last breath. So, I said: “Go forth, Christian soul.” I have that part down after 40 years of practice. It is by the grace of God that you have a priest at your deathbed, especially here in the South. God loves us even to the point that He will accept imperfect contrition. There are two kinds of contrition: perfect and imperfect. Perfect contrition is one in which you are sad because you offended God, whom you should love with all your heart. Imperfect contrition arises from a desire to avoid hell: “I don’t want to go to hell, so I’m going to do this just in case.” Either is sufficient to avoid hell and enter heaven. However, perfect contrition significantly reduces the time spent in Purgatory.

Saint John Vianney, the Cure of Ars and patron saint of Catholic parish pastors told a story about walking down the road one day when a lady approached him. She said, “Father.” Father Vianney said, “Good morning, my child.” The woman said, “You know my husband died.” Yes. “He was not a nice guy. He hit me, he drank, he ran around on me, and he did a lot of other bad stuff.” She gave Father Vianney a whole laundry list of bad things her husband had done. Then she said, “Father, you can read souls. He’s in hell, isn’t he?” Father Vianney replied, “I don’t know.” “What do you mean you don’t know!!” By this time, she was getting ugly. Father Vianney said, “There was a long time after he left the bridge until he hit the water. He had enough time to say, ‘I’m sorry.’” Either way – whether it was perfect or imperfect contrition – would have been sufficient to save his soul from hell. When I was an assistant at St. Gabriel’s, there was a man who served me breakfast. He had a tattoo on his arm, and I knew what that tattoo meant. During World War II, he served as Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard. These were really bad guys – the worst in the German Army. But he died reconciled to Christ and the Church. That is how great God’s love is for us, and we are to lead everyone to His mercy.

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.