//Clergy Coaching Network – Facebook – 3/31/2024//
When the World is the Darkest . . .
Sermon Notes – April 24, 2022 – I Love Chocolate Bunny Ears
“I Love Chocolate Bunny Ears“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
April 23 – 24, 2022
Gospel: Jn 20:19-31
This past week ends the octave of Easter. People say, “We wish you Easter joy.” Thank you! Can you define Easter joy? Is it the day for biting the ears off Easter bunnies? You barbarians! I love chocolate bunny ears. I’ll be a real man and say it. . . I love chocolate bunny ears! Anyone who wants to make fun of that, I’m a real man and can take it. However, I don’t do the hard-boiled egg thing. Is Easter joy about having lamb with mint jelly? You know what I had for Easter dinner? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You know why? I was out of SpaghettiOs. Welcome to bachelor living!
So, what is Easter joy? Easter joy exists on two levels. . .intellectually and internally. We can have it on an intellectual level by knowing that our dear Lord suffered and died for our sins and then rose again. In doing so, He opened the doors of Heaven for us so that we might have eternal life. We all now have a chance to get to Heaven, and He showed us the way. He also gave us the means to get there. What are the means in which we can get to Heaven? Through the Sacramental Life of the Church. The source of our internal joy is the gift of the Sacraments and by taking advantage of the gifts He gave us by His sacrifice, death, and resurrection. From His wounded side, the one that Saint Thomas touched, flows the Blood and Water to the Sacramental Life of the Church.
The Sacraments are the life of the Church. Our Lord ordained the apostles on Holy Thursday and later gave them the power to forgive sins. We still hold to that tradition in the Church. I’m ordained a priest, and I said my first Mass with my bishop. After that, in the sacristy, I received a document called “faculties” which gives me permission to absolve people from their sins. Only a priest and a bishop can act in the person of Christ. They celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and therefore, have the power to administer the Sacraments of the Church which are the fruits of our Lord’s Passion and death. . .the Holy Sacrifice. Only a priest or bishop can do that. Remember what is said during the Mass? “This is My body. This is My blood.” I don’t say “This is Christ’s body. This is Christ’s blood.” During the Sacrament of Penance, I act in the person of Christ. I don’t say “Christ absolves you.” I say, “I absolve you” . . .not the “Church absolves you” or “We absolve you” but “I absolve you” while acting in the person of Christ. The words are very important so that we can have that joy inside of us, and so that we may have the joy of Easter and the fruits of it.
Through our Good Lord’s Passion, death, and resurrection, we are strengthened so that we can follow Him. It is through our own Calvary’s and our own resurrections that we can be with Him forever. Pop quiz: When do you receive the Holy Spirit? At Baptism. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.” When is the second time you receive the Holy Spirit? Penance. Penance comes before Holy Communion. One happens before the other. During Holy Communion, you receive the Savior. What does He save you from? Our sins. If you aren’t sick, there’s no need to see a doctor, and you’re just wasting the doctor’s time.
In the Sacraments, you see the full Divinity. . .all of It. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You may be thinking, “In Confirmation, you also receive the Holy Spirit.” I like it when I get asked that question. Yeah, that’s true but we don’t subdivide God with a little slice here and little slice there. When you receive the Sacraments, you receive all of God, not just parts of Him. This is how we internalize and experience the joy of Easter, especially the joy of the forgiveness of our sins. And the joy of receiving our Good Lord like the apostles did from His own hands. That’s why I am the only one who gives Holy Communion. I am the priest acting in the person of Christ, so I give you Communion by my own hand. It’s not that I think that much of myself – I really do – but it is Christ who feeds you. I am a symbol of Christ, acting in the person of Christ, so it is He who feeds you the Body of Christ. It is the fruits of our Good Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection.
That’s how we experience Easter joy. It’s not from all the beautiful Easter flowers – we got a great deal on them by the way. It’s not from how beautiful the church looks – and it does. True Easter joy comes from experiencing God’s love. Love that was forsaken by sin and rejected by sin. But that’s not the end of the story. Most people are happy when they see their loved ones. In my family, we were happy when they left . . .but, that’s just us. Aren’t you happy when you have your loved ones with you after being separated from them before their visit? So too is our Lord. We have Easter joy by God coming down and infusing His very self into our souls for our salvation. That is true Easter joy.
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.” Sermon notes can also be found on the Church Facebook page by searching for “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”
Feast Day – April 11, 2021 – Divine Mercy Sunday
From ancient times the Easter octave, culminating on the 8th day, has been centered on the theme of God’s mercy and forgiveness. The final day of the octave celebration of Easter is meant to be a day of thanksgiving to God for his goodness to mankind through the Paschal mystery, that is, the Passion, death, and Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. The Second Sunday of Easter was named Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope St. John Paul II following a request from Our Lord in his private revelations to St. Faustina Kowalska. On this day Jesus promised to open the floodgates of his inexhaustible mercy and shower abundant graces on those who participate in this feast day. A plenary indulgence is granted (under the usual conditions of sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father) to the faithful who, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus.
//The Catholic Company//
Minute Meditation – No Fear of Joy
“We need to overcome the fear of joy; we need to think of the many times that we are not joyful because we are afraid. In my homeland there is a saying that goes like this: when someone gets burned by boiling milk, he cries when he sees the cow. The disciples, who were burned by the drama of the cross, said: no, let’s stop here! He is in heaven, that’s excellent, he is risen, but may he not come back again because we can’t handle it!” —Pope Francis
On the surface, we might be tempted to scoff at the pope’s claim that we’re afraid of joy. But how often have we become so used to crisis and dread in our lives that we can’t relax and enjoy a moment of peace, a time of no stress? How often do we manufacture a crisis just because we know how to solve a problem or fix something that’s broken? Easter joy takes some getting used to. We love the rigors and the austerities of Lent. We’re not as familiar or comfortable with the joy of Easter. One reason for this is that the kind of joy Jesus brings comes from living fully in the present. We are so much better at looking back to past pain or dreading the uncertainty of the future. Living in the present, the eternal now, requires both gratitude and grace.
— from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis,
by Diane M. Houdek
//Franciscan Media//
Daily Message from Pope Francis – Jesus Who Was Crucified Has Risen
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
“The Easter message does not offer us a mirage or reveal a magic formula. It does not point to an escape from the difficult situation we are experiencing. The pandemic is still spreading, while the social and economic crisis remains severe, especially for the poor… In the face of, or better, in the midst of this complex reality, the Easter message speaks concisely of the event that gives us the hope that does not disappoint: “Jesus who was crucified has risen.”” Pope Francis
Give Us This Day – The Keeper of All Time
| Carved into the soft wax of each Paschal candle is a message about the holiness of time. We don’t think of time as a thing to be consecrated like water, oil, or bread. Nor is time tangible, like the hallowed space of a church or the grounds of a cemetery. How can time, a reality we can’t hold in our hands or visibly perceive, be made holy? Yet as the presider at the Easter Vigil cuts the numerals of a new year into the Easter candle’s surface, he declares: “Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end . . .” We’re grateful that Christ is the healer of yesterday, with its broken dreams and misplaced allegiances, words uttered in haste that can’t be unspoken. We affirm that Christ is the light of today, with so many fresh choices to be discerned. And, thank God, Christ is present at the start and end of every journey, so missteps can be retraced and the true path regained. All time belongs to Christ, the priest proclaims, carving numbers into wax. What a stirring idea! We know too well what can happen in the space of a year or a moment. Sickness can overtake the world. Falling in love may comically rearrange our priorities. Disappointment or loss drops us down a well of despair. An act of sudden kindness restores hope. Time is an ocean of possibility. We must seek its consecration, making the future a holy destination to which we can all travel together. |
Happy Easter!
Minute Meditation – Love is Stronger Than Death
“Love has triumphed over hatred, life has conquered death, light has dispelled the darkness! Christians, by the grace of Christ, dead and risen, are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help. This is not weakness, but true strength!… May there echo in your hearts, in your families and communities, the announcement of the Resurrection, along with the warm light of the presence of the Living Jesus: a presence which brightens, comforts, forgives, gladdens. Jesus conquered evil at the root: he is the Door of Salvation, open wide so that each person may find mercy.”—Pope Francis
One of the ironies of the liturgical year is that we often find it easier to enter into the rigorous practices of Lent than to celebrate the joy of Easter and the Risen Lord. We know with our minds this great mystery of our faith. But we don’t always experience that joy in our hearts. It goes so far beyond our human experience that we have nothing to compare to it. At the heart of the story on Easter Sunday is the empty tomb. The stories of the appearances will come later, unfolding the mystery of the resurrection. But the first message to the apostles is that the tomb is empty. Somewhere in the darkness of the Easter Vigil and the pale dawn of Easter Sunday, each of us must confront the empty tomb and discover for ourselves the Risen Christ. Pope Francis reminds us that our joy in the Risen Christ calls us to a quiet love and service, wrapped in the awareness that our life in Christ needs no trumpets or pomp and earthly glory. We have a peace in our hearts that is stronger than death itself. All our hope lies in that promise.
— from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis,
by Diane M. Houdek
//Franciscan Media//
Today’s Feast Day – April 3rd – Holy Saturday
On Holy Saturday the Church mourns in prayer and fasting, meditating on Christ’s Passion and Death. There is no Mass during the day as Jesus is still in the tomb. On this day Jesus descended triumphantly into Hades (called the “harrowing of hell”) and brought salvation to the righteous souls held captive there who awaited their promised Messiah, as recited in the Apostle’s Creed. On the night of Holy Saturday the Church celebrates the Vigil of Easter Sunday, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the tomb, the traditional time when the Sacraments of Initiation are given to new members of the Church.
//The Catholic Company//
Today’s Feast Day – Holy Thursday
On Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday) the Church celebrates the three pillars of the Catholic Church instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper: the priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist. This is the traditional day for priests to gather with their bishop at the Chrism Mass, to receive oils blessed by the bishop and to publicly renew their priestly promises. In the evening the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. After this Mass the altar is stripped bare and the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the Tabernacle and processed to a separate altar of repose. Here the Blessed Sacrament is adored until late in the night to commemorate the time Jesus spent in Garden of Gethsemane in agonizing prayer, the start of his Passion. The Blessed Sacrament is then taken away and hidden until the Easter Vigil in memory of Our Lord’s death and burial.
//The Catholic Company//