“The Final Exam”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
November 2-3, 2019
Scripture: Luke 19: 1-10
One night, about 30 years ago, I was staring out over the desert sand with fellow soldiers. We were all dressed in chemical protection suits while having a smoke break and waiting on the scud missiles that were nearby. I asked First Sergeant Chico Rodriguez how I should do my job in Iraq and survive. I was a young captain and had learned the school house theory at Fort Bragg about what I was to do. Chico had been a tunnel rat in Vietnam and had searched tunnels with a knife in his mouth and a side arm at his waist….not a job for the nervous. I wanted Top’s experiential knowledge, and he became my mentor.
There are three ways in which we can know God:
1. We can know God by His signature…by everything around us. He is the perfection of all virtues…of all beauty. A word of advice to the men – All women are beautiful all the time. You can thank me later!
2. We can know God by what the Church has taught us. But, does knowledge make us holier? Not necessarily.
3. We can know Him by using the first two ways. We can experience God in His very being…love. We can experience His nature…His mercy…His forgiveness, and He will infuse His very life into our souls. We know God by how He has revealed Himself, and we know He is good. We know Him because of His revelation and the spirit of His essence…He is love. We experience His love by the grace of His mercy found in the sacraments.
This is but a foretaste of what we will experience in heaven.
Book knowledge is good to a certain extent. Thomas Aquinas once said that “Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.” Some people have master’s degrees and doctor’s degrees. Are they more holy? Not necessarily. Did Saint Therese have a degree? No. If that is all it took, we would all be saints. It doesn’t prove anything. We are called to share with others our book knowledge as well as our experiences with God and His love.
A friend sent me a remembrance card for an event that happened 20 years ago. I brought him in to the Church, and he is now a priest in Monroe. I advised Ben to take all of his books and go to the chapel to study. Let Christ teach you. He will give meaning to your knowledge. Bishop Sheen wrote all of his books in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Books are good, but they are limited; we must experience Him personally by having His nature in our souls and by experiencing His mercy in the Sacraments. In Holy Communion, He comes to us as the Savior.
Remember, the final exam is not a written test. He will ask “what did you do? How did you show My love to others?”
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you pass the final exam? Do you share your knowledge and His love with others?