Tag: grace

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Sermon Notes – October 31, 2021 – Follow Directions!

 “Follow Directions!”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 October 30 – 31, 2021

Gospel: Mark 12:28-34 

One thing about theology, it is a precise science.  Our Lord was precise.  He gave our first parents instructions in a 12-word declarative sentence:  “You shall not eat from the Tree of Good and Evil.”  They screwed it up, and here we are.  Really?  It was twelve words in a declarative sentence about how to maintain the original state of grace.  Our Lord reiterates what His Father revealed in the Old Testament about how we should love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.  He also said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”   But the devil clouds our minds, especially of those who are educated way beyond their abilities. “What does that mean?”  “How can we do this?”  “We better check the nuances of that.”  “Well, that was 2000 years ago, and now this word means something else.”  No.  It really means what it says.  “It means this now because we are all enlightened.”  No, that’s just a temptation of the devil.  We want to be like God and make up our own rules.  When you get to Judgement, let me know how that goes for you.  

Our Lord did not say, “Work it out for yourselves, and whatever you come up with is good.” No.  He was very precise in how He told us to do it because He knew we would mess up.  Follow the Commandments.  By the way, a person’s conscience does not triumph over Divine Mandate or Church teachings.  “My conscience told me it was okay to do this.”  If you go down the street about a half mile and take a left at the courthouse, behind it is a big building full of people whose conscience told them it was okay to do whatever they did.  Also, if you drive down Airport Road to Felon University, there’s a whole bunch of people there who will say, “God told me it was okay to put a bullet in that guy’s head.”  No.  Conscience does not trump Divine Revelation.  The apostles had been in the presence of God for years and saw all those miracles, but every time He asked them a question, they got it wrong. 

Our Lord was precise.  Let’s say that you are traveling, and you think the Mass is at 8:30 at Our Lady of Perpetual Agony down the street.  You get ready and go, but they moved the Mass to 7:30.  Are you guilty of missing Mass on Sunday?  No, because you tried. Are you guilty of missing Mass if you got your days mixed up and thought November 2nd was a Holy Day when it was actually on November 1st?  No, you’re not.  But, when you give the Church the big humph, well then you have a problem.  God tells us exactly how to love.  He knew we would mess it up because of our fallen nature.  We are supposed to try to return to the original state of grace by living a life of holiness, and we can by doing what He told us to do.  

 “What would Jesus do?”  Jesus told us precisely what to do.  If we do what He said to do, we will get what He has promised.  Two weeks ago, I went to see my cardiologist.  It was a great appointment because he never put on a glove.  One glove is bad enough, but when they double-glove, be very afraid. . .it might get mildly invasive.  “Now this is going to hurt a bit.”  No it’s not.  It’s going to hurt a heck of a lot!  It’s not a thrill for anybody on the other side of the glove either…trust me on this one.  I saw a doctor give a patient a rabies shot in the finger. Wherever you are bitten, that’s where you get the shot now. This guy was a Vietnam Vet, and he was no sissy boy.  The doctor said, “Now this is going to hurt.” The guy was sitting in a chair, and he grabbed both chair arms while nurses held him down by his shoulders.  After the shot, he decided to relax a while on a gurney. Afterward, I was talking to the doctor, and he said, “Oh, it’s going hurt worse tomorrow.”  Who are you, Joseph Mengela?  Anyway, my cardiologist said that my blood work is fine.  I’m normal – at least my blood is.  I’ve been keeping records from when I started this heart regime two years ago after my brother’s death.  There is improvement because I did what I was told to do.  Did I always like it?  I’ll let you be the judge.  When I go out to breakfast with the staff, they have French toast and bacon while I have fake eggs and dry wheat toast. What do you think?  To make matters worse, they go on and on about how good their food is.  Stuff it!  I’m not brave enough to tell them, but that’s what I’m thinking. Still, I did what my doctor told me to do, and I have scientific evidence that my health has improved.  However, it just means I’m going to die of something else. 

Our Lord showed us exactly what we should do.  Love your enemies and pray for them. Sometimes, the most loving thing to do is not the thing we want to do.  We all have someone who irks us and who we just cannot stand.  I am not immune even as a priest.  Am I supposed to forgive them?  Yes, even though sometimes I’d like to go charismatic and lay hands on them. Forgiveness is an act of intellectual love. . . an act of faith.  What are we supposed to do?  We are supposed to pray for them.  Pray for good for them. . .and not to have an aneurism.  Pray for their conversion.  Pray that God will lay hands on them and not from the Joe Cutrone School of Counselling. 

Our Lord left us precise ways to show our love for Him and precise ways to show that love in action. What did our Lord tell us about forgiveness?  He gave us an example of what that love is in the parable of the prodigal son.  In the parable, the father didn’t wait for his son to grovel.  He ran out to meet his son, put his arms around him, and kissed him on the cheek.  He even had a celebration for him.  Likewise, our Lord went out after sinners.  He went to sick people like the blind man and healed them.  He didn’t ask if they wanted to be healed; He healed them anyway.  We are supposed to do that for those who hate us, for those who don’t love us, and for those who are unkind to us.  He told us to love one another, and this is how we are to demonstrate our love.  He showed us exactly what to do even to the point of the Cross.

How will you apply this message to your life? 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and 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”

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Minute Meditation – God Conquers Our Evil with Good

God resists our evil and conquers it with good, or how could God ask the same of us?! Think about that. God shocks and stuns us into love. God does not love us if we change; God loves us so that we can change. Only love effects true inner transformation, not duress, guilt, shunning, or social pressure. Love is not love unless it is totally free. Grace is not grace unless it is totally free. You would think Christian people would know that by now, but it is still a secret of the soul.

—from the book Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps by Richard Rohr 

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Minute Meditation – An Ocean of Sublime Grace

We may read volumes and volumes on the art of swimming, yet we’ll never understand what swimming is like unless we get wet. So we may read all the books ever written on the love of God and never understand loving unless we love. Where love is genuine, belonging is always mutual. It is like submerging ourselves into an ocean of sublime grace.

— from the book The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life by Brother David Steindl-Rast

//Franciscan Media//

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Meditation of the Day – Sin Robs Us of Grace

“Let us recognize with lively faith and with the help of the Holy Ghost the great evil of sin, which robs us of grace. Then we shall immediately detest it with all the power of our soul and banish it from our heart. We shall detest it because, in depriving us of grace, it deprives us of the highest good and of the possession of God and make us worthy of the most severe punishment from His hands. We shall detest it still more because by sin we commit the greatest wrong and the greatest offense against the Author of Grace. For after we have been called through grace to be children of God, we offend Him not merely as our Supreme Lord and Master, to whom we owe unlimited service and respect, but as our most loving Father, our best Friend, the most tender Spouse of our soul. We despise the ineffable love with which He embraces us and return the basest ingratitude for His inestimable gifts and blessings. We disgrace Him and insult His name by dishonoring the name of His children and by showing ourselves unworthy of Him. We tear loose from His bosom the soul that He loved as the apple of His eye and considered as the jewel and joy of His heart. We rend the heavenly robe of innocence and sanctity with which He had clothed us and presented us to the whole Heaven. Like Judas, we desert Our Lord and Saviour, who by grace has numbered us among His friends and loved ones. What pain we inflict on the tender heart of our heavenly Father, how deeply we offend and wound it!”—Fr.Matthias J. Scheeben, p. 345

//Catholic Company//

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Minute Meditation – Dependent Only on God

Poverty reminds us of the deepest truth of our human existence; that we are created by God and are dependent on God in an absolute sense. It is the sister of humility since it prompts us to recognize that all we have is gift. Humility is the acceptance of being what we are, with our strengths and weaknesses, and responding in love to the gift of being. Humility can open one to the renewing spirit of grace and make possible the return of creation to the Father.

— from the book Clare of Assisi: A Heart Full of Love by Ilia Delio, OSF

//Franciscan Media//

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Unsure About What to Do?

Mother Clare and Fr. Mark-Mary discuss how to live with uncertainty. Being uncertain about something isn’t entirely problematic, because uncertainty requires that we trust something or someone. Often we put that trust in empirical research, the scientific method, tried and true procedures, and so on. How often do we put our trust in God when we are uncertain about something, though. Sometimes trusting God requires letting go of our trust in ourselves. When Peter was invited by Jesus to walk onto the water, Peter had to let go of his understanding of reality. His uncertainty got the best of him after just a few steps, but perhaps there is a lesson in that as well. We often want God to give us the grace and certainty needed for several steps ahead, but he only gives us certainty in our next step so we have to trust each step we take. God gives you sufficient grace for today, not tomorrow, next week or fifty years from now.

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Sermon Notes – July 11, 2021 – There is Hope

“There is Hope”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 July 10 – 11, 2021

Gospel:  Mark 6:7-13

I came here 18 years ago.  God bless you for doing that penance on Earth.  You are gaining in purgatory here on Earth.  I remember an article in the local paper about a gentleman from Misenheimer.  Unfortunately, he received a cancer diagnosis.  This was in the paper, so it’s public knowledge.  This man decided not to go with conventional treatment, but with alternative medicine like living in a yurt in Misenheimer.  And, as they say in medicine, he did not have an optimal outcome and died shortly thereafter.  I don’t know what he was clinging to, but he had some hope and the knowledge that he wouldn’t have to go through the rigors of chemo, radiation, and surgery.  If the diagnosis was dire, maybe this was one thing that unconventional medicine could do for him.  At one time, shark cartilage was all the rage for people with cancer.  It didn’t help the patient or the shark one bit.  But, it gave cancer patients a glimmer of hope…there was something there, and they grasped at it.  When we are afraid and hurt so much, we want something to heal us. 

There is so much evil, anger, and strife in the world.  We blame our co-dependent behavior on mental illness.  But, we don’t have to be like that.  None of us have to be like we were. . .wicked.  A lot of Protestant sects are dying out.  They try to make each other more relevant by legitimizing mental illness which is a diagnosis for gender dysphoria.  They are co-signing these behaviors.  Our good Lord told us that “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Follow Him, and you will find peace in your soul.  Our Lord offers hope.  This hope is not theoretical or intuitive, but a certainty.  The hope He offers us is a promise.  We have a program that our Lord has given us, and we know exactly what we must do.  If we do what He asks us to do, these things will happen.

God’s promise has been demonstrated over history.  For example, if you take your medicine, you will see positive results.  If I take a tiny, little pill in the morning, my blood pressure is fine all day.  This is a demonstrable result.  If I don’t take that pill for a long time, bad things will happen to me.  Our Lord gives us hope to enable us to carry our crosses day-by-day.  Some crosses are predominate and have always been with us, while others change over time with old age and infirmities.   Whatever crosses we bear, whether it is gender dysphoria or addiction, the good Lord gives us the grace to triumph over them. This is not a wish, and it’s not a hope as the world sees hope.  It is a certainty that if you do what Christ says, you will get what He promises. 

Your crosses are many, and I know they are heavy.  Our faith gives us not only a hope, but a way of making that hope a reality, bringing peace to our soul, making sense of the sufferings we endure, and giving us the strength to bear whatever cross our good Lord has asked us to bear for love of Him, for our salvation, and the salvation of others.  This is the faith.  This is the Church and the deposit of faith that gives us hope.  There is no other way.  If you look at history, everyone who has tried something different has failed.   In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “It’s not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.” 

You have hope, and you are demonstrating that hope by your presence here today.  You come for God’s grace through the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that you can carry your daily crosses and be good followers of Christ.  When you demonstrate your hope, you are teaching others, because they see it in you.   It’s a day-to-day thing.  Give that hope to someone else. 

As a young man, I read the biographies of the saints and how their lives were transformed.  I don’t read fiction. . .I’m a little old for fairytales.  I like to read about what people did so that I can learn from them.  Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founded the Jesuit Order.  Now, I was trained by the Dominicans, so this is a stretch for me to say this.  What did he do?  Saint Ignatius was a professional soldier…a hit man.  He was a hired gun.  Give him a lot of money and, although he wasn’t Italian, he would put the whack on people especially because of their religion.  And, look at what happened to him. He had a great conversion. The head of the gestapo in Rome, Italy, was Herbert Kappler.  He put the whack on people. . . a lot.  After the war, a priest visited him, and he became Catholic.  Dr. Bernard Nathanson performed over 10,000 abortions.  He also converted to Catholicism after a priest visited him. 

My correspondence is different from most.  I received a letter in the mail the other day from the local, state-run, residential community known as the Albemarle Correction Facility, a medium security prison that I visit.  This one man, who didn’t know me, reached out to me.  The envelope was addressed to “Priest Peter Fitzgibbons.”  Close enough…at least he’s getting there.  He told me that he had grown up Catholic, but had fallen off the wagon a bit. . .or a lot.  He’s a “state employee” now and eats state-issued fish.  Ugh!  If you’re out in the parking lot when they are cooking fish, and the wind is just right, you know it.  I’m a hospital chaplain, so smells don’t usually bother me, but that one does.  Anyhow, this inmate wants to come back to the Church.  He’s had enough.  There are a couple of other inmates that I’ve brought in to the Faith.  They also were at a point where they’d had enough and reached out to me in hope.  You know who touched them in prison?  It wasn’t me…I’m only there once a month.  Other inmates who’d had enough and came back to Jesus.  They saw hope realized in other people. 

Our testimony to the world is the faith that we have been given, the faith that we have been called to hand down, and the faith that we teach by example.  We are living testimonies of the power of Christ by carrying our cross every day.  We may fall down, but we have the strength to get back up and carry on.  This is the hope and reality we can pass on by our actions.  It is how we teach and how we give hope to others.  We can give other people hope with their struggles just as you found hope with the crosses you carry.  But, we can’t if we are angry and bitter.  What’s wrong with you?  Jesus was a man of peace.  Our good Lord loves them and wants to transform them.  You are not your sins.  You are not your crosses.  You are children of God.  God has given us the truth, the means, and the infallible teaching of how to achieve the daily transformation we need in order to get to heaven.  Sometimes, these transformations are amazingly quick, and at other times they are sustaining.  “Well, Father you have been a priest for a long time.”  Yes.  “I see you haven’t changed much.”  But, can you imagine what I’d be like without my prayers every day, my confessions, and daily Mass?  Can you imagine what I’d be like?  I’d rather not…You cannot unsee some things.  Our transformation is always happening in us and won’t be complete until we die. 

How will you apply this message to your life?  Renew your hope in Him so that you can teach others by your example. 

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.”  From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page).  There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.