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Where should we find consolation? It’s essential to remember that our ultimate goal and true source of happiness is God. With this in mind, Fr. Mike emphasizes the need to detach ourselves from worldly possessions and strive to be channels of God’s grace. By doing so, when we receive blessings, we can in turn become a blessing to others. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2544-2557.
Click on link: https://youtu.be/c1aeSJlQkuM?si=h19GjL4gyvYW6Mky
//Contemplative Monk//
“Unchain Your Heart”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
February 26-27, 2022
Gospel: Luke 6:39-45
This week, we have Ash Wednesday for which we have rules of fasting and abstinence. You can look them up online for a reminder. People call this the Penitential Season. “Ugh! I have to give up something. It’s 40 days of punishment!” It’s more than 40 days because we don’t count Sundays, and it ends on Holy Thursday. That is 40-50 days of no cake, no coffee, no pie, no soda, and no booze. Be happy about it. I prefer to think of it not as a Penitential Season in the sense that it’s about deprivation, but as an exercise of spiritual freedom. We free ourselves from bondage to things so that we may be able to love. We are trapped in pleasures not worthy of us. Chocolate cake will satisfy us for just so long. Believe it or not, I have not had a piece of bacon in two years. Medical quacks! Anyway. We are enslaved to things rather than free to love. When you break those chains, you achieve freedom. If you are not chained to Facebook, games, or whatever else you have, you are free to love and free to experience God’s love. Satan stirs up all these things in our heart. But Jesus said, “My ways are easy.” His ways are not difficult…He said that. Denying our fantasies is not difficult. If we say that they are, we are accusing Jesus of lying. We make it difficult by listening to Satan and instead, we wind up pole vaulting over mouse droppings where everything is so hard and so dramatic. Hey! Come down off the cross, we need the wood!
I’ll tell you this story. I was at a Christmas dinner years ago with the bishops and the abbot, a priest, was there. He was telling us about how he offered Mass to the people in Venice, and it was so cold, he could see his breath. I said, “Well, Father, I offered Mass in Iraq in 136 degree weather and during a sand storm. But to me, that was just another day at the office. Would I do it again? Yes, because I love my soldiers. Was it pleasant? Not really, but it was a work of love free from attachment. You will find that you have greater happiness. You will find a greater love to allow more love into your soul rather than a love of things. Rather than having things taking up space in our souls, God is there. He is the one for whom our souls were made. As Saint Augustine said, “Our heart is restless until it rests in You.” Our souls were made for God alone. Everything else does not satisfy. People are so unhappy because they keep trying to fill that void with people, places, and things that are not God.
During this season and our works of love, I urge you to come to Confession, and make it a frequent habit. I urge you to offer more prayer. And don’t say, “Oh, I’m going to say two Rosaries every day.” Just try a decade at a time, okay? Start out small with baby steps. You aren’t monks. You aren’t cloistered. You aren’t consecrated and can sit there for an hour. In seminary, we sat there for hours praying for vocations in the world. Just pray. Hey, that computer has an off switch. It won’t hurt you a bit. Honest. I promise it won’t hurt you a bit. Those people on Facebook will not miss you. TikTok videos will go on without you. Someday, we will get our celestial discharge, and they will still go on without us.
This season is a time for us to grow. It is not a time for brutality or self-flagellation. It’s a time for freedom to free ourselves from bondage to things; to improve our vision so that we can see what is really important to us; and to grow in the joy of our spiritual lives. This is not transitory joy that’s good for only a few seconds, then gone, and we are left to deal with the consequences. Rather, this is a joy that nobody can take from us. This is what we do. Seek His love. Don’t ask anyone, “What are you giving up for Lent?” First of all, it’s none of your business. And yes, it is my business as your priest.
People ask, “What are you going to do for this Lent?” Well, I’m going to try to be holier. I’m going to try to free myself of the bondage to things. We all have our fun and things that we like to do. They are innocent in and of themselves. They are not sinful. But, putting them down and turning to prayer might be a much better alternative.
How will you apply this message to your life?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to http://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”
Should we really talk to God about everything?
There are a lot of different kinds of prayers (liturgical, litanies, the rosary, the chaplet of divine mercy, etc.), but today Father hones in on mental prayer. Mental prayer—including lectio divina and Ignatian prayer—is about having a conversation with God and inviting him into your mind and your heart. But our minds are messy places, and our hearts are wounded. Should we really be talking to God about all of our thoughts, longings, and desires?
Learn more about Fr. Mike Schmitz and Fr. Josh Johnson’s Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation: https://tinyurl.com/yhwfakge
Confession is a place of never ending mercy and forgiveness, and is one of the most beautiful parts of our Catholic faith. But for many, it can also be a very daunting experience, especially if it’s been a long time since your last confession. Whether it’s the first time you’ve gone in a year, or it’s the first time you’ve gone in your life, God is ready and willing to forgive your sins. All we have to do is let him into our hearts.
Today, Fr. Mike explains how to approach going to confession for the first time in a long time.
“His Sacred Heart“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
May 1 – 2, 2021
Gospel: John 15:1-8
I was talking to one of my fellow chaplains with whom I share an office at the VA. We call it the cell. So, I said to my cell-mate, “Hey Gary, you’re a bright guy, even though you went into the Air Force, you’re a bright guy.” He was too old for Girl Scouts, but he does have a master’s degree in Divinity. “Where are the green pastures that our Lord, the Good Shepherd, leads us to give us repose?” Gary said “Heaven.” That’s true. Then, I said, “Would you say that, before we get there, He leads us to heaven on Earth…to a place in His Sacred Heart?” That is Heaven. Our Savior’s heart beats with love for us, and our two hearts will beat as one in Heaven. The Good Shepherd calls us, not just to follow Him, but to be part of His Sacred Heart and to take our rest there. It is in our Lord’s Sacred Heart that we will find peace and rest for our souls.
Our Lord said in Matthew 11:30: “…my yoke is sweet and my burden light.” The sweet yoke is our crosses that are just for us and not for anyone else. In that lovely green garden and pasture where He gives us repose, He also gives us strength, courage, and consolation as we carry our cross. We carry our cross with the Good Shepherd, if we let Him, so that we are able to carry it for our redemption and the redemption of others. And sometimes, but not nearly often enough, we will find joy in it. We will find joy in carrying our cross.
The Good Shepherd would like to lead us to His Sacred Heart. Saint Augustine said, “Our heart is restless until it rests in thee.” We will find peace for our souls which is what our souls need, but we try to fill it with every person, place, or thing. In His Sacred Heart, we will find rest. We will find strength, and we will find contentment. We walk with our Lord by the way of the Cross. First He leads us to His Sacred Heart, and then He walks with us all the way through to our passion and death.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you let Him help you carry your cross for your redemption and the redemption of others?
Father’s Afterthoughts:
I had a meeting with the Bishop the other day. Sadly, I’m still not a monsignor. I had to drive 50+ miles to hear that bad news. Anyway, I felt safer in Iraq while driving to Charlotte on Hwy 485. Those people are crazy! I was never so glad to see Walmart in Locust and Mecklenburg County in my rear view mirror. One thing we discussed at the meeting is that, in the next couple of months, the Bishop will probably reinstitute the Sunday Mass obligation. When he does, the Mass will be a bit longer than those I’ve been giving.
I really don’t like the word “obligation.” Are you are obligated to remember your mother’s birthday or remember her on Mother’s Day? If you have to be told that, you need to be taken outside with a few of the guys for a chat. We come here out of love. If we say, “Oh, I’m too tired” or “I’m too whatever,” we lose the opportunity to grow in love.
Also, keep in your prayers, Father Michael Kottar. He’s 57 years old and a great priest. Father Kottar has been diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease. There is no treatment, so please keep him in your prayers.
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.
St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born in Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma’s mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. She was rejected due to her poor heath, and later became a Tertiary member of the order. Gemma developed spinal meningitis but was miraculously healed, which she attributed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. After a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. She is the patron saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th.
//The Catholic Company//
Complete dedication to what he saw as God’s will for him dominated the life of John Baptist de La Salle. In 1950, Pope Pius XII named him patron of schoolteachers for his efforts in upgrading school instruction. As a young 17th-century Frenchman, John had everything going for him: scholarly bent, good looks, noble family background, money, refined upbringing. At the early age of 11, he received the tonsure and started preparation for the priesthood, to which he was ordained at 27. He seemed assured then of a life of dignified ease and a high position in the Church.
But God had other plans for John, which were gradually revealed to him in the next several years. During a chance meeting with Monsieur Adrien Nyel, he became interested in the creation of schools for poor boys in Rheims, where he was stationed. Though the work was extremely distasteful to him at first, he became more involved in working with the deprived youths.
Once convinced that this was his divinely appointed mission, John threw himself wholeheartedly into the work, left home and family, abandoned his position as canon at Rheims, gave away his fortune, and reduced himself to the level of the poor to whom he devoted his entire life.
The remainder of his life was closely entwined with the community of religious men he founded, the Brothers of the Christian School (also called Christian Brothers or De La Salle Brothers). This community grew rapidly and was successful in educating boys of poor families, using methods designed by John. It prepared teachers in the first training college for teachers and also set up homes and schools for young delinquents of wealthy families. The motivating element in all these endeavors was the desire to become a good Christian.
Yet even in his success, John did not escape experiencing many trials: heart-rending disappointment and defections among his disciples, bitter opposition from the secular schoolmasters who resented his new and fruitful methods, and persistent opposition from the Jansenists of his time, whose moral rigidity and pessimism about the human condition John resisted vehemently all his life.
Afflicted with asthma and rheumatism in his last years, he died at age 68 on Good Friday, and was canonized in 1900.
Reflection
Complete dedication to one’s calling by God, whatever it may be, is a rare quality. Jesus asks us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30b, emphasis added). Paul gives similar advice: “Whatever you do, do from the heart…” (Colossians 3:23).
Saint John Baptist de La Salle is the Patron Saint of:
Teachers
//Franciscan Media//