“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.

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