Tag: Love

“The Feast of Pentecost”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 June 4 – 5, 2022

Gospel: John 20:19-23

We celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when our Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.   Remember that He received His human nature from the Blessed Mother, and He asks us to continue His work with ours.   He takes our human nature and graces it with the Holy Spirit; first in Baptism and then the other Sacraments.  Now at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments reveals His new human nature down through the ages in the Church.  We are part of the Church so that we may bring back what has been separated.   What separates us?  Sin. Sin drives us away from God and then away from each other.  It separates us from what unites us.  Remember the Tower of Babel in Genesis when they were building a tower to God?  And God said, “You’re bringing that?  Is that the best you’ve got?”   Sin drove us apart. 

You heard in the opening prayer about the different languages.  Was Peter a linguist?  No, he was a fisherman but through the Holy Spirit, everyone heard him.   They heard Jesus speaking through Peter.  We are all together in the one Body of Christ in the Church.  We are supposed to use the universal language which is Christ.  He may give us the gift of tongues.  If anyone has been to the 12:15 Mass which is in Spanish, you know that I don’t have that gift.  It’s more Spanglish.  I speak Spanish with a French accent.  That’s a wonder for you right?   People at the 12:15 Mass tell me that my Spanish is pretty good.  No, it’s not.  In my lifetime I have tried to learn seven different languages: English, French (Canadian and Parisian), Latin, Army, and Spanglish.  I gave up on Greek. . .I just grunt and people seems to understand.  So, I’m not a linguist.  What we now have in the Church has balkanized Christ.  We have Mass in Spanish, we have Mass in this language, that language, and whatever language there is.  But you know what?  It doesn’t work because fewer come.  What does work is Christ. 

We all have the capability of speaking the language to reach people.  What is that language?  It is the language of love. . . the language of Christ.  We are called to speak the fullness God’s love through the Holy Spirit no matter our vocation or our place in the Body of Christ.  Mine is different than yours.  But yours is no less important in bringing God’s message to the world.  Even though we cannot speak their language, this is how we touch and teach people and bring them to Christ.  Words are not necessary.  People have asked me, “Father, how do you work with all those soldiers?”  Do I understand everything they did?  Oh, heck no.  “So, why did they love you?”  I just showed up and shared in their sufferings.   I remember when I got to Iraq and the commanding officer asked me, “What are you doing here?”  Being a lowly lieutenant with a smart mouth, I said, “I’m your chaplain, Sir.  Where else am I supposed to be?”  The commander said, “Oh, good point.”   Just be there for people and share in their sufferings.  We are all quick to share in their joys, but now share in their sufferings.  Do acts of charity.  This is the language of Christ.  Even a smile is an act of charity and love.  That is the universal language.  You don’t need a course for it.  What you do need is a heart full of God’s love.  Become a carrier of that love.  We can carry a virus, so too we can carry God’s love.  Bring that to people.  The greatest gift of the Holy Spirit is love and not all the other stuff. 

When I was overseas, workers were imported from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.  They would come to our Mass.  Did they understand it?  Probably not.  Did they understand my English?  Probably not.  But they were afraid that the Interior Ministry would tell them they couldn’t come to Mass.  The Interior Ministry would harass them and do all sorts of nasty things.  They don’t have the same sense of justice we do.  I told them they were surrounded by 500,000 heavily armed American soldiers and that nobody was going to bother them.  Trust me on this one.  We didn’t want to be there, and we had an attitude.  So, nobody was going to bother them.  They came because it was the Mass.  If you look out at a military chapel, you will see the United Nations.  We had a Filipino priest whose English was about as good as mine.  “How can you go to those people?”   I said, “Because they are priests.”  I was assigned to Gitmo for three months.  I got “hey you” orders after I returned from a month at Fort Polk.  Did I speak Spanish?  No, but the Army didn’t care.  I told them, “I am your brother.  I am your son.  I am a priest.”  And they understood that. 

When we speak the universal language of love, it unites everyone.  The universal language of love is your charity, both spiritual and corporal.  You don’t have to go to school for it.  If you have to go to school for it, you’re missing the whole boat.  Fill yourself up with Christ.  In Room 1 at the VA Hospital, we had a new hospice patient.  He was a medic on D-Day.  A church member brought him in, and she asked him if there was anything she could get for him.  He said, “Yeah, a dozen roses for my wife.  It’s our 65^th wedding anniversary.”  This guy was in Hospice care.  I took that story and made it part of his medical record so that the staff would know.  His wife came in to visit, and she was a hot ticket.  She reminded me of Frankie.  She was the church organist and pianist, and I could see her going Jerry Lee Lewis on somebody.  She was rocking it.  She was so funny.  A couple of nights later, another patient in Room 2 was about to get his celestial discharge.  He was passing from this life to Almighty God.  His wife was repeating the words to his favorite hymn.  The nurse came by and heard her.  She thought about it and went to the wife of the man in Room 1 and said, “Mam, I understand you were a church organist.”  She said, “Yes, I was.”  The nurse asked her if she played the piano, and she said yes.  Then the nurse asked the lady if she knew this hymn.  She did.  The nurse asked the lady if she would mind playing the hymn because the gentleman in the next room was dying.  The lady said, “Oh, I’d love to.”  She went down to where the piano was, and the nurse got some other nurses to come.  Doctor Phoul who had a beautiful voice also came.  They sang that hymn as the man passed from this life to the next.  Now I’m not aware that they taught that course in medical school.  I’m also not aware that they taught it in nursing school.  It is not within any of the treatment parameters that we have.  I’ve been doing this job for a long time, and I’ve never seen it happen.  What led them to do it?  It was the love of Christ being present.  It was a great act of love. This is the love we speak.  You don’t have to speak a different language.  What you need is an open heart for God to come in and take possession and manifest His love throughout the world.

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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