Daily Reflection – Each Act of Love is a Work of Peace
Daily Reflection – God Loves Unconditionally
Sermon Notes – July 23-24, 2022 – “Love You More!”
July 23 – 24, 2022
“Love You More!”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
1 Now it happened that He was in a certain place praying, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ 2 He said to them, ‘When you pray, this is what to say: Father, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come; 3 give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, 4 for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us. And do not put us to the test.’ 5 He also said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, 6 because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him;” 7 and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you.” 8 I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship’s sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants. 9 ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake? 12 Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion? 13 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!’
Why must God give us good things? Because, as Saint John tells us, God is love. What is God’s nature? His nature is love itself. Love seeks to diffuse itself by spreading that love. So, to not give us good things would be a denial of His very nature. He gives us good things whether we deserve them or not because He loves us. The first question in the Catechism is “Why did God make us?” Because He loves us. God gives us good things not because we pray the “right” way, or because we tithe to the Church, or because we do this, that, and the other thing. That would be like a business deal. . .you give me this, and I’ll give you that. He offers these gifts to us, both temporal and spiritual, to show His love for us and to draw us ever closer. Or, if we have wandered away, to call us back and to remind those souls, including ours, that He wants us to be with Him.
We are called to pray. Most of us have prayed for things very hard and valiantly. We’ve used the right words and claimed the things we have prayed for in the name of Jesus. We have asked for the intercession of Saint Jude who is the patron saint of the impossible and the intercession of other saints who are patrons of particular causes. But we have been disappointed because sometimes those answers have not come, and we have not gotten what we wanted. That doesn’t mean that God has stopped loving us. It means that He has other plans for us and that, in itself, is a gift of love. We are called to have trust in the Lord. Trust Him even though the answer to our immediate need, want, desire, plea, threat, is “No.” He has something far better in mind for you or that person you have been praying for. You must trust Him.
Now I have been 38 years a priest, and I am not yet a monsignor. Wait a moment while I tear up. Sorry; I got a little misty-eyed there. But I have been the pastor for the past 18 years of the greatest parish in the diocese. I don’t tell anyone that because they might boot my butt out of here. But I’ll take that trade all day long. You have to remember that God loves us and sees more than we can see for ourselves. Sometimes what we want is not good for us as anyone who has children knows. The crosses He allows us to carry, He gives us for the sake of others. God constantly offers us these gifts to keep us encouraged, to remind us of His love for us, and to draw us ever closer to Him.
God gives us all these gifts because He loves us. Sometimes that love is hard to see because of the gift wrapping. Some of His gifts we never see. We never see all the temporal and spiritual evils He protects us from. Remember that when you thank Him at the end of the day. So, pray. And as Saint Augustine once said, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” God will give you the most wondrous gifts along with all the other gifts including the good stuff like apple pie and the bad stuff like Covid. But whatever the gifts may be, they all point to His love for us. He is love itself, and He wants us to love Him back more and more in this life. . . all of us, both good and bad. He wants to turn them back to Him too. He takes no delight in the death of a sinner. That’s not why He sent His Son. He wants to draw us ever closer to Him in this life so that we may have life with Him united in perfect love in Heaven.
How will you apply this message to your life? ______________________________________
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You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.” Cell phone: click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories”
Daily Reflection – I’m Not Ok. You’re Not Ok. But It’s Ok.
//Dynamic Catholic//
Daily Reflection – The Real Test
Daily Reflection – The Joy of Loving
Daily Reflection – Love Generously
Minute Meditation – The Heart of God Beats for You
Our human hearts were made to love and to be loved, to give and receive love. Every beat of every heart is made possible through a God who is love. But do you know that the very heart of God also beats for you? That is what Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Apostle of the Heart of Jesus, as he revealed his enflamed heart to her: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men as to spare Itself nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, to testify to them Its love.” This revelation is what we have come to know as the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
—from the book Healing Promises: The Essential Guide to the Sacred Heart, by Anne Costa
Minute Meditation – Empowering Companions
Jesus belongs to a reality greater than his individual self and therefore would also include himself in the command that we should seek first the new companionship (Matthew 6:33). Jesus, therefore, may be viewed as the primordial disciple of this new empowering dispensation, with all humans called to be co-disciples—not for but with Jesus. As co-disciples we are called to be friends and not mere servants. And there are no privileged power positions in this new dispensation, wherein unconditional love is the primary driving force. Knowing that we are loved unconditionally, then we are called to serve all others—humans and nonhumans alike—with something of that same unconditional love with which we ourselves are loved. Finally, the word earthing reminds us unambiguously that it is in and with creation at large that we seek to foster and uphold the power of unconditional love.
—from the book Paschal Paradox: Reflections on a Life of Spiritual Evolution, by Diarmuid O’Murchu, page 49
Sermon Notes – June 5, 2022 – “The Feast of Pentecost”
“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 65th 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.