The Little Way makes holiness accessible to us despite our weaknesses and our ordinariness. It is a way of trust and love. This fresh application of the Gospel message is the legacy of the Little Flower. She lived the Little Way as it sprang from her heart, then left it to the Church she loved.As we deal with family, friends, neighbors, employers, co-workers, teachers, and especially those who are difficult, we can each do the “little.” Even in encounters with strangers, we can do the little, in love, for Jesus. The Little Way is manageable, not overwhelming. It is a means by which any one of us can become a saint.That is not to say that St. Thérèse’s Little Way is easy! To love in each moment may not mean we achieve a desired outcome or response. There are times when loving is a heroic act of the will. It may simply mean that we make every effort to give our best in that moment. Then we offer those moments to God in a childlike spirit of trust and abandonment. We make this offering with confidence, knowing that He sees our hearts and our intentions. We entrust all of our small efforts to the Lord, believing that He receives them as our Heavenly Father.
The life of Christ is the life of all life––the peace of creation, the justice of humanity and the unity of humankind. That is why the Franciscan path of prayer must ultimately lead to peace because it leads to the compassionate love of the crucified Christ. Peace is the fruit of love. Francis became a person of peace because he became a person of love—a love shown in his body and in his willingness to spend himself for others.
Franciscan evangelical life strives to live in this mystery more deeply through a life of unceasing prayer. God is to descend and take on flesh anew in our lives through the indwelling Spirit that joins us to Christ and expresses itself in the body of the believer. Prayer is the breath of the Spirit within us, the Spirit who brought about the Incarnation of the Word of God and who continues to incarnate the Word in our lives. The one Spirit who joins together the Father and Word in love brings us finite creatures into this infinite relationship of love. Because the one Spirit is sent by the one Christ, the fullness of Christ is the fullness of love that is the work of Spirit. The Spirit not only forms one to Christ but brings all into unity in Christ.
Gospel: Mark 12:38-44 The month of November can be classified as a study in Ecclesiology or Who the Church is. You can read about bishops referring to the Church as a “what.” But it’s a “Who.” “Father, why do you say that? How can you contradict a bishop?” I like contradicting bishops. . . it’s a hobby. When Paul was going around beating people up, Jesus said “Saul, why do you persecute Me?” He didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting My institution.” No. He said, “Why do you persecute Me.” The Church is a “Who.” It’s the body of Christ. There are aspects of a “what” but it’s a “Who.”
What brought the Church in to being? I’ll give you the answer by asking my second question. What brought you in to being? It wasn’t a “what” – it was a “Who.” God’s love. The first question in the Catechism is “Why did God make you?” Because He loved you. You were created out of love. You have always been in the mind of God for all eternity. We existed in the mind of God before we existed in the bodies of our mothers. God created us out of love and sustains us out of love. He calls us into His presence out of love. He calls us into His church out of love. This is His gift of love so that we can become one with the Body of Christ. . . His Bride. So, the Church is not a “what.” It’s a “Who.” It is the Bride of Christ.
Some people try to change the Church. If it’s an institution you can change it, but if it’s a “Who,” you can’t. The Church is a “Who.” That “Who” was formed out of love, sustained and created out of love, and exists only because of love. It’s a love of all people in the world and not just those here in Albemarle even though we love it here . . . it’s the best parish in the diocese. Don’t tell them that – they will get really upset. I almost get into fights with other priests when they tell me how great their parish is. Really? The whole Church is united by baptism. As Bishop Waters said, there are no hyphenated Catholics. We are united in love, and we come to express our love and our prayers for those who have gone before us. As we pass from this world, those left behind will pray for us, and the cycle of love will continue.
Our love of others gave us what we have. We didn’t build or pay for this church. The Church of the Annunciation in New York gave the money to build it. So, Yankees built this church. We are enjoying their gifts of love and the gifts of love by those in this parish who have gone on before us. The saints who have gone on before us pray for us. They give us that gift of love. They intercede for us to the Father so that we can attain what they have. Love is not fulfilled unless it is complete. No mother is happy unless she has her family around her. The saints want their spiritual family, the whole body of the Church, to be with them in Heaven. They always pray for us. We as the Church Militant, the Church working for our salvation, pick up our crosses each day and follow the good Lord. We pray for those who can’t. . .those who have gone before us and who are cleaning their baptismal robes so that they may come and dwell in the place of the Perfect. This is mentioned at every Mass. When we pass away, the Church will pray for us, maybe not by name, but they will always pray for us. You were given the gift of love not by your prayers but by this prayer. Because the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is what? You got me on that one. It’s not a “what.” It’s a “Who.”
In some churches, they announce that “the liturgy will be celebrated…” That’s a Greek word meaning a public act. Big deal. They think they are really hip. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is Christ offering Himself to the Father. And Christ, in that offering, is made present on the altar. He asks not for our participation. This is where the catechetics of the Mass have gotten really weird over the years. The terms we use when referring to the Mass are often blasphemous. “We go to church.” Yeah. You walk in and walk back out. Big deal. “I attend church.” Well, I attend a play. “I actively participate.” You know, I have a degree in Philosophy, believe it or not, and I have paperwork to prove it. But I have no idea what that phrase means. It was made up in the last forty years, and it means absolutely nothing. So, when I say Mass in hospitals and nursing homes for people who are barely conscious and heavily medicated, they aren’t actively participating? During my 13-minute Mass in the field, when the natives were restless, we didn’t sing, but we prayed a lot. Are you kidding me? They were trying to kill Blanch and John’s little boy. You do not actively participate. You do not go to Mass. You do not attend Mass. Take what I’m about to tell you and commit it to memory. You are called, when you come here, to become part of Christ’s sacrifice. Whether we sing or not and whether we take up a collection or not has nothing to do with it. You are called to become part of the sacrifice of Christ. The Romans participated in the crucifixion, but they didn’t actually suffer with Christ, did they? You take the place of the Blessed Mother whose human nature Christ took and suffered with on the Cross and redeemed us with. You take the place of Saint John the Apostle, the Beloved, who suffered with Christ out of love. You take the place of Mary Cleophas. You are suffering with Christ. You unite your sufferings and human nature with the suffering of Christ. In the offertory, the priest, acting in the person of Christ, takes your human natures and makes them one with Christ in that animation of love on the altar that is always present to the Following. You become part of Christ’s sacrifice. That is why this place is so special. Not only is there the Real Presence of our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, but you are also standing at the foot of the Cross. And very shortly you will become part of Christ’s sacrifice. At Mass, you will receive the grace of offering yourself. You may offer that grace to one of your departed brethren. The grace of receiving Holy Communion is another one. Even if you are not able to receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, you can offer that sense of deprivation to someone else.
This month, we pray for those who have gone before us. The Church always prays for the departed. . . always. The Protestants, with their so-called reformation say, “We don’t pray for the dead.” Yeah, well we do. It’s a part of the Church. The Catacombs are filled with inscribed prayers in Latin. What do they say? “Pray for me.” Since the earliest days of the Church, for over 2,000 years, we have prayed for them. This is what we do. When our loved ones are all in Heaven, with mine it may take a little work, but when they are all in Heaven, then our prayers go to someone else who needs them. Remember that old Italian saying: “I remember your name.” The saints all know who to pray for because when they get to Heaven, they are enlightened by the transfiguration. They know who helped them, and they will mention you by name to the ear of Christ.
Father’s Afterthoughts:
Veterans Day is this week. There are a lot of people who served, but just because they served doesn’t make them heroes. In my day, people served because they didn’t want to go to jail or to go to Canada and learn to speak French. I wouldn’t want to share a foxhole with them. They might get me killed. But there are a lot of unknown heroes. I hear a lot of stories from veterans at the VA Hospital, and I’m going to tell you about two heroes. One of the vets asked me if I served in Vietnam, and I told him “No.” This vet told me that his older brother volunteered for Vietnam so he wouldn’t have to go. His brother was a hero. Another veteran, who is 99 years old and in Hospice, has all his faculties. . . he just can’t see very well. This veteran was in the Armored Division during World War II and had a job nobody wanted. . . Radio Telephone Operator or RTO. They were the ones the enemy was told to take out first. Your lifespan as an RTO wasn’t that great. To make matters worse, you carried a big antenna which let everybody know exactly where you were. Thank you! The good side of being the RTO is that he got to ride in a half-track and didn’t have to walk all the way to Berlin. His unit liberated Dachau; the first concentration camp established in Germany. Those are the veterans you should pray for and honor.
How will you apply this message to your life?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/, clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.” They can also be found on Facebook by searching for “Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”
Jesus left no formal religious rule for his followers. The closest he came was his proclamation of the Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers….
Francis took to heart this spiritual vision and translated it into a way of life. In various ways, other saints before and since have done the same. But for many men and women since the time of Francis, his particular example has offered a distinctive key to the Gospel—or, as Pope Francis might say, “a new way of seeing and interpreting reality.” Among the central features of this key: the vision of a Church that is “poor and for the poor”; a resolve to take seriously Jesus’s example of self-emptying love; the way of mercy and compassion; above all, a determination to proclaim the Gospel not only with words but with one’s life.
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”
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.