Tag: Love

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Sermon Notes – November 26, 2023 – “I Believe in Good Health but I Really Love Bacon“

“I Believe in Good Health but I Really Love Bacon“

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

November 25 – 26, 2023

Gospel:  Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus said to His disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.  Then the king will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, a stranger and you welcomed Me, naked and you clothed Me, ill and you cared for Me, in prison and you visited Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit You?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, a stranger and you gave Me no welcome, naked and you gave Me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for Me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to Your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

This week I barged in on a family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and I had a thought while I was there.  Why don’t they make turkey parmesan?  Turkey and chicken are both poultry.  So, why not?  I’m just thinking outside the coop.  I mentioned this to the Godmother . . . she was not amused, so I won’t be asking that question again. 

I was good friends with a chaplain I served with several times while in the military.  You never say “goodbye” to your friends in the military; you say, “I’ll see you at the next assignment.”  If you stick around long enough, eventually you will see everybody again.  She was a wonderful chaplain, but she said, “I don’t understand you Catholics.”  Why not?  “Well, you believe in this works righteousness thing.”  Now I’m probably not the most attentive student – look squirrel – but I think I would have heard of that before.  We would have gone over it once or twice in seminary and tested on it.  I never learned that because there is no such thing.  All the good works we do flow from Whom?  From God.  What is God’s essence?  His essence is love.  He is love itself.  Why did He make us?  Remember your Catechism.  He made us because He loves us.  Love is always generative, and it produces fruit outside of itself.  When we produce fruit outside of ourselves, we have proof of God’s love.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  That love now becomes external.  Keeping His commandments is fruit outside of ourselves.   Our Lord wants more than just lip service.  If you want to be like Christ, you must do what He did.  Doing the proper works of mercy as described in the Gospel are works outside of ourselves.  They are works just like God’s.  They are external signs of an internal reality of possessing and being possessed by our good Lord.   We produce fruits as God does. 

God gives His gifts to both the good and the bad.  When emergency vehicles come screaming down the highway after you call 911, do they ask if you have been naughty or nice?  Do they ask if you are worthy of them risking their lives to come save you?  No.  Regardless, they come flying down the highway to save us.  That’s how God’s love is.  We produce fruit for both the good and bad.  Sometimes that isn’t easy because we tend to be highly sensitive people.  When somebody doesn’t thank us, we get a little upset.  Sometimes people are just not nice, and it’s unpleasant to be around them.  But we do these works of love because we love God, and it is He who gives us the strength to do them.  Working with the sick can also be unpleasant.  I walked into hospice the other day, and someone was having a procedure done.  Whoa!  There’s not enough Lysol in the world to cover up that smell.   But we still must do our job.  It’s not about us.  Love is always generative.  Even if there is work involved, the work itself is love as Saint Augustine reminds us. 

I’m ticked off at my cousins.  They called to torment me by telling me about all the delicious food they had for Thanksgiving Dinner.  They had mashed turnips and carrots, which I love.  It’s a New England thing.  They also had stuffing like my mother made.  Oh my gosh!  Turkey always tastes better cold, so I always go for the fixings.  The little things like the way the table is set up, the presentation, and all the other things that go into preparing Thanksgiving dinner are all fruits of love.  It’s not just filling the trough as my mother would say.  They are all signs of love scattered about which come from what’s in the soul.  This is how God knows that we love Him because He knows us by our fruit.  Some people say, “I believe in God, but I don’t go to church.”  Well, I believe in good health, but I really love bacon.  Others say, “Well, I love God.  I go to church, and I participate in the Sacraments.  God knows that I love Him.”  No, He doesn’t.  Well, actually He does because He’s God.  But you’re kinda rewriting scripture.  If you love Him, then do something about it.  Love makes itself external, and this is how He knows we love Him.  If you say you love someone, but you never want to be with them, do you really love them?  All these good things we do, we do because we are loved by God, and we love Him.  These are external acts of an internal reality, and we cannot help but do them.  You can tell how much the Just in the Gospel were in love with Him because of all the things they did.  They weren’t doing it for something in return.  They did it because it was the right thing, and they didn’t even think about it.  It was a natural kind of spiritual muscle memory because of Who they possessed and Who possessed them.

How will you apply this message to your life?  ________________________________________

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at ola.catholic.church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”

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Sermon Notes – November 12, 2023 – “Love Banishes Fear”

“Love Banishes Fear”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

November 11 – 12, 2023

Gospel:  Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus told His disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards, the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But He said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

In the Gospel, it sounds as if they were having a midnight wedding.  People don’t have weddings during the day in the Middle East.  Know why?  Because it’s hot!  You don’t want to look like a sweat hog coming down the aisle, do you?  No! 

Now, I’m willing to bet, without taking a poll, that you all want to go to Heaven.  I’m also willing to bet that none of us are looking forward to the trip.  According to my research and experience, you have to die first.  A while ago I was making my rounds at the VA’s emergency room, and I recognized a couple whom I had met previously.  I asked them why they were back.  Were they back for lunch?  Did they miss us?  The man said, “No, I just came in for pain management.”  We talked for a bit, and the man said, “Chaplain, may I ask you a question?”  Sure.  He said, “I want to stop the chemo.  Is that okay?”  I looked at his wife and asked her, “Are you okay with that?”  And she said ‘yes.’  So, I looked at the man and said, “It’s okay to stop the chemo.”  He’s only in his early 40s, but it was time.  He’d had enough. 

We all know we are going on a trip, but we know not the day or hour.  During the years that we are blessed with life, know that they are growing shorter.   We are not looking forward to the trip because of fear.  We were never meant to die.  The sin of our first parents caused that.  Our sins after baptism and the sins committed against us increase that fear.  But love casts away fear.   The more we grow in holiness, the more and more that fear subsides.  We can look forward to being with the Person we have loved all our lives and never to be separated again by sin.  We don’t know what is on the side.   However, it’s not a ‘what’ that is on the other side.  That’s a blasphemous statement because on the other side is a ‘Who.’  That ‘Who’ is always with us as we make our journey to Heaven.   So, we are not alone.  Now, there is a little doodoo fairy that sits on our shoulders and is always telling us that God is not with us otherwise we wouldn’t be afraid and that we would be perfect, etc.  “Oh, God doesn’t love you.”  Just like everything else he fills our heads with, that is a lie.  God is always with us.  We tend to forget that our guardian angel is always with us too. 

Will we always have some fear?  Yes.  But our fear of death will decrease as we grow in holiness, and we will look forward to going to our Savior.  That doesn’t mean we want to leave our loved ones in this life.  But we will be going home to our Almighty God.  Now when we get to Heaven, we won’t be just sitting around.   It won’t be snooze time.  As Saint Therese of Lisieux said, “I will spend my eternity in Heaven doing good on Earth.”   That’s what we will be doing in the presence of our Lord, God.  We will have God’s ear and will be able to pray more effectively than ever before for all the loved ones we left behind.  So, our dying is not exactly the worst thing that could happen to us.  But dying and being separated from God is.   

I was doing Mass over at the women’s maximum-security prison in Troy.  That’s always fun.  I’m ready for Mass, and we played “Stump the Priest.”   One of the women said, “Father, when I get out, I’m going to visit you.”  Well, I’m looking forward to that day!  She said she was very upset, and I asked her why.  She said, “I read in the paper that everybody dies, and they all go to see Jesus.”  I said, “That’s true.”  She didn’t like that answer, so I said, “When we die, we all will see God.  Some stay for only a cup of coffee while others get to stay longer.”   How long we stay depends on how we live.  In the Gospels, from the Book of Matthew to Revelation, are the final exam questions.  We don’t know when our good Lord will come for us.  Looking at myself in the mirror, combing my hair doesn’t take that long anymore.   That’s just age.  So, my meeting with our Lord is approaching sooner and sooner. 

I went to Ms. Dottie’s 99th birthday party.  When I knocked, she came to the door holding a big glass of wine.   Cool!  Dottie is now 101.  My aunt was 98 when she pulled the plug on herself.  Time to go!  Another aunt passed at 93.  My mother was an underachiever and died at the age of 77.   I may not make it to 77, but it doesn’t matter.   It’s not about age but rather our state of love and living a perfect life until our good Lord comes for us.  I tell patients in hospice who have made their peace with God, that soon, and I don’t know when, but soon, they will see the good Lord coming for them.  He will have a smile on His face with His arms open.  Put a smile on your face, open your arms, and run toward Him.  Have that embrace which is Heaven.  You will be one with your Maker.   

Before you go to bed at night, always pray the Prayer for a Happy Death.  With that Sacrament, we will be assured, in the same way Christ assured the Good Thief on the Cross, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”

Prayer for a Happy Death (Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman)

O my Lord and Savior, support me in my last hour in the strong arms of Thy Sacraments and by the fresh fragrance of Thy consolations. Let the absolving words be said over me, and the holy oil sign and seal me; and let Thine own Body be my food, and Thy Blood my sprinkling; and let my sweet Mother, Mary, breathe on me, and my Angel whisper peace to me, and my glorious saints and my own dear patrons smile upon me, that, in them all and through them all, I may receive the gift of perseverance, and die as I desire to live, in Thy faith, in Thy Church, in Thy service, and in Thy love. Amen.

How will you apply this message to your life?  ________________________________________

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.”  Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.”  Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at ola.catholic.church.  Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”