St. Christina (1150-1224) was born to a peasant family in Belgium. She was orphaned as a child and raised by her two older sisters. When she was 21 she had what was believed to be a severe seizure, and was pronounced dead. At her funeral she suddenly revived and levitated before the bewildered congregation. She said that during her coma she had been to heaven, hell, and purgatory and had been given the option to either die and enter heaven, or return to earth to suffer and pray for the holy souls in purgatory. Christina chose the greater act of charity. From then on she lived in extreme poverty: wearing rags, sleeping on rocks, and begging for her food. She is called “Astonishing” because she did the most bizarre things and suffered the pains of inhuman feats without being physically harmed by them. She would roll in fire and hide in hot ovens; she would stand in freezing water for hours in the dead of winter; she allowed herself to be dragged under water by a mill wheel; she spent much time in graveyards. She would also climb trees to escape the strong odor of sin in those she met. Many thought her to be possessed by demons or insane, but many devout people recognized and vouched for her sincerity, obedience, and sanctity. They believed that she was a living witness to the pains that souls experience in purgatory, willingly suffering with them and for them. Christina the Astonishing is the patron of those with mental illness and disorders, mental health workers, psychiatrists, and therapists. Her feast day is July 24th.
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.
There are a lot of different kinds of prayers (liturgical, litanies, the rosary, the chaplet of divine mercy, etc.), but today Father hones in on mental prayer. Mental prayer—including lectio divina and Ignatian prayer—is about having a conversation with God and inviting him into your mind and your heart. But our minds are messy places, and our hearts are wounded. Should we really be talking to God about all of our thoughts, longings, and desires?
St. Dymphna (7th c.) was the daughter of a pagan Irish chieftain and a beautiful Christian noblewoman. Dymphna was raised as a Christian, and she consecrated her virginity to Christ at a young age. Dymphna’s father loved his wife deeply. When her mother died, Dymphna’s father was so overcome with grief that he became mentally unstable. Unable to find another suitable wife of equal character and beauty to his first wife, he attempted to marry Dymphna due to her close resemblance to her mother. Upon learning of his wicked plan, Dymphna fled across the sea into Belgium along with her tutor and confessor, Father Gerebran. Her father pursued them and eventually discovered their location by tracing the foreign money they used along the way. He killed Dymphna’s confessor and pleaded with his daughter to return with him to Ireland to be his wife. When she refused, he cut off her head in a mad rage. St. Dymphna’s church still stands on the place of her burial near Antwerp. There have been numerous accounts of those afflicted with epilepsy and mental illness visiting her tomb and receiving miraculous cures through her intercession. Because of this, St. Dympha is the patroness of those suffering from mental and neurological disorders and illnesses, as well as of mental health professionals. Her feast day is May 15th.
The most difficult part of anything is getting started. It requires the most mental strength and determination. But once we get past that first obstacle, there’s nothing we can’t do. Make today the day you let your inspiration carry you to victory over the resistance you’re facing, and begin.
“If during vocal prayer your heart is drawn to mental prayer, do not restrain it, but let your devotion take that channel, omitting the vocal prayers which you intended to say: that which takes their place is more acceptable to God, and more useful to your own soul.”— St. Francis de Sales, p. 63
