“As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth and making it yield…so the word does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do” (Isaiah 55:10–11).
Jesus made the essential requirement for the forgiveness of sin rather clear and definitive here: As you do it, it will be done to you. If you do not do it, it cannot be done to you. We are merely and forever inside of the divine flow, just like Isaiah’s “rain and snow.” Forgiveness is constant from God’s side, which should become a calm, joyous certainty on our side. Mercy received will be mercy passed on, and “will not return to me empty, until it has succeeded in what it was sent to do.”
God is quick to forgive, and he’s given us the gift of confession so we can return to a relationship with him after sin. But this love he has for us is so great that he never wants us to be caught by sin again, which is why he allows our sins to have consequences. Just like your parents would teach you why something is wrong, God helps us build knowledge of sin and its consequences by letting us experience them. Without learning from our mistakes, we would just keep falling into the same sins, separating us from a relationship with God.
Today, Fr. Mike explains why God lets us learn from our mistakes, and how it shows the depth of his mercy.
The story of the prodigal son is a picture of God’s deep love for us as His beloved children. God, the compassionate Father, longs for you to return to Him and welcome you home with outstretched arms.
This week, we place ourselves in the shoes of the prodigal son and search in our hearts where we need compassion from the Father. No matter what mistakes you’ve made in the past, now is the time to return and allow God’s infinite mercy and forgiveness to embrace you.
God wants to give you more. How will you respond this Lent?
I was tidying up some stuff as I’m prone to do from time to time, and I found some military/Army papers. Oh, this could be important, but not likely since it’s going on nine years since I retired. I don’t think they miss me, and I don’t miss them either. They tried to kill me. It wasn’t personal…just business. So, I looked at the document and it was orders for REFRAD or Release From Active Duty. I read through the document, and it was a stroll down memory lane. For my education, “high school or the equivalent” was listed. Well, that’s pretty close. I told you I was the village idiot, and the military knew. Except that I could not have been an officer without a college education, and I could not have been a chaplain without a master’s degree. Welcome to the Army. Anyway, I thought it was hilarious. I’m not the brightest bulb in the circuit, but I did study and pass tests because I have initials after my name.
Some days I went to class, and I remember a discussion about sin. By the way, the Church is still against sin. A lot of people use as an excuse for having no morality that we cannot be judgmental. I have heard people in Confession say, “Bless me Father for I have sinned.” Okay. “I have judgmentalism.” So, I have a degree in Philosophy. I have a degree in Divinity. I have a minor in Military Science and one in Western Civilization. But I have no idea what you are talking about. I have absolutely no clue. There is no such thing. If you look in the two books on Moral Theology, it’s not there. There is the sin of rash judgement but not judgmentalism. We are called to judge. In my house I have to judge a lot. I open the refrigerator and if I see bushy green stuff, I have to make a judgement. Is that stuff supposed to be green? It’s always a question in my mind. So, we make judgements all the time because we are supposed to. Physicians and healthcare workers make judgements. Our Lord said you will know them by their fruits. You are supposed to judge actions. Actions are objectively evil or good. Very few actions by a moral agent are neutral. We are all moral agents. So, all of our actions are good or evil. They can be objectively wrong. This one bozo passed a State Trooper going 55 mph in a 35 mph zone. Hey dude, you are about to meet a new friend! He was wrong, and he was stupid. But we are not to judge beyond God’s mercy.
We are all called to make judgements. Sometimes in my former line of work, before I was here with you folks, I had to make instantaneous judgements. Otherwise, I would have lost my breathing privileges. In some fields, it’s the same. We are called to make judgements. We cannot judge anyone beyond God’s mercy. We don’t know the crosses they carry. We judge and treat them according to their actions. That’s the moral law.
I’m trying to get away from here for a little while because my cousin has cancer. We are hoping for a miracle although it doesn’t look promising. But, what the heck. Never asked, never granted. My cousin is a very gifted woman. She’s an artist. She can sing. She’s a nurse. She’s a beautiful woman. All women are beautiful, and my cousin is exceptionally so. My family has good looks and no money. Damn. Her father – my godfather – had his problems. He was a gambling addict and an alcoholic. He was a great engineer and absolutely brilliant. Some of that is genetic. Although 30+ missions as a waist gunner in a B-17 over Nazi Germany during WW II probably didn’t help much. My cousin grew up in a home like that. Her father tried. I can tell you that he struggled with his crosses because when he was near death, he asked me to hear his confession. That was faith. People who judged him would say that he was a worthless drunk and everything else. No. God did not forget him, and he did not forget God. It’s just that his crosses were so heavy that he fell a lot. Other so-called Christian religions believe they know who is in Heaven and who isn’t. That’s not true. We don’t know. We just work like heck and hope we get there.
We have to practice judgementalism on ourselves. We judge ourselves guilty of sin. Why don’t people go to confession? Some say, “Well, I don’t really have any sins.” Then you shouldn’t come to Communion. Huh? Communion is not a door prize for just showing up. Who do you receive in Holy Communion? You receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? He is our Savior. Okay. Two for two. What does He save us from? Sin. So, if you have no sin, you do not need Jesus. Let me know if you do. We judge ourselves guilty in order to receive Him. We cannot judge who is in Heaven. Remember, the good thief stole Heaven at the last minute. A man who thought he was smarter than the average bear was playing games with Bishop Sheen. He wanted to know if Jonah was really swallowed by the whale. Bishop Sheen said “I don’t know. When I get to Heaven, I’ll ask him.” The man said, “What if he’s not in Heaven?” Bishop Sheen said, “Then you ask him.” Do you know what the three biggest surprises in Heaven will be? Who is in Heaven. Who is not in Heaven. And, that we are there.
How will you apply this message to your life?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to http://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”
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.
We have been graced for a truly sweet surrender, if we can radically accept being radically accepted—for nothing! “Or grace would not be grace at all” (Romans 11:6)! As my father Francis put it, when the heart is pure, love responds to Love alone and has little to do with duty, obligation, requirement, or heroic anything. It is easy to surrender when we know that nothing but Love and Mercy are on the other side.
“When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”— Pope Saint Gregory the Great
“My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners. If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy. I desire to bestow My graces upon souls, but they do not want to accept them. You, at least, come to Me as often as possible and take these graces they do not want to accept. In this way you will console My Heart. Oh, how indifferent are souls to so much goodness, to so many proofs of love! My Heart drinks only of the ingratitude and forgetfulness of souls living in the world. They have time for everything, but they have no time to come to Me for graces.”— St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, p. 367
“Oh, what awesome mysteries take place during Mass! One day we will know what God is doing for us in each Mass, and what sort of gift He is preparing in it for us. Only His divine love could permit that such a gift be provided for us. O Jesus, my Jesus, with what great pain is my soul pierced when I see this fountain of life gushing forth with such sweetness and power for each soul, while at the same time I see souls withering away and drying up through their own fault. O Jesus, grant that the power of mercy embrace these souls.” — St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, 914
