“The Apostles Had a V-8 Moment”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
August 7 – 8, 2021
Gospel: John 6: 41-51
On Friday, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration. Ten days before His Passion, our good Lord took three of the twelve apostles – Peter, James, and John – up to the mountain to give them the final revelation of who He was …the final miracle before His Passion. He did this to strengthen them for the trial that was to come. On the mountain, Jesus lowered the veil of His humanity to show them His divinity. Remember, Jesus was one Who and two What’s . . . one person and two natures. The human nature that He took from the Blessed Mother was assumed into His divine nature. On the altar, when I put one drop of water into the chalice with the wine, it symbolizes two natures in one person. The wine is consecrated and turned into the Most Precious Blood on the altar. We have a foretaste of what Heaven will be like.
Now, the apostles saw Moses and Elijah, but how did they know it was them? There were no pictures. There were no selfies back in the days of the Old Testament. There were no statues. So, how did they know? Their minds were enlightened in the presence of God. Moses and Elijah talked to our Lord like one man to another just as we will when we are in Heaven. They talked about what would happen in future events. How? Because Heaven is the eternal now. God said, “I who I am.” He is the eternal now . . . no past and no future . . . the eternal present. It’s a foretaste of His gift. Our Lord gave the apostles this great gift to strengthen them for the terrible scandal of the cross. And, what happened? Even though they had seen three years of miracles and the revelation of who Jesus was, they all took off. They had not comprehended the lessons. Afterward, they realized that this is what He is. They had a spiritual V-8 moment.
Our good Lord, as He did for the apostles, He does for us. Before our great trials, we have a sense of God’s presence when He manifests Himself to us. He also does that every now and then to remind us of His love. Oftentimes, like the apostles, we miss it. We are too busy, too wound up, and too distracted, so we miss it. I read a book about 40 years ago by Father Adrian Van Kaam. In the book, he said, “God speaks to us with ordinary signs like the wind and the stars, and we often miss it. We are looking for something else.” With these terribly ordinary signs that we miss, God is telling us that He loves us and is with us.
During this big crisis we have right now, it may be comforting to think that in ages past it was much better. Ahh…No. You know why we think the past was better? Because we didn’t live in it. That’s why we think it was much better back then. But it wasn’t You weren’t there. Name for me any time period since the beginning of the world that was much better. You can’t, because there isn’t one. Everybody has their crosses in this world. We are much better off today except for our being so self-absorbed especially during this time. Now that the Corona virus has mutated into the Delta variant and the Lambda variant, people are panicking. “Oh my God! We are all going to die!” Well, I hate to bust your spiritual bubble, but we are all going to die. “Oh! This is terrible!” The Corona virus has a 99% survival rate. Okay? It’s much better than anything else we could possibly get. When I work in the hospital, doctors often tell patients, “We can’t fix you.” And, they panic. You know, when you panic, you make wrong decisions. Fear paralyzes you. “But, the virus is out there!” So, what are you going to do about it? You will take the ordinary precautions and move on with life. Do not be trapped by fear. That’s a tool of the devil. When you listen to his suggestions, it causes you to make bad judgements. God is always present and giving you signs of His love. That’s why I never stop the Mass when something happens. . .they are signs that God is with us. Would I like to be sick? No, I’d rather not. I’m not a very good sick person. I’m not a very good person, in general, but I’m really not a very good sick person. Besides my personality disorder of being a pain, you know why? Because I’m a soldier. I can soldier my way out of this. Ask Stump or Doc or anyone else who has served in the military. When I had to undergo anesthesia for a couple of procedures, I thought, “I’m good. I can drive.” I couldn’t walk, but I thought I could drive. I’ll be fine! Like a soldier, I do my job…a sign that God is with me.
If you stare at something with intent, you will miss the obvious, because you are looking at something else. Keep in mind that every now and then, you will see something extraordinary. Remember that our Lord is constantly with us. He is always present and desperately trying to get our attention. Whether it’s through a sign by our Guardian Angel or the Blessed Mother, our Lord shows us that He is present and never far away and may even be right next to you. God talks to us through people, places, and things. I’m great at loving myself. Sometimes, I wonder if God loves me as much as I love me. I’m pretty sure He loves me more. My vocation tells me that He does. We can show human kindness to others through Corporal Works of Mercy. We can act as Christ would have us act. Perhaps, we can be nice while driving and let someone in. Maybe, we can let someone go ahead of us in the checkout line at Wally-World or Harris Teeter . . . just ordinary, everyday things. Showing extra courtesy is so extraordinary these days.. We can show courtesy not by just doing things, but by not doing things. If someone cuts you off in traffic or is going ten miles below the speed limit or doing what I call “the slinky” . . . their speed goes from 40 to 58 to 25 to 52. Yo, dude, you’ve got cruise control on that car. Use it! If it’s an older driver, you don’t know what’s going on with them. They may be crackers, so you need to practice patience. Say the Rosary. Also, if they are really old people – if you can’t see them over the back seat – they are probably on their way to Florida. They are like a Q-Tip driving a car. All you can see is this puff of white hair over the seat. But they may have just buried their husband. They may have just buried their wife. Wouldn’t we love for someone to show us extra courtesy? We have our troubles too. So, if we are willing, God can use our human nature, like He used the one He took from Mary, to show His love to the world and make it visible.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you show human kindness to others through the Corporal Works of Mercy?
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.
