“His Gifts Teach Us to Love”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
March 21 – 22, 2026
Gospel: John 11:1-45
Today is called Spy Sunday. Do you know why? You never know when there’s going to be a pop quiz with me. It is called Spy Sunday because the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus. Scripture says that Jesus had to steal into Jerusalem. The statues and crucifix in the church are covered out of shame that our Lord had to sneak into His own city of Jerusalem, the city of David, because His chosen people were trying to kill Him.
The Gospel today is very crystalized because we can see who Christ is – true God and true Man. The hypostatic union, as you all know, is the one human nature Christ took from the Blessed Mother and assumed into His divine nature. That is represented at the altar, with one drop of water placed into the chalice of wine, symbolizing His incarnation. Jesus showed that when He wept at the death of His friend, Lazarus. Did He know that He would raise Lazarus up? Of course, He did. But He showed that He shares our pain during those times. Scripture tells us how to deal with our grief when it happens. When we feel pain at the death of someone, it is not because we don’t love Jesus enough. It is because our love has changed. Bishop Sheen wrote that when Martha went to our Lord and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” she didn’t say it sweetly. No, Martha was torqued. She probably used His full name and had her finger in His face. Every man knows that when a woman uses your full name, you are in deep trouble. “Jesus bar Joseph [Jesus son of Joseph], if You had been here, my brother would never have died!” Martha probably had Jesus by the lapel of His tunic. She was really torqued because you only get angry at people you love when they disappoint you. When people cut you off on the highway, about a mile down the road, you are over it. But she was very angry at Jesus and disappointed in love.
All of us, if we live long enough, will know grief. We will have people we love that God will take from this world to Himself. Now I have been an orphan for about 30 years, which is rather frightening because I should not be left without adult supervision. What is especially frightening about that is that the Army let me have command of heavily armed soldiers with bad attitudes. I’m the last of my family, which makes Christmas shopping easier. It’s all about the ching. However, I’m left alone. It will happen one day if God blesses us with a long life. But it’s an opportunity to go to Him in prayer, even if you are angry and use bad words. God is a big God; He’ll get over it. Most of the swear words we use are old Anglo-Saxon words that have no celestial meaning at all. We get torqued when we think God has disappointed us. Our Lord hears us, and He says, “Wait, and you will have My consolation.” If you remember, He took His sweet time getting to Bethany, a Palestinian town, to raise Lazarus. They had to use the shoe leather express because there were no buses and no SCUSA. But a delay in an answer does not mean ‘no.’
When we lose someone when they die, our love has changed but not ended. It is a temporary separation. Our love has changed, and it is uncomfortable, even frightening. I had to pull the plug on my mother. Actually, I have pulled the plug on a couple of people, all legally so. We get angry with God in our souls. Eventually, our love will change, but it takes time. Clinically, and this is the job I do, it will take an average of about two years. It could take more or less time. Will you always miss them? Yes, and your missing them, like your love, will grow deeper and will change. That’s not bad, it just changes. Change is change.
He was always there. He didn’t ask Martha, “Are you worthy of this? What’s in it for me, maybe another dinner?” No. Our Lord did it because He loved Lazarus, who had been in a hot, humid tomb in Palestine for four days. It is safe to say there was a stench. Nobody was having burritos after Lazarus came out of the tomb. Ask any medic or police officer. But from Lazarus’ perspective, do you think he might have been a bit upset? He has to die again. Come on! He had it made; he would have been in Heaven! Now he had to go through dying again. Are you kidding? But out of love, he did anything our Lord asked of him. Lazarus was willing to die again because the Lord asked him to.
Our Lord will always come to comfort us in all our afflictions. I’ll tell you a story about some chaplain students who were shadowing me at the VA. I took them down to hospice, and they were asking patients, “Can I pray with you?” I really wanted to tell them to “shut up,” but instead, I told them they were there to learn. They asked me, “What are we going to learn?” I told them they would learn from the patients. They said, “But I want to bring them to Jesus.” Jesus is already there. Do you think anybody loves that person more than Jesus? You don’t need to bring Jesus to them; He’s already there. So, sit down and appreciate the presence of Christ and the presence of their guardian angels. Death comes to all of us, and it’s sad. I don’t minimize anybody’s grief. It’s terrible. Something we don’t do often in grief work, the five stages of grief, is to express gratitude. Nobody says thank you.
I had great parents, and I’m thankful for that. They didn’t kill me when I definitely needed it. They also didn’t put me in a basket and send me down the river. I had great brothers. They didn’t leave me any money, but I still love them. Cheap buggers. Anyway, say thank you for the great gifts you have. Some of you may have family members who are more challenging. We’ve all had that. Some of them you’d like to invite to a blanket party. But say ‘thank you’ for them because we had the great honor and blessing of helping them carry their crosses. Because even with all their crosses and all their problems, they taught us how to love. They were our teachers. We all come to church and say, “Lord, I love you.” Really? So, He tests our love by sending us these very interesting people, and it’s worse when it’s family. Strangers we can handle, but when it’s a family member, we want to put our hands around their throat. But they are gifts from God. Those gifts teach us how to love and to love others more than ourselves.
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.” 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.”
