Daily Reflection – Your Passion is Waiting
Sermon Notes – There’s No Apple Pie in Heaven (Darn It)
“There’s No Apple Pie in Heaven (Darn It!)“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
April 10 – 11, 2021
Gospel: John 20:19-31
You may remember my sermon on Holy Thursday that was so wonderfully entitled “When a one man band gets hit in the butt with a beer truck, the music stops.” Our Lord gave the apostles and their successors the ability to carry on with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the ages so that the fruits He won through His death could be passed on. He told the apostles if you forgive their sins, they are forgiven. That happens every generation with every priest. Any priest who says the Mass has the power to give these gifts and to forgive sins. We have to hear the sins by the way. Jesus told the apostles, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” So, how do we know? Because people tell us. The sins we hold bound and do not offer forgiveness for are those you are not sorry for and those you are not going to try to stop. If you come in and say you are living with two girlfriends as husband and wife, and you are not going to stop, I cannot forgive you because you are attached to the sin. So, you have now heard part of the penance course.
Also in the gospel, and the main point I want to get at, is that the transfiguration took place about ten days before the Passion. Our Lord showed us what the saints are like in Heaven. They are recognizable, and they know the future because Heaven is the eternal now. We are in time, but Heaven is not. Our good Lord shows us what the saints would be like after the resurrection of the body and the General Judgement should we pass that final exam. The questions come from Matthew Chapter 25… I’ll give you a heads-up so you can prepare for it. He shows us what it will be like and how to get there. He shows us that we will have a body and that it will be recognizable and that it can move through walls. “It’s a ghost!” No, it’s not. It has physicality to it. Touch my hand. Touch my feet. In the gospel, Jesus asks for food, and He ate it. Now, we won’t need food in heaven, which I find quite disappointing. My mother has been gone for several decades, and I was looking forward to her apple pie. Even her sisters say they can’t bake like my mother did. Thanks, a lot! So, there will be no food in heaven, but we know that we will have our body with us.
Heaven is a place. A physical body needs a place in paradise to be in the presence of God. Our Lord also teaches us how we can get there. Probe the nail prints in My hands and the spear marks in My side. Bishop Sheen said that God will judge us by the resemblance of His Son in us. He will look at us. He will look at the three parts of man having suffered with My Son for the admission of sin for the sake of others. He will look at the body, soul, and spirit. Not everybody will have physical suffering to the extent Christ had, but everyone will have emotional or spiritual sufferings. Some suffer greatly depending upon the time, the place, and the person. This is what our God the Father will look for – to see the marks of His Son. This is how we become like Jesus, God’s resurrected Child.
We will have our body reunited to our soul. Remember, the soul and the body cooperated with Christ, therefore they both will receive the reward. The soul and body cooperated in sin, so they both need to do the punishment. Our Lord not only showed us what Heaven would be like, He also showed us how to get there. As Saint John said in his epistle, “If we love Him, keep His commandments.” A lot of people forget that one part. If you love Him, keep His commandments. After all, His commandments are not burdensome.
How will you apply this message to your life? Do you love Him? Are you keeping His commandments?
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.
Today’s Feast Day – April 3rd – Holy Saturday
On Holy Saturday the Church mourns in prayer and fasting, meditating on Christ’s Passion and Death. There is no Mass during the day as Jesus is still in the tomb. On this day Jesus descended triumphantly into Hades (called the “harrowing of hell”) and brought salvation to the righteous souls held captive there who awaited their promised Messiah, as recited in the Apostle’s Creed. On the night of Holy Saturday the Church celebrates the Vigil of Easter Sunday, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the tomb, the traditional time when the Sacraments of Initiation are given to new members of the Church.
//The Catholic Company//
Today’s Feast Day – Holy Thursday
On Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday) the Church celebrates the three pillars of the Catholic Church instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper: the priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the Holy Eucharist. This is the traditional day for priests to gather with their bishop at the Chrism Mass, to receive oils blessed by the bishop and to publicly renew their priestly promises. In the evening the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. After this Mass the altar is stripped bare and the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the Tabernacle and processed to a separate altar of repose. Here the Blessed Sacrament is adored until late in the night to commemorate the time Jesus spent in Garden of Gethsemane in agonizing prayer, the start of his Passion. The Blessed Sacrament is then taken away and hidden until the Easter Vigil in memory of Our Lord’s death and burial.
//The Catholic Company//
Feast Day – March 28 – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the reliving of the final seven days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. On this day the Church recalls the triumphal entrance of the Messiah into Jerusalem in order to accomplish the Pascal Mystery: His Passion, death, burial, and resurrection for the salvation of all mankind. Jesus rode into the city on a colt as the crowd laid their cloaks and palm branches on the road before him, shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest!”
//The Catholic Company//
Feast Day – March 21st – Passion Sunday
The 5th Sunday of Lent is historically known as “Passion Sunday” which ushers in the final two weeks of Lent, called “Passiontide.” Passiontide is characterized by a heightened celebration of Lent as Easter approaches, reaching its peak during Holy Week. During this period the faithful redouble their Lenten penances. It is also customary on this day to shroud all the sacred images in the churches with purple cloths, except the Stations of the Cross.
On Good Friday the crucifixes are unveiled, while the other sacred images are unveiled on the afternoon of Holy Saturday in preparation for the Easter Vigil. This imagery calls to mind how Christ hid his Divinity during his Passion and death, no longer performing miracles until his Resurrection from the dead. Likewise, the holy images are veiled in imitation of their Lord, their glory being unveiled with the joy of the celebration of Easter.
//The Catholic Company//
Saint of the Day – February 19th
Bl. Alvarez of (Córdoba) Cordova (1350-1430) was born to a noble family in Zamora, Spain. He joined the Dominican Order and preached throughout Spain, and served at the court of Queen Catherine. He went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and upon his return preached the crusades against the Muslims. He founded the famous priory of Scala Caeli (Ladder of Heaven) at Cordova, a convent of strict observance, and it is said that angels helped provide its building materials. He erected pictures of the holy places in Jerusalem in its gardens, popularizing the custom of the Stations of the Cross. He lived a life of great austerity and begged for alms even though he could easily obtain what he needed from the royal court. Numerous miracles are attributed to him. It is told that he once found a dying beggar, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him back to the convent. Upon unwrapping the cloth he found only a crucifix. Blessed Alvarez was dedicated to Christ’s Passion and helped spread devotion to the Way of the Cross throughout western Europe. He also successfully led a resistance against the anti-pope and brought Spain under allegiance to the true pope in Rome. His feast day is February 19.
Saint of the Day – February 13th
St. Catherine del Ricci (1522-1590) was born with the name Alessandra in Florence, Italy, to a respectable merchant family. Her mother died while she was very young, so that from her childhood Alessandra took the Blessed Virgin Mary as her mother. She was given to prayer and religious fervor, and at the age of fourteen decided to enter a strict Third Order Dominican convent, taking Catherine as her religious name. She developed into a great mystic with an intense devotion to the Passion of Christ.
For many years Catherine would go into ecstasy from noon every Thursday through 4 p.m. on Friday, experiencing in a mystical manner the sufferings of Christ during his Passion. She was also given the spiritual gift of the stigmata; Christ’s wounds would appear on her body through the course of the ecstasy. After enduring much humiliation for years on account of these sufferings, she was eventually accepted as a holy woman and later became prioress.
Catherine’s advice was widely sought on many spiritual and practical matters. Despite being cloistered, she kept up a loving correspondence with many relatives, friends, and her spiritual children. Among those in her correspondence were three future popes, Pope Marcellus II, Pope Clement VIII, and Pope Leo XI. Her feast day is February 13.
Morning Offering – Fix Your Mind on His Passion
“Fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inflamed with love for us, he came down from heaven to redeem us. For our sake he endured every torment of body and soul and shrank from no bodily pain. He himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love. We, then, are to be patient in adversity.”
— St. Francis of Paola
Meditation of the Day – The Mystery of Christ’s Suffering
“The Passion is described as the mystery of Christ’s suffering. It was a mystery at the time because people could not reconcile it with what they had expected. In the sense that we can never fully understand the idea of God suffering, the Passion is still a mystery. Now if our sufferings are somehow or other to fit into the Passion of Christ—and this is no fiction because this is where they belong—there will surely be an element of mystery about them. They will make demands on our faith.”—Fr. Hubert van Zeller, OSB