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3 Virtues to Grow Closer to God
Can you guess what 3 virtues are needed to grow close to God?
In his book, “Introduction to the Devout Life”, St. Francis de Sales lists patience, humility, and meekness as the most essential virtues to live holy lives devoted to God.
What makes these so important?
Patience gives us the ability to endure trials and suffering, humility helps us see ourselves as we truly are in relation to the greatness of God, and meekness calms our tempers so that we may show God’s peace to others.
Cultivating these virtues is just the beginning.
Sermon Notes – Leprechauns Are Not Real
“Leprechauns Are Not Real“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
April 3 – 4, 2021
Gospel: John 20: 1-9
How do you know someone is alive if you don’t see them? I’ve taken a clue from the sheriff detective…there is fresh evidence. For instance, you may not see a family member for a day, but you know they are alive, right? You see dirty plates right where they left them. You see your husband’s dirty socks right where he left them. I guess he figured the Molly Maid Service would come by and pick them up. You may not see the person, but you see fresh evidence that they’ve been there and that they are alive. They may have left a note for you. They may have cooked dinner for you. You know they are alive even though you may not have touched them or laid eyes on them. Likewise, we have not touched the resurrected Christ, but we know that He is alive. We see the evidence.
From the very beginning, the Chief Priests bribed Roman soldiers to lie and say that disciples stole the body of Christ. That must have been one big bribe. The Romans knew quite well what betrayal meant. It meant instant death. The Romans did not refer anyone to defense counsel. If you failed in doing your duty, you were duly executed in a very brutal way. The Roman army did not play. No bail. No defense attorney. You were executed. So, it had to be a pretty big bribe. Even back then, there was fake news. “Christ wasn’t resurrected.” “His body was stolen.” You don’t steal a body after a couple days in Palestine. Trust me on this one. Ask any police officer or nurse. Nobody steals a body after that length of time. That’s fake news. Sound familiar? As scripture says, there’s nothing new under the sun. All through the centuries, people have claimed that Christ is dead or He was just a nice guy or He was the same as Muhammad and Buddha. None of them claimed that He was God. They try to relegate religion to just old wives tales. But, as much as they tried, the Chief Priests couldn’t keep a lid on the news of Christ’s resurrection even with the use of armies and the threat of persecution. That’s because it’s true. If it wasn’t, why would they spend all the time, money, and energy to say it’s not?
Why do people complain about the Catholic Church and its teachings? It’s the message of Christ. If it’s not true, why do they bother? If it’s not true, why do they care? They can go live their lives and do other stuff. They complain, because they know it is true. Our Lord proved Himself to all those detractors. They are gone, but we are still here. We have evidence through the centuries that Christ is still alive. Look at what our Catholic Church has done. We have built universities and hospitals. These are the things we do best. What was the cause of all those centuries of good works? It was the love of Christ in us. The living love of Christ is still evident today. You know it’s true, because you are here today. You have faith in the resurrection, and you have faith in Jesus Christ. You are here to be touched by the love of God and to draw closer to Him. Is there some fear in all of us? Of course there is, just as there was for the women at the tomb. But, you overcome your fear through your faith. That’s why you are here today. By your presence, you proclaim the resurrection of Christ, and that He is not dead. He’s not a footnote in history. He wasn’t just some really nice guy. By your faithful attendance at Mass and participation in the Sacraments, you are making your profession and belief in the resurrection and that Christ lives. One day you will share His life. Most of us won’t be around for the end of the world; as far as I know.. I haven’t gotten any phone calls. On that day, we too will go to the tomb just like Mary Magdalene and the women did on Good Friday morning.
As you look through the history of the Church, God has never been unfaithful to His followers. Never…not once. In seminary I learned a lot of stuff, well they think I did, but I was supposed to learn a lot of stuff. We studied Thomas Aquinas and the five proofs of God. I will prove to you that God exists and also how faithful He is. I guarantee that if you pray for this it will happen on your way home. Guaranteed. Pray for patience. “Lord, I want to grow in patience, I want to be meek, humble, and understanding,” Pray that prayer, and I guarantee that you will find five nitwits who will irritate the living heck out of you and try your patience on the way home. Patience is an acquired virtue that you get by practice. Ask for patience, and our good Lord will say, “Great! You got it.” He will send all those nitwits to help you grow in that virtue. That’s the quickest way to prove that God exists. The quickest proof that God listens to your prayers and answers them. God is alive and active. We have 2,000 years of proof. We see His results. Do we see them as often as we’d like? No. He hides in our human nature.
We believe in the resurrection of Christ. If it wasn’t true, why have so many people for over 2,000 years kept saying it’s not true? You can see that God is alive. We do not see Him directly, but He is alive. He is working in us. He is working through you. He took the humanity that He received from the Blessed Mother to His sacred Passion and resurrection and then to Heaven. He uses His humanity to make His love present and known to the world. He does that for us. Each of us, in our own vocation, are to prove to the world that God’s love is alive. The grave could not hold Him. God promised that we will imitate His resurrection. So, for those who follow Him, the grave will not hold us. We will be like Him. We will suffer probably, in one way or another, and we will rest in our graves until the day of our own resurrection. That is not defeat…that is victory.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you help prove to the world that God’s love is alive?
Father’s Afterthoughts…
Now part of my Irish cultural heritage is the belief that leprechauns are real. I think it’s because we drank a wee bit too much ale. You never hear anyone complain about leprechauns. But, they don’t exist. If you see any, I can get you some help. I know people. You will feel much better.
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 looking for a specific topic.
Sermon Notes – You Cannot Judge Someone’s Insides by Their Outside
“You Cannot Judge Someone’s Insides by Their Outside“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
February 6 – 7, 2021
Gospel: Mark 1: 29-39
A number of years ago, I was vacationing at my now dead brother’s house. My sister-in-law is very nice, and she let me stay there. Why she married my brother is a mystery to me. In my bedroom was a fireplace. This is a four bedroom house with two fireplaces, and I had one of them. I was looking around at all of their pictures…I love looking at people’s pictures. I saw a picture of my sister-in-law’s brother. He was a good looking officer dressed in his Army Class-A uniform. I asked my sister-in-law if he had ever served in Vietnam, and she said yes. Did he ever tell you anything about the ribbons on his uniform? She said no. Well, I wouldn’t expect him to, but I’ll tell you this, because I think you need to know. You might want to ask him about this top ribbon. The highest award always goes on top. That is the Distinguished Flying Cross which is usually a downgraded Medal of Honor. You should know about that. A few years later, he and I were sitting in the ICU while my brother was on his journey to Heaven. He told me about some of his travels while he was in Vietnam. I can’t tell you about them, because they are all classified, but, he did some pretty impressive things. Now, he looks like a retired old man. You just never know what people have done…about the good they have done.
When my brother was laid out in the box, he had all of these badges on his uniform. He was a fire captain and assigned to fire and rescue. I didn’t understand what the badges meant, so I asked a friend of his, Mike Scallion. Mike said, “He never told you?” No. “Well, these are for the people he saved… he saved a lot of lives.” But, my brother never told us. People would come up and ask him to loan them money. He’d say, “Sure!” To my brother, it was a gift. He never loaned money. You never know the good things people have done. I still hear stories about my brother when I go home.
Conversely, you never know about the crosses people were given to carry by our good Lord. There are the crosses we bear from birth that God gives us all. Some change throughout our lives and come with age. There are the crosses we have because of our sins which we have acquired on our own. There are also the crosses that other people have given us. Perhaps we didn’t have perfect parents. I see a lot of those crosses in the Gated Community I visit. People with those crosses have a harder shot at life than most of us. You never know the crosses people are called to carry. But, they have made their choices, and their crosses are mostly because they avoid God and choose to do evil. The habit and attraction of sin carries its own cross. Finally, there are the crosses we bear for our family, friends, and others.
Now, when you leave here, you will probably encounter people who will irk the living you-know-what out of you. Somehow, they find a way to stumble across our path. They may cut us off in traffic. They may take our buggy in Harris teeter or Walmart. They’ll do something, and you may want to go charismatic on them. We might do that to people too, believe it or not, some of you might irk other people…I don’t know. My First-Sergeant had a very effective counselling technique. He was charismatic and laid hands on people. We used to call it “wall-to-wall counselling,” and it usually solved the problem in one short session. If it’s not strangers that irk us, it’s our family. Those are the ones who can irk us the most. My cousin calls me and always wants to Face-Time. The last time he called me, I was hearing confessions when all of a sudden the theme from the “Godfather” starts playing – that’s my ring tone. My phone showed that it was Jim, and he wanted to FaceTime. Hey Cuz – I don’t do Face-Time. Learn it. God allows people in our lives for a number of reasons, not just to irk us, but to teach us patience.
You obviously want to be holy, because you are here. But, being here is only a part of becoming holy. You have to go out and practice what you receive here. All of those rosaries do no good if we don’t use them. All the great Catholic books in the world and all the crucifixes do no good if we don’t put them into practice. It’s nice when people say, “Father, that was a great sermon.” Thanks. Take a copy of the sermon notes; I’ll even autograph it for you. But it does no good unless you put the message into practice. So, God sends people into our lives to remind us to pray for others and to help them carry their crosses. He puts these people in our lives to help us learn patience along with suffering. We don’t know what crosses people are carrying. We all would like for people to be considerate and compassionate toward us, but how can we be considerate and compassionate toward them? By praying for them and helping them carry their crosses, whatever those crosses are. They may be helping to carry someone else’s cross…you never know. You cannot judge someone’s insides by their outside.
I ask patients how they are doing. Some will say, “Fine!” But, you are in Hospice care. Do you know what fine means? I think we need to talk. I wouldn’t be putting in menu orders for tomorrow if I were you. We don’t know what’s going on inside of people. But, if they are like us, and yes, they are all like us, some better…some worse, but generally, we are all the same. We can help them carry their crosses. If they are irksome and obnoxious to us, it may be because you have called upon them when they were struggling or having a bad day, or maybe they had just gotten some bad news. There are all sorts of reasons, culpable and inculpable, but we are called to pray for them all. By doing so, you are helping them carry their cross. Even if we do something nice for them, and they don’t thank us…boy, that ticks you off, doesn’t it? You do something nice for someone, and they don’t thank you? Oh, baby! I need a thank you note for that dinner or that Christmas gift! But, be thankful to have been found worthy to suffer for Him. Say, “Thank you, Jesus for allowing me to suffer for the sake of your name.”
Father’s Afterthoughts…
Alcohol is very good for COVID, but only if used externally
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.”