Daily Reflection – Everything is Going to be Okay
Sermon Notes – September 25-26, 2021 – None of Us are Getting Out of Here Alive
“None of Us are Getting Out of Here Alive”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
September 25 – 26, 2021
Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
I want to tell you about my evil twin brother, Paul. While I was on vacation, I went to the local diner where it’s like Cheers with food, and everyone knows your name. If you are a regular, you pour your own coffee and bus your own table. The owner told me that my brother was the happiest when he could do something for someone else. That was very nice to hear.
I have good news and bad news for you today. The good news is about the latest that I have read about Covid. It’s 99.5% survivable. Now, that’s really good news! The bad news is that life is 0.0% survivable. None of us are getting out of here alive. One day the doctor is going to tell us that our birth certificate has been canceled. When I was in Gitmo, I was outside the hooch one night with Father Seamus, a Norbertine father, while he was having a cigar. This Air Force doctor walked by and said, “You know, Padre, that’s going to kill you.” Father Seamus took a drag on his cigar and said, “And what are you planning on dying of doctor?” We are called in the 5th Commandment to take all moral and prudent means to protect our health.
We are also called to prepare ourselves to meet Christ and to grow daily in holiness. This dispels the fear that the devil creates about our passing whenever that will be. Sometimes it will be like Dorothy Strube at age 96, and sometimes it will be much sooner. There was an announcement in the obituaries about a gentleman who was 46 when he passed away. We don’t know when it will happen, but constant communion with Him in this life will make us happier and make those around us happier. It will dispel the fear of transitioning from this life to the next…hopefully to heaven, if you do it right.
I read about this one man who committed murder in France and who was sentenced to death. His conversion in prison was so great and so amazing, that he was nominated for sainthood for being a servant of God. He did go to the block…the French took their heads off in those days. So, he was executed, but he was nominated for sainthood for such was his transition even in that small window. My point is this: Why wait for that small window?
We are called to grow closer to God. Drawing close to Him will provide peace for our souls. That moment of death will not be tragic. Instead, it will be a fulfillment of our love. Two hearts who love each other so tenderly will be together for all of eternity and never separated by sin. I say that to the dying. I say, “Make your peace with God and go meet your savior. You will never lose Him again.” That’s where we are all headed…to have peace so that we can become holy.
Do not let your crosses, whatever they may be or how many you may have, cause you to think you aren’t doing something right. “If I were doing it right, my crosses would be much lighter, and I wouldn’t fall so often.” All of that is “bravo sierra” from the devil. Saint Teresa of Avila said, “If this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few.” Conversely, the more crosses you seem to have, the greater the love Christ has for you. So, carry your cross, if not for yourself, for others and drawing them to salvation and away from the suffering of the world. The devil uses many things – he is the father of lies – and he may make you think you are not drawing closer to God when, in fact, you are. Be prudent about your health in all things. Also, realize that no matter how many things there are to triumph over, there will be a moment when God will call you from this life to another. And, He will ask you, “Did you love Me?”
How will you apply this message to your life? Are you taking all moral and prudent means to protect your health as we are asked to do in the 5th Commandment? Are you preparing to meet Christ by growing in holiness?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to 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). Sermon notes can also be found on the church Facebook page by Googling “Facebook Our Lady of the Annunciation Albemarle”
Morning Offering – The Fruit of Silence is Prayer
“The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.”— St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
//Catholic Company//
Daily Reflection – The Ingredients of Lasting Happiness
An Instrument of Peace
Every Sunday Just Got Better
A good meal will get you out of a hangry (hungry + angry) mood, but it takes more than a basket of chicken tenders to get you back to truly being the-best-version-of-yourself. The truth is — the next meal or purchase or thing isn’t going to solve the problems that keep you up at night. So maybe it’s time to switch your focus. Maybe it’s time to start feeding your soul instead…
You’re not fully you when you’re spiritually hungry. That’s why we created the Feed Your Soul Gospel Reflection program with Matthew Kelly and Allen Hunt! These free weekly videos were created just for you – so feed your soul and prepare for Sunday in a powerful way.
This week’s Gospel reflection is on Luke 24:35-4
Minute Meditation – Hearts on Fire
Franciscan prayer, lived to its full, is to set the human heart on fire. It is to transform one’s body into a body of love and one’s actions into actions of love. In this transformation is the fire that can set the earth ablaze — the fire of light, peace, justice, unity and dignity. It is to see the wounds of suffering humanity and bind them with mercy and compassion. It is to see and feel for all creation — to love by way of self-gift. It is to live in the mystery of Christ, the mystery of God enfleshed.
— from the book Franciscan Prayer by Ilia Delio, OSF
//Franciscan Media//
Daily Reflection – Most of Us Could Use More Joy, Hope, and Peace in Our Lives
Minute Meditation – God is Always Present
Always it is the same: You suddenly realize that God has been there all along, that yes, God is present in your life. And the words of praise and thanksgiving rise to your lips, perhaps after great sorrow or suffering or that darkness of mind which seems endless and terrible when it is upon you. And what is it that brings that realization of God’s all-loving presence? Isn’t it that something changes inside you that cannot be explained by anything you did or anyone else did to you or for you? Often something you have been hoping for or praying for just happens. Perhaps you wake up one morning and something is different. You accept what you couldn’t before, or you look in the mirror and laugh at yourself. And peace seeps through your whole being, and everything seems good again in spite of pain or sorrow or loss.
— from the book Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Murray Bodo, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
Morning Offering – Everyone is in Such a Terrible Rush
“Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace in the world.”— St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
//Catholic Company//
Sermon Notes – July 11, 2021 – There is Hope
“There is Hope”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
July 10 – 11, 2021
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13
I came here 18 years ago. God bless you for doing that penance on Earth. You are gaining in purgatory here on Earth. I remember an article in the local paper about a gentleman from Misenheimer. Unfortunately, he received a cancer diagnosis. This was in the paper, so it’s public knowledge. This man decided not to go with conventional treatment, but with alternative medicine like living in a yurt in Misenheimer. And, as they say in medicine, he did not have an optimal outcome and died shortly thereafter. I don’t know what he was clinging to, but he had some hope and the knowledge that he wouldn’t have to go through the rigors of chemo, radiation, and surgery. If the diagnosis was dire, maybe this was one thing that unconventional medicine could do for him. At one time, shark cartilage was all the rage for people with cancer. It didn’t help the patient or the shark one bit. But, it gave cancer patients a glimmer of hope…there was something there, and they grasped at it. When we are afraid and hurt so much, we want something to heal us.
There is so much evil, anger, and strife in the world. We blame our co-dependent behavior on mental illness. But, we don’t have to be like that. None of us have to be like we were. . .wicked. A lot of Protestant sects are dying out. They try to make each other more relevant by legitimizing mental illness which is a diagnosis for gender dysphoria. They are co-signing these behaviors. Our good Lord told us that “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Follow Him, and you will find peace in your soul. Our Lord offers hope. This hope is not theoretical or intuitive, but a certainty. The hope He offers us is a promise. We have a program that our Lord has given us, and we know exactly what we must do. If we do what He asks us to do, these things will happen.
God’s promise has been demonstrated over history. For example, if you take your medicine, you will see positive results. If I take a tiny, little pill in the morning, my blood pressure is fine all day. This is a demonstrable result. If I don’t take that pill for a long time, bad things will happen to me. Our Lord gives us hope to enable us to carry our crosses day-by-day. Some crosses are predominate and have always been with us, while others change over time with old age and infirmities. Whatever crosses we bear, whether it is gender dysphoria or addiction, the good Lord gives us the grace to triumph over them. This is not a wish, and it’s not a hope as the world sees hope. It is a certainty that if you do what Christ says, you will get what He promises.
Your crosses are many, and I know they are heavy. Our faith gives us not only a hope, but a way of making that hope a reality, bringing peace to our soul, making sense of the sufferings we endure, and giving us the strength to bear whatever cross our good Lord has asked us to bear for love of Him, for our salvation, and the salvation of others. This is the faith. This is the Church and the deposit of faith that gives us hope. There is no other way. If you look at history, everyone who has tried something different has failed. In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “It’s not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.”
You have hope, and you are demonstrating that hope by your presence here today. You come for God’s grace through the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that you can carry your daily crosses and be good followers of Christ. When you demonstrate your hope, you are teaching others, because they see it in you. It’s a day-to-day thing. Give that hope to someone else.
As a young man, I read the biographies of the saints and how their lives were transformed. I don’t read fiction. . .I’m a little old for fairytales. I like to read about what people did so that I can learn from them. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founded the Jesuit Order. Now, I was trained by the Dominicans, so this is a stretch for me to say this. What did he do? Saint Ignatius was a professional soldier…a hit man. He was a hired gun. Give him a lot of money and, although he wasn’t Italian, he would put the whack on people especially because of their religion. And, look at what happened to him. He had a great conversion. The head of the gestapo in Rome, Italy, was Herbert Kappler. He put the whack on people. . . a lot. After the war, a priest visited him, and he became Catholic. Dr. Bernard Nathanson performed over 10,000 abortions. He also converted to Catholicism after a priest visited him.
My correspondence is different from most. I received a letter in the mail the other day from the local, state-run, residential community known as the Albemarle Correction Facility, a medium security prison that I visit. This one man, who didn’t know me, reached out to me. The envelope was addressed to “Priest Peter Fitzgibbons.” Close enough…at least he’s getting there. He told me that he had grown up Catholic, but had fallen off the wagon a bit. . .or a lot. He’s a “state employee” now and eats state-issued fish. Ugh! If you’re out in the parking lot when they are cooking fish, and the wind is just right, you know it. I’m a hospital chaplain, so smells don’t usually bother me, but that one does. Anyhow, this inmate wants to come back to the Church. He’s had enough. There are a couple of other inmates that I’ve brought in to the Faith. They also were at a point where they’d had enough and reached out to me in hope. You know who touched them in prison? It wasn’t me…I’m only there once a month. Other inmates who’d had enough and came back to Jesus. They saw hope realized in other people.
Our testimony to the world is the faith that we have been given, the faith that we have been called to hand down, and the faith that we teach by example. We are living testimonies of the power of Christ by carrying our cross every day. We may fall down, but we have the strength to get back up and carry on. This is the hope and reality we can pass on by our actions. It is how we teach and how we give hope to others. We can give other people hope with their struggles just as you found hope with the crosses you carry. But, we can’t if we are angry and bitter. What’s wrong with you? Jesus was a man of peace. Our good Lord loves them and wants to transform them. You are not your sins. You are not your crosses. You are children of God. God has given us the truth, the means, and the infallible teaching of how to achieve the daily transformation we need in order to get to heaven. Sometimes, these transformations are amazingly quick, and at other times they are sustaining. “Well, Father you have been a priest for a long time.” Yes. “I see you haven’t changed much.” But, can you imagine what I’d be like without my prayers every day, my confessions, and daily Mass? Can you imagine what I’d be like? I’d rather not…You cannot unsee some things. Our transformation is always happening in us and won’t be complete until we die.
How will you apply this message to your life? Renew your hope in Him so that you can teach others by your example.
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.