Tag: Saint Thomas Aquinas

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Sermon Notes – August 11, 2024 – “It’s Not About Us”

“It’s Not About Us”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

August 10 – 11, 2024


Gospel:  John 6:41-51


In the church, we have stained-glass windows and the Stations of the Cross which represent the bible in pictures.   The Rosetta window above the altar displays the 15 mysteries of the Rosary which is also Scripture.  Way, way back before the Protestant’s so-called Reformation, we had these things.  Why?  One reason is because a lot of people couldn’t read.  It wasn’t their fault; they were just trying to survive.  Also, people didn’t have enough money for books because they had to be written on parchment or sheepskin.  It was very tedious work for monks to do.  When people came to church, they could see Scripture with their eyes, and as the priests were preaching, they would point out the various mysteries of the faith. 

The whole point of Scripture is to bring attention to Christ especially Christ incarnate in the Tabernacle.  This brings up something funny; in the so-called Reformation, their attention was solely on Scripture.  So, what did Protestants do?  They got rid of visible Scripture in their churches.  The stained-glass windows and Stations of the Cross were all gone.  I thought you loved Scripture.  So why did you get rid of the visible Scripture?  No one has answered that question for me yet. 

Everything we do is directed at the Tabernacle. We have proved that our Lord is in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  We have seen the evidence.  When we take our Lord away and denigrate the Blessed Sacrament, people leave in droves.  We come to Mass for a Who not a “what.”  I read a ritual book that stated, “The liturgy is the work of the people.”  No, that makes it a high school play.  The liturgy, which is the Mass, is Christ.  It’s a Who not a “what.”  You got that wrong and you flunked Theology 101.  That phrase never shows up anywhere in Church history.  I may have been sick a day or two while in seminary, but we were never taught that.  And I guarantee you that Saint Thomas Aquinas never wrote that.  Nor did Saint Louis de Montfort or Saint John Vianney.  People said, “We have to focus on the liturgy.”  So, they moved the Tabernacle to another location in the church to a place where you would be lucky to find it with a native guide.  When I got here, I started putting things back where they belonged, and people said, “Vatican 2 said this, and we have to do that.”  I said, “Okay, fine.”  I don’t want to get in trouble with anybody.  I get into enough trouble with local law, so I don’t need the Church law after me too.  Oh, did I say that out loud?  Show me where the Church decreed that.  I had a professor who was at Vatican 2.   Abbot Walter was a counselor at Vatican 2, and he claims they never said that.  Does anybody want to give out Communion?  Come on up.  No!  Does anybody want to perform surgery?  Come on up; we’ll give you a knife.  Have a good time.   No!   Everything is placed with reverence for the Eucharist.  Nobody is supposed to go beyond the altar rail except for the priest and those who have business at the altar.  And as soon as they finish, they leave.  The Tabernacle is supposed to be in a pronounced location.  When Bishop Jugis came in, God bless his soul, he had everything put back where it belonged. 

Every couple of centuries or so the Church has to do some housecleaning.  If some is good, more is better.  That’s true for hundred-dollar bills and pizza.  Everything else, not so much.  “We need more statues.”  No.  Statues are nice, but it gets so cluttered you can’t find our good Lord.  So, the Church has to do a little housecleaning and say, “That’s all very nice, very sweet, but it has to go away” so we can focus on our Lord.  All the Gospels in the past couple of weeks have been focused on the good Lord.  “I am the Bread of Life.”  The focus is always on Him and not on you, not on me, and not on the worshipping community.  By the way, I have no idea what “worshipping community” means.  Granted, I’m not the brightest bulb in the circuit.  Just as an aside, I was poking around on the internet to see what my classmates are up to, and I discovered that one of my classmates at my old diocese is now a monsignor.  Suck up!  He was Roman anyway.  When you are Roman, it’s like having graduated from West Point in the Army.   “You are all equal.”  No, you’re not.

The only thing we should focus on is our good Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  “I am the Bread of Life.”  It’s not about what you sing or who brings the gifts to the altar.  It’s all about Who is in the Tabernacle.  That is our faith.  Everything points to our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament and our focus should be only on Him.

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.”

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Minute Meditation – God Appreciates Our Prayers

Whatever struggles you may face with the rosary, never walk away feeling discouraged. If your mind wanders, if you don’t feel the fervor, or if you’re very sleepy while praying, remember that the words you are reciting are biblical and holy. Simply pulling out your beads and saying the sacred words is giving something beautiful to God, even if your heart or mind is not as into it as you’d like.

Moreover, as St. Thomas Aquinas taught, the intention to pray is itself the beginning of prayer. In fact, he wrote in his Summa Theologiae, “It is not necessary that prayer should be attentive throughout; because the force of the original intention with which one sets about praying renders the whole prayer meritorious.” If we sincerely desire to give God our best in the rosary, but we lose attention and fervor, that foundational good intention is still a beautiful gift to God. So even if our performance of the rosary is not as great as we’d like it to be, that doesn’t wipe out the foundation of a good intention.

—from the book Praying the Rosary Like Never Before: Encounter the Wonder of Heaven and Earth
by Edward Sri

//Franciscan Media – Facebook – 5/28/2024//

God Appreciates Our Prayers | Franciscan Media

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Saint of the Day – January 28 – Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Story (1225 – March 7, 1274)

By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.

At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239, he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.

By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.

Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.

His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony, and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.

The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on…. All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.

Reflection

We can look to Thomas Aquinas as a towering example of Catholicism in the sense of broadness, universality, and inclusiveness. We should be determined anew to exercise the divine gift of reason in us, our power to know, learn, and understand. At the same time we should thank God for the gift of his revelation, especially in Jesus Christ.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is a Patron Saint of:

Catholic Colleges and Universities
Educators/Teachers
Philosophers/Theologians
Students

Posted on

Saint of the Day – January 28 – Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Story (1225 – March 7, 1274)

By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.

At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239, he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.

By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.

Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.

His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony, and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.

The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on…. All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.

Reflection

We can look to Thomas Aquinas as a towering example of Catholicism in the sense of broadness, universality, and inclusiveness. We should be determined anew to exercise the divine gift of reason in us, our power to know, learn, and understand. At the same time we should thank God for the gift of his revelation, especially in Jesus Christ.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is a Patron Saint of:

Catholic Colleges and Universities
Educators/Teachers
Philosophers/Theologians
Students