Tag: Saint Vincent de Paul

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Sermon Notes – September 28, 2025 – “Did You See Me in Them?”

“Did You See Me in Them?”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

September 27 – 28, 2025

Gospel: Luke 16:19-31

Yesterday was the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, the Patron Saint of Charity.  He was known for his care of the poor, hungry, and needy.  Saint Vincent said we should not be repulsed by their appearance, their uncouthness, their smell, or their confusion.  The Savior said that “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me” (Matthew 25:40).  So do not let those things deter you. 

During my priestly career, I remember spending 20 minutes talking to a patient whose cancer had become external and advanced to his brain.  That was a real treat for the senses. There is nothing like the smell of external cancer.  A nurse came into the room and sprayed Lysol.  That did not help.  But I sat there and I listened.  I remember seeing a patient in the Emergency Room who had little pieces of flesh falling off him.  He had bed bugs.  I have had several patients just swear at me when I came into their rooms.  I said to one of those patients, “Is that the best you’ve got? My aunt was a nurse, so if you want to impress me with your vulgarity, you need to step up your game.”   Do not be put off by the poor, sick, and needy.  They are children of God.  He loves them.  He created them, and He sustains them.  So how can we not love them? 

Some time ago, I watched a YouTube video about Cabarrus County deputy sheriffs.  One of the deputies had pulled over a woman who was doing 61 in a 45.  Usually that will get you a nice autograph and a request to make a contribution to the county and the state.  The deputy came up to the woman’s car, and he was very polite.  I was intrigued by this deputy’s counseling style.  He was very well trained, and you could see that he had a lot of experience.  This woman was belligerent.  The deputy told the woman that she had a bit of an attitude which set her off on another tirade.  He could see that this woman was going through a hard time, so he went back to his car and came back with a warning and not a ticket.  The deputy said to the woman, “It looks as if you are going through a hard time so I’m giving you a warning today.  Slow down.”  This deputy just kept talking to her gently and eventually she opened up to him.  She was three months clean from drugs.  She had just left an abusive relationship up north, and she had to leave her child up there.  She was having a bit of a meltdown.  Finally, she asked the deputy if she could give him a hug.  After she hugged him, the woman said that she was glad he had stopped her because she had been on her way to do something really stupid. 

It is not up to us to judge whether someone is worthy of our love.  We are not called to judge them.   No, it is they who will judge us because God will ask us, “Do you love Me?  Did you see Me in them?”

Father’s Reflections: I am glad to be home from vacation.  Now, you may be wondering, “What does a priest do on vacation?”  I don’t know what other priests do, but my vacations are always bizarre.   * I had a dead man buy me dinner twice.  * I survived a cat fight between my two cousins . . . that was a lot of fun.  * I was walking around the mall saying my prayers and getting my steps in, and people kept saying to me, “Hello. How are you?”  They were very pleasant.  But this is Rhode Island, and nobody does that.  What the heck is going on here!  Then I looked down at my shirt which belonged to my brother, and on the crest of the shirt was “Scituate Police.”  Those people at the mall were just sucking up to the cops.    * I almost got poisoned.  My friend made an Italian dinner for me which included an Italian pastry called zeppole.  Afterwards, I discovered that I have a gall bladder, and that it does not love zeppole nearly as much as I do.  She tried to poison a priest so that is very bad karma for her.  * I went dumpster diving with my sister-in-law.  That was fun.  * When I got off the plane in Charlotte, a parishioner approached me and asked, “Are you Father Fitzgibbons?”  Yes, I am.  I don’t fly on the airline in my clerical garb because it scares people.  One time there were six of us on the plane, and we were all in our clerical garb.  It scared the living you-know-what out of everyone on the plane.  Nobody moved.  Nobody stood up.  Everyone sat in their seats as quiet as church mice, and they didn’t ask for anything.   As we were leaving the plane, flight attendants were giving us food, drinks, and everything else they hadn’t needed during the flight.  * When I left the Charlotte airport, traffic was great, and I thought I would get home early.  I was on Hwy 85 or the ride of death – I felt safer in Iraq.  Then I turned onto Hwy 485.  There was a concert at the pavilion and traffic was bumper to bumper. It was like driving on a slinky, inching my way home.  Well, that was fun!

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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Saint of the Day – September 27 – Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent de Paul’s Story (1580 – September 27, 1660)

The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.

The Countess de Gondi—whose servant he had helped—persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.

Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, “whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.

Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.

Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

Reflection

The Church is for all God’s children, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness, poverty, ignorance, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has become starvation, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live.

Saint Vincent de Paul is the Patron Saint of:

Charitable Societies