Sermon Notes – July 10, 2022 – “There are Heroes and Saints in Our Midst”

There are Heroes and Saints in Our Midst

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 July 9 – 10, 2022

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37 

You’ve heard me say that if you study scripture, you need to study with a rabbi or take some Jewish courses, because you need to read scripture in the proper context.  I took two courses with a rabbi, and it was fascinating.  In today’s gospel, the priest and the Levite were clergy, and they did not take care of someone who laid hurt on the side of the road.  You know what?  They didn’t have to.  According to the law at the time, if a hurt person was on your side of the road, you had to take care of them.   However, if the hurt person was on the other side of the road, the law said that you didn’t have to help them.  So, the priest and the Levite were justified in not caring for the hurt person according to the law.   But Jesus said, “My love goes beyond the law.”  People say, “Father, I’m a good Catholic…I go to Mass every Sunday.”  Being a good Catholic goes beyond not robbing banks and not committing murder.  Okay?

We tend to see people without really seeing them.  We see them as they are now and not in the way they were.  By the way, I watch all of you.  That’s why I was a good Battalion Chaplain.  I got to know my troops, and I could look at their faces and tell if something was wrong.  Our small parish is about the size of a battalion.  At church, people tend to sit in the same seat.  And if someone happens to sit in your seat, you stand there and stare at them.  “Hey! I always sit there, and I am not moving!”  It happens all the time.  So, when you are not here, I know it.  You can’t pull a fast one on the old man. 

Over the past few Saturdays, I have noticed that someone was not here.  He was a little guy who you wouldn’t give a second look at on the street.  His name was Ray Mikol, and I always called him by his first name.  Know what his first name was?  Sergeant Major.  He earned that.  He was in the Knights of Columbus.  He spent 29 years in Uncle Sam’s Army.  Ray suffered from a heart attack and went on to his rest.  Ray was an overachiever.  He earned the award that nobody wants to get – the Purple Heart.   They usually give that one to dead people.  He got the Bronze Star for valor.  He did a couple of tours in Vietnam.  He had all these good conduct medals and a Paratrooper Badge.  That’s like a Marine getting a Good Conduct medal.  It just doesn’t happen!  A paratrooper with a Good Conduct medal flies in the face of everything I know about paratroopers.  But think of all the sacrifices he made.  He loved God, and he loved his family.   He did the right thing and sacrificed for them.  And I am sure there are a lot of soldiers who have families and grandchildren because of him and his teaching by example.   That just goes to show you there are heroes and saints in our midst. 

How will you apply this message to your life?  ________________________________________

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Morning Offering – Live a New Life

“Keep to the ancient way and custom of the Church, established and confirmed by so many Saints under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And live a new life. Pray, and get others to pray, that God not abandon His Church, but reform it as He pleases, and as He sees best for us, and more to His honour and glory.” — St. Angela Merici

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Daily Reflection: To Do and To Suffer

“All the science of the Saints is included in these two things: To do, and to suffer. And whoever has done these two things best, has made himself most saintly.”— Saint Francis de Sales

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Meditation of the Day – We Cannot Change Ourselves

“However great our efforts, we cannot change ourselves. Only God can get to the bottom of our defects, and our limitations in the field of love; only he has sufficient mastery over our hearts for that. If we realize that we will save ourselves a great deal of discouragement and fruitless struggle. We do not have to become saints by our own power; we have to learn how to let God make us into saints. That does not mean, of course, that we don’t have to make any effort . . . We should fight, not to attain holiness as a result of our own efforts, but to let God act in us without our putting up any resistance against him; we should fight to open ourselves as fully as possible to his grace, which sanctifies us.”
— Fr. Jacques Philippe, p. 14-5

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Meditation of the Day – Some Make Light of Their Faults

“Some beginners, too, make light of their faults, and at other times indulge in immoderate grief when they commit them. They thought themselves already saints, and so they become angry and impatient with themselves, which is another great imperfection. They also importune God to deliver them from their faults and imperfections, but it is only for the comfort of living in peace, unmolested by them, and not for God; they do not consider that, were He to deliver them, they would become, perhaps, prouder than ever.”
— St. John of the Cross, p. 9