“Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to My mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy. Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in My mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is-trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts.” —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul p. 560
“How many souls might reach a high degree of sanctity if properly directed from the first. I know God can sanctify souls without help, but just as He gives the gardener the skill to tend rare and delicate plants while fertilizing them Himself, so He wishes to use others in His cultivation of souls. What would happen if the gardener were so clumsy that he could not graft his trees properly, or knew so little about them that he wanted to make a peach tree bear roses?”— St. Therese of Lisieux, p. 64
“Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” —Mark 9:23-24
This is both a beautiful and a dangerous story about Jesus casting out a demon. Jesus both challenges the boy’s father to believe in him, and Jesus rebukes his disciples for not believing enough.
The beauty of the story is that Jesus demonstrated his power over demonic influence and sickness to heal someone. We believe the same power of Christ lives in us! The danger with this story, though, is that some people interpret it to say that when a person is not healed of a serious illness, they do not have enough faith. But that is not the truth.
We believe that God is all-powerful. We believe that Jesus still does miraculous healings. We also believe that—on this side of eternity—sickness can lead to physical death. Jesus did not heal everyone while he walked the earth; Jesus doesn’t heal everyone today. But Jesus does promise eternal life for all who believe in his name (John 3:16). This is the truth.
My daughter got a tattoo that says “Believe” when both her father and I were battling cancer at the same time. Rather than succumb to worry, she chose to believe that God was in control, no matter the outcome. Sometimes when our circumstances feel overwhelming, our prayer can simply be “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Jesus, we believe in your power to heal both our souls and our bodies. We trust that no matter what happens to our bodies, our souls are secure in you forever. Thank you. Amen.
“The Divine Heart is an ocean full of all good things, wherein poor souls can cast all their needs; it is an ocean full of joy to drown all our sadness, an ocean of humility to drown our folly, an ocean of mercy to those in distress, an ocean of love in which to submerge our poverty.”— St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
A lot of people quote scripture in their arguments, and that’s very good. It’s what you should do. However, when you do, you have to know and understand scripture. You have to be accurate, because good intentions can lead to very bad things. People say, “The death penalty is immoral, because in the Old Testament it says, “Thou shalt not kill.” So, we cannot have capital punishment, and we cannot go to war? Look at the laws of Israel; they had the death penalty on the books. So, you are saying that they got it wrong from the time of Moses for a 1,000 or so years before Christ came? They went to war all the time. “But, God said, “Thou shalt not kill.” He said thou shall not murder or take life unjustly. Under the 4th and 5th Commandments, you have an obligation. Under the 4th Commandment, you have the right to self-protection, and under the 5th Commandment you have a moral obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. If you want to get the living you-know-what beat out of you, be my guest. Be a conscientious objector…it’s your right. However, you have no right to aggregate that right to someone else. “Oh, I don’t believe in violence, so I’m going to watch you get the living you-know-what beat out of you.” No, no, no. That’s a grave sin.
Now, I have lulled you into a false sense of security, I’m going to give you a pop quiz. What makes this building special…besides the collection? It’s not a “what” that makes it special; it’s a “Who.” Who resides in this place that makes it so special? It’s the physical presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. That’s what makes this place special. This is His house. He is physically present here. This is where God resides in every Catholic Church which is the new temple. The temple is the Presence of God and the Holy of Holies. We are blessed, because when we come here, we can speak to God face-to-face like Moses did…as one person speaks to another. At the old temple, the Arc of the Covenant, inside the Holy of Holies, only a priest at a certain time could go in there. Jesus said, “You have forgotten what this place is. Yes, you have the sacrifice as required by law. But, you didn’t have to bring it inside the temple.” That defiled the temple. That’s why our good Lord went crazy and decided to do a little church renewal. I heard someone say that Jesus preached nonviolence. I don’t think so. He kicked behind. He went in to the temple and drove out a lot of people. He said, “Get out of My House. My house is a house of prayer.” Our souls, too, as much as the temple was, and the Church is, are meant to be God’s house of prayer. And, until God is present in our souls, we will never be happy.
Jesus preached violence against sin. Remember when He said, “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away….And, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out.” Yes, that’s hyperbole. However, we are called to use violence on our souls. We are not called to maim ourselves like having an extra piece of chocolate cake…you don’t need it. That would be a sin against both the 4th and.5th Commandments. However, we are supposed to use that same level of violence to protect from defiling the temple that we carry within us which is our souls. Oh, by the way, now you know why I ‘shush’ people who are talking in church, chewing gum, using their cell phones, and everything else. The Presence of God is here. This is His resting place. This is where He wants to come to us. We are supposed to do violence to anything that would impugn or impede His presence in us and drive Him from our souls…whether a person, place, or thing…the three sources of temptation. We are supposed to do whatever is necessary to rid of ourselves of anything that threatens His presence in our souls.
The Law of Physics says that two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time. So, God cannot abide in our souls at the same time sin is there or the attraction or affection for sin. We are supposed to use violence against ourselves to preserve the beauty of our souls. Not physical violence, although that has been done. Saint Francis of Assisi was tempted by impurity, so he rolled himself down a hill of thorns. So grave is the abhorrence of sin, that he went to that extreme. So be violent against sin. Realize the great gift of His presence that we have. If you are having trouble with that, come see me in Confession, and I’ll get rid of that stuff for you, and you’ll be all set.
People complain about so many things in the world. “Oh, people don’t have a computer.” “Oh, people don’t have this or that.” You know, it’s been that way since the beginning of time. What people need is God. Mother Teresa didn’t have a computer. She had one change of clothes. She seemed like a pretty happy woman, didn’t she?. She had nothing else except God in her soul. Our souls are meant to be ready for God’s presence. Like the temple in the Old Testament and like our beautiful church which is a testimony, by the way, of your great love. Everything here is your love for our good Lord made present. We must do what is necessary to make our souls a resting place for Him to come and dwell within us. Realize the gift of Him that dwells in your soul. The same Him who dwells in the Blessed Sacrament. The same Him who dwells in the temple. The same Him who dwells in Heaven. And, when you realize that gift, and achieve the constant realization of that gift, you will do anything to preserve it.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you rid your soul of whatever hinders God from residing there?
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.
How can you love God more? How can you experience more of His love? The answer is really very simple. By loving yourself less. God is love Himself. He has no need of our love and is totally self-sufficient. But, God wants to give us His love. Unfortunately, God, being the perfection of all virtues, including politeness and courtesy, won’t break into our souls. We have to open our souls up to Him. If our souls are closed off by self-centeredness, He cannot come in. He wants to give us His immense love and to fill our souls completely with Himself.
We can grow in the love of God by taking on little penances and pious practices. Doing so will help, but two things are important. They have to be small, and they have to be practical. Too often, people say they will grow in the love of God by doing a lot of grandiose things. But, it’s impractical, because they won’t do it. Instead, take little steps. The first step to take is to realize that we need to improve. That’s actually a big step, because many people are satisfied with maximizing the minimums. “Father, I go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days.” “I go to confession once a year.” “I don’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent.” “I obey the Ten Commandments.” “I don’t rob banks.” Okay. But, there’s a lot more in the book our Lord tells us to do. You know that, right? We tend to maximize the minimums. “Father, I am good.” Well, I don’t know about that. The Lord said not to call anybody “good.” We are called to be perfect. That’s in the black part of the Bible, not the white part. Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. “I’m here at Mass.” You are physically here but is your mind? Look! Squirrel. Distraction during prayer is normal; just come back to it.
Giving yourself totally over to God, to overcome self-centeredness is what we always must work toward. Our first parents disobeyed God, and we continue to do the same thing. “I won’t let God in until I need Him.” “I will only go to church if the Mass is in English, or Spanish, or Latin, and only if it’s at 12:00 on my day off, if I’m not too tired, or if it’s over by 5:30 because I have dinner reservations somewhere.” We use all these stipulations, and the Church has unfortunately bought into to it. “I will only go to confession if there are reconciliation rooms.” So, parishes have spent thousands of dollars creating reconciliation rooms. Come on! I hear confessions…I wish I heard a lot more.
We must take up our cross every day and follow Him. The ego is a terrible thing and destroys people. In any 12 Step program, you must have ego deflation at depth. Where did they get that I wonder. From the Catholic Church? Go figure. How do we overcome our ego and self-centeredness? By doing little things. “I need to pray more.” Well, then pray more. Say the rosary. By the time you get to Coy’s laundry mat or to the court house, you have plenty of time to say a decade of the rosary. There are five stop lights, so you have plenty of time to say it. You have to sit there anyway. You can’t zip right through the traffic lights, although they made it less likely to be caught when they have moved the police station. My point is that you have plenty of time to do little things. “I want to lose weight and to eat better.” Then do it, one step at a time.
God has no limit on His love. We are the ones who limit His love with our self-centeredness. We determine our salvation. God says, “I will give you the way to salvation if you let Me into your soul.” We say, “I’ll get back to you. Thank you very much. Appreciate the offer.” We want to cling to ourselves. One of my good friends who recently passed away, a judge, used to say, “I’m not much, but I’m all I think about.” I deserve to speed, because I’m important. I have business to attend to. That would be me. However, I should mention that a lot of cops are not Catholic. We want what we want when we want it. That’s what we all have to fight…our self-centeredness. “You can’t tell me what to do. “I deserve this.” That kind of thinking shuts God out.
We have to be humble. In fact, we are commanded to be humble. The 4th and 5th Commandments command us to obey our physicians and caregivers. You don’t go to your physician’s office and say, “Oh, what the heck do they know.” Doctors are very intelligent, so listen to them and do what they tell you. That’s humility. “I don’t want a colonoscopy.” That’s humility, especially when I had mine. I know everyone in that department. I work there. I knew them all. Having a colonoscopy is not a side of me they wanted to see, but what the heck…if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. As Saint Therese de Lisieux said, when you are humble, you are small and safe. As long as you continue doing small acts of penance, day after day, you are growing in God’s love and opening the door to your soul so that He can come in. God will not force his way in. He does not need our love. God is self-sufficient. But, He wants to give His love to us, because that is His nature. We are the ones with selfish self-centeredness and close the door on love. But, if we focus on the little things, we will grow spiritually and gradually open the door more and more to allow the love of our good Lord into our souls.
The Law of Physics says that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If our souls are full of ourselves, God cannot get in. God isn’t going to push us aside. He isn’t going to make us love Him. We have to decide to love Him by renouncing ourselves and our attachment to things. You will discover that once you become detached from things, you will have far more joy and pleasures than you ever could have imagined. Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas both said that if there is any labor involved, love is no labor at all. It’s all a joy. Each sacrifice is a joy. Each sacrifice makes a way for greater enjoyment and greater love. It creates a way for a greater union with the Almighty and, therefore, a greater union with one another. So, we are the ones who determine how much we will love. The secret of loving God and experiencing His love is really easy. We just have to love ourselves a heck of a lot less.
How will you apply this message to your life? Are you maximizing the minimum? Will you fight to overcome self-centeredness and make room for God in your heart and soul?
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 the page). There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.
Fr. Mike explains the many parables we hear today in Matthew, including the return of the unclean spirit, and the danger of ornate souls. He emphasizes that when God sweeps the sin out of our souls, we must replace it with virtue, otherwise our souls remain empty without a relationship with God. Today’s readings are Matthew 11-13 and Proverbs 19:5-8.
