Tag: Suffering

“You Can Create Your Own Chapter in the ‘Lives of the Saints’”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

 November 19-20, 2022

Gospel:  Luke 23:35-43

³⁵ The people stayed there watching. As for the leaders, they jeered at Him with the words, ‘He saved others, let Him save himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’  ³⁶ The soldiers mocked Him too, coming up to Him, offering Him vinegar, ³⁷ and saying, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’  ³⁸ Above Him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews’.  ³⁹ One of the criminals hanging there abused Him: ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.’  ⁴⁰ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as He did, ⁴¹ but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this Man has done nothing wrong.’ ⁴² Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  ⁴³ He answered him, ‘In truth I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise.’

One of my favorite things to read about is the lives of the saints because it gives me great hope.  The saints cover a wide range and multitude of vocations, lifestyles, and difficulties.  That gives me hope that someday I also might be a saint.   I was reading about one this week.  During World War II, a bomber pilot was flying a mission over Italy and was about to release his bomb when he saw a flying monk – not the flying nun – at 17,000 feet in the air.  The monk was pointing at something.  The boom window opened, and the bombs dropped but not where they were supposed to drop.  Later, when the pilot did his after-action report, he told the commanding general what happened.  The general said, “That’s nice.”  The pilot was put in the Army’s “nut hut” for a while.  He’d been on one too many flights.  But other pilots kept seeing the same thing and also missing the target for their bombs.  Finally, an Italian general, an ally, saw the flying monk.  After the war, he went to that tiny Italian town and while he was there looking around, he saw the monk that he had seen while flying at 17,000 feet.  You know who that was?  Padre Pio.  The general, who was Protestant, became Catholic.  Padre Pio was given the gift of bilocation (the ability to be present in more than one place at the same time).   Padre Pio promised his people that the allies would not bomb the town . . . and they didn’t.  Saint Martin de Porres, a Dominican brother from South America, was also given the gift of bilocation.   I had the gift of bilocation, a twin, but that usually just got us into trouble.  Before I’d go home, I would ask my twin brother, Paul, if he had ticked anybody off.  I was getting too old to smack people around.  But there have been all sorts of saints.  They had extraordinary gifts given to them.  Saint Teresa of Avila levitated while in prayer.  Saint Junípero Serra was known as the flying priest.  Saint Therese de Lisieux and Saint Francis of Assisi both saw their guardian angels.  These great gifts were given to the saints, and they are wonderful.  The temptation of the devil is for you to think, “Oh, I can’t be like them.”   Yes, you can.  We have the same means they had to achieve what they did.  They were given all these great graces – the ability to levitate, bilocate, and to fly at 17,000 feet – but they were given to them for the good of others and not as a reward or an “atta boy.”    So how did they achieve those graces that they would bring to others?  Through a life of prayer. 

One of the greatest gifts we have is our gift of suffering.  Our sufferings can be our greatest prayer.  Suffering can be transformative and be conduit of God’s gifts to others like the saints.  And as we gain the gift of old age, we have even more sufferings.  Our minds write checks that our bodies cannot cash. I was talking to a marine the other day was sick and in the hospital.  He didn’t want to ask for help because he believed that demonstrated weakness.  I told him, “No it takes courage to ask for help when you need it.”   When I had Covid, I told myself, “I’m going to say my prayers and say the Rosary while I walk.  I’m going to walk at night in the church and walk before Mass.  That didn’t work well.  It hurt, and I almost passed out several times.  But I rubbed the 101st patch and was determined to do it.  No.  It is not a sign of weakness to accept help.  Covid was my prayer.  Did I sit in my office every day?  No.  I couldn’t concentrate because I hadn’t been sleeping.  That suffering became my prayer. 

The saints suffered too.  They spent a lot of time in prayer.  They experienced a great deal of suffering which, again, can be transformative.  Look at the Good Thief on the cross.  He had a bad life and was sentenced to capital punishment.  Remember, later they broke his legs…not a fun way to go.  Yet he still went to Heaven through his sufferings.  Heaven was once stolen, and it can be stolen again.  God gave the saints great gifts – for others and not for themselves … because God’s love is in us not only to transform us but for the salvation of other souls. . .to transform them to be with Him and to cooperate with Him. 

I miss all the fun I had in the military. . . all the travel, the strange, exotic lands, all the excitement.  There’s nothing like being in 136 degrees and a sandstorm wearing a flak vest and helmet.  Those were the days!  It was very slimming.  But that experience now helps me with my work with veterans because they can talk to me.  I can help them understand.  There is no other priest in the diocese who can do that.  Although they are holy, veterans won’t talk to them unless they have the credentials.  So, your suffering is a good way to open up other souls to you and bring them to God.  No other person can talk to an alcoholic other than a recovering alcoholic, or to a drug addict by a former drug addict.  And the only one who can talk to sinners is a recovered sinner. . .one who is recovering each day by taking up their cross.

The most important thing we can do is to cooperate with God’s Will and allow God to use us through our sufferings, our talents, and our abilities to show His love so that others may come to know our Good Lord working in us.  Whatever field or time of life we may be in, this is our mission.  And it is how we create our own chapter in the lives of the saints.

How will you apply this message to your life? _____________________________

You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.”  On a cell phone: click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories”

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