It’s not unusual to experience discouragement on the road to holiness, especially when we live in a world that is filled with temptations and persecution. With God on our side, nothing the devil can do will ever prevail over us. However, it’s the moment we become too discouraged to ask God for help that the devil is waiting for. So how can we prevent this from happening?
Today, Fr. Mike explains the root of discouragement in our faith journey, and how to keep leaning on God through that struggle.
As Fr. Mike suggests, the battle for purity is never more difficult than in our own day. With God’s grace, we can prevail and find freedom from our temptations. Fr. Mike explains that we win this battle through chastity, purity of intention, purity of vision, and prayerful reliance on the Lord. He tells us how to pray for a pure gaze that allows us to see our brothers and sisters as God sees them. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2520-2533.
32 ‘There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. 33 ‘Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it. 34 For wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart will be too. 35 ‘See that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit. 36 Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed those servants whom the Master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them. 38 It may be in the second watch that He comes, or in the third, but blessed are those servants if He finds them ready. 39 You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. 40 You too must stand ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’ 41 Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ 42 The Lord replied, ‘Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food? 43 Blessed that servant if his master’s arrival finds him doing exactly that. 44 I tell you truly, he will put him in charge of everything that he owns. 45 But if the servant says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, 46 his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful. 47 ‘The servant who knows what his master wants, but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes, will be given a great many strokes of the lash. 48 The one who did not know, but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating, will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be expected.
Now, I have some good news for you. Do you want some good news? You are all going to die. How do you like my bedside manner? I was battle-trained in the Army. It may not be today, but we are all going to die because that is the only way we can get to Heaven. You are here at Mass preparing for your death. Our Good Lord is the object of our love, and we wish to possess Him. You are here so that you can possess Him and be possessed by Him in Holy Communion. We want to be possessed by Him eternally in Heaven. But, unfortunately for us, after the sins of our first parents and the sins we have committed after our Baptism, we have to die in order to be with our Lord forever. We love the destination, but we are not too happy about the trip details.
I’ve seen a lot of things I don’t want to die from, but it’s not our choice. “Can’t we be like the Blessed Mother and be whisked up to Heaven?” No. We all have to suffer. We all follow the way of the Cross, and at some point in our life, we don’t know the day…it could be 40 or 50 years from now, we will ascend the Cross. Which Cross we ascend is up to us. It could be the Cross on Christ’s left or the Cross on His right. I would suggest the Cross on His right because that is the one the Good Thief was on when Christ told him, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” The other one not so much.
Our Lord will come for us. You may be thinking, “But He is coming in judgement.” Judgement is not that bad. First of all, let me explain something about Jewish weddings. Jewish weddings occur after sundown. So, our Lord comes in the middle of the night. You never know. You may be tired, and you may be dozing. We don’t know the time when our Lord will come. And for those who look forward to His coming, it’s a great thing. Don’t you look forward to your family, not my family, but your family and friends coming to visit? You look out the window, and you look at your watch. Or, if you are a ghoul, you have a tracker on your phone. Why? Because you want them there. You want your love to be complete with your loved ones. We look forward to our love finally being rewarded and possessing the object of our love.
So, our Lord’s coming is not a threat. It is a motivator and an encouragement for us to take up our cross each day and follow Him. “Wake up! I am coming for you, and I don’t want to be separated from you. Please do not separate yourself from Me.” Our Lord does not threaten. How we condition our souls is how we respond. “He’s coming to judge me!” What’s wrong with you? What have you done? “Oh, He’s coming! I’m going to get it!” He’s going to look at that permanent record of yours. He is coming because He wants us. That’s why He made us. Why did He make us? To know Him, serve Him, and love Him in this life and to share eternity with Him. The only one who can thwart that plan is us.
Never get discouraged. That is one of the greatest temptations we suffer. We pray, we work hard, we come to Mass, we set a good example, and we become discouraged when we don’t see a difference in ourselves and others. Actually, there is a big difference – we just can’t see it. The devil says, “You know, you need to stop that garbage. . . you are making yourself sick. Go out and have a good time. Get a double order of bacon and live it up.” That is the sin of discouragement. “I keep falling with my cross!” Do you keep getting up? “Yes.” That’s what you are supposed to do. The only time you don’t need to carry your cross is when you are dead. So, don’t be discouraged. Our lord is coming. He is coming at the end of time which we don’t know when that will be. More likely, it will be at the time of our passing from this world to the next. You are all here, so I’m sure you are looking forward to that moment. But if you are like me, you are trying to negotiate the details. “You know, Lord, if you could, I’d like to die this way…just asking.”
I visited with one gentleman who I would be surprised if he is still alive. I said, “Mr. H., I have other rounds to make, but I’ll be back next Thursday. Will I see you?” He said, “No, I don’t think so.” I said, “When you see Jesus, would you put in a good word for me?” He said he would. He knew he was going to pass, and he was ready to go. Not all of us will have that opportunity – I hope we all do. And in the words of Saint John Henry Newman, “to have the holy oil sign and seal us and absolving words said over us.” This is encouragement. Do not give in to the temptations of the devil. Do not be discouraged by your labors, sacrifices, crosses, or seemingly lack of advancement on the way to sanctity. As long as you don’t quit, you are always advancing. And do not lose heart. His plan for us is happiness. At some point, and we don’t know when that point will be, the Lord will come and say, “You have graduated. Come into the Kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world.” So be encouraged. Our Lord is coming.
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.” Cell phone: click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories”
St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born in Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma’s mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. She was rejected due to her poor heath, and later became a Tertiary member of the order. Gemma developed spinal meningitis but was miraculously healed, which she attributed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. After a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. She is the patron saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th.
Mari Pablo uncovers what surrendering to God really looks like. Anytime we face trials, temptations, or hard times, we hear the common adages telling us to “offer it up” or “give it to God.” But what does that actually look like? Where do we begin that process? Maybe there is no concrete “how-to guide”, but we can start by doing two simple things:
St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born in Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma’s mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. She was rejected due to her poor heath, and later became a Tertiary member of the order. Gemma developed spinal meningitis but was miraculously healed, which she attributed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. After a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. She is the patron saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th.
Jesus said that the Son of Man will be lifted up. He also said, “When I am lifted up from the Earth, I will draw all men to myself.” And, He does. However, He doesn’t draw people up to Him on the cross just for them to say, “Gee, that must hurt.” This is not a spectator sport. Rather, our good Lord reaches down from the cross and says, “Take My hand and come up to Me, because this is the way to salvation. Join Me on the cross.” Paul finally learned that lesson. He wrote, “Now, I rejoice in sufferings for Your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the Church.” Our sufferings, all the crosses we carry and the crosses we carry for others are redemptive. They are not only for ourselves, but for others. We join Christ in the sacrifice like the good thief on the cross. We unite ourselves to Him, so that He will raise us up. You do that when you make your Morning Offering: “I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day.” All those crosses God allows us to carry…Ugh. I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about mine.
We also join Christ in the sacrifice during the Mass by true and active participation. So, what is true and active participation? It’s not those who sing the loudest, pray the loudest, or run a ministry. Whatever that is. The term “ministry” really means nothing. It only applies to Holy Orders, but it has been so overused, it means nothing now. True and active participation is the giving of your human nature to the priest who acts in the person of Christ on the altar. He takes your human nature in the offertory, immolates them, and makes them one with the sacrifice of Christ. He immolates them on the altar as part of the sacrifice of God’s love for us. That is true and active participation. This is how we unite ourselves and become one with the sufferings of Christ just as the Blessed Mother, Saint John, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala did at the foot of the cross…especially the Blessed Mother…her human nature was suffering for Him. For us, it’s only intellectual, so it doesn’t matter whether you feel it or not. That has nothing to do with its effectiveness. However, it’s only when you do that you are one with Christ on the cross.
There will always be temptations from the cross. Just as Christ was tempted many times to come down from the cross, we will be too. What were the first three temptations? “All religion is just a show.” “If you have good music, a praise band or whatever, people will come.” Our Lord says this is not a show. This is an act of love. “Well, you know with religion, you gotta give people food and stuff.” “Everybody will be happy if they take your stuff and give it to somebody else.” “It’s all power.” “It’s all Socialism.” “True religious charity is just giving them bread…they will be fine.” How many fat people are there in prison? A lot. It’s not that they lack food. Their problem is that they practice evil. Now, there are a lot of people outside of prison who practice evil, but they haven’t been caught yet. It’s all about power. “Well, if we had fairer laws, then we wouldn’t have any problems.” That’s not true. We have more laws than lawyers know about. Oh, by the way, drugs are illegal. Did you know that? Apparently, a lot of people don’t. Read the sheriff’s blotter report, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Another temptation is to deny the divine message. You see, we are much brighter in the 21st Century. We know better, because we are so enlightened and so highly educated. We can’t write in cursive, but we are really educated. We know what God’s word truly means. Before, they weren’t too sure, because they were all stupid. When Christ proclaimed that marriage was between one man and one woman unless separated by death, everyone left Him except the 12 apostles. People didn’t like that. Also, when Peter tried to sway Christ from going to the cross, He called Peter, “Satan.”
The third type of temptation is the Eucharist. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” “Oh, He didn’t really mean that.” That’s what He said, and He meant it. The words really mean that. Everyone left Him except the 12 apostles. The last temptation was, “Come down from the cross, and we will believe in you.” In His heart, Christ was saying, “You don’t understand. You’ve forgotten your education.” “If the Church changes its laws, everyone will come back.” Really? We have Mass in English. We have Mass in Spanish (Spanglish). We have Mass on Saturdays at 5 pm. We have Mass on Sundays at 9:30 and 12:15. We have confessions face-to-face, although not here, because it’s not safe for the priests anymore. So, where is everybody?
Temptations in one form or another will assail us. “Am I doing something wrong because I’m tempted?” No, you are doing something right, because you are tempted. Our Lord says, “Come up to Me. Come up. I am trying to give you eternal happiness. I am trying to give your soul peace.” So, we have a tug of war with Christ on the cross. He wants to pull us up, and we want to pull Him down. Instead, we can unite ourselves in the sacrifice of Christ in the Morning Offering prayer, resignation to our exterior and interior crosses, and resignation of the will…the most difficult cross. In the midst of temptation, the good thief on the cross accepted the suffering for his sins, and was united with Christ. What did Christ tell him? “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.”
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you unite yourself in the sacrifice of Christ by saying the Morning Offering prayer? Will you accept your interior and exterior crosses and join Christ in His suffering?
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.
