Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 01/05/25 Optimism

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

Homily from the Epiphany of the Lord. There is something powerful about optimism. Optimistic people are more likely to be risk takers and more likely to have a positive view of life. But optimistic people also have to have something stronger than mere "wishful thinking" to lean on when their own strength runs out. Mass Readings from January 5, 2025: Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13.Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 Matthew 2:1-12

Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this in other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday, or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Lord. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage. When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled in all Jerusalem with him.

Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them, where the Christ, was to be born. They said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet, and you Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, since from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him bring me word that I too may go and do a mamage. After the audience with the king, they set out,

And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed upon seeing the star. And on entering the house, they saw the child with his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures, and having offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. The Gospel of the Lord. So I think that there is something very powerful about being an optimist.

Which is good. I always described this. I used to describe myself as an optimistic pessimist or like a pessimistic optimist, but I think I'm trying to get away from the pessimist thing. So I think myself as an optimistic realist, which is the idea of this is, is, I thought this was the best way to be the optimistic realist, optimistic, pessimist, because it's the idea that like I am not realist. so I'm not going to be surprised when things go bad, but I'm optimist, so I'm like, I'm pleasantly surprised when they go well. So that's the kind of thing. I'm like, that's a really nice way to be.

I actually think it's a pretty good way to be. But I realize that one of the reasons why I default to that sense of like being an optimistic pessimist or a pessimist optimist is it's safe. It's safer in some ways. I would say like it's the safety that I hold on to to convince myself that I won't be hurt as much as I possibly could be hurt. If I just was an optimist, then I would be wounded more often. And I think that being an optimistic pessimist or an optimistic realist is the illusion that I can

protect myself from risk. But I also realize this. I realize that sometimes that's the thing that I used to justify my not being willing to take a step forward in faith. I think sometimes it's the pessimist part or the realist part that. I used to justify myself not taking the risk for the Lord because there's something powerful about being an optimist. In fact, there's a psychologist and a Nobel Prize winner.

He's named Daniel Keneman. And Daniel Keneman talked about optimism. In fact, he talked about optimism when it comes to parents and their children. He's a longer quote. He said this. He said, if you're allowed one wish for your child, seriously consider wishing him or her optimism. He went on to say, his optimists are normally cheerful and happy and therefore popular. They're resilient in adapting to failures and hardships.

Their chances of clinical depression are reduced. Their immune system is stronger, and they take better care of their health. They feel healthy than others and are in fact likely to live longer. Goes on to say, optimistic individuals play a disproportionate role in shaping all of our lives. Because their decisions make a difference. They are inventors, their entrepreneurs, the political and military leaders. They're not average people. Optimists are not average people.

He said, they got to where they are by seeking challenges and taking risks. And again, I go back to that pessimist or realist thing of like, no, that's my excuse to avoid risk. He says they are talented and they've been lucky, almost certainly luckier than they acknowledge. The people who have the greatest influence on the lives of others are likely to be optimistic and overconfident and to take more risks than they realize. I just think, I came across that quote, I don't know, a couple months ago. And just was struck by that. I struck by that conviction of I like being around optimists.

I like being around people who have that can-do attitude, that people who have that attitude that says, like, we can figure this out. Because they're the risk takers. They're the people in the gospel today. They're the magi. They're the wise men. I mean, to think about these, you know, we say three wise men, we don't know how many there were. But all of these individuals, they left their homes with just the, inkling that they might be able to find the New York King.

Like, there was no guarantee whatsoever in their lives that if they took this journey from a far off land to a far off land, then it would be successful. I think that's really, really remarkable. I think sometimes, this is what I do. I've heard the story so many times. Maybe we've heard the story so many times. Yeah, that's what you would do. You saw the star?

Of course you'd leave. No, no, I would not. I'd say someone else should go. I think a lot of us would hear that story and think, like, no, there is no guarantee that I would even come close to finding what I'm looking for. So how would I take the risk? Especially when I don't know how the story is going to end. But they did. They took the risk even when they did not know how the story was going to end.

And they traveled. They traveled with optimism. And there's something powerful about being an optimist. there's also something dangerous. So years ago, I read a book by Jim Collins. It's called Good to Great. And in the midst of this book, Jim Collins talked about another gym. His name is Admiral Jim Stockdale.

And he might have heard of Admiral Jim Stockdale. He's this remarkable person. He was a prisoner for war during the Vietnam War. And he was the highest-ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton. He was captured, I think, for eight years. And over the course of those eight years, I think he was tortured or 24 times. And when he got back home,

he and his wife co-wrote a book that they took turns writing a chapter about their experiences, his in Vietnam and hers back home. And as he described his experience, it was remarkable because what he described was his perspective on getting out versus the perspective of others who didn't make it. So when he got back,

to the States and he made a pretty good life for himself. Jim Collins wanted to interview with this guy because he heard all about him. And in preparation for the interview, he read the book that Jim Stockdale co-wrote with his wife. And as he said, as I was reading it, this is a quote from this. He said, as I was reading it, I kept getting more and more depressed. He said, I don't know why am I so depressed? He says, I was sitting in my warm and comfortable office looking out over the beautiful Stanford campus and beautiful Saturday afternoon.

and I'm getting depressed reading the story of this man who's in the Hanoi Hilton, right, who's a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Getting depressed reading this, and I know the end of the story. He says, I know that he gets out. I know he reunites with his family. I know he becomes a national hero. He gets to spend the last years of his life studying philosophy on the same beautiful campus as Stanford.

And he said, if it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he deal with it when he was actually there and he didn't know the end of the story? So he met with him and he asked him, like what was it? How did you keep going? going in this camp where you're tortured and you have no idea, you have no rights, you have no guarantees. How'd you keep going? And Stockdale said this, he said, I never lost faith in the end of the story.

I said I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn that experience into the defining event of my life, which in retrospect I would not trade. I mean, think about that. His perspective was this, as I can go through this because I am convinced that not only will I make it out of here, I don't know how it's going to end, but I will turn what's happening to me right now into the defining event of my life. It sounds in so many ways like Victor Frankl writing in Mansearch for Meaning when he was in the concentration camps in World War II.

that exact kind of sense of, there's purpose here, there's meaning here. I don't know how it's going to work out, but I know that I'm going to keep moving forward. So Jim Collins, talking to Jim Stockdale, says, well, you had that conviction, even though you didn't know the end of the story and you made it through. He said, who are the ones who didn't make it through? Like, who are the ones who are in the same situation as you? Who are the ones in the same horrible, horrible prisoner of war situation? And they didn't make it out.

And Stockdale stopped. They were walking on the campus of Stanford. Stockdale stopped. They looked at him and said, oh, that's easy. The optimists. And this is where Jim Collins was confused. Because wait a second, you just told me that you had this conviction. You were going to be able to...

He said, no, no, no, no. The optimists were like this. He said, the optimists, they were the ones who would say, hey, we're going to be out by Christmas. And then Christmas would come and Christmas would go. So then they'd say, we're going to be out by Easter. And then Easter would come. needs to go. And then it was Thanksgiving. Then it was Christmas again. And then they died of a

broken heart. And there's a difference between what Stockdale had and what the simple, simple optimists have. And Stockdale said it was this difference. He said, this is an important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be. And there's something so powerful about being that Jim Stockdale kind of person, having faith that you'll prevail in the end, facing reality, especially when you don't know the end of the story. Because this is every single one of us. Regardless of the kind of situation we're going through right now, regardless of this is the

greatest moment of my life or the worst season of my life ever, none of us know the end of the story. And if this is the greatest event, greatest season of my life, we don't know when it's going to turn sour. If this is the worst season of my life, I don't know when it's going to get better or if it's going to get better. Because why? Because we're invited as Christians to walk forward, to keep going, to face reality, and to walk with hope.

And that's the first reading today is the book of the prophet Isaiah. It's chapter 60. I don't know if you know anything about the book of the prophet Isaiah. Chapter 60s, you were close to the end of the book. and for almost the entire book, what Isaiah has been saying is he's like, yeah, really bad things are coming. And Isaiah is prophesying the destruction of the Jerusalem,

the destruction of the temple. Isaiah is prophesying the exile, the Babylonian exile. And basically, here's what's going to happen. The worst thing you could possibly imagine is going to happen. That your families will be starved. Many of you will be killed. The rest of you will be shipped off, exiled, and enslaved.

Your homes will be destroyed. The temple will be crushed. and the city will be demolished. And then he says, what do you hear today? He says, but upon you, the Lord shines. And over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about, they all gather and come to you.

Again, this is like, what? Am you kidding? I say, you've just been saying that we're going to experience devastation. And now you're saying, but that's not going to be the end. and that's the critical piece. Here's the reality. The reality, like here's Stockdale, saying you have to be willing to face reality.

You don't know when this is going to end. You have to be willing to face reality. You can't control all the circumstances, all the situations you're in. You have to face the reality that really bad things are going to happen. But into this reality, Isaiah says, this is not going to be the end.

No matter how bad this reality gets, it will not be the end. You will become virtually powerless, but this will not be the end. But in order to be able to move forward, you have to face the situation like Admiral Stockdale, knowing I don't know how long this is going to last. Knowing actually this situation might be bigger than me. Because for the Israelites, the reality is this, on their own, they'll be able to do nothing.

And the reality is our situations are these, that we can handle a lot of situations. A lot of us, we can handle most of what life throws at us. but there will come the time. There will come the day when we're not. Because there is something powerful about being an optimist and there is something essential about knowing your limitations. There's something really great about being a can-do kind of person, but there's something very, very necessary

about being the person who realizes, here's what I can't do. Because I think a lot of us who are here, we can handle life really, really well until we can't. these people of Israel, they walked in faith. They knew that they could survive on their own until they realized they couldn't. That all the people coming into this world before Jesus, they knew the truth about this world

is that this world is often unfair and life is often incredibly difficult. That's why St. Paul, the second reading today, St. Paul to the Ephesians. St. Paul's writing to these people who they spent the majority of their lives having no idea if God was good, if God existed, if God cared about,

about them, if God knew them, if God knew their name, he basically, or even if there's sins, if there's any hope there. So St. Paul, writing the Evisions chapter 2, he says this, he says, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, and following the prince of the power of the air, because here's the reality that we have to face, is that every single one of us, as we're born into this world, we're born under the dominion of the evil one. Every one of us, just naturally, are born into this world with original sin, right, separated

from God, and actually under the dominion, under the lordship of sin. Satan himself. And St. Paul's saying that, like, that's where all you were. And no matter how hard you tried, you could not get out from underneath his dominion. It's not to say, among whom we all once, you have the sons of obedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our body and the mind. We were by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. And then there's this most incredible word. But we were just like the rest of mankind, without hope and without God in this world. But, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive in Christ. And by grace, you have been saved. This is so remarkable, so essential for every single one of us. Imagine, imagine what it would be like to live without knowledge of God. Imagine what it would be like, be like the magi. They don't know who the real God is. They just had a hope, right? They had an inkling.

They had optimism. That maybe there is such a God who knows their names. Maybe there's a God who cares about them. Imagine living your entire life without knowing if that was true or not. It would be very difficult to have anything like hope. Again, St. Paul to the Ephesians. Before you knew this, you lived. without God and without hope in this world.

You didn't know if God exists, you didn't know if God was good, you didn't know if He cared about you. In this world, it seems so random and arbitrary. There is something so powerful about being an optimist until you face the harsh reality that I can do everything I possibly can and still not win. There's something powerful of being an optimist until you have to face that real reality, that I can work as hard as possible, I can try as hard as possible, I can do everything right, and I can still not win.

I can still lose because we have these limitations, and I think it's so important for us to have an awareness of our limitations, to highlight the truth about ourselves, that until we realize how desperate we are, we will never fully realize the severity of our situation and the reality of the universe. And to face that truth in the midst of this life, I don't have enough.

I don't know the end of the story. and then to hear the good news of epiphany, you don't have enough. You don't know the end of the story, and God is with you. So I say Paul later on says, wait, if God is for us, who can be against us? To realize that we haven't been forgotten. To go through your whole life and wonder,

and then all of a sudden to know that this is not just some kind of vague wish or vague desire for things to get better, but this is something real. has actually revealed himself and what he's revealed is that he is actually for us. Again, if God is for us, who can be against us? And that doesn't mean a thing if you have enough strength, if you have enough power, if you have enough optimism.

But when you've reached the end of your limitations, the only thing left is hope. And this is the last thing. Hope is not optimism. Optimism can be a very powerful thing. Hope is not optimism. Hope is relational. Hope is trust in another. Another way to say it is hope is trust in another extended into the future

because hope is not the belief that things will get better or that you'll win or that things will turn around. Because you can have hope even when things don't get better. Even when things don't turn around. Even when you don't win. Because this is the power of hope. It's more powerful and it's more fully rooted in reality than optimism. Hope is what led actually led the Magi to see the newborn king.

Hope is what actually would help the Jewish people to continue to walk forward when they didn't know the end of the story. Hope is what has led every Christian through even the worst of situations. Not because they knew that they would ultimately make it, but because they knew they did not have to make it on their own. And this is the powerful message of Epiphany. and there's a lot of power in optimism. A lot of power in having that kind of can-do attitude,

but there's something even more powerful about the God who will not abandon us, about knowing that even when you lose, God is for us. Even when we fail, God is for us. Even when we can't, God can. Hope and walking in hope is knowing that even if my situation and circumstances don't ever change, he will never change,

that even if I don't have enough strength to make it to the end of an unknown story and an unknown future, God will be there in the unknown story and in the unknown future.