Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 01/21/24 Holy Moments: Ordinary Moments

Episode Date: January 20, 2024

Homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Holy moments are ordinary moments reconsidered. An ordinary life is not an obstacle to a holy life. In fact, every extraordinary life is made up of ordinary moments that we choose to make into holy moments. Mass Readings from January 21, 2024: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalms 25:4-91 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20

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 Mark. Chapter 1, verse 14 through 20. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God. This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea. They were fishermen.

He said to them, come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee and his brother, John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them, so they left their father Zebedee in the boat, along with the hired men, and followed him. The gospel of the Lord. Praise you, Lord, Jesus Christ. Might you have a seat.

So just, I want to say a just quick thing about, maybe you might, wait, wow, maybe what you might call the most ordinary saint who ever lived, the most ordinary saint who ever lived. You probably've heard about him, even though he's, there's literally nothing extraordinary, there's one extraordinary moment in his life. The rest of his life is incredibly ordinary. His name is Saint Juan Diego. If you know anything about St. Juan Diego, you know that back in the 1500s, he was a native indigenous person here in Central America. He was in Mexico. This had been maybe 50, 60, 70 years after the Europeans had come to the New World and missionaries had come. And they came bringing the gospel, but they're only handful of converts, those handful of converts was this man, Juan Diego.

And Juan Diego, as I said, lived a very ordinary life until one moment. As he was going, he's traveling to take care of his uncle who was dying. Out of nowhere, our lady appeared to him and said that she wanted him, Juan Diego, to go to the bishop, to tell the bishop that her, she, Mary, wanted the bishop to build a church on that spot. So Juan Diego went to the bishop, said, yeah, so Mary appeared to me. She asked me to tell you this. and bishops like, I, no, that's, you need to give me more proof than just you telling me this. So one day he goes like, okay, fine.

And then he basically skirts around, tries to avoid the apparition. I mean, think about that. Think about where you'd be in life. If you, Mary appears to you and you're like, yeah, I'm really busy. So he just wanted to be interrupted because he wants to take care of his uncle, tries to avoid Mary. She shows up. She says, don't worry, Jesus is going to heal your uncle. Jesus heals the uncle.

But I need you to go to the bishop and prove to him that it's really me. So she pointed out there were some Castilian roses, some Spanish roses that were growing in the middle of December, and she arranged them in his poncho right in his tilma. And then he brought them to the bishop. You probably know the story that as he unfurls his tilma, the roses fault of the round, of course, but no one's looking at the roses. They're looking at this image that had been imprinted on his tilma that's still there now is the image of our leader of Guadalupe. Now, there's so many fascinating, amazing, extraordinary things about this image.

You can go there to Mexico City and see the image of our lady of Guadalupe. scientists still who, as they study it, they have no idea not only how that tilma is still intact. Typically, that tilma would decompose completely after 20 years. It's been 500 years or so. But also the image, they have no idea how this image isn't printed. It's completely extraordinary. Even more extraordinary is the fact that after this, after Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego, you know, for 50, 60, 70 years, only a handful of converts.

After Our Lady appeared, our ladies would go to Lupe. there were all up to nine million converts to our Lord Jesus Christ because of our lady. And Juan Diego is now St. Juan Diego. So the question is this, how? How in the world do you become St. Juan Diego based off of one extraordinary moment? The answer is, of course, you don't.

The answer is no one becomes a saint based off of one extraordinary moment. saints are made, states lives are shaped off of dozens and hundreds and thousands of ordinary moments. I said that because here we are, we're in ordinary time. We have actually

four more weeks of ordinary time until Lent. And I think sometimes when we're in ordinary time or sometimes we're not in Lent, we might look down the barrel at Lent four weeks from now and say like, okay, this is ordinary time, this is fine, this is just basic, this is just common, this is normal. In four weeks, when we hit Lent,

that's when it's going to get serious. Like that's when we're really, going to kind of knuckle down and get serious about holiness. Like then, that's what I'm going to start doing this. And yet, I don't think you need to wait. And I don't think that any of us are called to wait until Lent to become holy. So there's a man, he'd probably heard of him, his name, Matthew Kelly. Matthew Kelly has written millions of books.

He sold millions of copies of his books. His first one that really kind of made the impact was called Rediscovered Catholicism. But there's other books that he's shared. and one of them is, I think it's called the greatest lie of Christianity. And the greatest lie in Christianity, I may be paraphrasing that title, the greatest lie is that holiness is impossible. That here we are, that all those who come to the Lord Jesus, that holiness is for someone else, right?

Holiness is for other people. And yet Christianity is that the truth that actually God has made holiness possible for you. the truth is that God wants holiness for you. Let's pause on this for a second. I'm going to wait until Lent because that's when I'll start becoming holy. But we have to ask the question, do I even believe that holiness is possible for someone like me? Because I think sometimes we imagine that holiness is composed of these massive events.

Holiness is this, like all this momentum, like you're just like, everything in your life is just rolling towards the divine. Like everything in your life is rolling towards Jesus. everything in your life says, this massive momentum. What Matthew Kelly points out, and he reminds us of, is the fact that momentum is simply a collection of moments. That holiness is, real holiness, is simply a collection of moments. And I wonder if this, I wonder if holy moments are actually ordinary moments

reconsidered. So for the next four weeks, we're starting a series, and the series is based off of Matthew Kelly's most recent book called Holy Moments. Because I believe that holy moments are simply ordinary moments reconsidered. And its whole thing, this whole series, Holy Moments, based off the book, Holy Moments, is based off the fact, the truth, the reality that God wants you to be a saint. And that because of the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because God has poured out His Holy Spirit into this world and into your life and into my life,

that holiness is actually possible. It's based on the truth that even the most extraordinary life is made up of ordinary moments. I mean, think about this. We can see extraordinary lives online, right? I mean, the influencers on Instagram or wherever they are, they have incredible lives. And they travel to the most exotic places. And like, how in the world do you get up to that mountaintop? How in the world did you see?

How are you the only person on that beach that is most exotic, beautiful beach I've ever seen? And we can think sometimes that even people who look like they're living extraordinary lives never have ordinary moments. But if we think about it, the reality is, even people with extraordinary lives, those lives are made up of ordinary moments. Like, they have to get on the same airplane as the rest of us. They have to be parked on the runway like the rest of us.

They have to do all the same things as the rest of us. They have to sleep just like the rest of us. At some point, we realize that even the most extraordinary lives are made up of ordinary... I mean, think about even someone who's like incredibly wealthy. A famous wealthy person, Elon Musk. Maybe he lives in an extraordinary life, but we realize that if he's going to take care of his teeth, he has to brush his teeth in an ordinary way.

That if he's going to fuel himself, he has to eat in an ordinary way. That even those people who we might perceive as them having extraordinary lives, every life, no matter how extraordinary is made up of ordinary moments. And if we run away from ordinary moments, or if we even just ignore ordinary moments, then we'll be missing out on life. Because that's what life is. Life is simply a collection of ordinary moments.

But here's the remarkable thing. Even an extraordinary and holy life is simply a collection of ordinary moments reconsidered. There's a definition, right, that Matthew Kelly gives in his book, A holy moment. He says, what a holy moment is. He says, a holy moment is a single moment in which you open yourself to God. You make yourself available to him. You set aside personal preference and self-interest. And for one moment, you do what you prayerfully believe God is calling you to do.

That's how he defines holy moments. Say that again. A holy moment is a single moment in which you open yourself to God. You make yourself available to him. You set aside personal preference and self-interest and for one moment you do what you prayerfully believe God is calling you to do. There's something so powerful about this, this first part of it where he says a holy moment is a single moment in which you open yourself to God. Because it's just simple, right? I think sometimes we can get really, really overwhelmed. You can get overwhelmed by like, oh my gosh, all the things I have to do. But a holy moment is a single moment when you open yourself to God. basically you realize God is here.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is from the very first book of the Bible. It's in Genesis. It's very of Jacob. Now, if you know anything about Jacob, Jacob's grandfather was Abraham and his father was Isaac. He had a twin brother named Issa. And Jacob's not really a good guy, at least at the beginning of the story. Jacob, he kind of manipulates his brother Issa out of the birthright. Then he actually deceives his father.

His father who's old and dying and blind. He deceives his father to give him the blessing. And then his brother Issa wants to kill him. And so here is Jacob. He runs off into the wilderness just simply to save his skin. And at one point, he lies down. He's exhausted and he lies down in just a place that he just thought was a place to sleep. He falls to sleep.

And as he's sleeping, he has this vision. And the vision is of angels ascending and descending to heaven. And he wakes up and he says this line that is just so powerful. He wakes up and he says, God was in this place and I did not know it. This is the secret, I think, to holy moments. because every one of us, every one of our lives is made up of ordinary moments where we're just like, nope, this is just normal, this is just common, this is just ordinary. But to have the vision of Jacob and to realize, here's an ordinary moment, but God is in this place

and I did not know it. This is what it is to have the kind of vision that can transform an ordinary moment into a holy moment. is to realize that God is present and God is active. Basically, to be aware, like to be awake, simply to notice. And to realize that, as Matthew Kelly said, every ordinary moment can become a holy moment. And it doesn't have to be overwhelming. Because I think a lot of times we think about the impossibilities.

What I mean by that is no one is ever overwhelmed by a single moment. We're overwhelmed by a collection of moments that seem to be too big for us. But what is a holy moment? A holy moment is a single moment. And you don't have to chase it down. I think this is the remarkable thing about the readings today. That in order to experience a holy moment, you don't have to go anywhere to get it. What's the opening line of the first reading today?

Jonah chapter 3 says, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. The word of the Lord found him. like Jonah didn't have to race after the Lord, he didn't have to chase it, he didn't have to leave his life in order to find God in order to make a holy moment. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. Not only that, but here's the gospel today. You have these four men. You have Simon and Andrew, James and John. They're in the midst of an ordinary day. They're just doing their work and what does Jesus do? Jesus sought them. They didn't, they weren't looking for Jesus. He was looking for them. And this is the crazy thing. This is the great news. In fact, ordinary moments come

to us. Why? Because God is in the ordinary moments and God is seeking you at all times. We get to choose whether the ordinary moments remain ordinary or whether those ordinary moments become holy. Let's go back to the apostles. They were just doing their work. They were just fishing. This was an ordinary day and Jesus sought them out. And their ordinary moment, that became a holy moment. Not only that, that for at least two of them, we know that Andrew and we know that John were both disciples of John the Baptist.

And the very first line in today's gospel says, after John the Baptist had been arrested, Jesus goes to seek them out. So for at least two of them, this is not just an ordinary day, this is a bad day. And so we need to realize this. We need to realize that even in our bad day, even in our worst day,

even in those ordinary, awful, awful moments, even those moments can become, holy moments. Because God can seek us and God can find us not only in ordinary moments but also in bad ordinary moments, even in moments where we are not only not looking for him, but we are actively running away from him. Because as I mentioned, the first reading, it's Jonah chapter 3. If you're familiar with the story of Jonah at all, in Jonah chapter 1, it also says,

the word of the Lord came to Jonah and told Jonah to do what? Told him to go to the city of Nineveh and proclaim repentance for them. and Jonah goes the exact opposite way. Jonah in chapter three, where the word of the Lord comes to Jonah, Jonah is running away from God. So not only, realize this, not only can God make ordinary moments into holy moments. Not only can he make bad ordinary moments into holy moments.

God can even take moments where we are actively running away from him in an ordinary way. And he can make those into holy moments as well. This truth, every moment can be a holy moment. So we have to define this. What is holy? I think I keep saying that these are holy moments you can make any moment, a holy moment, ordinary moment, holy. We know what ordinary is, we know what bad is, we know what running away is. What is holy? So holy is actually a technical term in the Bible. To be holy, you know,

God says, be holy as I'm holy. Well, what does that mean? To be holy technically in the Bible means to be set apart. It doesn't mean to be perfect. That's important for us to understand. Ordinary moments do not have to be perfect to be holy moments. Bad moments do not have to be perfect to become holy moments, and even running away moments don't have to become perfect to be homely because holiness is not perfection. To be holy simply means, very simply, means to be set apart, to be set apart for a purpose. So you've heard this example before, but if someone comes to me and say, hey, Father, could you bless my crucifix or could you bless my rosary? Could you bless whatever, my Bible? Absolutely. When we bless something, you consecrate it. What I mean by that is we bless something,

you set it apart for a purpose. So that, that's a blessing. So that, you bless something. You set it apart for a purpose. crucifix that you wear around your neck, that is no longer jewelry. That has now been set apart for a purpose. So when someone says, you know, hashtag blessed, a lot of times what they mean hashtag blessed is they just mean, well, I'm really fortunate. I'm really lucky. My life is good. Technically, yes and no. Truly what it means to be hashtag blessed means to be set apart. When something is blessed, it is consecrated. Something that is consecrated is set apart. To be set apart is to be holy. So here we have all these moments. Imagine, imagine, if each one of your ordinary moments became a holy moment. How about this? Imagine one ordinary moment today

became a holy moment. Imagine just even one moment. You just realized, no, this moment belongs to him. Or you just realized, God is present. God is active, and this moment is his. That's what it is. That's all it is. The amazing thing, as I said, is we're going to have four weeks of this, four weeks of this diving deeply into what it is to enter into a holy moment. You don't actually need to know anything more than I just shared to do it right now. Like there's no more secret information.

You already know that ordinary moments can become holy moments if we're willing to acknowledge and admit, to notice, to be aware of the fact that God is present, God is active. In this moment is his. A life of ordinary moments that become holy moments, make up a holy life, even if it's an ordinary life. It's the last thing. Again, it starts with one moment. For the next four weeks, we're going to do this, but you can do this today. Juan Diego is the most ordinary saint.

you'll ever meet. He just lived. Honestly, what did he do? Yes, he had that extraordinary day. But for the rest of his life, it was made up of dozens and hundreds and thousands of just ordinary moments. He went to Mass. He went to confession. He went to work.

He cared for his family and the people around him. An ordinary life. But it was a life that was kind of life. consecrated, right? It was a bunch of moments that were given. It was a series of ordinary moments where St. Juan Diego did what you and I are meant to do today. He simply realized the truth. God is here. God is active. And this is for him. And that's all it takes. It's all it takes to transform an ordinary moment into a holy moment. It's all it takes to transform an ordinary life into a holy life.