Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 02/02/20 Underestimated: Unimpressive

Episode Date: February 2, 2020

Homily from the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Unimpressive does not mean unimportant. Most of life is made up of unimpressive moments and unimpressive seasons. If we are constantly waiting for the next “peak moment“ we will miss out on most of life…and also most peak moments. Mass Readings from February 2, 2020: Malachi 3:1-4 Psalms 24:7-10Hebrews 2:14-18 Luke 2:22-40 Download the Homily Study

So, when it came to that person, that person that at the beginning of mass asked the question, like, who is the most influential person, most important person in your life? I wasn't listening to what you answered, so I don't know what you said. My guess is probably like, you know, this particular teacher, this particular coach, maybe a sibling, maybe a parent, like a mom and her dad, that kind of thing, maybe an uncle or aunt who are deeply invested in you. All these different people in all these different lives right here, I think all of them likely have something in common with each other.

And whether you're related to them, whether you're not related at all, regardless of how often you saw each other, my guess is all of them have something in common with each other and most likely it is this. All of them are most likely pretty unimpressive. I'm not saying that they're not gifted or not talented and remarkable in some way. But my guess is that every one of their lives, if you step back and looked at their lives, like every one of those people who was incredibly influential in your life probably lived pretty ordinary lives.

If you looked at their life, they're probably pretty normal, maybe boring, but pretty much unimpressive. If you stepped back and got away from the impact they made on your life, you would look at their lives and say, what is their day filled up with, picking up the kids maybe, getting groceries, running errands, cleaning the dishes, replacing toilet paper roll, like this, just carving out time, carving out time for prayer, making it. it through mass, especially if they have kids like making it through mass, that kind of idea that in so many ways, most likely the course of those people, that person who is most influential in

life, the course of their day looks massively unimpressive. This important person who's changed your life, most of their life, most likely looks unimpressive. You're in the last part of this little three-part series underestimated. In the first week, a couple weeks ago we talked about how we cannot, we may not underestimate who God needs us to be. And in the course of our lives, like God has this, he knows who we're called to be, and we cannot underestimate who he needs us to be, not just calling us to be who he needs us to be. And last week we talked about, we cannot underestimate how long that takes. And we cannot underestimate what God is doing when it seems like God is doing nothing.

Because there's so many times in our lives where it seems like God is doing nothing, where that growth is hidden. But today I wanted to kind of conclude this series by talking about, like, what those seasons of growth look like, what they actually look like. Because I think when it comes to growth, I think when it comes to becoming the person, God, need you to be, I like to think of the breakthrough moments. I like to think of the heroic moments. I like to think of the awesome moments.

The moment that the athlete is in the last clutch seconds of the game and performs amazingly well, that moment where the person who's been practicing their art, practicing their music finally gets to be on American Idol and show the world what they have. Like that kind of peak moment, like I think we love the peak moments, the breakthrough moments, the heroic moments, like today's feast. Today is the feast of the presentation. This is a peak moment. In fact, here's Simeon, right?

Here's this old man who was promised by God. He would not die before he saw the Savior of the world, before he saw the Messiah. And this is the day he comes into the temple. And like his whole life, this is the best day of his life. This is the best day of Simeon's long, long life. Anna is 84 years old. This is the best day of her entire life.

of all those 84 years, I mean, you guys, it has to be kind of a good day if it gets recorded in the Bible, and there's like a feast day dedicated to it. Like, so this is a, there's not like another book that says in the other peak moments of Simeon's life, other big moments of Anna's life are these things. Like, no, this is the peak moment of their life, and that's what like, man, we live for those things. We live for those high points, those heroic moments, those peak moments. But it turns out that not only are those peak moments incredibly rare, Those peak moments are not nearly as important as we like to think they are.

There's two brothers named Dan and Chip Heath. They've written a bunch of books. I love every one of the books. They wrote a book called The Power of Moments. And in this book, Power of Moments, they talked about, like, they give this one example, they say if you in the course of your vacation, say you take a family vacation to Disney World, if the course of that vacation, you were to ask in any given moment, like, on a scale of 1 to 10, how is the vacation going? They're like, it would be all over the board because it could be like,

We just got off the roller coaster. It was amazing. It's a 10. Or like, we're in line for the roller coaster for the last four hours. It's a two. Like, the sense of like, okay, we're back in the air conditioning. Okay, back up to six. We had to spend the entire day in 95 degree weather, humidity in Florida.

It was a 1. Negative 5. Like, that kind of thing. But he says that they both make this point that at the end of the vacation, though, with all this ups and downs, with all that whole time, we look back and we say what? Man, that was an awesome vacation. What was it?

It was a 9. Like, even though the entire time was made up of, ones and twos and maybe some eights and some nines, we look back and say, it wasn't just the moment. The moment wasn't the most important thing. It was the season. It was like the whole thing. And I think that can get us awake, alert to the reality, that we cannot underestimate the importance of unimpressive seasons. Like when it comes to being the people God needs us to be.

When it comes to be the kind of people that God has called us and redeemed us to be, we cannot underestimate the importance of unimpressive seasons. Like not the massive transitions, not like the first. Like we all love the first, like the first time you leave home. The first time, first week, first year, first day at college, first job you get. First kiss, first date, all those things. Or not even like the milestones. Like this is, wait, can't wait for the marriage.

We can't wait for the wedding, I mean. We can't wait for the birth. We can't wait for the, we can't wait for the, we can wait for the, We can wait for the funeral. I'll use that as a couple. That's bad. Wow. Whoops. Got away from me on that one. But, like, I can't wait for the vacation.

I can't wait for the retreat. Like, not those moments, but life. Like, just unimpressive life. Just normal, ordinary, unimpressive life. The errands, the tasks, the people, the seasons, the process. Because most of life is made up of unimpressive seasons. That's what most of life is. And if we waste those seasons merely waiting for another peak,

then not only will we miss out of most of life, but I'm willing to bet that we won't even be able to recognize the peaks when they come. Again, if most of life is made up of unimpressive seasons, but I spend my entire life waiting for the peak, I'm missing out on the actual life that I've been given. Question, how much of life is wasted? just because we underestimate the importance of unimpressive seasons while we're waiting for life to happen. This is life. We're always waiting for the thing, whatever the thing is, the event,

the peak, we're waiting for that growth to be done. And in doing that, we're underestimating the unimpressive season. We can't. Because unimpressive does not mean unimportant. Unimpressive does not mean unimportant. If you look at your life right now, it's like, well, I don't know, this is my sophomore. It's kind of all the same. Like, yes, that's so good. Like, I got this job three years ago. And wow, this is what life is like now.

Yes, it is. This is what life is like now. And it's an unimpressive. But unimpressive does not mean unimportant. Go back to the gospel. Here's Anna. Peak moment of her life. But what does it describe Anna's life was like?

Well, she started out with a lot of promise. She married this man. I always imagine. like he was the man of her dreams, they had this great love. You know, they lived for seven years together, and then he dies. And then Anna spends so many years as a widow. Maybe up to 60 years as a widow. That's not good math.

Maybe up to 50 years as a widow. What does she do at that time? She lives this unimpressive life. Scripture describes it. She went to the temple night and day. She lived there. She found God's presence and just part. She marked herself in God's presence.

She spent all of her time in fasting and in prayer. And if you were to see Anna, you'd be like, man, wow, Borsville. Like, that is just like, what is she doing with her life? Because you would look at this life and say, that is completely unimpressive. But the first thing we need to do, if we're not going to underestimate the unimpressive seasons of life, we need to do what Anna did. And the first thing we need to do is you need to show up. Like, this is the key.

Just simply show up. I'm not waiting around for the peak moment. Like, I need to keep showing up where I need to be. So the question I would ask myself is, where do I need to be? Like, where does God need me to be? Like, where does he call him? He just, hey, dude, just, or whatever he calls you. Like, hey, bro, show up where he's just saying, be there.

Think of that most influential person in your life. Why were they the most influential person in your life? Most likely the first reason is because they just showed up. It's because they were there. and in this unimpressive season that you're probably in, because most of life is made up of unimpressive seasons, where do you need to show up? Where do you need to be?

Because we can't underestimate those unimpressive seasons. We have to show up for them. And the second thing we need to do is this is really connected to this. The second thing we need to do is we need to not just show up, we need to be present. We all know what it's like to show up and then not be present. We all know. It's called mass, you guys.

It's called prayer. We show up and like, okay, I'm somewhere else. It's called, like, I want to be, so much of us, so many of us spend so much of our lives being somewhere, but wanting to be somewhere else. He spent so much of our lives being somewhere, but wanting to be somewhere else. But what if, in a way of refusing to underestimate the unimpressive season,

I not only showed up, but I was actually present. Like, I was actually actively engaged in living, like not just going through the motions. but actually believing and trusting, God is here and he wants me here too. Let's say that again. Like showing up somewhere and saying, no, no, no, I trust this. I'm actively engaged in the fact that God is here and he wants me here too. I think of that.

Whenever I think of Simeon in the gospel day, recently it's reminded me of a guy named Blessed Salonis Casey. I don't know if you know Salonis Casey. I stay away from him because his life is just weird. He lived in Stillwater, Minnesota, and I was really happy with that. And then he moved to Wisconsin. And like, pathetic and lame. It gets worse. He moved to Michigan after that.

You're like, what, dude? Your life is going down the drain. But at some point early in his life, he lived in the 1800s, and he died in like 1957. He discerned a vocation to the priesthood. And so he went to the diocese of Detroit. My gosh, is there anything worse? And there is. It's called Milwaukee.

And, whoa, I'm sorry. Backing up, calming down. apologizing to everyone here. He went to the diocese, and he applied for seminary, and he got into seminary, and they were like, yeah, you're just not smart, dude. All the classes were in German and Latin. He could not keep up, and they were like, you have to go. He's like, we have this vocation, so he applied to the Franciscans, the Capuchins,

the Capuchins, or kind of division of the Franciscans, and they accepted him, and still he went to seminary, and it was like, yeah, I mean, it was going to like, hey, buddy, like, you're a nice guy and everything. We're going to ordain you. but he was ordained by they called back in the day a simple priest. What this means was he was ordained, he was a priest, but he wasn't allowed to preach in public or hear confessions. So it's like, okay, you give your whole life to like, Lord, you're coming to be a priest.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't get to do all the stuff, though. Just say mass and be quiet. It basically was the request of the superiors. Just don't preach in public, don't hear confessions, say mass. Okay, Salinas, here is your main job. Salonis, Casey, discerned this huge call of the Lord, God, who do you want me to be? Who do you need me to be? And the Superior said, who we need you to be, Father Salonis,

is we ordained you so you can answer the door. Like it was his job. For the rest of his life. His job was to sit at the front door of the monastery, essentially, and answer the door. Under Mifflin, this is Pam. Like, that was his job. That was his entire job. just answering the door. This man, that season of his life, absolutely unimpressive.

And that season of his life made him a remarkable human being. Because he didn't just show up, he showed up and was present. Here's the thing. He believed this truth. God wants me here. God is here and God wants me here. To show up and actually be present means that no matter where we go, we show up and we say like Simeon.

In the temple. God is here and God wants me here. He's involved in this. And I can't, because he's involved in this, I cannot underestimate this unimpressive season, this unimpressive place. So whenever we want to come to the door, he saw them as brought there by God. So we always ask the question, God, what do you want me to do here? Because you're here, you want me here and you want them here. So what do you want me to do now? And that's what I mean by saying, like, if we spend so much time underestimating the unimpressive moments, unimpressive seasons, not only will we miss out on life, we're going to miss out on those peak moments. Actually, we're going to miss out on being the people God needs us to be. This is true when it comes to prayer. I mean, our relationship with

God is prayer, right? If I'm not praying, I don't have a relationship with God because prayer is my relationship with God. And so much of prayer is just those first two steps, those first two elements, just show up and be there. Just show up. up, knowing God, you're here and you want me here. And I get it. It's really easy to do that and be really frustrated. Like, Father, I've been showing up, mm-hmm, and trying to focus, there's nothing happening. There is little progress. There is no growth. It seems so unimpressive. Even the peaks of my prayer are like not even peaks in my prayer. It's like Nebraska. The peaks of Nebraska are like, What are those?

Someone built a house. Like, oh, there it is. That's the... We're just including everybody here, you guys. Everyone gets made fun of today. But in today's feast, what happens? This peak moment of Simeon's life. He takes Jesus into his arms, and he says these words.

He says, I've seen the salvation of the world. He takes the baby into his arms and says, I've seen the salvation of Israel. I'm like, dude, no, you're looking at a baby. And he would be able to say back to me, bruh, this is what salvation looks. like when it's 40 days old. This is what salvation looks like when it's 40 days old. Because Jesus in this scene of the gospel today, he's the Savior of the world, and this is what

the Savior of the world looks like at 40 days old. The same thing is true for us. When we come to adoration, come to Mass, we see the Eucharist. Like, ah, it doesn't look. That's a, behold, the Savior of the world. It doesn't really look. No, this is what the Savior of the world looks like under the disguise of bread and wine. Unremarkable, unimpressive, but also someone that I cannot underestimate. So I need to show up, I need to be present. But then what? The last little piece.

Because it can get confusing, right? Like, okay, I'm going to show up and be present. I know God's here and wants me here, but what do I do now? The answer is really, really simple. You actually already know the answer. When life gets confusing, just do what you know. Here's what I mean. The last couple characters in the gospel today are Mary and Joseph.

I would put myself in their shoes, like especially in this moment We're like, okay, so we have this baby, he's God. What do we do next? I imagine so many parents where they have a new baby. They just let the parents take the baby home from the hospital, like without any license or anything like this. Just like, there you go. We didn't read any books.

That's baby's yours. Where's the instruction manual? It's yours. Imagine going back to Nazareth with like, God, in your arms. What do we do now? I don't know. Actually, they did know. said, well, the law of Moses said on the 40th day, we bring it back to the temple for the right of purification.

So I guess we'll do that. See, so much of life we make it so confusing. I don't know what to do. It's like, no, no, no, no, you know what to do. I mean, even start with just 10 commandments. Like, I'm in love with this married person. What do I do? Okay, that's commandment number nine.

Don't do anything. I really want that thing and I don't own it. I don't want to take it. Okay, that's commandment number, I don't know, sick. I should be better than this. It's top 10, you guys. I know that much. So you show up, you're present, and you do what you know.

Just like Mary Joseph, they showed up. They were present. And they just did what they knew. Not underestimplestimating the unimpressive season, but willing to trust that God, you're here and you want me here. And the whole way, in the whole time being prepared, because that's what the unimpressive season does. It gets us ready.

The first reading from Malachi says, says this, the servant's going to go before me and prepare the way. And then suddenly the Lord will appear. This is the last thing. And suddenly the Lord will appear. You're going to get prepared. You're going to get ready. And then suddenly something's going to happen. You're going to be prepared. And the question is, going to be prepared for what? That unimpressive season is doing something. God is doing something in it. He's preparing you. But preparing you for what? Maybe not to be impressive. Maybe not to be noticed. Maybe all these unimpressive seasons are not there so you can become famous or so you can accomplish amazing things.

Maybe all of these unimpressive seasons of your life and in my life are only preparing you for that moment. The moment. Malachi says suddenly will come the Lord whom you seek. The moment when you stand before God. When suddenly all of the unimpressive seasons that seemed so unimportant and underestimated makes sense, and you will be who God needs you to be.

And in that moment, you'll see what he's been doing. And in that moment, because you refuse to underestimate the importance of the unimpressive seasons, in that moment, the greatest moment of your life, the hugest peak moment of your life, you'll be ready to see him.