Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 02/9/25 On Purpose: The Next Step

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

Homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. There are two requirements: Be available and be willing to try. There are times when the future is so uncertain and so unknown that we hesitate to move. But since we know that God is with us, He has a call on our lives, and His grace is active...we can take the next step without fear. Mass Readings from February 9, 2025: Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8 Psalms 138:1-5, 7-81 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-11

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.

He reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke, chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the Word of God, he was standing beside the Lake of Ganeserate. He saw two boats there alongside the lake. The fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water, and lower your nets for a catch. Simon said in reply, Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing. But at your command, I will lower the nets.

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon and Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, depart from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man. For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him. And likewise, James and John, the son of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid.

From now on, you will be catching men. When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him. The gospel of the Lord. Why did you have a seat? So I don't know if you heard about, there was a Netflix series that came out in 2021 called Squid Game. You ever see Squid? So basically it's this Korean series, TV series or Netflix series. It's about this secret contest with 456 contestants who are all in, you know, financially bad places. And if they win this contest, they have the potential to win millions of dollars.

And I think it's something like 40 million U.S. dollars. They have the potential to win, if they win, money, and they also have the potential if they lose, they die. So the stakes are kind of high. And so this is, but there's one challenge towards the end of season one. Again, this is not real. This is a TV show. It's not a game show, real game show. There is a contest or a challenge toward the end of season one where the remaining contestants, there's maybe down to 10 or 12.

They have to walk across this glass bridge, just super, super high up, walk across this glass bridge. And each square of glass is either durable and bulletproof, it can bear their weight, or it's super fragile. And if they step on it, they'll fall through and they'll die. And so you can imagine that you have to walk across not knowing whether your next step will take you to your destination or if the next step will kill you, essentially. And so, again, just like you can imagine, people having to make this choice, have to make this step, they're paralyzed. Like, they would, people behind them would see shouting at them because there's a time limit you have to go or else they all die. They're shouting at them, but they're just absolutely paralyzed because they're so afraid of getting that next step wrong.

So they're just frozen. It's what we call, like, analysis by paralysis or paralysis by analysis, right? just, I'm paralyzed because if I make this next step and I get it wrong, I fail, I die. You know, we've been doing this series for the last four weeks called On Purpose. And the premise of this is the fact that, okay, God exists, he's good, and he made you on purpose, that he made you for a purpose. And so we talked about the fact that last weekend, we talked about the fact that God has a call on your life. God has a vocation for you, right?

That God wants, he has a destination in mind for you. And that destination is to be a saint. the destination is life with him forever in heaven. And there's means to that destination. And that, I think, is so incredible to be able to realize, wait, God has made me on purpose. He made me for a purpose. He has a call in my life. There's the potential for joy, but I think a lot of us hear that.

And we actually experience fear. Why? Because we're like people on the bridge. And we're like, wait, this next step I'm taking, is this next step I'm going to take? This choice I'm going to have to make. Is this discernment going to get me closer to my destination? Or is this discernment going to end of my death? You know, it's basically that next step, the fear we have is that next step, I don't want to get it wrong.

Because I think that so many ways we say, I don't want to make a mistake. I don't want to choose poorly. And so we have that paralysis by analysis. And at this point, I just want to remind us all of something. Remember we talked about last weekend. God knows you better than you know yourself and God loves you better than you love yourself. Because of that, whatever the next step is, you don't have to figure that out alone. Because God knows you better and loves you better,

then you know and love yourself, because he's present, because he's active. Whatever that next step is, it's not all up to you to figure out, what's your vocation? God wants you to know this. I mean, what's the second reading today? St. Paul, first letter to the Corinthians.

He talks about God's grace. He says, by God's grace, I am what I am. And this grace to me has not been ineffective. He says, yeah, I've toiled harder than all the rest, but not I, but rather the grace of God that is with me. just that reality that yes you're going to work hard but that doesn't matter half as much as the fact that God is present God is active you're not alone and because you have God's grace again as a Christian because you have God's grace all you and I need all you and I need because already God's

grace has been given to you all you and I need are two things we need to be available and we need to be willing to try. That's it. Because you have God's grace because he made you on purpose. All you and I have to be, have to do is we have to be available and we have to be willing to try, which I love the first reading in the gospel today for that because we have Isaiah in the first reading and Simon Peter in the gospel today. And both of them are incredible examples of they know they've encountered God. Right. Isaiah has encountered God in this massive, mysterious, powerful way. Simon Peters encountered God as he gets into his boat, right? He's in the person of Jesus.

So both of them have encountered God. God has reached out to them just like he's reached out to you. And all they need to do, all they need to be is they need to be available and willing to try. And so here, God steps into Isaiah's life. And what, he's available. He simply literally says, here I am. Simon, Peter, you know, he's not even looking for Jesus. He's just doing his thing, right?

He's finishing his work. He's washing his nets. And Jesus wants to get in. Both Isaiah and Simon are available. and both of them are also willing to try. Isaiah, here's the word. Who will go for us? And he says, not only available, here I am,

but willing to try, send me. I love Simon Peter too, because Simon Peter, it's all small steps. Sometimes we think that following Jesus or taking that next step is a leap, it's rarely, rarely a leap. It's almost often small steps. Here's Simon Peter,

washing his nets, doing his work. Jesus shows up. Simon's available. Jesus wants to get in his boat, okay, willing to try. So Jesus says, okay, put out from the shore, put on deep water. So he's willing to try. Small steps. Okay, to lower your nets for a catch, willing to try.

And then finally, it's okay, now you're going to be a fisher of man. And after all these small steps, because Simon Peter and Isaiah are both available and they're willing to try, that breaks through fear. That's what breaks through the paralysis of, I need to discern. Because I think a lot of times, if you are taking your vocation seriously, if you're taking God's call that he made you on purpose seriously, then we are like, okay, we got to bear down. We really have to discern this thing. And remember Matt Frad once said that he heard a priest once tell him. Ever since discernment became popular, no one's made a decision.

Because that sense of like, again, every one of us, this is a big choice. I want to do God's will. I want to follow my vocation. I want to live on purpose. And so I need to discern this just absolutely perfectly. But do we need to discern? Yes. but ultimately we need to decide.

I remember, I spoke with a man who was served as part of this elite military fighting unit that he saw a lot of combat. He was often in extreme situations where we're literally facing life and death on a daily, maybe even hourly basis. And I remember I'm telling me this. He said, you know, people say that us in what he did, like what his work was, people say that those of us here that were gifted problem solvers, that were gifted problem solvers. And he said, that's partly true, but he said, the actual skill or strength that we have

is that we become excellent decision makers. See, there's a difference. The problem solver is the one who has to, I have to, here's a problem, I need to make sure this is perfect. I need to figure this out so it's done. The decision maker is one who says, okay, I'm going to practically assess the situation and I'm going to move. I'm going to choose.

I'm available and I'm willing to try. And that's what the reality for all of us, every single one of us, we know that you've been made on purpose. We know that you have a vocation. God has a call on your life. How do I take this next step? Well, I would say this, I would say it's really kind of simple, but it involves being available and it involves being willing to try. First thing is, if God has said do something, then do it. If God has made his will clear to you, like, hey, don't ever do X, then you never do X. I mean, we have broken to human people. But at the same time, if God has been, made his will known. Like, for example, Jesus and Simon Peter, Jesus made it very clear that

he wanted to get in Simon's boat. He made it very clear. He wanted Simon to go lower his nets for a catch. He made it very, very clear that he was calling Peter to be a fisherman, right, to be one of his apostles. So if that's the case, then you have to do it. But a lot of times where we live in our daily basis, our daily lives, is not that place where God's call is absolutely that clear. And if God's call isn't that clear, like it's not absolutely obvious that he wants me to do this or not do that, then we get to choose, actually. So to have wisdom in choosing or to have wisdom

in being like this military man, excellent decision makers, we can look at every choice like this. Like it's a door. And we ask four questions about the door. And the first question is, is this a good door? Right? So if I'm facing any kind of decision

and I wonder, is this God's will or not God's will, should I do this, should I not do this? The first question, before I walk through this door, before I take that next step is, is this a good door? Because if it's not a good door, right? If it's an evil door, don't walk through it. Like the wife who is married to her husband, but, you know, they kind of fell out of love a little bit and there's someone at work she's interested in and she's like, oh, discerning like, Lord, should I, is this your will for me to pursue this other man? No, it's not a good door. If there's a high school chemistry teacher and his wife has cancer and he's like,

maybe I could cook crystal meth and sell that and pay for her hospital bills. Like, not a good door. That's Walter White, Breaking Bad. But not a good door. If it's not a good door, then don't walk through it. If it's a good door, okay, it's possible. The second question is, okay, it's a good door. Is it an open door? Is it even possible? Is it even an option for me? So, you people ask me all the time. Father Mike, have you ever considered playing the NBA? And I always have to say, no. And they said, but have you really prayed about it? And I don't need to pray about that. Why? Because sure, it's a good door, at least neutral. It's not an open door.

It's not an open door for someone like me. And so I don't have to discern that anymore because it's a closed door. Now, sometimes doors are closed temporarily. So, you know, we have students who in undergrad, they want to go to med school. I have some family members and friends who have tried to go to med school. And the first try or second try, it was a closed door. But in the meantime, what they do, they worked on their MCAT scores. They studied and got some other grades up.

They made themselves more acceptable by the medical school. And that closed door was only a temporarily closed door. So again, if it's a choice for you, is this an open door? Is this a good door? Is this an open door? Sometimes that closed door is only temporary, and sometimes that closed door is, it's closed. But if the door is open and good, the third question to ask is, is this a wise door? What I mean by that is knowing myself, knowing my past, like knowing my story, and knowing where I want to go, would this be a wise door for me to walk through?

I already know it's good. I already know that it's open. But would this help me get where I want to go? I talk to so many people on a regular basis who, I mean, even have some students who they get here and they're dating someone. It's like, when you start dating? Well, the day before summer break ended. Like, okay, so that was, you know, this person is interested in you as well.

It's a good thing. It's an open thing. Was it wise? Who knows? Time will tell. but depending on where you want to go, is it wise for you to walk through this door? So is it good? Is it open? Is it wise? And then the fourth question,

and this is the question nobody likes. This is the question that people actually get mad about. And the fourth question is, is this a door you want to walk through? And at that point, people are like, no, no, what do you mean? It doesn't matter for whether I want to or not. If God wants it, yeah. But if God has let you make the choice, then one of the questions you have to ask is, is this this? a door I want to walk through, because if he's given you the option to either walk through it or not walk through it, then you get to choose. Because the requirement for us is what, to be available and to be willing to try. Remember, you have free will. And God made us for free will,

therefore you can actually exercise that free will. And I know that some of us don't like that last part because what if I choose something that's not perfect? I think the assumption in that is because if I choose to do God's will, then I'll be spared pain, I'll be spared suffering, I'll be spared failure. And that is not the truth. No one did the Father's will more perfectly than Jesus. And doing the Father's will did not spare him pain,

did not spare him suffering, did not spare him failure according to this world. Now, it might minimize the self-inflicted pain that we go through and we're foolish. But sometimes I know we just, we want the guarantee. And the guarantee is like, what if I'm wrong? Like, what if I choose wrong?

And the reality is, when you look at this and say, okay, is it a good door, open door, a wise door, a door I want to, want to walk through, to be willing to try is to at times choose wrong. Because that's part of the process. I always think of it in terms of like siting in a rifle. If you ever tried to cite in a rifle before, what you do is long before opening day, you go to a range, a firing range, and you get, you all position everything, you have the target, and then you line up the target in your sights and you take aim, but at that point you don't say, oh, it looks good.

At that point, after you take aim, you have to pull the trigger. At that point, you have to actually shoot. And you might miss. And that's part of the process. Why? Because if you shoot and miss, you don't say, well, that's it. I'm done. You aim again.

You make adjustments. You aim again and shoot again. And if you miss again, you don't just give up. You take aim again. You shoot again. You make those adjustments. And that is part of the process. It's part of the process when it comes to sighting in a rifle.

It is literally part of the process when it comes to discerning God's vocation for you. When you're siding in a rifle, you're not surprised if you miss. And when we're walking through this life and making choices and trying to figure out, God, what is it you want? How do you make me on purpose? We cannot be surprised when change is needed. Because the more you do it, the better you get at recognizing God's voice. That's, I'll go back to Squid Game, that glass bridge.

As people are falling through these fragile glass, there was a man who's, he was an expert in glass. He worked before the game. He actually spent his whole life working with glass. And so he was able to look at the different kinds of glass and you could tell by looking because he was an expert. He had spent so much time analyzing, studying, creating glass that he knew which ones could hold his weight and which ones would break away. And that's meant to be us. we're going to be able to spend so much time listening to God's voice

by listening to the Bible or reading the Bible. So much time listening to God's voice by spending time in prayer that we can recognize God's voice so that we can be available and then just be willing to try. And this is the last thing. I know with all this you can still say, yeah, but okay, I know that we have to ask that we have God's grace, but I guess the question, this is a good door, open door, a wise door, do I want to walk through?

But what, how can you really know if this is God's purpose? How can you really know if this is God's voice? How do you really know if this is what God wants you to do, take this next step or not? And in this case, I have to defer to the philosophers known as Smashmouth who said, you'll never know if you don't go. Like, the reality is that you won't ever know. You actually won't know if this is God's will.

You won't know if this is God's next step for your life until you move. to this last summer, we have a priest in our diocese. His name is Father Scott. And Father Scott's awesome. He is ordained maybe the last five years, somewhere in there. It's just phenomenal guy. He's also a carpenter. And so he's always working on projects.

And he told the story this last summer about how this last summer he was working on a project and he needed some brackets. And he was like, oh, I was just going to go to Menards and get some brackets. And then he paused and he's like, you know what? God, where do you want me to go? God, do you want me to go to Menards or do you want me to go to Home Depot? And I remember he's telling me the story. I'm thinking, bro, that's a little bit extra.

Like, calm down. But he said in prayer, I just got the sense. God was saying, go to Home Depot. And so, Father Scott gets up, goes to Home Depot. And he's walking through Home Depot and he can't find the brackets. So he did what no one has ever done in the history of Home Depot is he asked for help. And he asked this man, the big guy who was working at Home Depot with the bib and everything. and this guy was kind of a huge human being

who looked like he had been lived a rough life, tattoos and whatnot. And he said, he had these brackets. The guy took them around and said, actually, no, we don't have brackets here at Home Depot. You should try Menards. And Father Scott was like, what the heck? This is, you know, interesting.

I've got a prayed. Home Depot or Menards. You told me to go to Home Depot. Here I am. I should have got him in Mnards. As he's thinking this, the man says, wait, so, are you a priest? Now, Father Scott wears a cassock literally everywhere he goes. He has his

dress cassock and has his work cassock that he does does all the projects and so he's in his work cassock and he's kind of like, yeah, I'm a priest. And the man says, oh my gosh, I was raised Catholic but I haven't been to church in like 25 years. Right now there's some really big things going on with me and my wife and there's really big things going on in the lives of my kids. and this man in the aisles of Home Depot just begins to weep. And Father Scott is able to say, can I pray with you? Right there in the Isles of Home Depot,

here's Father Scott praying with this man, giving him his information, inviting him to Mass. And as he left Home Depot that day, Father Scott realized the truth that, yeah, he was looking for brackets, but God had sent him to look for a lost son. And he would never have known that, unless he took that step.

And we'll never know this until we take the next step, right? Here's the door. Here's the choice. Here's the decision. Is this a good door? Is it an open door? Is it a wise door?

Is it a door I want to walk through? And then we have to move. Then we have to try. Why? Because you have God's grace. Therefore, all you need to do, all you need to be is available and willing to try.

To take this step. to have no fear because no matter which step you prayerfully take, he'll be there. He'll be there either to help you keep going or he'll be there to help you change direction. Either way, God will be there to help you stay on purpose.