Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 03/07/21 To The Heart: My Treacherous Heart

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

Homily from the Third Sunday of Lent. Is the question, “Can I trust God?” Or is the better question, “Can God trust me?" There is something that all of us discover about ourselves the moment we have a minute of self-reflection: we have the capacity to do the things we hate. In spite of our best efforts and sincere desires to be consistently good, we have this thing in our chests that ought not to be trusted. We have treacherous hearts. And yet, Jesus entrusts His Heart to ours at every Mass. Mass Readings from March 07, 2021: Exodus 20:1-17 Psalms 19:8-111 Corinthians 1:22-25 John 2:13-25 Download the Homily Study

So there's this man named Dr. Ricardo Castagnon. He was born in Bolivia and he ultimately became, and after going through a lot of schooling, he became an accomplished neuropsychophysiologist, which basically means he became an expert in knowing how the physical and chemical activities of the brain relate to human behavior. So the fancy term for that, neuropsychophysiologist. And he, again, accomplished in his field, incredible in his field,

an incredible scientist, underneath genius people, Nobel Prize winners. And he was exposed to this idea again and again that all there is in this world is just what you can see. All there is in this world is just matter. That there's no such thing as spirit, no such thing as soul. Definitely no such thing as God, because if you can't see it, it doesn't exist.

Dr. Ricardo Castagnon became a pretty staunch atheist for almost his entire life. And all of that changed in 1919. when he was invited to look through a microscope and report what he saw. We're just going to get back to that in a little bit. But before we get back to that, I just want to talk about kind of a difficult topic. And especially it's a difficult topic for a lot of us here in Minnesota. I don't know if you're familiar with the term whiskey plates.

But if you are, if you're from Minnesota, we have these things called whiskey plates. Basically, if you have had two DWIs within 10 years, or multiple DWIs within any number of years, or if you're a first-time offender and you blue, a 0.16 blood alcohol content, a lot of times what you will get is you'll get a license plate that has a W as the first letter to indicate that you're someone who has gotten multiple DWIs. And so again, we call them whiskey plates in this state. It's kind of like Minnesota's Scarlet Letter. I remember someone hearing someone describe this. They're controversial because,

well, the idea behind the whole, the whole idea behind whiskey plates is to alert police and other drivers to a potential dangerous driver. It also does the same thing. It also does the same thing. that has this consequence is it freezes a person's bad decision in time. And every time they get in their car and drive around, their bad decision is on display for everybody, as well as the decision of, I guess anyone who would be borrowing their car, their spouse or their kids. And we've had students who are like, yeah, that's my dad. My dad had whiskey plates. I had to drive them to school. So again, the idea behind it is like, let's alert people and keep them safe. The bad idea is the controversial part of it is you're freezing someone's bad decision in time.

Because you can look at someone and see drive by with a whiskey plate and think, oh my gosh, that's the kind of person they are. Here's the thing. Whenever I see a whiskey plate, my thought is never, oh my gosh, that's a bad kind of person. My first thought, whenever I see a plate with W is I have the words, that could be me. Go through my head. When I see someone with whiskey plate, I think, yeah, that could be me.

Not that I've ever driven drunk, but I know that I have it in me. I know that I could, as much as I hate the idea, I know that I know myself and I know my heart, and I know that I'm the kind of person who could end up doing exactly the thing that I hate. You know, I have a friend who's going on 25 years sober right now. And he talked to me about when he was using, when he was under the influence of alcohol, under the influence of drugs, he said he had a bunch of I would nevers in his life. He had a whole list of I Would Never. He said, when he's drinking, I would never drink and smoke.

And he said, I would never drink and hook up with somebody. I would never drink and drive. He said even actually had a sleeping bag in the back of his car so that he would never be the kind of person who would drink and then drive. But he realized over the course of time that the more time went on, he said every single one of my I would never's were simply I hadn't yet. Every one of my I would-nevers ended up becoming a simply I hadn't yet.

So I hadn't yet drank and used. I hadn't yet drank and hooked up. I hadn't yet drank and driven. And he realized when he went to AA and began the journey of recovery, part of that journey of recovery for him was being honest with himself and realizing again every one of those I-Wood-Nepers, all they were, all they were, was I hadn't yet because he realized he said, I now know myself. He says, I have it in me to do the thing that I hate.

I have it in me to do the thing that I hate. You know, it's funny. The other day, someone asked me to say, Father, what do you think about Kim and Kanye? I was like, I don't know. What about Kim and Kanye? Well, they're getting a divorce. What do you think about that? And I think that's so strange.

We like to weigh in on celebrity couples, especially on their tragedies. and because it's really easy to say, well, of course, look at him. Or of course, look at her. Or of course, look at them. I mean, just like, it's like, how would it not end this way? You know, it's classic celebrity couples or classic our culture or classic whatever. And I would say, no, it's not classic anything. It's not just him.

It's not just him. It's not just her. It's not just them. It's not just our hearts. It's every one of our hearts. We have the potential, every one of us, to do the exact thing that I hate. The problem with this world is my heart. because I don't need to pick on whiskey plates, I don't need to pick on celebrity divorces

or non-celebrity divorces to know that I look at them and I see me. I look at the brokenness of the people around and I don't see them, I see me, I see you. Because here's the truth. I have this thing in my chest that can't be trusted,

that I have a treacherous heart. I have the capacity to look someone in the eye and tell them what I absolutely know to not be true. For years, for years, I was a massive Lance Armstrong fan. I loved Lance Armstrong. I had the USPS biking jersey. I wore it almost every day when I went out for a ride.

I had a trek bike because Lance Armstrong rides a trek bike. I love Lance Armstrong. And that would be his staunchest defender. I loved defending Lance Armstrong. He's the most tested athlete in the world. There is no way in the world that he could possibly be using performance-enancing drugs. And he looked at people in the eyes during so many interviews that I saw, and he would say, how dare you accuse me of doing this thing?

He ruined people's careers who accused him of doing drugs. He looked them right in the eye, and he denied doing the exact thing that he was doing every single day. Until that day when he went on Oprah and said, yeah, I've been guilty of using performance-nancing drugs during every single one of my Tour de France victories. And the reality, of course, is that he has something in his chest that can't be trusted, and he's no different, he is no different than me. He did it, I have the capacity to do it. And so do you. We have the capacity to do the exact thing that we hate. You know, we've started this series at the beginning of Lent called To the Heart. And the idea behind the whole thing is, okay, this Lent, how can we live this Lent in such a way that at the end of this Lent is not just a good Lent, not just a great Lent, but it's the kind of Lent where everything has changed.

Why? Because we've become the kind of people who now trust God in a way we've never trusted God before. That would be the goal of this Lent is become the kind of people at the end of this Lent that we trust God in a way we've never trusted God before. But let's pause today and ask a different question. What if the question isn't so much, can I trust God? What if the question is different? What if the question isn't, can I trust God? What if the question is, can God trust me? What if the question is, can God trust you?

In the gospel today, it's John chapter 2. And at the end of the whole story, right, the Jesus drives out the, money changers and the temple. At the end of the gospel today, there's these haunting lines that every time I read them, whenever I read John's gospel, they just strike me to the heart. And it says, many of many people began to believe in his name. But then the next line is, but Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all. It did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well. And I think for today the question is not, can you trust God? The question is, can God trust you?

that we came to believe in him, but he would not trust himself to them because he knew them all. Because he knew the human heart. He knows the human heart. You know, there's the psychologist, one of whom is named Pierre Carlo Valisolo, who works for this place called Claremont McKenna. He and his contemporaries, the constituents, they have done these number of experiments on people's trustworthiness. numerous experiments over and over again on the topic of honesty and trustworthiness and the result that he's found with the people he's worked with time and time again to their chagrin to their

they did not want to find this result of this study that 90% of people okay 9-0% of people most of whom call themselves good people or they call themselves morally upstanding 90% of people will act dishonestly to benefit themselves if one thing's true if they believe they can get away with it. And they've done these studies. Again, across the cultures, across continents, across nations, and the same thing comes back. 90% of people will act dishonestly if and only if they believe they can get away with it. They believe they won't get caught. In fact, there's a Canadian psychologist who said, he points out a number of studies have, when it comes to crime in deterrence from crime, he's pointed out that these studies indicate that you don't deter people from crime

by increasing having harsher penalties or steeper punishments, but the main thing that deters people from crime is whether or not they think they'll get caught. Like that's it. The likelihood of them getting caught is what will keep a person from committing a crime or get them to the place where they're willing to clean a crime. And so here's the verdict, the reality about me,

and maybe even the reality about you, is if I think that I can, A, get away with it and be wanted badly, enough, then I'll do it. If I think I'll get away with it, or B, I want it badly enough, then I'll do it. And maybe, okay, maybe I won't do it. Maybe we won't do it. But it's an option, isn't it? It's on the table for us. Why? Because I have this thing, and you have this thing in our chests that can't be trusted. You and I have this thing called a treacherous heart. I have a heart that ought not to be trusted. And I think you do too. Of course, at this point, you'd be like,

like, wait, Father, I thought you were like a positive person. And I am. I am positive that this is true. I'm positively convinced that this is every one of our hearts. Because I wonder, I wonder honestly how many of us are surprised by this. I wonder honestly how many of us are in denial about this. And it might be because we have this list.

We have our pet list, our little private list, of things that we really consider bad. We would never, ever do these things. But there's some other things that, of course, we would do. Because they're not on our list. they might be on your list, but not on my list. So I give myself permission to do the thing that I'm okay with doing, and I don't want you to do, but I'm okay doing myself.

And I love thinking about this because it just is a gut check. I'll go back to the first reading today in that book of Exodus in the Ten Commandments, which, again, as you probably know, are not the Ten Suggestions, but the Ten Commandments, where here's God saying, okay, all of these things, all of these things, without exception, is what I'm asking of you. even if you really, really want to do it, even if you think you can get away with it.

In fact, it's so interesting, even when we read the Ten Commandments tonight, they're not just the list of rules. I don't know if you caught this, but in the context of hearing God giving the commandments, what does he say? He's not just saying, you guys, here are the things I don't want you to do.

Here are the rules I don't want you to break. What he says is, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery, to be my people holy and beloved, The whole context is relationship. The whole context is, let me be your God. I want you to be my people. Let me love you.

And then he gives the commandments. You know, this is so remarkable. It's painfully remarkable. This is not about rules. This is about relationship, which is the reason why God considers us breaking the commandments to be adultery. This is how God sees them. That even if we break the First Commandment,

have other gods. if we have false idols, if we take the Lord's name in vain, how God perceives that is not just, oh, you broke the rule, you went over the speed limit. He says, for me, that's committing adultery. You have just cheated on me. The truth is, I am capable of looking someone in the eyes and deceiving them. Truth is, we are capable of looking God right in the eye

and lying to him, cheating on him. And actually, he ought not to trust my treacherous heart. he ought not to trust my treacherous heart. And again, again, we can be blind to this, maybe because, you know, we're so used to it, just like that's how people are. This is how the world goes. Maybe just because that's how I am. Like, I know I can't trust myself.

Or maybe we're even at that point where we're just so frustrated with ourselves, we think, I can't change it. Actually, I see it myself and I hate it. Sometimes we think it's that place where we're looking at ourselves and we see this about ourselves. I have a heart that can't be trusted, and we think I'm afraid. Like, is there even hope for me? why would God ever ever trust himself to me of course he won't look at my brokenness and that's why

I just love the fact the first reading today is from Exodus or God first gives the law but if you go to the book of Deuteronomy later on a couple books later what happens in Deuteronomy is here's the people of Israel they've been set free from slavery they wouldn't go into the promised land and so they spend a generation 40 years in the wilderness and the book of Deuteronomy is here's Moses basically saying, okay, you just journeyed for 40 years. You're about to go into the promised land. Here, let me remind you of the rules. Let me remind you of the law. Let me remind you of the commandments. And then he gives the commandments. But it's remarkable because even in Deuteronomy, what happens is Moses says this. He says, here's the laws.

Here's the law again. Here's the rules. He says, but I know what's going to happen. I'm going to lead you and you're going to go with me. I'm going to fight for you and then you're going to forget me. And then you're going to fall. And then you're going to fail. and then when you're on the ground and you're bleeding and you realize that there's no one who loves you when you've fallen, there's no one who loves you when you fail. Everyone forgets about you when you are on the ground. He says, in that moment, you're going to cry out to me. And I will hear your voice and I will come to you and I will lift you up and I'll take you to myself again. This is one of those things that blows my mind is God says, here's what I'm going to be.

what's going to happen. You're going to be unfaithful. But when you're unfaithful and you fall down, you just have to call my name and I will show up and I will pick you up and bring you back to myself. Yes, every time you forget me, it's like cheating on me. Every time you fail, it's adultery. But every time you reach out for me, every time you look up to me, you get me. And this is the good news about for every single one of us. That in the gospel it says, he would not trust his heart to them because he knew them. And yet what is the truth about the incarnation? That God becomes one of us.

Why? To get near to us. People that he knows are going to forget him. There was the whole good news about the crucifixion is that Jesus gives his life to those, like who, like you and me, who have treacherous hearts. We're going to fail in. And even the most incredible thing I think is just,

The Last Supper, here is Jesus in John chapter 2, who would not trust himself. He would not trust his heart to them because he knew them. And he knew that they, he knew they weren't trustworthy. He knew they had treacherous hearts. And yet what happens at the last supper? What does Jesus do? He's with his disciples. Who he knows, one is going to betray him, one is going to deny him.

All of them are going to run away. And he says to these people with treacherous hearts with hearts that can't be trusted, shouldn't be trusted, ought not to be trusted. He says to them, he takes up bread and he says, take this, take this. I want you to have this, all of you. This is my body, entrusted, given to you. To the people he knows are not trustworthy, but are treacherous. He says, take this all of you, drink from it. This is the chalice of my blood.

That will be entrusted to you. That's going to be given, poured out for you. And it just blows the mind and actually blows a hole in my treacherous heart because realize this, there are no secrets for Jesus. He knows my heart. He knows that I ought not to be trusted. He knows your heart. heart and he knows your treacherous heart and still, what does he do? He still entrusts himself to us.

That into our treacherous hearts, he places his Eucharistic heart, which is what Dr. Ricardo Castagnan discovered. So we know this, right? This is kind of the last thing, but it's a long last thing to just prep. Okay, get ready. We know this. We know that every day at Mass, every time Mass is offered, that bread becomes the actual body of Christ and that wine actually becomes the blood of Christ. it becomes, the bread and wine become the body, blood, soul, divinity of Jesus Christ in reality. It happens every single mass. But there are a number of times over the course of history where the Eucharist didn't just transform substantially, it actually also transformed accidentally, meaning the bread and wine

visibly and physically also became the body and blood of Christ. This happened in the 700s in Launceano, Italy. It's happened a number of times in the 1900s. has happened at least three times in the 2000s, in Poland, in Mexico, all the places around the world. But there's one place in 1996 in Buenos Aires, where this happened in a remarkable way. In Buenos Aires, 1996, there was a host. Someone dropped to the back of the church, and the priest was informed by this woman who had seen it fall to the ground. She said, Father, there's a host back in the back of the church. So he went back, and he collected it, and he said, okay, I'm not going to consume it because he said it was on the ground.

It's kind of gross. So I'm just going to put what he's going to do. He's going to put it in some tap water. and put it in the tabernacle. So that's what he did. Because what happens is then it dissolves over the course of maybe six, seven, eight days. And then what you do is you take the Eucharist that's resolved. Dissolve now, it's no longer the Eucharist, and you pour it into the earth. Pour it and it says, holy ground.

So after a week or so, he opens up the tabernacle, and he sees that the host has been transformed now. There's this red there, and the host no longer looks like, bread, looks like something different. So he tells his bishop, whose name was Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, and he tells them that we have this. this thing and he shows him to the Pope and takes some photos and they say okay let's put this back in the tabernacle for another month or so. Then they put it in some distilled water for the next three years. Basically kept a secret because they're like, we don't know what this is. It looks miraculous but we have no idea. After three years in 1999 they called this doctor, Dr. Ricardo

Castagnan and said we need to have an investigation. We need to have a scientific investigation. What is this thing? So Dr. Ricardo Castagnan brought a sample of whatever this was to New York City to another professor of a cardiologist. He's a famous forensic pathologist. He has over 100 papers published inside the journals as well as being he's a full fellow on the American College of Cardiology. His name is Dr. Frederick Zugubach. And he, without telling him what it was, he didn't want to bias the doctor. He said, can you just look at this sample under the microscope and tell me what you see? And this professor of cardiology, this physician, this physician, this forensic pathologist looked under the microscope and he said what I'm looking at is he's

I can tell you exactly what this is. He took him only a few moments and I tell you exactly what this is. He said, this is human flesh that comes from the heart muscle and it's part of the heart that's found in the wall of the left ventricle. So he said, I'm looking at human flesh. And the part of the human flesh I'm looking at is from the human heart. And the part of the human heart that I'm looking at is from the left ventricle, which is the part of the heart that gives its beat and gives the body its life. It's a part of the heart that actually pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. You went on to say, he says, I see in this sample, I also see infiltrated white blood cells.

And this tells me two things. It tells me two things, that this heart A was alive at the moment this sample was taken because white blood cells die outside living organisms. And B, these white blood cells go to address injury, So he, again, as a forensic pathologist, he knew what happened, what made it so these white blood cells would show up in this place. He said, this heart has suffered. He said, this is the sort of thing I see in patients who have been in car accidents, who have had heart attacks, or have been beaten around the chest. One of the people who was with Dr. Castagnone and Dr. Zugabe said,

how long does it take white blood cells to stay alive outside of the body? Dr. Zugabe was very clear. He said it actually takes a couple minutes for them to die. Maybe a couple hours. He says, well, these have been kept in distilled water for three years before that. They were kept in tap water for a month. Dr. Zugabe said that's impossible. There's no explanation for that whatsoever to look at live white blood cells on these live, this live heart cell from the left ventricle. And that's when Dr. Castagnan and that's when the other people around said, well, Dr. Zugabea, this. came from a consecrated host from a Catholic Mass.

How do you explain that? Dr. Zugabevah said, I have no scientific explanation for that. Science has no way to explain this. Because there's no way to explain it. You know, there's also no way to explain why a God, why the God of everything would trust His Eucharistic heart to my treacherous heart. There's nothing in the world that would explain. explain not only the transformation of bread and wine into body and blood, but there's nothing in the

universe that I would explain why there would be this, this God who is so good and so loving that would still love me when I'm not so good and I'm not so loving. But it's that love that led Dr. Castignon to look through the microscope and say, I've been wrong my whole life. Not only does God exist. Not only is he real, but he has entrusted his sense. He's true. He's Eucharistic heart to my treacherous heart. Dr. Castagnan became Catholic. And he's dedicated his life now ever since 1999 to tell people about this Eucharistic miracle.

This miracle, not only that bread and wine, has become the body blood of Jesus, but even more powerfully. That in the face of our unfaithful heart, here is the faithful heart of God. That in the face of our broken hearts, here comes the whole heart of God. in light of my own woundedness, here is the wounded heart of Jesus. And in response to the question, can God trust me?

Can God trust me when I have this thing in my chest that I can't trust? God has responded in a way that cannot be explained by saying, you can receive my Eucharistic heart and to your treacherous heart and know that I trust you.