Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 03/31/19 Behind Enemy Lines: Let Go...and Come Inside

Episode Date: April 1, 2019

Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Lent. We have different experiences, but the same enemy. While all of us struggle with different sins and temptations, we all ultimately have the same enemy: pride. Pride is a chameleon and can disguise itself in many different ways. Ultimately, pride will work to keep you holding onto something other than God and to remain outside the Father’s house. Telling the truth…and hearing the Father’s voice…is the way to let go of what we cling to and come inside. Mass Readings from March 31, 2019: Joshua 5:9-12 Psalms 34:2-72 Corinthians 5:17-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Download the Homily Study

I'd like you to have a seat, grab a tissue, I guess. Our priest is so emotional. Whatever. Get over it. I have, clearly. So, you know, it was funny. I was actually, I was going to start light, you guys, not start deep. Thank you, Jesus.

Thanks a lot. I've been pulled over by the police three times in the last three months. I don't cry when they pull me over, though. That doesn't work I've found. It's funny, like the first time I got pulled over, I was driving down London Road. there was a cop, he's behind me, I didn't realize, obviously. And the car ahead of me was taking a left turn. And so I wasn't in a hurry.

I was just like, okay, but there's a really wide shoulder. And so I saw no one's around here. We're going 30, you know, in a 30. And I'll just kind of like go around him, no big deal. And then I didn't realize police cars are also in the shape of Suburban's. He pulled me over. And he's like, you know I pulled you over. I'm like, yes, I passed on the right.

That was illegal, wasn't it? He's like, sure is. All right. Thank you, officer. And I wasn't even speeding. This is the thing I wasn't even speeding. And then the second time I got pulled over on I-35, he pulled me over, and he said, I was speeding. And not a lot.

Just enough. And he says, you know why I pulled you over? I'm like, yeah, I was going a little fast, wasn't I? And he's like, yeah, you're in a hurry? I'm like, actually, no. That's the problem. I was like, no. I said, I wasn't even trying to speed.

And he says, people never do. I'm like, well, that's not true. because usually I am trying to speed. My defense was like, no, this time, officer, really, I was not trying to, didn't help at all. And then recently, even more recently, like maybe within the last 12 hours, I, you know, the exit ramp to off, on 21st.

Exit ramp, you know, and you take the ramp, there's a stop sign at the end of that exit ramp. You're supposed to stop at it. And, but there was already some people, there was, you know, the two squad cars, their lights were going on. They had pulled someone else over. And so I was like, well, look at those lights, you know, and then I just went right through and all behind me.

There were three of them. That's not fair. That ceases to be, it ceases to be fair. And then he pulls me over and he's like, you know, I pulled you over. I'm like, was it the stop sign? He's like, yes, you bet it was a stop sign. And so, you know, he gives me a warning, which, thank you, officer. And I actually, as he gave me the warning, I was like, yeah, I'm super sorry.

I was just distracted by those lights. And he's like, you know, you have to pay attention to all the laws. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I know. But I was even thinking, I wasn't even speeding. Like that day, I was not even speeding. I wasn't passing on the right. It was another one more law. And I wasn't doing all these things.

I just did the one thing. He's like, yeah, you have to observe all of the laws. Like, well, at the same time? And that's what it feels like sometimes is like, you know, like there's all these traffic laws that you could, I mean, I'm doing this. I'm not speeding. I'm not passing on the right. Oh, but I have to do the stop sign thing too.

Or like all, it can seem at sometimes it can seem overwhelming, which actually doesn't make any sense because they're not that hard. hard to follow traffic laws. Like traffic laws are not designed to be burdensome to us. They're only difficult to follow if you're someone like me, which what I mean by that is, if you become the kind of person who considers them optional, that's when they become difficult to follow. That's when like all of them at the same time, well, yeah, because if you are the kind of person who's like, no, yeah, that you're in a car, you have an obligation to like be the person who observed all the traffic lies. But when you believe that you're the

exception, well, these don't really apply to me. Not, well, not in this case, because they don't realize, I'm in a hurry. I'm a very good driver. That's why I can drive so fast. When we start doing that kind of thing, start treating ourselves like the exception, that's when those traffic laws become burdensome. But up until then, they're not that difficult. So what it comes down to is not like the individual laws.

What it comes down to is being the kind of person who thinks that they're the exception to those individual laws. Does that make sense? When it comes down, it's not the individual laws. It's not this particular story, this particular moment, this particular circumstance. It's the same thing, the same problem, and the same problem is inside me. It's not outside of me. You know, we're in the middle of this series in Lent, called Behind Enemy Lines.

We've been talking about things how in the spiritual battle, like, you know, because the Christian life has always been described as a spiritual battle. But everyone who's been pursuing Christ and walking with Christ, they're like, no, no, there's obstacles, there's enemies out there, and we find ourselves right now behind enemy lines. One of the strategies of the enemy we talked about on Ash Wednesday is he wants to make us feel unknown and alone. We also talked about the fact that inside us, we don't have to look outside necessarily to find the enemy. Like I'm my own worst enemy very, very often. In order,

last week we talked about this, how to like grow forward, we need to be trained. We need to be trained in trust and strengthened through struggle. What I want to talk about today is this other piece inside of every single one of us. We might say like, well no, I mean, we all have different stories, we all have different experiences. That might be true, but we all have the same enemy. I'm going to clarify it again. We might have different experiences and different excuses, but we all have the same enemy. If you were to think about the two sons, the two brothers in today's gospel, they have totally different stories. They have completely different experiences.

Like the choices of the younger son, he chose lust. He chose self-indulgence. He chose waste. He chose to use others. He chose drunkenness. He chose all these terrible things. The older son, he made choices too. Different story.

He chose loyalty and he chose duty. He chose service. He chose to live a frugal life where his brother chose to live a wasteful life. He chose to live a sober life where his brother chose to live a drunken life. Two different stories, two different experiences, but in today's gospel, they have the exact same enemy.

We're going to talk about this enemy today because this enemy is one that defeats more people, people than we could possibly imagine. The enemy today we're going to talk about that faces both sons, both brothers, that takes out more people than maybe any other enemy that we could ever possibly encounter. This enemy has robbed more people of love than any other. This enemy we're talking about today has robbed more people of joy than any other. This has robbed more people of relationships and peace and has even kept more people out of heaven than any other enemy. And the enemy is very simple. It's one word, one syllable, pride. What it comes down to is just, it's pride.

Because they're both brothers. They have different experiences, right? Different stories, different choices, but the exact same enemy. And that enemy today we see is pride. Of course, it doesn't look the same, right? Because it disguises itself in all these different ways. And here's one of the ways that this pride is in the younger son's life. Sin had led him away but pride could keep him away. Right, his choices led him away from the father's house. But pride could keep him away. And what would it look like for him?

Embarrassment. Like in his life, it could just look like embarrassment. Here he is. He knows what he's done. He knows his story. He knows his choices. He knows his experiences. And he knows what he's done.

And he is far from the father's house. Now, think about this. He could have this conviction of like, oh, my gosh, here's what I've done. Here's what I've chosen. And now I'm too embarrassed. My father's house has more than enough food. He's got more than enough shelter.

He could care for me. And yet, it could have been embarrassment that would keep him away from this father's house. How many of us have ever experienced that? You ever experienced that? Where it's like your own choices. And I know my story. I know what I've done. But, man, I don't want to come home.

I don't want to come back. I don't want to face the music. Not because I don't believe that there's going to be mercy, but because I'm just too embarrassed to admit what I've done. Maybe even this, I'm too embarrassed to receive the mercy. I'm to embarrass to actually be loved. Think of how insidious is this, right? This is pride.

I'm too embarrassed to let you love me. So I'm just going to stay away. No, even more. The crazy thing, not the younger son. You know the only reason this knucklehead's going home? It's not because he's like, oh, I'm convicted by my sin. I should go live with my father. He's like, I'm dying of hunger.

I might as well go there than anywhere else. And he knows this about himself. He knows like, no, the only reason I'm going home is because if I don't go home, I will die here. Therefore, I'm going to go home. That kind of embarrassment could keep him away. That's totally us. Sometimes the only reason we ever go back to the Father is because I realize I'm spiritually dying. My sin is actually killing my soul.

But I'm unwilling to go to confession. Why? It's embarrassing. They have to like say my sins. It's just embarrassing. Imagine. Imagine. Choosing to be too embarrassed to go home.

Imagine choosing, imagine choosing to hold on to your embarrassment rather than coming inside. Imagine choosing hell, which is eternity without God. Choosing hell because I was too embarrassed to go to confession. How crazy is that? That's almost every single one of us. I'm just too embarrassed to come inside. So instead, I'm going to stay outside of God. I'm going to stay outside of the Father's house.

I'm going to stay outside of confession, and I'll choose to be embarrassed rather than actually go inside. Can you ever imagine yourself doing that? I mean, I can. Because again, we have different experiences. We have the same enemy. It's crazy, though, too, because what do you see when he comes home? The Father is overjoyed.

When he does actually let go of embarrassment, and he let's go with pride and he comes home. What happens? The father's overjoyed for a bunch of reasons, A, because his son was dead but now was alive, which is big. B, because his son has come home. C, because his son has left sin behind. Like, there is nothing that can make the father

more joyful at this moment except, except the older son. The father is overjoyed at the young, his younger son coming home because he's alive and because he's left this terrible life and because he's got him back safe and sound, There's nothing that can make him more joyful except for the older son. Because this is the truth in the gospel today. He loves his younger son, but he loves the older son too.

He loves the older son too. And that's the problem. He loves him too. That's the problem for the older son. Because he's a T, oh, he's a two. For the younger son, it's embarrassment that could hold him back. For the older son, what happens? We've heard the story.

comes home, there's a celebration. That's great. Why? For the younger son. And what happens? It says he grew angry. It wasn't just, it was not just anger. This is what we call resentment. Resentment is something even more insidious than anger. Because anger is when you directly hurt me, take something away from me, maybe. Resentment often comes from a place where we feel the need to blame someone else for our current situation. And we keep coming back to it again and again. because in that he realized that he's resentful, not because anything was taken away from him. Nothing was taken away from him,

but because someone else got something that he wanted. And so resentment seeks someone to blame. And so you can imagine the younger son, older son I mean, older son is staying outside and saying, well, here's the problem. The problem is your younger son. It problem is my brother. That's your problem. The problem here is not me.

The problem here is this other guy, this chucklehead, who gave away all of your inheritance. Or even if you could say, look at the father and say, actually the problem is you, Dad. Problem is you because here's the deal. You'll take him back and you'll let me slave away. Because that's what resentment seeks to do. Resentment seeks to find blame in someone else.

And the problem is, the problem is not, the younger son is not to blame. The dad is not to blame. The problem is in him. And until he's willing to let go of that resentment, he stands outside. This is the crazy thing. is he would rather hold on to resentment

than go inside the Father's house. Which makes sense, again, let's just clarify. This is not these two guys. This is us. This is our own hearts, because every single one of us have different experiences, but we have the same enemy.

Whether we've made a shipwreck of our lives or whether we've done really, really, really well. Because the younger son, in light of God's justice, he believes that his sins are insurmountable. And the older son, in light of God's murder, mercy, he believes that his good works are inconsequential.

Does that make sense? Younger son, he's convicted by his sin in light of justice. Like, my sins are insurmountable. That's something I've done. I'm too embarrassed. I can't let these things go. But the older son saying, I've worked, and I've worked, and I've worked, in light of God's mercy, his work seems inconsequential.

So what happens? They fall into these two traps, one of embarrassment, one of resentment. You'd say it like this. The two traps of discourages. or a fancy word presumption. The two traps of discouragement, despair, or presumption. Because there's another way that pride, pride's a chameleon, right? It just works its way in, even we don't want it to work its way in.

And where despair might say, despair says this, despair says what the younger son said. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Despair says, I need him, but I don't have him. That's what the younger son could have said. He could have stayed with that. He could have stayed in this far off country. He could have stayed outside the Father's house. He could have stayed in the sin that led him away from God.

He could have that keep him away from God. I need him, but I don't have him. The younger son had the older son had the opposite, right? I have him. All these years, I have served you. Father, we live in the same home. I have never disobeyed you. I have you, but I don't need you.

That's what he was saying by all of his work. By all of his works, what he's saying is, I have you. No big deal. I don't need you. Both of those are temptations towards pride. To say, I need you, but I don't have you, it's pride. To say, I have you, but I don't need you, is pride. What's the remedy?

Well, obviously, everyone knows this. Right, the remedy for pride is humility. Okay, how did you do that? I don't know. Actually, I did. I read it in the book. You need to tell the truth. But here's the important piece. Some people say, well, what's humility? Humility is not like, oh, I shucks.

no good. That's not humility, unless you actually are no good, in which case, that's humility. Why? What do I mean? Because humility is nothing more than telling the truth. This is the key piece. Humility is nothing more than telling the truth, but it's telling the full truth. See, both sons, they show up to the father and they tell the truth. The younger son shows up, and he says, I've sinned against heaven and against you. That's true. I no longer deserve to be called your son. That's actually true. He's given that all away. He's telling the truth. The older son, what does he say?

He says, all these years I have served you. That's true. I've never disobeyed your orders. That's true. You've never even given me a kid to feast on with my friends. That is true. They're both telling the truth, but they're not telling the full truth. So we don't just need ourselves to tell the truth.

We also need the father to tell us the truth. This is the key. This is the answer. This is the thing that will kill pride in our hearts. It's not just telling our side of the truth, but it's also hearing the father's side of the truth, because that's only place. we're going to ever find the full truth.

The only place we're ever going to be able to let go of embarrassment or resentment or any kind of pride is to let the father speak. The younger son, what's he say? I've sin against heaven against you. I no longer deserve it be called your son. What's the father say? He says, you are my son. The father says, this son of mine was dead, but now he's alive.

So the younger son says, I don't deserve this. That's true. But the father then speaks into this and says, no, no, no, no, listen, you are my son and you are alive and gets the finest robe. Think about this, the finest robe. Not like, hey, get one of those dirty robes. This kid smells like pigs. Put a ring on his finger.

You now have the authority of me in this household again. Not only that, he says, put sandals on his feet. What's that mean? That means that if you want to, you can walk away again. Whereas the son says, the truth is, I'm disqualified. The truth is, I don't deserve this. The father says, and the full truth is, you are my son, this son of mine.

was dead, but now you're alive and you're still my son. See, the thing that kills pride is humility, and that's the full truth. The same thing is true for the older son. He tells the truth, he says, all these years I've served you have never once this obeyed your orders, and you never give me a kid to feast on with my friends. That's all true, but then what's the father say? That's only part of the truth. He says the rest, my son, you are with me always.

Everything I have is yours. Everything I have is yours. Do you realize that? Do you realize that that when we come before the Lord and we're willing to tell the truth, we have to also let him tell us the truth. The younger son says, okay, listen, Father, I'm coming home. I'll be a slave.

The older son says, listen, father, I've been a slave. And then let the father speak. And he speaks into this and says, neither of you are meant to be my slave. Both of you are my beloved son. Because this is the only way out of pride. Again, the enemy, the enemy, every one of us has to defeat, the one of embarrassment or the one of resentment, the one of

despair or discouragement, the one of presumption, has to be willing to tell the whole truth. That truth is what? The truth is, I need him and I have him. I mean, I wonder if we can sit here today and state that full truth, that I need him, and I have him. This is the last thing. You know, as we keep going on this through Lent, we keep facing the enemies in our lives. We'll keep reading Scripture,

and we'll keep reading the stories of other enemies. The next two weekends we have the last two enemies we have to face. And that next week is going to be the enemy of the enemy, capital E, Satan. Palm Sunday is going to be an enemy that scripture calls the enemy is the world. So the scripture identifies there's three principal enemies. The flesh, that's this, my own pride,

my desire for power, for comfort, Satan and the world. But today, what's the pride that has snuck into your heart, that's keeping you outside? In fact, we can say this, what's the thing that's kept me from coming into the Father's House? What's the thing that's held me back from going to confession? It might be embarrassment, might be the despair of, okay, I need him, but I don't have him. It might be the presumption of like, no, no, no, no, I have him, but I don't really need it.

really need him. What would the father have to do to get my heart, to get your heart to just be willing to let go and come inside? What would the father have to do to get us to the place where you're just able to say, okay, let go of this lie that either that I don't have you or that I don't need you. In the gospel, it says the father comes out to his child and he pleads with him. Come inside. Today, right now in this mass, here is the father in heaven. just speaking right now to your heart. And what he's saying is, come inside. I know you have different stories.

I know you have different experiences, but we all have the same enemy. And that enemy just wants to keep you outside, locked outside, outside of love, and outside of joy, outside of relationship, outside of reconciliation, outside of the fullness of life that God has for you. He actually, that enemy wants to keep you outside of heaven.

And it can. It has the power to do that. But the Father is more powerful still. And he says, here's the truth. I plead with you, here is the truth. You need me and you have me. So let go and come inside.