Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 04/18/21 To Be A Witness

Episode Date: April 19, 2021

Homily from the Third Sunday of Easter. It is possible to see the miracle and to not be a witness. It is possible to encounter God and go back to the same life. It is possible to live as if the miracle had never happened. It is possible to say "I believe" and not be a witness. But it is also possible to not see a miracle and still bear witness to Christ by how we live, what we choose, and what we love. Mass Readings from April 18, 2021: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 Psalms 4:2, 4, 7-91 John 2:1-5 Luke 24:35-48

So what's one of the coolest things you've ever seen? On October 13th, 1917, there was something remarkable, I didn't see it myself. There was something incredible that happened, October 13th, 1917. In a place called Fatima Portugal, what had happened leading up to this day was Mary had appeared in an apparition of vision, right, to these three kids, three shepherd kids. And she appeared to them multiple times and they basically told people about it. And of course, no one believed them because that doesn't happen. And, but Mary, she wanted the father to be known.

She wanted the father to be glorified. And so she made this promise. She said, okay, come to this spot, come to this field, come to this place where I've been appearing on October 13th, 1917, and I will reveal the father's glory. The father will reveal his glory. So what happened on October 13th, 1917, tens of thousands of people showed up. Like, I think there's upwards of 70,000 to 100,000 people showed up to see, like, what's going to happen.

And these people weren't just believers, right? They weren't just Christians, they were Christians, but they were also atheists and skeptics and reporters, and people just came not just to see it, not to prove it, but also to disprove it, to debunk the whole thing, to say, I was there and nothing happened. And while they were there, this massive storm broke. A huge, huge trenchal downpour, and everyone who was outside got completely soaked. Their clothes soaked all the way to the skin, and they were in this field that became this massive puddle up to their ankles in water. And at one point, these kids said that Mary appeared to them, was talking with them, they couldn't see anything. But as soon as Mary left, what happened was instantly the rain stopped falling, the clouds parted,

and everyone looked up and they could see the sun. The sun changed. In fact, they said that the sun changed, you could stare directly at it, and it didn't just change. It started vibrating, started shimmering, and then all of a sudden it started spinning, this is what they all said they saw. And all of a sudden, it started moving across the sky. It hurtled to earth. They all got freaked out.

And then it said it went out, empty to the sky, and they said the only way we could describe it was it looked like the sun was dancing. And then after a few moments, after a few minutes, it just went back to the normal spot and couldn't look at it anymore. It was just as bright as it always was. And the show, the miracle,

that what they saw was over. You know, that's really cool. I think that's amazing. People could say, maybe they saw things. Maybe they all had this weird vision. Maybe it was a sun dog. I went to a website and said it was a sundog. I'm like, bro, I've seen a sundae.

Sundogs don't spin and dance. But the incredible thing that happened was all these people who had just seen this, stopped looking at the sky, started looking at each other, and they realized two things immediately. One is, all of their clothes were completely dry. Clothes that had previously been completely soaked all the way to the skin, everything.

They said it was like we'd taken our clothes to the cleaners, to the dry cleaners. Not only that, but the fields in which they were standing were completely dry. Now this happened. October 13th, 1917. It was reported on by those atheists, by those skeptics, by those reporters. It was a massive, massive story. In fact, a number of those atheists had become, became believers in Christ, it became Catholic. It's incredible. And here's my question, have you ever

heard of this? Have you ever heard of this miracle in Fatima that happened almost little over 100 years ago? Some of you have. But the big question you might have, if this is the first time you're hearing this, is why is this the first time that I'm hearing about this? There is photographic evidence of the whole thing. There's testimonies in abundance. Why is this the first time some of you are hearing about this? I think it's because of this. I think it's because it is possible to see a miracle and not be a witness. It's possible to see a miracle and still not be a witness. And we discover something about ourselves, right? It's possible to encounter God and go back to the same life I had before I encountered God. It's possible.

To live as if it never happened. For all of us, it's possible to live as if you never actually saw the miracle, because simply seeing a miracle does not make me a witness, even to see Jesus risen from the dead. You know, I wonder, today's the third Sunday that we've heard the same story, more or less, right? Where here is Jesus, he appears to a couple of his disciples. If you've ever wondered, right, so Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene and James or John and Simon Peter, and we had last weekend all the other apostles with Thomas who got in on late.

Today, the two people on the road to Emmaus and then the rest of the disciples, have you ever wondered? Like, why didn't Jesus just appear to everybody? Why did he say, hey, go tell people that I'm alive? Why didn't he just like, bam, I'm back, baby? Like, why didn't he just, like, prove it to, I mean, imagine him showing up in front of the Sanhedron. Imagine him showing up in in front of Pontius Pilate. Like, knock, knock. That would, I imagine that would change some people's I imagine that would do something. How many people could have just easily, easily seen him? How many people could have easily heard him speak again?

How many people could have just easily touched him? Why didn't he do that? I think the answer is because I think the answer is because Jesus wanted witnesses, not just people who saw a miracle. You know, the most effective way of spreading the gospel, the most effective way of spreading the good news, is going to happen through people who are willing to be changed.

Not just people who are willing to see the miracle, but people who are willing to be changed by it. In the first reading, Acts chapter 2, Peter says, he says, the author of life you put to death, but what did God do? God raised him from the dead, and of this we're witnesses.

He points out, we're unique. Why did Jesus reveal himself to them? Because they were unique. Because the majority of us are not like that. Most of us are not like that. The mass of humanity is not like this. And so there's this guy named St. John Henry Newman. He says it like this.

He says it like this. He said it like this. He said the mass of mankind. I like to say, the most of us. Most of us are influenced by sudden fears and sudden contrition. Sudden earnestness and sudden resolves, all of which tend to disappear just as suddenly. You get into our heads, sudden earnestness. I'm really mean. Sudden resolve.

I'm going to do this thing. Sudden fear. Oh, I'm terrified of this. which can go away just as suddenly. He says we're unstable as water. Isn't that how we are? We're so fickle. Even Holy Week, start out Sunday, Palm Sunday, saying Hosanna to the son of David, and on Friday you're saying crucify him.

Because why? Because those things that are easily seen and easily heard and easily touched are easily forgotten. It's so easy. To have seen the miracle, to have seen him, and then live as if I hadn't. And I know this is true for me too. I know this is true for probably all of us, that I can see the miracle and not be a witness.

I can say I believe and not be a witness. I can say I believe and not be a witness. I was listening to a man talked the other day. He was describing the difficulty he has when people ask him the question, do you believe in God? He's a kind of person, he's a teacher, he's a person who lectures a lot, he writes books,

and he says he has a difficult time answering the question, do you believe in God? Because it's not because he doesn't want to answer, it's because he takes the question seriously. So he asks back, he says, what do you mean by believe? Do you mean what I say? Or do you mean what I act out?

Do you mean what I say, I believe? Or do you mean actually how I choose to live? Because those aren't always the same thing, are they, right? They're not always the same thing I can say. we're going to do with this in a few moments. We're going to stand up or we're going to say, I believe in, and we're going to go through the whole thing. But the question is, not just, what do I say I believe?

The question is, what do I actually end up choosing? And the question we can ask ourselves is, wait a second, do I believe? The question we might have to have to ask ourselves today is, wait, pause, do I believe? And how can I know? Like, how can I actually know for sure that I believe? Can I know for certain? Well, the Bible tells us we can today in 1 John. It says the way we can know for certain.

The way we can know for sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. If you want to know for sure, whether I actually believe, what I say I believe is do I keep his commandments? He goes on to say whoever, he says, whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in that person. So how do I know? I'd say, how about this? Take the tech test. Here's the tech test.

Let's think of one of the social media things. Let's go Instagram. We always recognize that there exists sometimes a discrepancy between someone's Instagram bio and their Instagram photos. You ever seen this? This happens where I'm all about. In my bio, I have some scripture verse or like, you know, God first or some Jesus, something, something. And then you start scrolling down and you're like, I don't think you actually believe in the Lord.

Like I think you might need the Lord. but sometimes what we say about ourselves does not match up with what we actually end up choosing. What I might say in the Instagram bio does not necessarily match up with what's in my Instagram photo. The description of myself might not match up with the actual depiction of myself. And that's maybe getting out an obvious one. And you might at this point be like, okay, father, you're kind of adding me right now. were you just creeping on me earlier today? Here's the thing.

I don't follow a lot of people, and so it's highly unlikely that I was on your page and now we're talking in public in front of everybody about this. But here's the thing. But if you're wondering, if I'm talking to you about this, maybe you should stop and go back and see if that's what I'm talking about. Or it's the algorithm test.

Here's the algorithm test. We can have the tech test. Does my bio match up with my photo? Does the description match up with my depiction? because that kind of rhymes, but the algorithm test is, what's on your suggested for you? Because you're suggested for you is, love the algorithm, hate the algorithm,

the algorithm is accurate. Because I might say this is what I'm interested in. No, your search history tells you what you're interested in. But the algorithm, the suggested for you, tells you what you actually end up choosing. The suggested for you tells you what you actually end up choosing. The suggestive for you tells you what you actually end up clicking on. And the algorithm doesn't lie.

We can lie to ourselves. The algorithm will never lie to us. And if you're like, I don't know the internet, father, like the social media, what is this? Okay, your bank account, your bank statement doesn't lie either. What we spend our money on is what we value most. Father, I don't have any money. Fine. Your calendar never lies.

look back over the last week and say, okay, where did I spend my time? Because where I spent my time is where I spent my heart. And that doesn't lie. You know, the mark of an integrated person is, what I say I care about is what I actually care about. The mark of an integrated person is, what I say I love, I actually end up loving. The mark of an integrated person is,

what I say I believe is actually what I end up choosing. And that's, in fact, that's the mark of a witness. That's the mark of a witness. is that we're going to say, I believe in God, and then I act as if I believe in God. You know, here's the thing. Just seeing the miracle doesn't make me a witness, but also you don't need to see the miracle

in order to be a witness. Just does what I say I believe match up with what I end up choosing? I can say I believe in Jesus Christ. Okay, do I end up choosing him? I believe in the resurrection, absolutely. Do I live like that? that I believe in forgiveness. Well, do I let God forgive me?

I can say I believe in all these things. Here's the question. Do I act as if I actually do? And again, this doesn't mean perfection. We need to be really clear about this. This doesn't mean perfection. It doesn't mean that we don't still struggle. It doesn't mean we don't still sin

or that we don't fall or don't fail. We're always going to need God's grace. We're always going to fall flat on our face. This is just my promise to you. you're going to keep failing. You're welcome. We're always going to need God's grace. We're always going to need his mercy.

That's good news because we're always going to have his grace. We're always going to have his mercy. We're always going to have his love. But we have to ask the question, are there parts of the gospel that I tend to ignore? Are there certain commandments that I give myself a pass on?

Or are there certain teachings of the church that Jesus himself founded and said, I will guide you into all truth that I pretend aren't there. Now again, we will all still struggle with sin. That's not the worst thing. What's worse is if I ignore certain teachings. If I pretend certain things aren't actually there, what's worse is if I actually act as if it's not true. It's easily seen, it's easily heard, and easily forgotten. We don't have to do that, though. This is the last thing.

A few years back, I have a friend, his name's Mike, and Mike is captivated by Fatima. He loves everything about Fatima. When Mike was having dinner with her old retired bishop, it's a bishop in northeast United States, and Fatima came up because Mike was there. And at one point, the bishop heard Fatima, and he jumped up from the table where they were having dinner,

and he ran into the other room. room to the bookcase and he pulled out this coffee table book, basically a picture book on Fatima. It was his old, old book, and he opened the page to a page that was dog-eared. It had a black-and-white photo. And in the black-and-white photo, there were two teenagers, a young man and young woman. And the bishop pointed and says, this is my aunt and my uncle. They were at Fatima that day. That day, October 13th, 1917, she was 17 years old and he was 18 years old.

and he just kept pointing and saying my aunt and uncle or at fatima and so mike was like that's amazing did they ever did they ever talk about it and the bishop looked at him and said they never stopped talking about it he said he said not a day went by not a time we saw our aunt or uncle that they didn't tell us didn't remind us of the miracle and it said we were there and they went through the whole story we were soaked to the bone we're standing in puddles and then we saw this thing and then we were dry and this whole miracle that happened and we was standing next to an atheist and this atheist came to Christ and all these things. He said they never ever stopped talking about it. He said probably because of their witness. That's why I became a priest, now a bishop. He said,

he had four relatives who are also priests. He said, our whole family is still intact, and our whole family still goes to Mass. Our whole family has the faith. Not just because my aunt and uncle saw the miracle, but because my aunt and uncle were witnesses. They saw the miracle and they let it change their lives. And so it changed their legs. And so it changed their leg. legacy. You know, it's true, it's possible to see the miracle and not be a witness. But it's also possible to never see a miracle, but to be a witness. It's possible to never see a miracle, but be a witness to Jesus Christ by what you choose. To never see a miracle, but to be a witness to God's love by what we believe. To never see a miracle.

but to be a witness by what we choose to love.