Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 04/19/20 Insecure: The Source of Security

Episode Date: April 20, 2020

Homily from Divine Mercy Sunday. In a time of incredible insecurity, we trust in incomprehensible mercy. We live in an insecure world, but God’s mercy is stable. Mass Readings from April 19, 2020: Acts 2:42-47 Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-241 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 Download the Homily Study

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Lord. Chapter 20, verses 19 through 31. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit,

whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. Thomas, called Didemus, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see the mark of nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Now, a week later, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst, and said to them,

peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe. Thomas answered. and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you come to believe because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord. There's something about the end of that gospel. It's the end of chapter 20,

and it's probably one of my favorite lines in the entire gospel of John, which is an incredible gospel. But it's so personal. The whole thing is like, yeah, all these things, God did many of the things. Jesus did many other things that are not written in this book, but these are written. Why? For you.

This is so personal. Jesus did so many other things that aren't recorded, but these have been recorded. Why? For you? Why? So that you might believe. I haven't seen him. Like St. Peter says, you haven't seen him yet, but you love him.

You haven't seen him, but you believe in him. Again, so many times when we come to Mass, we come to church, we're praying, it can sometimes feel impersonal. Sometimes I feel like, just kind of like, okay, God is way over there, and this is kind of about really holy people. It's not about me. It's about really holy people. It's about people living in other times that there's more peace and there's more security. But that's not true. In fact, I want to talk about this woman, her name is Helena.

She was born in Europe in 1905, way back in the day, right? A little over 100 years ago. Imagine Helena being born in 1905 in Europe, in Poland, in the time of massive upheaval. Like her whole childhood be marked by World War I. Whole childhood would be marked by the devastation that just like spread out all of Europe. She was poor. She wasn't wealthy. She wasn't a wealthy.

When she was 16, when she was seven years old, she had a very clear, distinct call that God was calling her to be a religious sister, but this life, in the midst of so much uncertainty, so much insecurity, she didn't act on that. So at 16, she had to leave home, and she became a housekeeper. Imagine, again, being so poor in the midst of this war-torn land and just like, I'll leave home at 16 to become a housekeeper. She had three years of education. And she worked there for three years.

At one point, she had this red hair. It just described as having this red hair. And she was at a party. She was dancing in a pink dress. Apparently, these details are important. I don't know why. She was dancing. And at one point, as she was dancing at this party,

she had a vision of Jesus. Where Jesus appeared to her like, Jesus, you're running my party. Here's Jesus. And he wasn't just glorified Jesus. He wasn't just kind of normal walking through the streets of Nazareth, Jesus. This was Jesus who had been, beaten, this is Jesus who had been had been scourged and he looks up at Helena and he says to ask her this question he says Helena how long will you keep putting me off and how long

must I wait for you? Again total downer in the middle of this party but like here is this question and Helena could say I have a lot of good reasons Lord because there's so much uncertainty in my life there's so much insecurity in my life I have to put this off but that was a clear moment where Helena knew I need to move and so at 19 she entered a religious order she entered a convent So you'd think, oh my gosh, this kind of woman would be amazing. Everyone would recognize that she was incredible because here's Jesus appearing to her in her pink dress or red hair at a party saying, how long do you keep putting me off?

How long must I wait for you? But she got to the convent, and in the first months and years of her being assessed, there was only one real comment that was written down about Helena. Three words. Three words. Her superior, her formation person, wrote down, no one special. Here she is. Yeah, she's in the convent.

of this wonderful, great, but not a hero. No one's special. Here's what they didn't know. It was to this woman that God entrusted the single most important message. To this woman, God entrusted the single most important message for our time, literally until the end of time. And she almost missed it. She almost missed it because, why?

Because it makes sense, all the insecurity. Like all of the uncertainty that surrounded her. life and we live in a time of insecurity right now obviously we live in a time where things that were secure things that were stable things that were normal are no longer stable they're no longer secure they're no longer normal in big way small ways there mean there's even small ways like freedom to travel you don't have that freedom to travel we can't go wherever we want to go we can't see whoever we want to see I was talking with some men and women recently who were older

and they spent their entire lives working really hard took a bunch of risks when it came to business when it came to finance when it came to and they invested they They saved up their money, like this idea that at the end of my life, I will have accumulated wealth that I can share with people. They can do something really good with. And now, in the midst of this, it's all gone. They have lost so much. Like again, all of this work, all of their lives, and now it's gone.

I think on campus we have all these athletes. And if you're going to be an athlete in college, that means that you have spent your entire life has been directed towards this sport or these sports, right? I mean, it's like you don't just get to kind of happen to be an athlete in college. You have to work for it. And I think about all of the athletes whose season was cut short, they couldn't finish. Think about the seniors. They couldn't even finish their senior year of athletics.

Or if they're a spring athlete, they couldn't even start. Like their season was just gone. It was just taken away from them. Think about this. There is someone right now who would have been, like, crowned like the best athlete in the country that this year will go unknown. I think and everything they've worked for is just gone. I talk about insecurity. Or I just think, again, of our seniors, you know, who, if you remember your senior year in high school or in college, you're like,

okay, spring semester, senior year, this is what's going to happen. You get to like do all those things you were looking forward to doing your entire, like, when you were freshman in high school maybe, and you saw the seniors doing their things that all throughout spring, you're like, someday that's going to be me. And then it's just gone. What we had here on campus is we left for spring break and didn't even get to come back. They didn't get to say goodbye to people. Oh, again, this insecurity is just gone.

You know, there's, have you guys seen the thing about people posting their, like in solidarity with class of 2020 who didn't get to post their grad photos? Here's our grad photos. You ever say, have seen this? Which we all know what that's all about. That's all about old people wanting to post pictures of them being young online. Anyways, that's just solidarity. foot. Anyways, but there's that sense of like insecurity with jobs. How much unemployment, with health. This is the coronavirus, which I've avoided naming for the last couple

weeks, is just one more illness. This is one more disease. There's just one more thing that could go wrong because so many of us are walking around just wounded. We realize the insecurity that we're surrounded by death. It's just, it's just, it's just, You know, whatever it was we placed our strength, whatever it was we were counting on, whatever it was that gave us our security, it's gone. And one of the things that this insecurity reveals is it reveals that security is an illusion. It reveals that certainty is an illusion. It reveals that our plans are easily thwarted.

That, yeah, our strength can be real, our talents can be real, Our power can be real, but it runs out. It's one of the things that living in this world that is insecure reveals is that oftentimes our peace is passing. And too often our faith is fragile. That I just have to meet insecurity and they can be lost in a moment. And because that's where a lot of us are right now, we're going to start a series here in the beginning of Easter. Just for the next month, for the next four weeks, we're going to be doing this series. It's called Insecure.

Because again, when things are normal, quote-unquote normal, we can forget that security is an illusion. But right now, it would be the wrong thing to imagine that security is normal and insecurity is abnormal. It would be the wrong thing for us to imagine that certainty is normal and uncertainty is abnormal. What we realize right now in this time of our lives is that not just because of any pandemic, but because of life, certainty is an illusion and security is an illusion. And so the next week, we're walking through this world that is insecure. And we're going to ask the question, but what if? Like, what if?

What if in the midst of an insecure world, we had hope that could endure in the midst of grief? What if in the midst of a world that's insecure, we could have joy that could still rejoice in the midst of sorrow, that in the world that's insecure, what if we had a faith that wasn't fragile, but a faith that was forged in the midst of adversity? We're going to ask this question, like, what if we had a peace that even when the future was uncertain, that peace, we had a peace that surpassed all understanding? Because that's what the early Christians had. That's what the first Catholics in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2, we heard it just a second

ago. That's what they had. They had this peace, they had this joy. And they were not living in a world that was any more secure than we're living in. So how did they have hope where things were hopeless? How did they have peace where things were absolutely not peaceful? How did they have a rooted, a life rooted in faith when there was nothing tangible they could count on? And how did they do this?

You see this. You just say they devoted themselves the Apostles' teaching, the breaking of the bread, the prayers, communal life. So what that means, obviously, the Apostles' teaching, they were connected to the bishops, the magistrate of the church. This is the early church, right? The Magistram of the Church, the Wriguing of the bread, that means the Eucharist. They were connected to the Mass. They did that regularly. The prayers means the prayers.

And the communal life is that life they shared with each other. But then it goes on to say that many of them did this thing. Many of them, who had possessions and property, they sold them, and they placed them at the feet of the apostles. Now, what are they doing when they're doing that? They're taking whatever would give them security. and they're giving it away. These three things, possessions, property, and prestige. These three things, they're whatever, you and I, we rely on for security.

We rely on these things for certainty. Those are the things that like, okay, it's like things are going crazy, open the bank account, okay, there's money there. Like, that's what gives us peace. They took what gives us peace and they gave it away. They took what gives us certainty and confidence, and they said, I'm going to let go of it. that in the midst of incredible insecurity, they chose voluntary vulnerability.

Like, they realize this, in the midst of incredible, overwhelming insecurity, they chose voluntary vulnerability. Because they gave away their possessions. And again, we look at our banking account, okay, there's more than $10 bucks in there. I'm okay. Or there are possessions. I mean, think about this. So for us, possessions are like, we can go buy a field, we can go buy a house. I mean, it costs a lot of money.

But back then, you couldn't just go buy property. Property was typically it was yours in your family. It was entrusted to you by your parents, your grandparents, your great, great grandparents, it was maybe given to your family when Joshua brought the children of God across the Jordan into the promised land. That was yours because it was your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great person. And your goal was to give it to your great, great, great, great children. And here are these first Catholics.

who they said, I'm going to let go of that. I will choose voluntary vulnerability. What would have given me my security? I'm going to give away. And they're prestige. Like they're, what people thought of them. Again, I'm just, I'm going to choose the Lord. I'm going to follow the Lord no matter what, no matter what people are thinking.

Can you imagine, can you imagine doing that? Imagine having that kind of freedom that in the midst of incredible insecurity, choosing voluntary vulnerability. Can you imagine giving up the story? source of your security. Giving up the source of your security. I know for myself, like, think about that. If it gets real, I start thinking, I'm like, well, I can get some anxiety, right? I can get some like, I can feel fearful. But for them, it didn't make them afraid. In fact, Acts 2 says they ate their meals, even a small thing, they ate their meals with exultation and sincerity

of heart. What would cause us fear would make us feel even more insecure, cause them joy. It caused them to be able to just eat a meal with exultation. So question is, what did they know that we don't know? Like what did they know? Because we're so smart, right? We're really super smart. We know how to work iPhones and stuff. I don't know how the iPhone works, but I know if it doesn't work, I turn it off, turn back on again.

Like I'm a genius compared to them. What did they know that we've forgotten? I think one of the things is they didn't forget that security is an illusion. They didn't forget that trials are normal. They didn't forget that insecurity is the rule. And not just the rule, it's necessary. Insecurity is not just the rule, it's necessary. That's why St. Peter, in the second reading today, 1st Peter, he says, do not be surprised

when there's trials that come among you. Essentially, he says they're necessary. He said, trials are good for you. Why? What is testing do? What does testing do? Testing does at least three things. Testing trials, they reveal, they purify, and they strengthen.

Again, these are not arbitrary things. We need testing. It can be awful. Times of insecurity can be devastating, but they're also absolutely necessary. Why? Because testing reveals, it purifies and it strengthens. It reveals what? I mean, you take a test.

It reveals whether you knew the subject or not, right? I mean, that's the reason why tests are given. It's not like just take the test to move on to the next level. It's have you learned what you were supposed to learn? Test reveal if you've done that. Or even fitness tests. It's good to take those tests because it reveals like what's the truth about what? my reality right now. I mean, even taking a test like, do you have an illness? It's good to

know because tests, even if it's painful, tests reveal the truth that I need to know. Tests also purify because what happens is next is this test of insecurity, it reveals where I have placed my hope. The test reveals the source of my security. And in revealing the source of my security, it gives me the chance to change. So I might look around and say, oh my gosh, Lord, I have lived so much. I've taken so much of my security, so much my peace doesn't come from you. My peace, it comes from my bank account. My peace comes from the fact that I thought I was taking care of.

My peace comes from this relationship. My peace comes from my health. My peace comes from goes on down the list. And the test reveals that and gives me the chance to change. Gives me the chance to purify the source of my strength. So the test reveals, it purifies, and it strengthens. The test strengthens. Because if I'm going to switch that, I'm going to give the chance to change, I can say,

this is the source of my strength, but Lord, now I'm going to be more rooted in Christ. And if you and I are more rooted in Christ, the more more powerful in Christ gives us the strength. That's why St. Peter, he says, go through this test so that the genuineness of your faith gets purified, the authenticity of your faith can be for his praise, glory and honor. That's what they knew. that we've forgotten, that security as an illusion, and therefore testing is necessary. What else did they know?

That we've forgotten. I don't, I think another question is not necessarily, what else did they know, but who did they know? That's really the answer. Jesus is the answer. They hear these people, these early Christians who came to know that Jesus, is what St. John said, but these have been written

that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that you may have life because of his name. And so they heard this and they're like, that is absolutely true. They knew the truth of last week. The truth is Jesus Christ is God and he conquered the grave. And as God, what does he done? As God, he knows you. As God, he has not forgotten you.

As God, he has not abandoned you. As God, Jesus reveals the innermost secret of God, the deepest secret of God, the deepest reality of God, and that what they knew is Jesus is love. That God is love. So in the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of insecurity, they knew this profound, profound truth. He is love.

This is a crazy thing. It doesn't stop there. Not just love. He is the highest form of love. You know the highest form of love? The church teaches the highest form of love is mercy. The highest form of love is mercy. Because why?

Mercy is the love that we don't deserve. I don't know if we ever like deserve love. But mercy is the love that when we deserve it the least, We're given it the most. You know, if you've ever been loved, you might be tempted to think that there's so many of the good things about you that attract love. That's how it is, right?

You see the person across the crowded room, like, oh my gosh, they're so beautiful, they're so handsome, you get to know them, they're so funny, I just love you. You're so charming, you're so witty, you're so all these great things, right? It's oftentimes for other people, it's our good things, that are our strengths that make us loved, that draw love to us. And that might be true when it comes to people, but here's the thing when it comes to mercy. It's when strength is gone, that mercy is given.

It's when security is gone that mercy is given. In fact, you say it like this, when we deserve mercy the least is when we need it the most. And when we need it the most is when God most wants to give it. When we need it the most is when God wants to give it the most. Mercy is the love that we don't deserve. But it is the love that God most wants to give us. Because we think it's our beauty, our strength, our security that attracts God. It is not.

It is our brokenness. It is our weakness. It is our insecurity. It is our sins that attract God's love more than anything else. It is your sins that attract God's love to you more than anything else. And they knew this. And we've forgotten this. They can rejoice without any external sense of security.

Why? Because there's an internal sense of assurance. And that sense of assurance is that in the midst of an incredible insecurity, I have incomprehensible mercy. They knew it. We've forgotten it. They knew the gospel today. What is in the gospel? John chapter 20 again, Jesus rises from the dead.

The day he rises from the dead. He comes to his apostles, comes to these disciples. These are all the people who ran away from him. All the people will betrayed him, all the people who denied him, except for John, of course, blah, blah, whatever. That's John. He doesn't rub it in our faces, that's kind of nice. But anyways, Jesus shows up and what does he say? The first word is peace.

And the second word he says is he breathes on them, on the apostles and says, receive the Holy Spirit. Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, those who sins you hold bound are hellbound. This is the, people say, why do you have to order a priest for confession because of John's chapter 20? God just forgive your sins? Of course he can. But what does he do? His second word to the apostles, first word is peace. Like, hey, listen, I forgive you, you abandoned me, you denied me, you betrayed me.

Peace. As the Father sends me, so now I send you, go and bring my mercy. I give you my mercy, now you go and bring my mercy. Why would you go to confession to priests? Because of Jesus. Because Jesus told the apostles and gave them the ability to forgive sins. He also gave them the ability to withhold forgiveness. There's a lot of authority.

It's his, but he's extended it to his priests. Why would he do this? A, because he knew we would need it. I mean, think about Jesus, Jesus isn't thinking like, well, you're going to be perfect, but if you really need some mercy, I'll give you this like a little parachute here. No, he's like, listen, I know your heart,

I know your brokenness, I know your woundedness, I know your sins, you're going to need this. So I'm giving you this ability, this place you can go where you can receive my mercy. When you least deserve it is when I most want to give it. Because that's the second reason. Because Jesus wants, he desires, he longs to give us his mercy. And they knew this.

And we've forgotten it. They knew this, since that's why in the midst of a world that's insecure, midst of the world that's dangerous, they could eat a meal with exaltation. They could let go of their sources of their security. and we've forgotten it. So what happened? Jesus called this girl who was no one special, Helena.

And entrusted to her the single most important message for our time until the end of time. Helena goes into the religious life and she goes into this convent and she takes the name Sister Faustina Kavalska. So she's last name, Helena Kowalska,

Sister Faustina Kovalska. And Jesus begins, continues to reveal his heart to her. And it goes through all this process of vetting and making sure like, this is really the Lord. Are you crazy? Like all these kind of things. And it was like absolutely true. Confirm confirmation upon confirmation that this is Jesus speaking to Sister Faustina. And one of the things Jesus is saying is like, Faustina, my daughter, I'm entrusting you with this message.

He says, tell the world about my incomprehensible mercy. Tell the world about my incomprehensible mercy. Here's this world of incredible insecurity. And he says, no, no, no, no, into this world of incredible insecurity, tell this world about my incomprehensible mercy. You can't imagine. Because what do we think? We think our sins, we think our wounds.

We think our failures disqualify us. That my strength is gone, then hope is gone. Jesus said, no. He said, withdraws me to love even more. It's not your strength, but it's your weakness. It's your weakness. It's your weakness. It's your weakness.

It's your sin. In fact, Jesus went on to say, he said, the greater the sinner, the more right they have to my mercy. Which blows your mind, right? Because what, okay, I can get rid of my sources, external sources of security, but as long as I'm like holy inside, as long as I like don't fail, don't fall, don't sin, then I'll be, that's my security. And Jesus says, no, no, no, the greater the sinner, the greater the right they have to my mercy. So he gives us this feast. Actually, John Paul II, right?

Another Polish person who knew, not knew Faustina, but knew of Faustina, knew the writings. They shaped his life, they shaped his pontificate. He said, the greatest day of his life was 20 years, 20 years ago, 20 years ago, he said, I declared the second Sunday of Easter, the first Sunday after Easter, to be from now on, Divine Mercy Sunday. At the end of that day, he said, this is the happiest day of my life 20 years ago. Because on this feast, God has promised, Jesus has promised to unleash his mercy. His mercy.

Like, again, there's places that are holy, and there are times that are holy. This is a time that is holy. And what Jesus promised to Faustina, and then John Paul II, open up to the whole world because he's been given the office of binding and loosing. He can loose on earth, loose on heaven, bound on earth, bound in heaven. John Paul II could do this as Pope. He said that basically, on this day, if any faithful person goes to confession and receives holy communion, all of their sins, it's like the moment they were baptized.

Like everything is erased. They are made completely whole. On this day, just this day. And you're like, okay, thanks, Father. That was really nice. So I don't know if you know about this, but there's no public masses and can't get to the sacraments. Well, you know, here's God's mercy is so abundant.

But I've heard people who are like, this is their job is to promulgate this whole thing about divine mercy. They've said, here's what you need to do. If you can't get to confession and hope mass today, because here we are in this context, they said, God's mercy is so great, you're just, is so great, you can do this. You can make an act of contrition with the intention as fast.

As soon as you can, you're going to go to confession. Make an active contrition with the intention as soon as I can, I'm going to go to confession and you make a spiritual act of communion, which you get to do at this Mass. To be able to make a spiritual act of communion. And again, why? Is that, it seems like breaking the rules. That seems like the easy way out. God's mercy is abundant.

God's grace is overflowing. And so on this day, where you normally would have to go to confession, we normally would have to receive Holy Communion. the floodgates of mercy are open so that you can make an act of contrition with the intention to go to confession, make it spiritual act of communion, and the same graces are yours. Because even in a world of insecurity, we're giving incomprehensible mercy. You know there's this other prayer. I invite you to pray it today, please.

Pray it the rest of your lives. It's called the Chapel of Divine Mercy. That Jesus, Faustina prayed this prayer, and Jesus says, I want that prayer to be prayed. prayed on a rosary beads. And basically it's an extension of the Mass. You're saying for the sake of its powerful passion, a mercy on us and on the whole world. It's an extension of the Mass.

And there's... And Jesus promised, he said, nothing, almost nothing calls down my mercy like this chaplet. He says, here's the promises of Jesus. He says, the souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by my mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death. Say, but I'm too far gone, I'm too broken, I'm too hardened.

He said, when hardened sinners, say this prayer, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one. Jesus said this. He said, when you say this chaplet, this prayer in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my father and the dying person, not as a just judge, but as a merciful Savior. Because in the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of insecurity, death, pretty insecure, in the midst of incredible insecurity, stands Jesus' incomprehensible mercy. And last thing we have here, you have this image. the image of divine mercy.

Jesus said, I promise that the soul who will venerate this image of divine mercy will not perish. I promise victory over its enemies here on earth,

especially at the hour of death, I myself will defend it as my own glory. And the bottom of this image are five words. Those five words are Jesus, I trust in you. See, it's all personal.

It goes back to the last words of John chapter 20. He says, Jesus did many other things have not written in this book, but these have been written down for you, so that you may believe, so that you may come to have life. And this prayer is Jesus, I trust in you. Because we realized, as Pope Francis said this, he said, that the mercy of God is infinite, but the time of mercy is not. The mercy of God is infinite, but the time of mercy is not.

We realized this truth that Jesus redeemed everyone in his life, death, and resurrection, but not everyone saved. He's redeemed everyone. There is no person who's ever lived, is living now, or will live, for whom Jesus Christ, did not suffer, die, and rise from the dead. He's redeemed everyone, but not all of us are saved. Why? Because not all of us are willing to accept His mercy. And this is the hard word. My brothers and sisters who are Catholics,

if you refuse to go to confession, you're refusing his mercy. If you say, I'll do it later, you're refusing his mercy. If you say, well, someday, I don't know, I'm embarrassed, I don't know if I've let go of my sins, you're refusing his mercy. What Jesus wants to do is he wants to give you as mercy and the only question is answer, question and answer is, do you, are you willing to let him? Well, I can't get to confession. Okay, make an act of contrition with the plan of as soon as I

can, I will get to confession. I know a lot of you, you know your priest. I know so many priests, they want to hear confessions, just calm up, stand six feet away from him, wear a mask, go to confession. You can do this and you don't have to wait because this world is not secure because we live in a time of great insecurity. And these words have been written. down so that you might believe. And by believing you may have life in his name. And like Jesus said to Faustina, how long do I have to wait that in a world that's broken, we have hope? It's in him. In the midst of insecurity, our peace isn't passing, it's permanent because of him. The world of insecurity, our faith isn't fragile, it is forged because of him. And in the time

of incredible insecurity, we have overwhelming trust in his incomprehensible mercy. because of him.