Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 04/21/24 Nunc Coepi: Season of Discouragement

Episode Date: April 20, 2024

Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Stand in the truth and do the next right thing. Life can easily overwhelm us, leaving us in a place where we feel beaten and in a season of discouragement. But choosing humility and hope...choosing to live the truth and to do the next right thing...is the key to living courageously. Mass Readings from April 21, 2024: Acts 4:8-12 Psalms 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 291 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18

Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this in other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday, or by texting Sunday to 33777.7. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless.

The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Chapter 10 verses 11 through 18. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. A hired man who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away.

And the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. And I know mine. and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,

and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my father. The gospel of the Lord.

Right you'd have a seat. So I was thinking about this question, the question of who is the most courageous person that you know? Like just that in that sense of like, I think a lot of times when we think of like, who's the most courageous person that you know? It's typically someone who thinks of like, someone who puts their life on the line, right?

Someone who's like a firefighter or a police officer, someone who's a soldier, someone who goes into battle, someone who might be facing some significant illness and does that with this incredible bravery. That could be the most courageous person we know. Someone who stands for the truth or stands against injustice. I think sometimes if you ask the question, who's the most courageous person you know, it makes sense that we automatically think of big things.

Like our minds automatically turn to like, you know, saints and heroes. In fact, even when I was pondering the question, most courageous person I know or most courageous person I've heard of, I thought of a saint who was a hero. You probably know St. Joan of Arc, right? So St. Johnovarque, her story is, you know, she lives, she's young and courageous military leader that during the Hundred Years' War, she was, I think, 14 when she had this first vision, and this vision called her to do this work

that she believed that God had commissioned her to convince the Dauphin to become the king of France and to, yeah, to reign. And so basically she started acting on what she believed God was calling her to do. At one point, people were skeptical, which kind of makes sense. And so they tested it. One of the ways they tested whether this was real or not is when Joan was 17, they sent her to the Battle of Orleans, which had been going on for months and months and

months, this impasse and no one was winning, no one was losing. It was just this constant battle and a stalemate within days of her arriving and leading these troops day one. And so it's kind of well, this, well, maybe this validates that maybe she has been sent by God to do this kind of thing. Now, ultimately, if you know anything about Jones' story, is I think by the time she was 19 years old, she was captured and she was tried in a very unjust civil and church court by unjust civil and church authorities and declared guilty and burned at the stake. 20 years later, though, she was given a real trial after her death, 20 years after her death,

and she was vindicated. She was declared innocent. And her life, even though short, is not only tragic, but also is courageous. And I've been thinking about, like, what is it about Joan's life that's so courageous? And not just because of what she did on the battlefield. But if you read the details of her life, there were so many obstacles. There are so many things that had to get done that were bigger than her. There were so many things that got in her way. There was so much potential for discouragement.

And yet, Joan never gave in to discouragement, that this whole second half of her life almost was what you might call a season of discouragement. And yet in the midst of discouragement, Joan chose two things. She chose humility and she chose hope. And just bring that up, that notion of like the question of who is the most courageous person. They've grown courageous people, the people who, in seasons of discouragement, they choose humility and they choose hope.

Because here we are, we're on campus and this is a season where, as we mentioned last week, this is the season. It's the end of the semester. And at the end of every semester, the truth is revealed. right? The truth of like, how did I do this semester is revealed, whether it's like, no, I would stay down top of my studies or I did not stand top of my studies. I mean, the deadlines are all happening this week and next week for all of our students. And so there's a reason they call them deadlines is because it's just like, that is death. It's that sort of feels like because there's so much to do and so little time to do it. Everything is due. And again, the truth is so fully revealed of whether I'm prepared or unprepared, whether I did this well or didn't do this well. This can be for many students a season of discouragement or even. It's one of those seasons where it's like, I have the semester, I have everything left to do. Like, there's so many things. I don't even, I don't even know where to start.

Do we have some students who are like, no, I've done that before. This is not my first finals week. This is not my first end of the semester. But it's their last one. And there can be this season of discouragement because it's like, I have no idea what comes next. I have no, like life, like all through school, it was, no, I'll come back next fall. I know exactly what's going to happen. I'm going to have a summer.

and then I'll come back and more school. And now there's this uncertainty. And in the midst of uncertainty, one of the things that can happen is it can become a season of discouragement. And again, this isn't just for students. This is life. Especially when life feels like too much.

For any one of us, oh, there's too many obstacles or there's too many things to do or there's just too much that's unknown. Whenever we're faced with uncertainty, we're faced with fear, we're faced with failure, we're faced with this potential for a season of discouragement, which is why last week we started this series. The series is based off of this two-word Latin phrase,

a three-word English phrase by a man named Bruno Lanteri, and that Latin phrase is Nukchchepi. And Nukchepi is simply in English, it means now I begin. And so remember Bruno Lantieri's quote last week was he said, if I were to fall even a thousand times, he said, I will not lose courage, I will not be troubled, but I will always say immediately with,

peaceful repentance, Nukchepi. Now I begin. If I were to fall a thousand times, I will not lose courage, and I will not be troubled. In a season of discouragement is really easy to lose courage. And what is it to lose courage? What is it to be discouraged? I mean, the word courage even, you know, the humost-cragedest person. The word courage comes from the Latin word core, C-O-R, which means heart. To lose courage is to lose heart. To be discouraged. To be discouraged. is to lose heart. And whenever I think of that phrase to lose heart, I always think of, there's a movie came out in the 90s called Braveheart. You guys heard of Braveheart? Have you ever seen Braveheart? Okay, yes and no. So, so, um, Rayfart's the story. I don't know how much of it

is historically accurate, but here's the story of a man named William Wallace. And William Wallace in the, in the movie, in the story is like the epitome of virtue. He's the epitome of honesty. He's epitome of, of nobility. He's just, he speaks and lives the truth so, so clearly. And there's this other man, there's a number of characters, but this other man named Robert the 16th Earl of Bruce. And Robert the Bruce, he's just, he's a politician. He's a son of politicians. He's the 16th Earl of Bruce.

And basically, William Wallace sees in Robert the Bruce the potential to unite the clans, right? He sees Robert the Bruce the potential to, you could actually be the one. He says, I'm just William Wallace. I'm just some guy. But you are Robert, the 16th Earl of Bruce. And there's something in you that William Wallace sees and says, I believe in you. I trust you. At a critical moment in the movie,

don't mean to give anything away, but it's like a thousand years old. A critical moment of the movie, Robert de Bruce betrays William Wallace. And they're on this battlefield in Falkirk, I believe, this battlefield, and there's a moment in the movie where William Wallace, the men around him are dying because they've been betrayed by Robert the Bruce.

And he's about to be captured and almost killed. And he sees that this. man's eyes, he sees Robert the Bruce's eyes and realizes, you're the one. You're the one who I trusted and now all of these, my friends, my family, everyone near me is dying now because of you. And this, this, this, this convicts Robert the Bruce, right? Right. So after this moment, he has a choice. And the choice is he could either say, yep, that's how it goes. I'm a politician. You know what? You make deals with whoever you make deals with. You make alliances with whoever make alliances with, or he could actually say it's time to change.

So there's this scene after this where Robert the Bruce, he's talking to his father. Now, his father's been pulling the strings behind the scenes for this because his father has this skin disease. He's about to die, so he's like, I'm handing the baton to my son, Robert the Bruce. And Robert, he's saying, his father says, Robert, this is the deal. You've done this. You've made this agreement. And now you're going to have lands.

You're going to have titles. You're going to have everything you want. You're going to be the king. And Robert the Bruce says, lands, titles, nothing. It means nothing. And his father says, what do you mean nothing? And he says, men fight for me because if they do not,

I kick them off my lands and I starve their wives and children. The men fight for William Wallace. Because he believes. And he has something. And I took it from him. He says, I took it from him. And I saw it on his face in the battlefield. And I betrayed him.

And his father in this moment, see, here is Robert the Bruce's chance. He can either stay in the dark. He can stay in this discouragement or he can step into the truth. He can step into humility and hope. And his father even tries to get him to stay in the dark. His father says, listen, all men betray, all men lose heart. And this is the moment where Robert de Bruce erupts and he makes his decision to not stay in the season of discouragement, but to choose humility and to choose hope.

And he erupts and he says, I don't want to lose heart. I want to believe like William Wallace. And he makes the decision, I will never be on the wrong side again. This is the two steps, right? The two step of humility and hope. The first step of humility is I'm going to acknowledge the truth. I'm going to step into the light. And the second step of hope is I'm going to do something about it.

This is for every one of us. If you find yourself in a season of discouragement, the two steps are humility. I'm going to step into the truth. I'm going to walk in the truth. I'm going to live in the truth. And the second step of hope is I'm going to do something about it. it. This is so key for every one of us because humility, especially in what, humility is to come to the truth that having fallen is not final. Humility is to say, okay, I realize that I've failed,

but I'm not going to hide. The recipe for discouragement is to realize the truth and then to ignore it. The recipe for discouragement is to realize the truth and then to hide from it. That's why I love, in the first reading today, here's Peter and John, and they're preaching, to the Jews in Acts chapter 4. And they're basically, they're bold. In fact, the rest of Acts chapter 4 says that they saw Peter and John and saw how boldly they proclaimed the name of Jesus. But they're proclaiming this truth.

And Peter says, he says, here's Jesus. He was the stone rejected by you. He's telling them the truth. And they have the opportunity. He's a stone rejected by you, rejected by you. And he is the name. He's the one to which all people will be saved. There's no other name given to human beings,

but which humanity will be saved. That's the truth. And every person listening to that has the opportunity. I can either ignore that truth. I can hide from that truth. I can deny that truth. I can run away from that truth. Or I can accept that truth and I can live in that truth.

And this is the same thing is true for all of us. The truth is that by my sins, I have rejected the only one who's ever really loved me. The truth is that by my sins, I have actually made myself an enemy of God himself. and I can either hide from that truth and run from that truth and live in a spirit of discouragement and a season of discouragement that will last my entire life, or I can step into that truth and I can do something about it.

But here's the important thing. I need to have the whole truth. I think too often, too often we hear the gospel, we only hear half-truth. The half-truth is like, oh, no, because of my sins, here is Jesus who died. Or as Peter is proclaiming to these Jews in Acts chapter 4, you rejected it. the stone. But Peter tells the whole truth, and we need to know the whole truth. The whole truth is this, I have failed, I have sinned, I have betrayed, and he loves me. That I failed and he wants to reconcile me. I have betrayed and he wants to restore me. This is the thing that every one of us,

we need to, if we're truly going to be humble, if we're truly going to live the truth, we need to be convicted of this double truth, this double conviction. First, I'm convicted by my sins, and secondly, convinced of his love for me. Every one of us needs this. I mean, for crying out loud, here's Peter, who's courageous in this day. Why? He's courageous in this day because he's experienced that himself. He's courageous because, remember, we all know the story. We all know the story that at the moment when Jesus needed Peter the most, what happens? He denies knowing him. Imagine, imagine that moment when the cock crows and Peter looks up and he sees Jesus across the way, looking straight at him. That's the moment that Peter knew. Like, I didn't just break a rule. I didn't

break a law, I didn't break a commandment. I broke my best friend's heart. Jesus trusted at me. And I betrayed him. And I saw it in his eyes. That's the truth. The whole truth is a number of days later, after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter, with a couple of people are fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and on the shore of the Sea of Galilee is Jesus once again. And as they get to shore, and they're sitting across from each other over a charcoal fire. Jesus, with those same eyes, looks at Peter, and he asks him, Simon's son of John, do you love me? And Peter has a choice.

He was convicted by his sin. I saw it in his eyes when I betrayed him. Will he tell the whole truth and live the whole truth and be convinced of his love? And what? He says, yes, Lord, you know I love you. And Jesus says what? He says, then feed my sheep. This is so important for every one of us because unless we're going to actually enter into humility, like truly enter into the truth that I'm convicted by my sin, but I'm also convinced of his love for me in the midst of my sin, we will never ever be able to escape discouragement.

This is what happens for every one of us. When Jesus knows us, then we don't have to be afraid. We don't have to be afraid to come to him. And that's the truth. That's what the gospel says, right? Here is the gospel of John today. And here is Jesus who says, I'm the good shepherd. down my life for my sheep. But he goes on to say these words that just are so powerful,

he says, and I know mine, and mine know me. What's that mean? What does it mean for Jesus to say, I know you? I think it means a lot of things, but one of the things it means is that he's not surprised by your weakness. One of the things it means when Jesus says, no, I know you, is he's not shocked when you've fallen or failed. I think oftentimes we are, though. I think when we encounter our weakness, we get discouraged because we're surprised. There's a man whose name's Cajuton of Bergamone.

He said it like this. He said, those who are humble, right? The one who steps in the truth. He says, he was humble, even though he failed through frailty, soon repents with sorrow and implores the divine assistance to help amend. He goes down to say, nor is he astonished at having fallen. Because he knows that of himself he's only capable of evil.

and would do far worse if God did not protect him with His grace. Think about how often we are discouraged because we're surprised at our weakness. The Kajitin says, no, you're not astonished at having fallen. The humble person, the one who tells the truth isn't astonished. She goes on to say, however upright we might be, we must never be scandalized or amaze at the conduct of others or consider ourselves better than them because we do not know what is ordained for them or for us.

in the supreme disposition of God. A mark of humility is that willingness to... I'm not going to be shocked at my weakness. I'm not going to be surprised when I fail. A mark of humility is I'll never be discouraged. And I know that's hard. That's really hard, actually. I was debating whether I was going to say this or not, but I'll say it.

So last Sunday night, in the midst of mass, I had this spirit of discouragement that just like really a really attack. me. That's what it felt like. That's what it felt like. It was just one of these things where I was like, I was preaching, I was doing mass and stuff. And I just felt like, okay, I'm not being clear. I feel like I'm yelling at everybody. Like I just, I was just like, it feels like, all this, like, everything I wanted all the students to hear that night, it's just like, nothing is resonating, nothing's landing. And I'm just completely bombing. I'm completely failing. And it was one of those situations where, like, even during mass, I'm like, I just want this to be over.

Like, I want to pray. I want to just get to the end of mass. And I want to sneak out the I don't want to say hi to anyone. I don't want to greet anyone. I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want to go hide. And like all night, all night that, and even the next day, it's only kind of shaken off a little bit now. The spirit of just this discouragement and sadness. And I realize this truth that Kajitina Bergamo points out. The painful truth is that it's not sin that leads us to discouragement. I mean, it's not in the midst of all your work. It's It's not all the stuff you need to do that leads to discouragement. It's not failure that leads to discouragement.

It's not, it's pride. If you experience discouragement, it's actually all just comes from pride. It comes from this place of, oh, I should be better. Because it comes from this place of I shouldn't need God's help this much. Every time you and I experience discouragement, really the source is I should be able to to do this on my own. I shouldn't fail. I shouldn't fall. I should be stronger. I should be better than I actually am, as opposed to just standing in the truth and saying, God, this is me as I am. Please, God, come to help me as I am. The recipe to get out of that season of discouragement is to choose to enter

into the truth. Jesus is not surprised by your sins, neither should you be. Jesus is not surprised by your weakness and neither should you be. So humility and hope, right, to acknowledge the truth and then to do something about it. Again, venerable Bruno Lanteri, if I should fall a thousand times, I will not lose courage, I will not be troubled. I will simply immediately say with peaceful repentance, now I begin. Just begin again. That's the secret for hope. Like I don't feel whole. hopeful. Doesn't matter. You can live hope. I don't feel like that there's a lot of hope for the future. Listen, there's too many things to do. Do one thing. You feel like you're behind the eight ball? Like, I'm trapped and I'm stuck. Just do one thing. Sometimes you feel so completely overwhelmed

by all the things that have to get done and they're not going to get done and they're not going to be done perfectly and they're not going to be done the way I want. I'm not going to get the grade I want. I'm not going to get the job I want. I'm not going to have the future I want. Simply acknowledge the truth and then do something. What do I do? Well, it's really simple. Just simply do the next right thing. That's it. When you find yourself in that season of discouragement, okay, I'm going to step into the truth, knowing the truth that I've fallen, but also there is a God who loves me. I wish I was stronger, but there's a God who loves me in my weakness. That's a God who loves me. That's a God. That's the truth of humility.

And now I'm going to move. We realize this. Pride loses its power the moment we turn to God. And discouragement loses its power the moment we move. Because you're not alone. And just simply doing the next right thing is the only thing that you're being asked to do. So St. Joan of Arc, at one point, St. Joan of Arc was asked the question, was if she was afraid. that someone had said, you know, basically,

you're going to be amongst all these soldiers, all these people who could actually do you grave harm. And St. John of Arc, in response to this question, are you afraid? She said, essentially, she says, I'm not afraid. Because God is with me, and I was born to do this. She didn't say, I'm not afraid because I'm super strong and I'm super good at what I do.

She didn't say, I'm not afraid because I got this taken care of. She didn't say, I'm not afraid because I'm going to do this perfectly. I'm not afraid. Two reasons. Because God is with me. That's the truth. And she also said, I was born to do this. And that's the truth. So what is this? In her case, this was to go to the dauphin and convince him to be king. What is your this?

Like when it comes to life, when it comes to the thing you were born to do, what is your this? It's really simple. Today, your this is simply the next right thing. So for our students, it's okay, the assignment, just start writing. For our students, it's, it's, I need to study, okay, just open the book. For our students, it says, okay, I experienced this sadness for myself the other night. I experienced this sadness, okay, just go to the chapel.

For any of us who find ourselves in a spirit or season of discouragement. but you want to be the kind of person who's the most courageous person that you know. What do we have to do? It's overwhelmingly simple. Do not lose heart, but be brave. Be courageous. Stand in the whole truth that this is the truth about my weakness and this is the truth of God's love for me.

This is the truth of how I've failed and this is the truth of how God is strong. and then move. And simply do the next thing. And even if you fail again, even if you fall again, even if you struggle again, even if that season,

that temptation for a season of discouragement persists, simply stand in the truth, do the next right thing, and simply say, once more, Nookchepe. Now I begin.