Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 04/28/24 Nunc Coepi: Time to Start

Episode Date: April 27, 2024

Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter. You got to wake up today. We don't know if we will have enough time to finish, but we do know that we have time to start. We have a tendency to delay, but the only time that we have is now; and since we got to wake up today, we have the chance to say "Now, I begin". Mass Readings from April 28, 2024: Acts 9:26-31 Psalms 22:26-28, 30-321 John 3:18-24 John 15:1-8

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. 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 15 verses 1 through 8. Jesus said to his disciples, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does, he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me as I remain in you.

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine. vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I and him will bear much fruit because without me, you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither. People will gather them and throw them into a fire where there will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. But, you will be given for you. this is my father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. The gospel of the Lord.

Let you have a seat. So it wasn't very long ago that I realized. So I've always known who the founding fathers are, like up the country, that kind of situation, you know, because I went to school. I didn't realize, though, how the ages of the founding fathers, especially at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it was one of those things that kind of blew my mind. It was, so there were some that were kind of obvious. So Thomas Jefferson, I think, was 33 years old when he signed the declaration.

John Adams was 40, George Washington was 44 years old. And those, that all made sense to me. I'm like, that makes sense. They're about that age that I think you'd be signing the Declaration of Independence. I did not realize that Alexander Hamilton was 21 years old when he signed the Declaration for Independence. That Aaron Burr was 20 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence. And I was just like, oh my gosh, this is crazy.

And also it was kind of like compelling to me because of, you know, in the last however many years, the musical Hamilton has come out and you have these two characters, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, that we kind of have a sense that we kind of know a little bit about. Because in that musical, how Lin-Manuel Miranda has like pitted those two as kind of a sort of like almost juxtaposed them towards each other. So what I mean by that is, is one of the themes, if you have never still listened to the musical, you've never know that story, don't know that story, one of the themes, one of the motifs that goes to the whole thing is time. And so Aaron Burr, again, they're so young at the time of the writing, signing of the Declaration, 20 years old and 21 years old.

But Aaron Burr in the musical, he's the one who's just, he, his main theme is wait for it, right? There's this idea of like, you know, I'm just going to sit back, I'm going to see how things turn out, I'm not going to commit, I'm not going to rush into anything, I'm just going to wait, I'm going to delay. Whereas Alexander Hamilton's, his motif is, his main, his first songs, right, is my shot, is that sense of like, I'm not thrown away my shot, just like my country, I'm young, scrappy and hungry. Like, that sense of like, I'm going to go for it. In fact, one of my favorite songs of the whole musical is called Non-Stop.

And it's basically Alexander Hamilton being critiqued by Aaron Burr, being critiqued by his wife in many ways. Because he just, they ask the question, like, why do you write like you're running out of time? Like, why do you keep going like you're running out of time? Because that is the theme. Time is this underlying motif of these two young men in real life, these two young men. And one, it just waits for it. and another is moving and living and running like he's running out of time. And I think how they wrote this was we want to see Aaron Berg kind of as the villain

in some ways, right? They even say that in one of the songs. Because he's the part of us that's like, our tendency to be like, no, I'm going to wait. I'm going to hold back. I'm going to delay. And we see that in him. We're like, I don't like that. Because I think we don't like that in ourselves versus here's the protagonist, Alexander

Hamilton, who's like, yeah, I'm going to. go, I'm going to live as if I'm running out of time because I think sometimes we might want to see ourselves do that more. Because the reality, of course, and this is us right now, the reality is every one of us is running out of time. Like literally in our lives, we don't know how much time is left on the clock. For every one of us, with every breath, with every heartbeat, there's less of life in this world, on this planet, in this life that's left for us. And the reality is we, none of us have any idea how much time is left. And I think, again, I keep going back to this theme because this is the last weekend that our students are on campus.

They back to this theme of running out of time. And that's notion of, okay, this tomorrow, they have their first day of finals. And it's that sense of, okay, I'm running out of time. We mentioned last week the word deadline. And it's a real thing because when that line happens, it's over. And I think there's something so good for me, at least, and something so good for a lot of us, that when we're working with seasons, when we're working with deadlines,

when we're working actually against the clock, it reminds us of the fact that I don't actually have an indefinite. I do not have an infinite amount of time that every single one of us have no idea how much time is left. You know, every single one of us, we're all running out of time. And that's why we started this series, because at the end of this semester, it's a preparation for life, is preparation for all of our lives. And that reality is, I have no idea if there will be time enough to finish.

That's all of us, right? Because we're running out of time. We have no idea how much time is left. So I have no idea if there'll be time enough to finish. That's why we have this line from Bruno Lanteri, right? when he says, if I fall a thousand times, I will not lose courage, I will not be troubled, I will simply say with peaceful repentance, Nook-Cepi, now I begin. And that's the reality.

I have no idea if I'll have time enough to finish, but I do have time to start. And that's the key for every one of us. Whether we're racing against the clock at Galzano and Hamilton, or if we're more tempted to kind of hold back like Aaron Burr, the reality is, I have no idea if I will have time to finish, every single one of us. I have time to start. That's why we have this saying, Noon Chepi, that's why I have this saying.

Now I begin, because, why? Because we're tempted to hesitate. We're tempted, every one of us are tempted to say, well, if we can get away with saying later, we'll say later, right? If we can get away with not doing it now, we will do it one day, some other day. In fact, I remember I came across this quote by a man named Richie Norton. He said that like this. He said that here's a man who did hundreds of interviews with people in retirement

and or approaching retirement and ask them all these questions about like why didn't you do all the things you wanted to do? Here, now you're retired. Why didn't, or you're getting close to retirement? Why didn't you do all these things you're planning and doing? And he said this. Here was their theme.

Their theme was, I was waiting for a time when I'd have more time. I was waiting for a time when I'd have more education. I was waiting for a time and I'd have more experience or more money to do what I wanted to do only to find out that when I got there, I still needed more time. I still needed more education.

I still needed more experience. and it still needed more money. So many of us, we are running out of time. We have no idea if we'll have enough time to finish. And yet, in so many ways, we can't be bothered to start. And again, this isn't just us right now. It goes back to the Bible. I remember there's a story in the book of Exodus.

You might have heard the story before, where here is Moses who goes to Pharaoh and he says, you know, let my people go. And Pharaoh says no. and so all these 10 plagues start happening, right? And one of those plagues is the plague of frogs. This is really fascinating to me because the way Scripture describes it is that there's frogs everywhere.

In fact, Scripture even describes that there's frogs in Pharaoh's palace, not just in Pharaoh's palace, in Pharaoh's bathroom, there are frogs in Pharaoh's own bed. This disgusts me. That's so gross, that there are frogs in his bed. And so Pharaoh says to Moses, would you get rid of these frogs? And Moses says, yeah.

And he asks them a question. He says, I will do it. When? I will get rid of these frogs that are actually literally in your bed. When do you want me to do this? And Pharaoh's answer just blows my mind because Pharaoh's answer is tomorrow. Which makes no sense. That means you get to spend one more night with the frogs in your bed. I don't understand this, but that's us. Every single one of us. I don't know if I have time to finish. But I have time to start. Why don't I start now? It's one of those situations where it's just like, why do I keep looking back? why do I keep looking forward? Why don't I just live in this moment?

In fact, there's this really famous quote. It's by Paulo Coelho, which is made popular by The Rock. Recently, where The Rock said, I heard this quote, and the quote is this, it's day one or one day. Or it's one day or day one. Like, one day I'll do this or today's day one.

And that's how we live, so many of us. We recognize that I am running out of time. And so one day I'll do that. I recognize, I'm living with frogs in my life. life. Well, yeah, I'll get rid of those tomorrow. Or it could be like, no, Newtchchepi. Now I begin. This is day one. Again, Bruno Lanteri, he said it like this. He said, he said, don't look back. That's our temptation, right? Don't look back. He said, don't look back because the one who looks back can't run. Don't look back because the one who looks back can't run. He goes on to say,

and don't be content to begin only for one year. He said, begin every day. Because it is for every day, even for every hour of the day that the Lord taught us to say in the Our Father, forgive us our trespasses, and give us this day our daily bread. So Bruno Lanteri, who says, Nunchepe, who says, now we begin. He says, don't just begin every year.

Begin every day. Not only begin every day, begin every hour of each day, because it's this day. It's this hour. It's now, it's the only moment we've been given. And I don't know. None of us know if we'll have time to finish.

But we have time to start. And that's why I think so much of, like, again, that life of, Alexander Hamilton of like to run to work to live like we're running out of time there's some wisdom there and it's not just him that's it's St. Paul so in the reading today this is it blows my mind it's a beautiful it's actually the Apostles chapter 9 and right before what we read today is Acts of the Apostles chapter 19 and chapter 19 and chapter 19 and 20 and in verse 19 of chapter 9 St. Paul has already, he's encountered Jesus, and he's just been healed from his blindness by Ananias.

So that's chapter, that's verse 19 of chapter 9. He's been healed of his blindness. Verse 20 says, immediately Paul went into the synagogue and began to preach Jesus. It's one of those situations where, again, Paul is, Paul is Andrew, Paul is, you know what I'm saying? Paul is Alexander Hamilton. Paul is Hamilton in this situation where it's just like, I have to go right now. When? Not tomorrow, not later. Not wait for it. I have to go right now. He encounters Jesus and is healed in verse 19, in verse 20. He immediately goes out.

It begins proclaiming Jesus Christ. Because there's something about this. There's this urgency. There's something in St. Paul that would be just like Bruno Lanteri that would say, now I have to begin. Because I don't know if I have time to finish. But I have time to start, because this is the, this is the, this is the reality.

You might find yourself in a place of distress. You might find yourself in a place of suffering right now. You could find yourself in a place where, like, no, actually, the obstacles that I'm facing are monumental. Like the life that you're living right now, this day might be overwhelming to such a degree that no one could possibly understand. That could actually be your life right now. But here's the truth.

Here's something that I know about your life right now. You got to wake up today. regardless of what you're going through, regardless of the suffering, regardless of the pain, regardless of the struggle, regardless of the work that you have to get done, you've got to wake up today. And that means that in the midst of all these real battles, in the midst of all this real grief, in the midst of all the real loss,

in the midst of all this real suffering, you got to wake up today, therefore you have time to start, then you have time to begin. And of course, we have these objections, right? The objections are, how do I know if this is the right time? Listen, it's the right time. How do I know it's the right time? Because this is the only time you've been given.

This is, now is the only moment we have to say yes to the Lord. I mean, that's what ultimately we're talking about. It's not just about getting your stuff done or getting your papers done or tests done. It's about saying yes to the Lord. And now is the only time we have. The objection, how do I know this is the right time? Now is always the right time. In fact, I've shared the story many times, but there was a young man here years ago.

His name was Paul. And at one point, Paul was baptized Catholic and kind of sort of raised Catholic. He was a student here. And Paul was in charge of a thing called Late Night Kirby here on campus. He was a very cool guy and didn't go to Mass ever. But I think before his junior year, maybe a sophomore year, he came back to campus early. And so we didn't have our masses going on yet. One of his friends was involved here at Newman and she invited him. She said, Paul, are you Catholic? And he's like, yeah, she said, come with me to Mass. And so on the drive to Mass, she said, well, do you go to church? He's like, I don't even been to, he said, I've been to church in years.

She said, oh, okay, well, I'm glad you're coming, but if you haven't been to church in a long time, you can't go to, you can't receive communion. He's like, no, no, I'm Catholic. He said, yeah, but she said, but you have to be a practicing Catholic in order to receive communion. And he said, what's a practicing Catholic? And she's like, I don't know, ask Father Mike. And so he set up an appointment.

We met because he wanted to know, what is it practicing Catholic? Because I thought I was baptized. I had my first Holy Communion. Like, I should be able to receive communion. And so we talked about this. And this man was so, like, open to the Lord. that after a couple conversations, she was like, yeah, I'm in. He got connected with one of our focused missionaries named Declan.

I was in Declan's Bible study. Declan, I taught him how to pray. He started showing up for daily mass. He started showing up for Holy Hour. And that year was incredible, just this massive conversion. I was so excited for that next year because Paul was going to come back. He was going to be a junior or senior, somewhere in there. And he was the kind of guy who could talk to anybody.

He was the kind of guy who would talk to anybody. And he was so on fire with the Lord and he was so approachable that it was one of those things like, I was just like, oh my gosh, he's going to be back on campus. and it's going to be amazing. He's going to be one of those students that just makes an impact. In the middle of the summer, he calls up and says, Father, I'm not coming back to campus this year. I was like, oh, that's too bad. And he said, yeah, I have applied and accepted to the seminary for the Diocese of Duluth. I was so torn. I'm like, great, you know, because I one hand, I was like, no, why? And the other hand,

I'm like, we pray for that every day. So we might as I should be happy about this. But it's one of the situations of like, ah, and so I just was like, hey, congratulations, that's awesome, praying for you. I didn't tell them that I was like, no, just give it one more year. But Declan, his missionary, did. Declan was said, Paul, come on, just give it one more year. Just finish out your time here at UMD, then go to seminary. And Paul said something to Declan that was so profound. I've repeated it so many times because it's just so wise and so true. Paul says to Declan, Declan, I could do that. But I know what God wants me to do. And because I know what God wants me to do, delayed obedience is disobedience.

There's that line. Delayed obedience is disobedience. And that's the recognition that he didn't know, he didn't know that God, whether or not God would actually ultimately call him to be a priest or not. Just like in so many ways, like I'll talk to all the guys. Like guys, if you like the girl, ask her out. You don't know if you're going to get married to her, but ask her out. If this is the call, don't delay.

Take that step. Ladies, if you're discerning the convent, like check it out. Guys, discerning the seminary, check it out. You don't know how it's going to end. But you do know how to start. And that's the call for every one of us. How do I know this is the right time? We just have to move.

And I'm so grateful that Paul moved because a bunch of years later, he got ordained. He's now Father Paul. He was assigned to my home parish. His first assignment was my home parish. And one of my nieces' first confessions, well, her first confession in our entire life was with Father Paul.

And I just think, I'm so touched by gratitude because I remember she came out of confession. I'm like, hey, how is your first confession? And she was like, it was amazing. I loved it. She's like, I'm only going to Father Paul forever for the rest of my life. And I'm like, well, I'm chomped liver. But other than that, what a grace.

Because why? Because the objection of, like, I don't know, maybe some other time is now the right time. Now is the right time. Why? Because I don't know if I have time to finish. But now is the time to start. We have the objection of what about other people? Like, what other people think?

Like, if you move, if you make that decision to choose the Lord, what other people think? I think it's really fascinating in the first reading today, right? Acts chapter 9. Paul is encounters the Lord. He's healed. He begins proclaiming the gospel of Jesus. And it says many Christians were afraid of Paul, not believing his conversion to be true. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. We have no record of Paul wasting his time trying to convince anybody that the conversion was authentic. We have no record of St. Paul wasting his now trying to convince him. anybody that his conversion was authentic.

That he was doing was genuine. What did he do? He just started. And that's it. Well, the question we always ask is like, well, how do you start? It's really simple. You start by starting. I know that's super obvious, but it's true.

How do you start? You just simply start by starting because, again, this is about more than just getting your work done or getting the paper. written or getting the studying happening or whatever it is you need to get through getting that done. The purpose is this, in the gospel today, Jesus says, by this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. Like, I don't know how much time I'm going to have.

Like I don't know. I don't know what God is going to do in my life or you don't know what God's going to do in your life, but you got to wake up today and that means you have time to start. Start doing what? You have time to start being a disciple. even if you have to do that poorly, just to be able to say, okay, Noonk-C-Cepi, now I begin. And the crazy thing is this, do you know what you'll be when you begin? It'll be two things.

What you'll be when you begin is you'll be bad. You'll be bad at it. Like when it comes to following Jesus, if you just say, okay, now I begin, you probably won't be any good at it. But I'm thoroughly convinced that in order to get good at anything, you have to be okay with being bad at it. at first, which I know can be really frustrating for some people. That same niece who had her first confession with Father Paul, like when she's in competition, when she's in any kind of playing a game or when she's doing any kind of sport, she has this paralyzing fear that sometimes grips her because she's like she doesn't want to

fail, she wants to be great automatically, but in order to ever get great at anything, we, every one of us have to be okay with being bad at that thing first. So if you're going to begin, that means you're going to be bad at it. And if you're going to begin, that means you're going to be a beginner. And here's the second and the last thing. You have permission to be a perpetual beginner. When it comes to following after Jesus, you have permission to be a perpetual beginner. You have permission to not be an expert.

Because why? Because experts, here's the problem with experts. Experts always have to know the answer. They always have to know what they're doing. Experts, they don't need any help. Experts can't make mistakes. when it comes to following the Lord, you have permission to be a perpetual beginner, which means you have permission not to know.

You have permission to ask for help. You have permission to ask questions, and you have permission to fail and learn from that failure. And that's the key. So this is the invitation. As we're taking this transition, for our students, and you're taking this transition in the midst of this spring, to look at this year and this summer, to look at this week,

and make the decision to start being a disciple of Jesus. Here's the question. Have you ever made the decision to be a disciple of Jesus? Like, I know that a lot of us have like, no, no, I'm Catholic, so I'm Christian. But have you made the decision to be a disciple of Jesus? To say, no, I'm going to study his word. like I'm going to talk to him every day,

that I'm going to try to live like him, that actually I'm going to ask the Father to give me a heart like his heart. And I'm going to ask that on a regular basis. And when it comes to struggling, when it comes to falling, when it comes to a failing, I'm simply going to ask for his mercy. I'm going to do everything I can, like Jesus said today,

to remain in him. I'm going to do everything I can not to stray from him, but to follow him and to try to him. trust him and to choose him again. And if you haven't ever chosen that yet, here's the invitation to choose now. Because every single one of us, we're running out of time. And we can either live with that, like that Aaron Burr way and say, like, well, I'm going to wait for it.

I'm going to delay some day later, like Pharaoh, maybe tomorrow, or we can realize the truth, like Alexander Hamilton, that truth of, no, I am running out of time. And I do not know if I'll have time to finish. But here's the truth. You got to wake up today. Therefore, you have today. We don't know how much time we'll have. We don't know if we have time enough to finish.

But you and I woke up today, which means that you and I have time to start. You got to wake up today. And that means you and I are able to say today, Nuke Chappi. Now I begin.