Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 05/03/20 Insecure: Untroubled by the Unknown

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Knowing does not equal security. In a world of insecurity, it is less important to know where one is being lead, and more important to know who is doing the leading. Mass Readings from May 3, 2020: Acts 2:14, 36-41 Psalms 23:1-61 Peter 2:20-25 John 10:1-10 Download the Homily Study

The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Chapter 10 verses 1 through 10. Jesus said, amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him and the sheep hear his voice.

As the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger. They will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers. Although Jesus used this figure of speech,

the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, amen. Amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers. but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved

and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. The gospel of the Lord. So I think right now in this season there are so many questions. I think there's just things we just want to know. And even we say it like that, I just want to know, I just want to know what.

Well, I just want to know, when is this going to end? Like, I just want to know when can I get back to work. I just want to know, are we going to have graduation? I just want to know when can I see the bottom half of people again? You know, you meet with online all the time. Like, you never see the bottom half. Is there a bottom half? Who even knows?

I just want to know. I have a niece. Her name is Catherine. Is she supposed to have her first Holy Communion today? Like, when's that going to happen? I just want to know. When's that going to happen? I have a nephew named James.

So let's get baptized. when's that going to happen? I just want to know my nephew Max is going to have supposed to be confirmed next weekend. Like when is that going to happen? And just all these things that I just want to know. I just want to know when that's supposed to happen. I want to know we can get back to work. I want to know when things can be normal. I want to know when I can go outside. I want to know. What's up with the World Health Organization? I just want to know. I want to know who's making the decisions. All of this is just we can summarize maybe everything we've been longing for by those words. I just want to know. But if you ask the question, like, well, why? Why do you just want to know?

I think a lot of times we're like, I don't know. Why do you want to know? I don't know. But if we're really pressed, I think we do know. I want to know. I want to know so I don't have to worry. That's why I want to know. I want to know when is it going to happen?

Is it going to happen? Is it going to happen? I just want to know because then if I know, I don't have to worry. But here's a little truth. You don't have to worry. Like meaning you don't have to worry. That's not, not worrying is actually an option. But so many of us, we walk around, I just want to know, and we have this anxiety.

This anxiety that kind of can dominate our lives, this worry that can dominate our lives, in the normal level and also to the clinical level. I don't know if you know this, but recently our students and students around the country, more students have sought mental health help for issues of anxiety, more than they do for issues of depression right now. Like the anxiety on the rise in someone who is... Now, on one hand, that's really good, because what it means is that more students are asking for,

more people are asking for help. And that's one of the great things. As Catholics, we believe that we're made up of body, soul, spirit, body, mind, and spirit, body, mind, and soul. These three things, right, body, and we have doctors for your bodies. So grateful. We have a soul, and we have doctors for our soul.

We have priests and lay ministers who can help your soul. But also, we have minds as human beings. And it is so great. that we have doctors for our minds. And the fact that people are unashamed and unafraid to ask for help when they have a mental health issue is so good, it's so encouraging. And yet here is this one mental health issue that is on the rise. More and more people are experiencing these levels of anxiety. In fact, I even heard the other day that people were concerned that after this pandemic subsides

that they'll be more anxious, more people who are filled with worry, You know, a number of years ago, I was reading an article about people who are really helping others deal with their clinical levels of anxiety. And they had an incredible definition, I thought it just was really helpful. They said they defined anxiety as the overestimation of danger and the underestimation of one's ability to cope with that danger. The overestimation of danger, that the world out there is dangerous, which it is. the underestimation of one's ability to cope.

And to recognize that in so many ways our sources of anxiety come from this place of what's going to happen. Will I be able to face what's going to happen? Because I just want to know what's coming. I just want to know when this is over. I just want to know because then, because then I can relax. If I know, then I can relax. If I know, then I can be at peace.

If I know, I can be free of stress. Because if I know, then I can be secure. And so many of us are operating off of this myth. It truly is a myth. This myth that knowing equals security. If I just know, then I can be at peace. You know, we're in the third part of this four-part series, Insecure. And today we have this desire.

Again, we look at this desire. This desire, I just, I want to be. to know what's going to happen. I want to know what's down the road. I want to know because in my mind, I falsely believe that knowing equal security. Now, here's quick caveat. Sometimes it's very important to know, right? It's actually good to ask questions and find out because we need to know some things in order to plan for them. We need to know some things in order to prepare. We need to know some things in things in order to participate. So, like, for example, I need to know how many people are coming to my wedding. Why? Because I need to plan to feed them. Right? So we need some things we need to know in

order to plan. I need to know in order to prepare. So are we going to have an exam or not? Because if we're not going to have an exam, I don't need to prepare. If we are, I need to. Like if you're an elite athlete, right, they need to know. Are we going to have this championship in August or not? Because their training is very tailored towards that moment. So in order to prepare, they need to know. And I mean, yes, there's the 24-hour news cycle and maybe some people on the extreme and were simply at a constant distraction for their lives, like, I want to know all these things. That might be extreme, but there is a degree. We're not residents of this country. We're not tenants of this country. We're citizens of this country, which means I need to know in order to

participate. So again, knowing can be a very good thing and very necessary thing when I need to plan, what I need to prepare, and when I need to participate. But I don't need to know in order to have peace. Because it is not true that knowing equals security because this world is insecure. And as Catholic Christians, one of our calls is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. One of our calls as Catholic Christians is to live without stress even when we are without security. And I would say this call for today is as Catholic Christians we are called to be untrue. troubled by the unknown. We're called to be untroubled by the unknown. But in order to be

that kind of person, we don't be that kind of become that kind of people, we need to be two things. We need to be courageous and we need to be confident. This is necessary for all of us in order to be in this world of massive insecurity. And to be untroubled by the unknown, we need to be people who are courageous and confident. In fact, there's a psychologist out of Canada who I read one of his books. And one of the things he said was, as parents, this is one of the things you need to do for your kids. Like, as parents, you have so many jobs, right? You have so many roles as parents.

One of them is to protect your kids. Absolutely. Yes, definitely. Protect your kids. But that's not your only job. In fact, that's not even the most important job. You protect your kids for a while from this dangerous world. But then at some point you need to prepare them to go into the danger.

And so one of the most important jobs of a good parent, is not necessarily to make the world safer, but it's to make your children stronger. You can't make the world more secure, but you can help your children become courageous. And that's the main job, after protection, the main job of a parent for their child is to help your child become courageous.

Because I can't make the world safer, but you can make your child stronger. And God is our father, and God's a good parent. And so what does God do? God does the same thing for us. Here, here he made this world that's good but not unbreakable, and so it is broken, so now it's insecure. So he sends out into this world and he says, okay, I'm not going to make it any safer, but I'm going to make you stronger. I'm going to call you to be courageous.

And we have all these examples throughout the entire Bible of people who were courageous that were untroubled by the unknown. And one of the best examples, I think, is our mom, is Mary. That when the Archangel Gabriel comes to her in Luke chapter 1, what you do? He says, okay, basically, here you're going to be the mother of the woman of the woman. with the Messiah. And I love Mary because Mary, she asked the clarifying question and that's great. She basically says, you know, how is this going to happen to me? I don't have any relations with a man. So we can ask questions, right? How is this going to happen? And it's not like if Mary didn't know the birds and the bees. Like she knows how it would

happen. She was betrothed through a guy named Joseph. The idea scholars have say is that Mary and Joseph were planning on being celibate their entire marital relationship. So she's asking the question like, okay, how is that now? Like, how is this going to happen? And Gabriel gives her the answer. Well, the power of the most high will overshadow you. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. Like, oh, okay, that's the answer. And so she says, behold, I'm the hand in me to the Lord. Let it be done to be according to your word. Now, imagine the courage of Mary in that moment. Imagine how untroubled she is by the unknown. Because here's how would I be like, okay, what's going to happen after that? Like Gabriel says, yeah, the power of the most high will

overshadow you, power of Holy Spirit. You'll conceive. That'll be the king. He's it. And she's like, great. And I'd be like, no, no, no. What's after that? Because I would want Gabriel to come to me or to Mary and say, okay, here's what's going to happen. Powerless tie, overshadow child to be born in you. Great. Joseph's not going to want to be part of this, but don't worry, I'll appear to him in a dream,

it'll be okay. And then when you're nine months pregnant, you're going to have to go to Bethlehem for the census, but don't worry about it, it'll be okay. And you're not going to find a place to sleep, but don't worry about it, it'll be okay. And then Herod, the king is going to want to try to kill your son, but don't worry about it, it'll be okay. I'll appear to Joseph in a dream.

You're going to go to Egypt, but don't worry about it, it'd be okay. Then you're going to come back home, don't worry about it, it'd be okay. And then you're going to lose Jesus in his, by the way, his name's Jesus, but lose Jesus in the temple for three days, but don't worry about it. After three days, he'll be there, it'll be okay. I would want the promise, I would want the assurance, I'd want the certainty, I would want to know what's going to happen. And Mary's not given any of that.

Mary's just told, here's what you need to know now. Is that enough? And she is untroubled by the unknown because she's courageous. And she's confident. She's not confident in herself. That's actually the word confident is from the Latin word confeide, right? It means with faith, with trust, not with trust in myself,

with trust in another, and Mary being a phenomenal Jewish woman. She knows the story. I can be courageous because I'm confident in him. I mean, think about the story of Israel and the Exodus. So God delivers his people from slavery in Egypt, and he leads them through the Red Sea. And then what is it? Scripture says, that Scripture says that God's presence was with them

in a pillar of fire at night and a column of cloud during the day. And so they just followed it. And when the pillar of fire or the column of cloud stopped, they would stop and they'd pitch their tents and stay there as long as the cloud stayed there as long as the pillar of fire stayed there. And then when it was time to move, the pillar of cloud would pick up and move and they would pick up and they'd follow it. And imagine, imagine that the confidence you'd have

in knowing God's present. Why? Because I look up and I see that pillar of fire at night. It's like God's nightlight, you know. And during the day, I look up and I know that's here. He's presence. He's with us. Why? Because I look up and I see that column of cloud every single day. And that's enough for me. But it wouldn't be, I'm telling you guys, it wouldn't be enough for me because I'd be like, okay, when am we going to move next?

They'd be like, don't worry dude. God's with you. Like, yeah, but I want to know where's he leading us? What's going to happen next? I need to know why. Because I'm one of those believers and it's dumb that knowing equal security. I just want to know we're going to go. But God didn't tell him. He just said, I'm with you and I'm going to lead you.

Is that enough? So be courageous and be confident. When it's time to stop, I'll stop. When it's time to go, I'll lead you. And this is the gospel today. Jesus saying, I'm the good shepherd. What happens? My sheep, they hear my voice and they follow me.

But I'm the stupidest kind of sheep. Like, honestly, I be the kind of sheep that wake in the morning. Hey, good morning, Jesus. what's up today? He's like, we're going to be fine. Just follow me. I'm like, yeah, yeah, where are we going to go? Like, I'm going to follow. No, no, no, I trust. I'm going to follow you, but just tell me what's going to happen. Like, that's all I want to know. So the sense of like, well, even if Jesus was to say, we're going to walk up to the top of this hill here, we're going to graze for a while. And then this afternoon we'll go down the south side of the hill and we're

on to the creek and come back here tonight. Like, yeah, but how long are we staying at the creek again? Like, I just, I have all these questions. Why? Because I, again, think that knowing equals security. And Jesus knows this. He's so good. And so what he says is, the sheep don't know where I'm going to lead them, but they know me. My sheep know my voice. They don't know where the voice is going to lead them, but my sheep know my voice. And they follow me.

So it's basically Jesus saying, the Christian, the disciple, you're not. going to know where I'm going to lead you. You don't get to know, but you do know who it is that's leading you. I was talking to a missionary, one of our focused missionaries recently, and they're saying that like, you know, coming into prayer sometimes, you ask the God the question, like, um, okay God, I know I need to hear your voice, but like, I don't hear your voice, like what's your voice sound like? And they were praying and finally like the Lord spoke and reminded them of like, well, you know, I did write a book. So like that sense of, like, okay, you want to know what my voice sounds like, hear, like take up and read. Also you could say

that Jesus, Jesus, what's your voice sound like today, though? And he's like, you do know that I founded a church, right? Like I gave you, gave the world. The last 2,000 years, I've given the world the Catholic Church, which is my voice. Jesus said, when the people hear you, they hear me. God gave us a voice in the scripture, and God's given us his voice through the church right now. One of the things that means is he has spoken enough for us to know, not just to know his voice, but also enough to know it.

what to do right now. Like, here's the truth. You and I know exactly enough to act now. I might not know what's next, but I do know what's now. And I can't afford to be, I must be untroubled by the unknown because what's known is enough. It's in the Acts of the Apostles. What happens?

Peter gets up and he preaches and he cuts these people to the heart with the truth and they say, what are we to do now? not what's going to happen later. What do we need to do? And he says, okay, we repent to be baptized, Bucco. Like, what's going to happen is, you're going to repent to be baptized now. I'm not, we don't know what's going to happen later. But you don't need to know that.

I think so often I want to know because I want to make the perfect decision. I want to know because I don't want to mess up. I want to know what's going to happen so that I don't fail. Newsflash. You will often make the wrong decision. Like newsflash, we will often fail. And newsflash, he keeps speaking. This is last thing.

We get to ask, like, what do we do now? And the truth of the matter is, again, you and I, we know enough to live wisely, even if not perfectly. So an example, there was a young man, he was a student here in Duluth for a while, and after he graduated, he discerned that God was calling him to the seminary. And so, I mean, this suffered a lot of prayer,

a lot of spiritual direction, and just yeah, that's it. God's calling me to seminary. So he went there, and he was there for a while. And when he got there, after a while, it was pretty clear that, nope, don't stay in the seminary. So after prayer, discernment, spiritual direction, he left the seminary to date this girl that he had really had a thing for for a really long time.

She liked him back. So they dated for a long time. And he's like, this is it. And then she broke up with him. And it's like, this wasn't it apparently. Like, God, what the heck? I thought this was what you wanted, so I did it. I thought I knew this was what you wanted, so I did it.

And now I don't know what to do? Like, what do you want? Should I go back to the seminary? Should I date someone else? Should I stay single? God, what do you want? I just want to know. And I don't have any idea.

And then he came to the conclusion. He just had this realization. He's like, wait a second. Even though I don't know whether God's calling me to be a priest or to be married or who to be married to or be single. I know that wherever he's calling me to, when I get there, I know the kind of person he needs me to be. no matter what he's calling me to. If he calls me to be a priest, then he needs me to show up there as a virtuous man. If he's calling me to be a husband and a father, he needs me to show up there as a virtuous man.

If he's called me to be single, then he needs me to show up there as a virtuous man, which means I need to pray now. I know enough to know that. That means I need to seek that with sacraments now. I know enough to do that. I know I need to serve the people around me now. I don't know who they'll be in the future, but I know who they are right now. the truth is you and I know enough to act well and to live wisely now.

To be courageous in the midst of insecurity. To be confident in the Lord's voice. To be courageous and confident enough to wait when the Lord is silent and then to boldly move when he speaks. and above all to be untroubled by the unknown, not knowing where it is that he is leading you, but absolutely knowing who it is, who is doing the leading.