Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 05/08/22 The Time of Great Distress

Episode Date: May 9, 2022

Homily from the Fourth Sunday of Easter. You are not abandoned. You are not alone. You are not afraid. Our lives are marked by stress. Not only is stress unavoidable, it is necessary. The main question is: what is our response to stress? Mass Readings from May 8, 2022: Acts 13:14, 43-52 Psalms 100:1-3, 5Revelation 7:9, 14-17 John 10:27-30

So if this is a season of anything, this is the season of stress. And you have to bring it up. You got to bring it out into the air. That's the only way to get past it is, I mean, we had, the UMD had their finals last week. You might be someone tonight, you're still in town if you go to UMD because you got an extension, which was nice for a second. Not's not nice anymore because you're like, oh, everyone else is done. No, I'm not. Or maybe CSS, LSC, you have tests to come.

Or even if you're not even in college. Because here's one of the things I found. Stress doesn't end when you graduate. So weird. So weird. Like work stress or transition stress or like, I'll talk to so many graduates who are like either looking for work and they're stressed about that or they have a job, they're stressed about that. They're moving town. They're stressed about that. They're staying in town. They're stressed about that. There's all these challenges and all these changes and there's all this stress and it's real. So let's talk about the second reading. So in the second reading, it's going to go back. Don't worry. And the second reading, you have this book. It's book of Revelation. Here's John, right? Here's John the Apostle. And he gets brought into heaven. And this elder, the angel, you know, these people are showing him this vision of heaven. And he sees the vision. We heard it today of all these races and tongues and peoples and nations.

And it's so good because it highlights the fact that the church doesn't just, isn't belong to one group of people. The church doesn't belong to like one nationality or one language or one race. It's like the church is everybody. That's why, you know, Catholic means universal. And here is a picture of the universal church in heaven with every race and every language and every tongue and every people, every nation. So then it goes on, but they're all dressed the same. He says they all have white robes on, and they all waving palm branches in their hands.

And here's the elder who says, we miss this part, because the elder asks John. He says, who are these people with the white robes and the palm branches? And basically John is like, yeah, I'm just visiting. I'm not from around here. You're the one who knows. And the elder says, these are the ones who wash their robes in the blood of the lamb. And he goes on to say,

these are the ones who have survived the time of great distress. These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress. And there's two words in that sentence I want to highlight. And the first one is the word distress. The time of great distress. Now, it could be specific, right? Because John is writing in their first century, so it could be the time of persecution under Nero.

It could be later on, the persecution under Domitian. But there was a persecution. There was a time of great distress. But this also could be applied to any time, right? Every human being experiences distress. And every human being, I think a lot of us hate distress. Like every single one of us experiences stress, and I think so many of us, if we had a choice, I think if we had a choice, we would want to eliminate stress?

I think if we had a choice of like, would you rather like live on a beach, just sipping on whatever you want to sip on and just not have anything to do, I think it would be like, yeah, as opposed to anything else. Most of us, I think many of us, if we had an option, we'd want to eliminate stress. But here's the crazy thing. Not only is stress unavoidable. Not only is stress unavoidable, stress is necessary. Here's what I mean.

University of California, Berkeley, did a couple of studies. One of their studies was on a single-cell organism, and they took these single-cell organisms, and they put them in an ideal condition. They put them in a place that was like the temperature was ideal for this kind of organism. The amount of nutrients was ideal. The amount of light versus dark was ideal.

Everything was perfect. It was the idea that if you'd, took these single-celled organisms and put them in the ideal situation with no stress, they could not help but thrive. They did it, and they all died. Because it turns out, we need stress to stay alive. We don't just need stress to stay alive. Berkeley went back, and they said, okay, that's single-celled organisms. What about something closer to human beings? Rats. Really close. So they put these rats, and they put them on stress and they found out that rats who had no stress versus rats that had stress. The rats that

had stress, they learned quicker, they became stronger, they became better rats. That was the challenge that changed them. And because of this, some people have said, okay, there must be two kinds of stress. There must be distress. That's the kind of stress that we found it. It comes against us and we like we panic and we freeze, we don't do anything. And there must be a thing called you stress, that's EU, you stress, which is good stress, which is the kind of stress that motivates us. It's the stress that says, okay, the deadline is midnight tonight. We got to move. So distress, the kind of stress that hurts us, and you stress, the kind of stress that helps us grow. That's the idea, put forward by different scientists. But then, along came new scientists,

because that's what happens. And these new scientists have said, actually, there's no such thing as innate distress. And there's no such thing as innate you stress. It's just stress. The only difference is how we perceive it. The only difference is how we react to it. Because we know this.

Obviously, stress can be deadly. In fact, the scientists have said that chronic stress, no point no. Not good for you. We all know that stress can kill. We all know that persecutions, actual persecutions, can destroy. We know that challenges,

they can change us, but challenges can also crush us. That's proven, right? It's proven in the Gospels. It's proven in Acts of the Apostles. I mean, for crying out loud, here's Luke writing the Acts of the Apostles the First Reading Today. And they write about in Acts of the Apostles about the death of Stephen. Stephen is the first martyr. One year after Jesus rises from the dead, here's the first Christian martyr persecuted stone to death. Ten years after that, John's own brother,

who wrote Revelation, right, John's own brother, James, is also murdered. From John's perspective, again, who wrote Revelation, every one of John's friends, who is a Christian, was murdered. Everyone. And so we know, we know that stress and distress and persecutions and difficulties, all those things, they have the potential to kill us.

But they can also purify us. They can also purify our hearts. They can also clarify, like, who, I trust. They can also, stress can also reveal what I value. Which I think is what happens in the Acts of the Apostles today, that first reading. Right? Paul and Barnabas, they go to the cities and they began preaching and what happens is they're, first of all, the whole city comes out for them because they're doing pretty well. But the next day, they become threatened, they become rejected, and they become expelled from the city. That's kind of stressful. What's their response?

the response to being rejected, the response to being hated, the response to being kicked out of town is it says this, the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. They were persecuted. Like question, how could they rejoice? In the middle of difficulty, in the middle of stress, they were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit because they knew they were not abandoned.

They were not alone, and therefore they were not afraid. In the difference? What's the difference? What's the difference between distress and eustress? What's the difference between the apostles and me? What's the difference between the disciples and us? It wasn't because they were spared pain, they were not. It wasn't because they were superheroes, they were not. It wasn't because they were gluttons for punishment, they were not. It's because of their worldview. It's because they experienced stress, but the way they interpreted stress was very different because, yes, they were persecuted, but they were living with purpose. Yes, they experienced difficulty in distress, but they were walking in God's will. That's one of the reasons why St. Paul.

He writes us in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he says, we are persecuted but not abandoned. We are struck down, but we're not destroyed. The difference is their worldview. Go back to Revelation. John's asked, who are these people, white robes, palm branches in their hands, the angels answer, these are the ones who have survived the time of great distress. The first word, distress. The second word we want to talk about is the word survived. So let's pause for a second. These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress. Pause. Where are they? As they're having this conversation, where are they? They're in heaven. Who is he talking about? Dead people. And he says, these are the ones who have survived.

like these are ones who are alive. And I'm like, what? What exactly? Huh? It kind of reminds me of Jesus. In Luke chapter 21, he says this. It's a long quote from Jesus. It says, Jesus is getting his people ready. He's getting his disciples ready for what's going to happen after he dies and rises from the dead.

He says, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to their synagogues and prisons. They'll have you led before kings and governors because of my name. He goes on to say, you will even be handed over by parents, by brothers and sisters. relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You'll be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. Let's pause again. Jesus says, in the same breath, they will put some of you to death, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.

Good to know that when they cut off my head, they won't also mess up my hair. That's just, I'm just relieved at that news. But Jesus, what he's pointing out, he's pointing out something more profound, right? He's pointing out this truth, this worldview. There is more to this life than just this life. That's the worldview. There's more to life than just this life. That you might experience stress or distress or persecution, even death.

But you are not abandoned. You are not alone. Therefore, you do not have to be afraid. The worldview is there is more to this life than just this life. and so the interpretation of suffering, the interpretation of persecution and of failure and of death does not mean that God is absent. It does not mean that God has abandoned you.

The interpretation of all the distress and all the stress we experience is something we've said so many times. God can use it. Every moment of stress, even every moment of failure given to God, nothing is wasted. nothing given to God is ever wasted. Jesus even says that in the gospel today. Essentially, he says, I know them. They're mine.

They know my voice. They follow me. No one can take them out of my hand. Like, nothing given to God is ever wasted. And no one can take what belongs to Jesus out of his hands. Not Nero, not Domitian, not an anti-Christian culture, not the evil one. In fact, the only one who can remove you from the hand of God is you. The only way any of us could ever be removed from the hand of God is if we choose to remove ourselves from the hand of God, if we walk away. But we don't have to walk away. Why? Because we know that in the face of persecution, in the face of difficulty, in the face of distress,

we know that God is with us. And he can use it all. That we're not abandoned. And we're not alone. And therefore we're not afraid. This world, this life, not just contain stress. It, we need stress. The only thing that's left is our response.

And that response is informed by our worldview. That response is informed by interpretation. And we all, here's what. Let me tell a little story. So you might know, some of you might know, that last December we were able to buy like the entire block where Newman is. I don't know if maybe you didn't know that.

Like for 17 years, I've been on campus. This is at the end of my 17th year, academic year of being at UMD, CSS, this whole thing. And for years, all those 17 years, It was like, man, we have this small house where they, we didn't even have in a garage at first. You have this small house and we need more room. So they gave us a cathedral. But so, but there's no room.

There was no place to find anything. We didn't have any money to buy anything either. But then over the course of this last, basically last year, year and a half, two years, there were some people who came forward and they started just supporting Newman. And then about a year ago, the guy who owned all the properties on the block where we were, who had this massive plan that he's been planning for 30 years, he just decided not to do it anymore. And I kind of found out and sent off an email,

and he basically said, sure, I'll sell it to you. He sent this email to us on the day our bishop was ordained. So if he would have sent it beforehand, it wouldn't have been able to do anything because I don't have any power here. On the day our bishop got ordained, he says, sure, I'll sell it to you for X amount of money. And so that night, after Bishop's ordination, I'm like, dear Bishop, we just met today,

but let me tell you a story. And he said, yeah, let's do it. And now he said, okay, Father Mike, here's your job. He's your job for the next, however long it takes, is to put a building committee together and figure out people who can know how to build stuff and how people who support this with money. And basically, he laid out a list of things I need to do

that I have no idea how to do. Like, I have a really small wheelhouse. And none of those things he's asking me to do are even close to that wheelhouse. But, no, no but yet. And I'm stressed. It hurts a little bit. People are you excited? No.

I'm not excited. I'll be happy when it's done or I'm dead. One of the two, I don't care. Now but, but. The God who brought me here will not leave me here. Same thing that's true for you. The God who brought you to this place of distress will not leave you in a place of distress.

The God who brought you to this place of challenge will not leave you in the place of challenge. You are not abandoned. You are not alone. Therefore, you and I don't have to be afraid. And this is the last thing. Ever. You don't ever have to be afraid.

Even when the next step might be our last step. So it's Mother's Day. And, you know, I'm so grateful. So many of you have always, over the course of the year, just ask, hey, how's your mom doing? My mama's diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about two years ago. And so maybe a month ago, she finished up another six-month bout of chemotherapy. And about two weeks ago, she started a,

a month-long bout of radiation therapy. It's really interesting to be able to talk to my mom over the course of this last two years of just looking down the barrel at the next step for my mom. The next step for my mom is the last step. And just ask her, Mom, are you afraid? And she said this. She said it so well.

She said, I'm not afraid. I am sad because I wanted to see how all the grandkids turn out. I wanted to be able to be there for their wedding. I wanted to be there for their next steps. I wanted to be there. You kind of just assume, right, that you're kind of going to be there. It's going to kind of just keep on going. So she said, I'm sad, but I'm not afraid. Why? For the same reason, none of us have to be afraid. Because the God who brought us here will not leave us here. That, yes, we will experience times of challenge,

in times of persecution, times of distress, times of difficulty. But we know the truth. there is more to this life than just this life. No one except ourselves can take us out of his hands. We are not abandoned, we are not alone, and therefore we are not afraid. Nothing, nothing in this world can destroy you. Nothing can take you out of his hands. And so we walk forward.

We keep putting one foot in front of the other, even when the next step is our last step, even then we can say, I am not abandoned and I am not alone, therefore I am not afraid.