Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 05/15/22 Do Not Be Shocked

Episode Date: May 15, 2022

Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter. The best you on the worst day of your life. There are a few things that we ought to never be surprised by. One of them is suffering. God does not abandon us in our suffering, he leads us through them. Mass Readings from May 15, 2022: Acts 14:21-27 Psalms 145:8-13Revelation 21:1-5John 13:31-35

So one of the things that I get to, you probably know this, I've said it a thousand times, I get to work with not only college students and young adults, but also with junior high students, high school students. In fact, sometimes the summer is a shift from the college students. We sent them away basically last weekend was their last weekend on campus. And we, there's a couple different colleges in town, so they have been dispersed slowly. But this is the first kind of free weekend, essentially, with not all of our students back here. So I get to work now with more high school students, junior high students. One of the things that I, it's not my heart to share with a lot of them is something contrary to what they get a lot.

So what a lot of young people get is your best days are ahead of you, which is probably true for a lot of them, probably true for most of them, in fact. Maybe it's even true for every one of them. But that idea, like your best days are ahead of you, that's a really encouraging thought. And I love that. It's really beautiful and powerful and helpful. but one of the things that I find myself constantly coming back to is also reminding them of the opposite. I'm saying, yes, it may be true that your best days are ahead of you, but it is also very

likely true that your worst days are ahead of you. That's one of those kind of like, want-w-want kind of bummer things, but, and also, keep this in mind. I know we have college students and we have high school, we even have junior high students that we've been able to work with and do ministry with who, the depth to which they've experienced pain in their young lives is remarkable. It's not as if they've had charmed lives or easy lives up to this point.

It's not like they've been spared grief or loss. I mean, there's some of our students, some of our even, again, junior high students, sixth grade, have experienced more pain than most people could imagine. At the same time, it's also likely very true. that for every one of them, including for myself, our worst days are ahead of us. And that shouldn't be a surprise. I mean, in fact, there are some things that I would say that certain realities of life that shouldn't be a surprise for us.

In fact, what's an example? On the most minor level, something that shouldn't be ever, we should never be surprised by interruptions. I know that's one of the things, it's a small thing, right? But one of the things I find myself being surprised by is I have a plan and then someone interrupts the plan and I'm shocked. That should never, being interrupted, it should never be a surprise. It should never be a shock to anyone because we know that's what happens.

We have plans. We have calendars. We have schedules. And then what happens is they get interrupted. So we should never be shocked by interruptions. We should never also, we should never be shocked by our own weakness. Like if we've ever paid attention to ourselves when we find ourselves falling into some kind of falling out of weakness, that should never surprise us.

At some point we should know ourselves well enough to realize, nope, that's what I'm dealing with. We should never be shocked by interruptions. we should never be shocked by our weakness, and we should never be shocked by death. I mean, honestly, we know that the mortality rate for human beings continues to hover roughly around 100%. And so death should never shock us. It can grieve us.

Like loss can break our hearts. But I think there's some ways we should never be shocked by that. So those three things we should never be shocked by interruptions, by weakness, by death. That's going to be a whole other series later on. That's not today. Today is this fourth thing that I think should never shock us. For the Christian, especially, we should actually be ready. We should, in fact, be prepared for this.

And that thing is trials. That thing is we should never be shocked by the battle. We should never be shocked by the trial that comes our way, the trials that come our way. And again, those things can be difficult. Those things can break our hearts. They can grieve us deeply. But they should never, ever shock us. And in fact, I think one of the reasons,

why they do shock us is because us kind of American or Western 21st century Christians, we don't think, like the original Christians thought. Like, for example, I think I would say this, one of the most pronounced errors in Christianity right now, one of the most pronounced, I would even say it's a lie. One of the most pronounced lies in Christianity right now is said so often. They listen to preachers all over the place, and they'll say something like, God wants you to be wealthy.

that God wants you to get that promotion. God wants to lift you up. He wants to give you everything you dreamed of. He wants to give you the healthy body. He wants to give you that relationship you've completely dreamed of. That all those things that you desire, that's what God wants for you as well. And that, honestly, you guys, that is absolutely a lie. No, it's true that God is good and God wants your good.

But it is not true. In fact, I believe it's a lie from hell, a diabolical lie, that God wants you to be wealthy. that he always wants you to get the promotion, that he always wants you to get the relationship that you wanted, that he always wants you to be healthy. Yet too many of us, I think, that's the encouraging word. That's the word because life is tough, right? When we experience poverty, when we experience that broken heart,

when we experience the pain of life, that's what encourages us. This idea, this lie, that what God wants is the opposite. So we're encouraged by that. And yet we have to ask the question, what was it that encouraged the original disciples? What was the message that encouraged disciples who not only experienced like the ordinary aches and pains of life that not only experienced ordinary poverty, an ordinary death, an ordinary loss, an ordinary grief, but they also experienced incredible persecution. So here's the Acts of the Apostles.

Here's St. Paul. And he's encouraging these Christians. And again, these Christians have not only experienced the normal pains of life from ordinary loss to tragic loss, they've also experienced incredible persecution just for the fact that they belong to Jesus. And so it says in the Acts of the Apostles today, it says that Paul and Barnabas showed up and they began to strengthen the spirits of the disciples. How did they do it? They strengthened them not by saying, hey, listen, you experience pain, God doesn't want you to have pain. You experience persecution, God doesn't want that for you. They said, it says they strengthen

the spirits of the disciples by telling them, it is necessary for you to undergo many trials to enter the kingdom of God. And that's what strengthened them. This notion not like God's going to take them away, but that this is actually what's supposed to happen. This is what has to happen. And I have to tell you, I do not like that. I do not like this message.

No, this is something that's on my heart deeply because we've bought into the lie so thoroughly. I don't like it. I want to avoid pain. In fact, I want the people I love to be able to avoid trials. St. Paul is saying it is necessary. that we undergo many trials to enter the kingdom of heaven. And if you're someone who loves someone else, you might say, well, I can do it.

Like, I'll do that. I'll undergo the trials. But I don't want my son or my daughter to. I don't want the people I love to. And in fact, this is something that just hit me last night. I was praying in this chapel. And I got some messages from some of my family members, from some nieces and nephews. And just kind of expressing just the trials there in the middle of.

And I was just, I remember praying here in front of the cross thing. Lord, I just, I don't want them to have to do this. Because why? Because when it comes to trials, I think most of us, if we can, we'd avoid it. That's just smart. Most of us, if we can, we go around the trials. But St. Paul says it is necessary to go through. It is necessary to undergo many trials.

And that's a question is why. The answer is really simple. The answer is because we are not currently the people that we ought to be. That's it. Why do we have to undergo many trials? because we are not yet currently the people that we ought to be. So in a month from now, the city of Duluth has this big marathon. It's called Grandma's Marathon.

And so people come from all over the country, all over the world to run this marathon. In fact, Emmeline is running, she's training to run the marathon. But these weeks, the month leading up to Grandma's Marathon, you have people running further than they ever have in their life. They have people doing their last long runs. Why do they have to do that? Because if they don't, when race, race day comes, they won't be able to run a marathon.

Like this is the reason why we go through the trials. Because if I didn't go through the trials, when race day comes, I won't be able to run the marathon. Why does God allow us? And in fact, he says it's necessary to undergo many trials because if we don't go through today's trials, we will not be ready for tomorrow's trials. Why? Because the truth is, we're not currently the people we ought to be.

don't love like we ought to be. Therefore, the trial of loving today when I don't feel like loving, we have to do that in order to be able to love tomorrow, to have faith, to be able to trust the Lord, to have to go, we have to undergo that trial of trust today so that tomorrow we're ready to trust the Lord. St. Paul says it's necessary. Why? Because God does something in that trial that he couldn't do without it. Just like in that transition. Just like in that transition. doing the long run, something happens, that long run that literally couldn't possibly happen unless you did the long run. And it challenges us, but it changes us.

That trial transforms us. And obviously it's difficult. I mean, there's no getting around it. Obviously it's something that most of us would want to avoid. But it should never shock us. In fact, not only St. Paul said this in Acts of the Apostles, but 1st Peter, is 1st Peter Peter's writing to other Christians, disciples of Jesus, who are experiencing persecution. And he says this.

He writes to them. He says, Beloved, because he loves them. He says, Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you as if something strange were happening to you. I want to say that again. Beloved, he loves them. Keep this in mind. He doesn't want this for them, but he knows that it's necessary. Do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you as if something strange were happening to you.

that you shouldn't be shocked by this. Don't be surprised. This is not unusual. He goes on to say, but rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ so that when in his glory it's revealed, you may also rejoice exultantly. We can be, and we are, grieved by our sufferings.

We are often so sorely tested by our trials, but we must never be shocked by them. In fact, we need to prepare for them. So that's the Old Testament, Paul and Peter, both writing about how this is just normal, this is actually what we're signing up for. All the way back in the Old Testament, one of my favorite books in the Old Testament has one of my favorite lines in the Old Testament is from the book of Syrac, chapter 2, verse 1. Syrac is a father writing to his son.

And in the first line of chapter 2, the father, Syrac, says to his son, my son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. He doesn't say, my son, when you come to serve the Lord, everything's going to go well for you. When you come to serve the Lord, then he's here on his side and you're going to get everything you want. No, he says, my son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. And so what do we have to do? If we want to be followers of Christ, we want to be people who are wise, what we do is what

Syrac, the father, said to his son. We prepare ourselves for trials. How do we do that? Well, that doesn't mean we go looking for trouble. But it does mean that we are willing to embrace penance. was just like a normal part of like the disciples life, we just embrace penance, which the normal penances, right, of fasting, of almsgiving, of making time for prayer.

In fact, that embracing a penance not only changes our hearts, it also reveals our hearts in so many ways. And so years ago, there was a young woman who had shared with me that she had asked her father about what kind of man she should look for to get married to. and her dad was a really wise man because he paused and he thought and he thought okay what is it what's the marker of the kind of man who I would want my daughter to marry that I want to be able to I could entrust my daughter to this man's care he paused and he thought and he opened

his mouth and he said find a man who can fast I remember thinking that was that's so profound because it's not just find a man who's noble, man who's honest, those are all good things, diligent worker, those are all really good. But a man who can fast, someone who can say, I know I have this impulse to one thing, but I have the ability to say no to myself.

I know that I want to run, but I have the ability to not run. I know I want to cower back, but I have the ability to rise up. Find a man who can fast. Basically, how do we prepare ourselves or trials? Well, one is we embrace penance. The other one is, that's active penance.

The other is what they call passive mortification. these little deaths, that's what it means. Passive mortifications are those little deaths that we don't choose but are chosen for us. So, yeah, you might choose to fast. But there are times when we don't choose to pass, but fasting chooses us. And what happens? I didn't plan on skipping a meal, but I skipped the meal. And now I'm hungry and angry, I'm hangary.

And the idea is, if I can accept that passive mortification, the fast I didn't choose but chose me and not slip into being hangary, there's a sense of like, I'm being prepared. I'm being trained in this moment. It's not a big moment, but it's a significant moment. Another one is interruptions. I mentioned at the beginning of the homily, that sense of, man, I know for myself, this is a significant thing. I do not choose to be interrupted.

But how I choose to respond to being interrupted is a whole other thing. Or being caught behind that slow person in the left lane. It's like, oh my gosh, what the heck's going on? but to be able to say, okay, Lord, just use this. It's not massive trial, but it's today's trial. And I can't skip it. So you have things like passive mortifications of when you didn't choose to fast, but it chose you when you didn't choose interruptions, but they chose you.

But also, this is one of the things that St. Jose Maria Escriba, he's a Spanish saint who talked about annoying people because every one of us has to deal with people who annoy us for whatever reason. Would that be roommates or housemates or coworkers or whoever it is, every one of us experiences the trial of the annoying person. Jose Maria Escriba, St. Jose Maria, he said, realize what this person is doing. Like to be experienced that passive mortification of being able to be with that

annoying person, they're sanctifying you. So he said, never say this person annoys me. Simply say this person sanctifies me. And so that means like if you're like in church circles and someone's like, wow, you are great. You sanctify me a lot. It's kind of code for it. You annoy the heck out of me.

But the idea, of course, behind this whole thing is, if I don't do what Syrac said, my son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials, I won't be ready. If I avoid today's trials, I will not be ready for tomorrow's trials. So what do I need to do? I need to be unafraid,

unafraid to face today's trials, unafraid to fight today's battles. Because it's today's trials, that make us capable of facing tomorrows. We all know the story of Daniel. He's in the book of Daniel, which is very fitting. And Daniel at one point, a young man, and he's taken into captivity in Babylon.

And since he's a bright young man, he's a noble young man, he's virtuous young man, he rises in the king's court, essentially. We all know the story of Daniel in the lion's den, which is interesting. But Daniel's story doesn't start, his faith doesn't start in the lion's den. Daniel's faith starts long before his time in the lion's den. In fact, Daniel, as a Jewish man, a man of the Old Covenant, the First Covenant, the original Hebrew Covenant, he's a man of prayer.

And so when he is free to do whatever he wants, he chose as a man of God, a man of a covenant, relationship with God. He chose to be a man of prayer. And so he regularly would pray multiple times a day. When he could do anything he wanted, he chose to show up and pray. Later on, the king makes this edict that says no one may pray to anyone other than the king. And now Daniel's faith is tested a little bit more, and he has to pray in times of stress, in times of duress. And then they bust him, turn him in, and that's when Daniel's thrown in the lion's den.

And his faith is on display for everyone to see. But you realize that Daniel didn't win the battle in the lion's den. Daniel didn't even win the battle when he was told not to pray. Daniel won the battle when he prayed in the season of life where he could do anything else but pray when it was just a matter of I'm going to pray when I said I would and this is the truth for all of us too that we win the battle when when I this year this week when I pray when I said I would I show up when I said I would I do what I said I would I'm going to love the person I said I was going to love

Because that's the key. That's right. That's the heart of the whole thing. This whole thing is not about, you know, being tough. Like, do what you said you were going to do. Do the noble thing. Do the virtuous thing. White-knuckle your way through this.

That might be noble. That might be virtuous. That might be strong. That's not the point. The invitation is not merely to persevere in the midst of suffering. The invitation is to persevere in loving in the midst of suffering. We heard it in the gospel today. John's Gospel.

He says, Now Judas had left and Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. And then he turns to his disciples, his best friends, and he says this is the commandment, love, because that's what he did. Think about this. It says, now Judas, when Judas had left, Jesus said, what does it mean when Judas leaves?

It means that the worst day in Jesus' life had just started. When Judas had left, the worst day in Jesus' life just started. And that's when he said, here's the commandment. Love. Because on the cross, what glorifies God is not the depth of our suffering, but the depth of the love that motivates our suffering. And Jesus, as he began, the worst day of his life, pointed out that love has to be the driver.

Love has to be the reason. And love, of course, is going to be the goal. Because the challenge is this. to face the trials of today in order to be the best you on the worst day of your life. And this is the last thing. Scripture reminds us, do not be shocked. Do not be surprised that a fiery trial has come up among you as though this was something strange. Why?

Because it's necessary that we undergo trials in order to enter the kingdom of God. Because of that, just like Syrac said, when you come to serve the Lord, you prepare yourself for trials. That's the task to prepare. By facing the trial of today, we will be ready, prepared for the trial of tomorrow. So none of us, none of us have to be afraid. With God's help and in love, we will all be,

and you can be, the best you, on the worst day of your life.