Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 05/29/22 Ascension Gives Access

Episode Date: May 30, 2022

Homily from the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. What am I going to do with the gifts I've been given? In the Ascension, Jesus completes the work of redemption. He has taken His once for all sacrifice, bound to time and place, and brought it before the Father. Because of this, we have access to all of God's graces in every time and every place. Mass Readings from May 29, 2022: Acts 1:1-11 Psalms 47:2-3, 6-9Ephesians 1:17-23 Luke 24:46-53

So as I mentioned at the beginning of mass today or tomorrow is Memorial Day. And it's just whenever we have this feast, we're not this feast. We're going to talk about it in a second. But to take a moment even just to highlight the fact that this is Memorial Day weekend and so many of us not just a three-day weekend. It's actually a moment that we are given by our country to be able to commemorate and remember those people who have given everything for our country.

So at this Memorial Day weekend, my mind keeps going back to June 28, 2005. On June 28, 2005, there was a four-man team of Navy SEALs who were deployed to Afghanistan, and they were on a recon mission, just basically scouting out the area. And then they were attacked by 30 to 40 Taliban soldiers. This story was made popular by a man named Marcus Latrell. He was the one seal who survived. He was the lone survivor. He wrote a book.

They made a movie called Lone Survivor. But that team was led by a man named Michael Murphy, Lieutenant Michael Murphy. And on that day, as those men were attacked by those Taliban fighters, they returned fire. And just think about the way in which these men did everything that possibly could, not merely to stay alive, but to help each other, to help their brothers. One of the men, Danny Dietz, he was in charge of the communications. At one point, Danny Deets, he had broken both femurs. He had a compound fracture in his tibia and fibula.

He'd been shot four times. He just kept going. He just kept fighting for the people next to him, kept fighting for his brothers. Another man, Matthew Axelson, at one point, Marcus LaTrell was with him, and then an RPG came out of nowhere and separated the two of them.

That was the last time Matthew Axelson was ever seen. Marcus LaTrell himself, he was knocked down over this cliff. He said he tumbled down this mountain. He broke his back in numerous places, broke his pelvis in number of places. He was stopped by a, When his face smashed into a boulder, driving his nose through his head, bit off his tongue. He said he actually made himself throw up to get the tongue back out of his stomach, bit his tongue,

and then crawled on his hands and knees for seven miles to a local Afghan village. And those villagers were so courageous that when the Taliban came to get this Navy seal, those Afghans stood up courageously to the Taliban and refused to hand him over. Lieutenant Michael Murphy for his part At one point Danny Dietz who had been killed was in charge of the communications Michael Murphy took the communications

and he knew that they weren't getting a signal so what he did is he actually went to he left his place of hiding and went to a place of the complete exposure and he was shot multiple times as he was calling in the position of he and his men at one point his radio was shot out of his hand

and Lieutenant Michael Murphy calmly bent down picked the controller the communications back up and finish the call. They called in a Chinook helicopter with eight seals and eight army nightstockers that was taken out by a rocket-powered grenade. All 16 of those men were killed. It was the bloodiest day for Navy SEALs since World War II,

and maybe one of the bloodiest days in the last number of years for the American military. As a result of this bravery, Michael Murphy actually received posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor. And it's one of those things where he just, you know, whenever you read, I don't know if you've ever taken the time

to read the accounts of these men. But when they describe what they've done, a lot of times there's this one phrase that keeps coming back up again and again, and here's how part of this was described. It said, despite the intensity of the firefight and the suffering grave gunshot wounds himself, Michael Murphy is credited with risking his own life

to save the lives of his teammates. Murphy, intent on making contact with headquarters, but realizing it would, be impossible in the extreme terrain where they were fighting unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his own life, moved out into the open. We can gain a better position to transmit a call and get help for his men. That's the phrase, with complete disregard for his own life. We see this again and again.

If you ever read those speeches that were given to those people who had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, with complete disregard for his own life, doing something so someone else could lose. So, a Memorial Day from now on, for starting not too long ago, Marcus LaTrell and the other men who fought with Michael Murphy, they started doing this thing called the Murph. The Murph is a workout of all things. And it's done on Memorial Day by tens of thousands of people across the country,

if not around the world. Because what Michael Murphy used to do, and in training, he'd be deployed and he put on some body armor, and he'd go for a mile run. He put onto body armor and do a bunch of pull-ups, a bunch of sit-ups, and a bunch of air squats. And so what they have, the people around the world who like to exercise anyways, they do this thing, as I said, called the Murph.

And tomorrow, tens of thousands of people will put on a weighted best and go for a mile run and then do 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and then a mile run. And it seems ridiculous. Because like, what is that? You are going to work out anyways. But I think what it is is there's this something in us. And here's about someone like Michael Murphy and says, I want to do something. We hear about the people who have done so much for us.

we're like, I want to do something for them. I want to offer something for them. And that's the case for all of us, right? Whenever we realize someone has done something for us, we say, what can I do this? If I do this, maybe in some way I can be connected to them. Maybe in some way I can be connected to them. They'll pause in this for a second,

because I don't talking about the United States, it's no secret that I love my country. I love our country. And I hope that wherever you're from, if you're not from here, I hope you love your country. If you are from the United States, I really hope that you love your country. Not because the United States doesn't have flaws, or because the people of this country are the best. We're not the best. We're not the best people. This country has great people,

and this country has horrible people. It's like every country and nationality has great people, and every country and every nationality has horrible people. And most of us are both. But the ideals and the principles that this country was founded on are among the best ever articulated by foolish and selfish and stupid people. This country is not perfect. But look at us. Here we are. Free to worship however we want, or not worship however we want. Free to speak however we want. Free to assemble or not to assemble. I mean, think about this. We have the freedom to be as critical

as we want about the government with no fear. We can criticize this administration or that administration and never for one second wonder, will someone show up to my door and make me disappear? You and I have never, ever wondered if that was ever going to happen in this country. That's amazing. That's incredible. Because if you study history, we'll soon realize

those rights that we have weren't given. The rights we have were not given. They were fought for. It was made possible how we live, was made possible by others. That the ideals of this country, yes, they're written on paper with ink, but they would remain ideals.

They would remain simply a wish. They're only real because of the blood that was shed. They're only real because something has been given, because something has been fought for. And so, as always, the question that we have to ask is, okay, what are you going to do with it? Here's the incredible gift we've been given. Question, what are you going to do with it?

What are we going to do with it? because while Memorial Day is tomorrow, today is Ascension Sunday. And this is one of those memorials, Ascension Sundays, one of those feasts, one of those solemnities that's often overlooked, it's often overshadowed, it's often underrated, because we like the big ones. I know, I love the big ones. I love the big feasts, the big solemnities, the big memorials like Christmas. Christmas is awesome.

Or the memorials like a holy Thursday or Good Friday or Easter Sunday. Those are all incredible. Because think about it. What is Christmas? This is the memorial. of the fact that God became one of us. Christmas is the memorial that God took on a body and dwelt among us. Holy Thursday, it's the memorial of the fact that God then gave us that body in the Eucharist.

Good Friday is the memorial of the fact that then God sacrificed that body on the cross. And Easter Sunday, of course, is the fact that God rose from the dead in that body. But all of those, as amazing as they are, all of those are worth praying with, they're worth memorializing, they're worth remembering. But question is this, how do you and I have access to them? Like, those are all things that happened in time. They happened in one place and one time.

Question, how do you and I have access to the fact that at one point God became one of us, took on flesh? How do you and I have access to the fact that God gave us his flesh in the Eucharist? How do we have access to the fact that that flesh was sacrificed on the cross? How do you and I have access to the reality that that flesh was risen from the dead? Because it happened at one time and one place, 2,000 years ago and 4,000 miles away. So how do you and I have access?

See, the incredible thing is reality changed because of today's solemnity. Because of today's memorial, that's how we can come into contact with all those other feasts, all those other memorials. Because why? Because at one point in the ascension, Jesus took that incarnate body,

he took that eucharistic body, He took that crucified body. He took his resurrected body up into heaven, which means something amazing. That means that that body, that incarnated, Eucharistic, crucified, resurrected body is now outside of time. It is not limited by space.

That that body is forever presented to the Father, which changes everything. Think about this. The sacrifice is, of Jesus' entire self is fully present to the Father and is continually being offered to the Father. What I mean by that is, okay,

if Jesus would have just, like, floated up to heaven, like, leave his body here and took his spirit back to heaven, we'd say, yeah, I mean, I guess he left his humanity on Earth. But the ascension, today we realize, no, no, no, God himself has forever knit together humanity and divinity. That means, from now,

not until the end of time, from now, through eternity, God will always have a body. He will always be united to humanity. That God's Jesus, His divinity, united to humanity, means he is fully present to the Father, saying yes to the Father for all eternity. It's one of the reasons why in Hebrews chapter 7, it says, since Jesus is in heaven,

he has a priesthood that does not pass away. therefore he's always able to save those to make intercession through him since he lives forever to make intercession for them. We at the beginning of Mass, what do we say? We say, you live at the right hand, stand at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us. This is what Jesus is doing. Why is the ascension a reality?

Why is the ascension such a memorial? It's a memorial because of the fact that here is Jesus who is constantly, constantly offering himself to the Father for you and for me. Now he's not suffering anymore. Remember, this is a once-for-all sacrifice. Jesus ceases to suffer, but he needs. never ceases to offer. It's one of the reasons why every time we come to Mass, we get to participate in this.

Like, every time we come to Mass, we have access to this. Now, here's a, I like this analogy. Dr. Scott Hahn used this analogy. He says, think of the sun in the sky. So we say that the sun rises in the east and sense in the west. We know that that actually isn't what happens. We know that we're orbiting the sun and we're rotating, right? And so the sun itself doesn't rise up, but what's happening is the Earth is rotating

and spinning. When it's nighttime, the sun is still blazing. We just don't know it. When it's nighttime, the sun still has all the light and all the energy coming off of it constantly. But when our Earth orbits and rotates, then we have access to the light of the sun. Then we have access to the heat of the sun.

It's in that moment that we actually get to be present to the light and the heat of the sun. We get to participate in the light in the heat of the sun. And then night comes and we don't get to participate anymore, but it's still blazing. The same thing is true when it comes to Jesus in front of the Father.

Jesus is constantly offering himself to the Father always. But when we come to Mass, we have this unique opportunity to be present to that sacrifice. We have that opportunity to participate in that sacrifice. And then we leave Mass and we get to like go back on our lives. Here's the thing. The Ascension has made that possible. The ascension is made are being present and are participating in the great sacrifice of Jesus,

the son, to the Father possible. And so the same question comes up, what are we going to do with it? Now, here's what that Jesus has made possible. What are we going to do with it? You know, one of the optional readings for today says this. It says in Hebrews chapter 10, it says because of this, because Jesus has ascended to the Father, we can approach him with a sincere heart and with absolute trust. Because of the ascension, we have access.

And we can approach the father with sincere heart and absolute trust. So some of you might know this, that in Brainerd, I grew up in Brainerd, and my dad was a physician there, which is amazing because one of the things that meant, it meant a lot of things, but his clinic was about a mile away from the home I grew up in. And one of the great things about that was that if I was ever hurt, basically my whole life had to go to a hospital waiting room. ever. It was awesome. If I had, I think I had broken a bone.

All right, come on up, walk in the back door. Go get an x-ray. We need stitches, all right? Come up, walk in the back door, go get some stitches. Like, I need this checked out. All right, come up, walk in the back door, and just do whatever is needed to happen. And so I remember thinking as a kid, like, oh my gosh,

at some point my dad's going to retire. One of my siblings had better become a doctor. Because I do not want to wait in the waiting room. And so, thanks me to God, Amy, is a doctor. So a bunch of years ago, my dad had retired, and Amy said, yeah, come on up, I'll check you out. I needed an X-Rife or something. And I didn't know. So, walked in the front door, went up to the desk, filled out that paperwork, and then sat in the waiting room like a moron, reading the magazines, being like

everyone else. My sister comes out, and she's like, what are you doing out here? I'm like, I don't know. So why are you in the waiting room? I don't know. I didn't know the rules. She's like, listen, your family, just come on in. That is what the Lord says to you. we're like, I'm waiting in a waiting room. I don't know if I have access. And the father says, listen, your family, just come on in. Do I have to wait? Do you have to ask permission?

You are my child. You're my beloved son. You're my beloved daughter. Your family. Just come on in. Because of the ascension, we have access. So what are we going to do with it? Hebrews says, so we approach with a sincere heart and with absolute trust,

knowing that this is your home. The father's heart is completely open for your approaching him. At the same time, the very next line says, also, also, we approach with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Which means that when we approach, even though we are given access, we have to be so careful about how we approach. We have complete access, your family, you're a child of God, you have access to the father because of the ascension, but we also have to be careful how we approach. You approach how with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water,

which means before we approach the throne of the Eucharist, we have to approach the throne of mercy in confession. If we're going to approach the sun, in order for that sun not to burn us up, because that's the capacity, right? First Corinthians, St. Paul writes this. He says, if we approach the Eucharist unworthily, we are guilty of murdering Jesus himself.

If we are conscious of mortal sin and we approach the Eucharist. We don't go to confession first. We are guilty of murdering the Lord Jesus Christ. And so again, it's like here's the sun. And God wants us to actively be present and participate in the light and the heat that comes from the sun. But if I approach without being first made ready

by the sacrament of reconciliation, by confession, that sun that would warm you and would strengthen you and would give you life will destroy you and would destroy me. So here's this incredible memorial of ascension, which gives us access to the Father, but also gives us access to his mercy. And we have to approach the throne of mercy

before we approach the throne of his might. And this is the last thing. There was another Navy SEAL. He's retired now. And he was writing about Memorial Day a couple years ago. And his words just struck me. He said, this man, this soldier, that we're memorializing tomorrow.

This man, he went there for all of us, wherever he went. He went there for all of us, whether you loved or hated what he stood for. He went there to preserve the opportunity and the privilege to believe, to be, and to become what we want. He says, this country,

every single person living inside of its borders and under the banner of its flag, owes that man. We owe that man everything. We owe that man the respect that his sacrifice deserves saying thank you is not enough. We can say that about all those soldiers who have given everything for us. We say that even more powerfully about Jesus Christ,

our Lord, our God, who has given everything for us. Because again, our country, while it is good, and those who have sacrificed everything, while they are good, not perfect. But Jesus, the only perfect one, the only perfect one, the only good one, the only holy one, gave everything for you and for me. He goes on to say, saying thank you is not enough.

If you want to respect and honor their sacrifice, it needs to be more than words. You have to live it. And the same is true for this memorial of the ascension, that we can recognize the gift that Jesus has done for us, his sacrifice that he's given to us, his ascension where he continues to offer himself, he continues to offer himself for us.

Saying thank you is not enough. We have to live it. So here is Jesus who has made the Father's heart completely accessible. Jesus who has made mercy completely accessible. Jesus who has made this new life completely accessible. Saying thank you is not enough. The question remains. What are we going to do with it?