Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 06/12/22 We Need Each Other

Episode Date: June 13, 2022

Homily from The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is not good for the person to be alone. The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity reminds us of the innermost secret of God: He is Love. It also reveals the innermost secret of humans made in God's image and likeness: we are made for love. Mass Readings from June 12, 2022: Proverbs 8:22-31 Psalms 8:4-9Romans 5:1-5 John 16:12-15

So back in 1787, there's this group of people in Pennsylvania who, they had a big question. The big question was, what do we do with criminals? Because one of the things that happened is that when there were violent criminals back in that time in the United States, if there were violent criminals, they were often just punished. They were either whipped or they were hanged. And this group of people were religious, they were Quakers. And they tried to find a more humane way than just punishment.

They wanted to find a better way to deal with criminals. They wanted to find a way that were criminals weren't just. punished, they were rehabilitated. And so they had the solution they proposed. And the solution was, never heard it before. I mean, I guess you might have thought of it, but they implemented this idea of solitary confinement, which really hadn't been ever tried before. There's a man who's a clinical psychologist who specializes in the effects of solitary confinement, his name Stuart Grashon. He said this. He described it. He said, why did they do this? He said, there was a belief that you could put a person in a solitary cell far from the influences of evil society, and they'd become like

a monk in a monastic cell, that they'd be free to come close to God and come close to themselves, and that because of that, they'd naturally heal from all the evils of outside society, which, again, great idea. Give some solitude. No bad influences. You just get to find God and find yourself. And he goes on to say, it was a noble experiment that was an absolute catastrophe. Because almost immediately they found out that isolation didn't free people.

It crushed them. that these criminals who were placed in isolation, they were almost immediately damaged physically. They were damaged mentally. And sometimes that damage was completely irreparable. In fact, only 40 years after this, Alexis de Tolkville, who came from France, right, to study the Great American Experiment. He saw this experiment in solitary confinement,

and he reported on it, his words were he said, nowhere was this system of imprisonment crowned with the hoped for success. It says in general, it was ruinous to the public treasury, like cost a lot. It never also affected the reformation of prisoners going on to say, in order to reform them, they had been submitted to complete isolation, but this absolute solitude, if nothing interrupts it, is beyond the strength of man.

It destroys the criminal without intermission and without pity. It does not reform. It kills. And there's even a case I read of a man named James Medley back in the day, same time period, who had been found guilty of killing his own wife and sentenced to death. But before he was on the gallows, they also sentenced him to 45 days of solitary confinement. And those 45 days so broke this human being that his case was sent to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court basically, essentially kind of in other

words, found that he had already paid his debt. In fact, he was so thoroughly destroyed as a human being, that he was released and he went through no further punishment. That 45 days, essentially, according to the courts, 45 days of solitary confinement was worse than putting him to death. It turns out that isolation, especially forced isolation, is more deadly than smoking. Isolation is more deadly than cancer, more deadly than heart disease, it's more deadly than obesity. And there's a bunch of studies on this.

Some people want to say that, they could say, well, are there any studies? And it reminds me of like a post I saw a couple years back. It talked about how in nutrition, it was a nutrition post, and it said how a human being can live off of nothing more than a potato or potatoes and like some milk every day. And they live for their entire lives off of that. And after that post, someone said, do you have any sources or any studies you can cite? And so responded under that with two words,

um, Ireland? And I was like, yes, that's exactly it. It's this, that's what happens. So I can make the case. Isolation is worse than obesity and worse than cancer and worse than smoking, worse than heart disease. You say, are there any studies? Well, A, yes, there are studies, but we can just look and say two words, COVID.

Because we know that the cost of COVID wasn't just the virus, right? The cost, we got to experience what forced isolation and some small dose can do and what it can do to all of us. And we spent much of the last two years in isolation. And again, my bringing this up is not to be a critique of, isolation or not isolation, it's, because I always ask the question, what would I have done? And the question is, the answer is, don't know. I have no idea what I would have done if I was in charge. I bring it up merely to highlight something that having lived through isolation,

we cannot afford to forget. And hopefully, in living through isolation, most of us, almost all of us, we learn something that we can never actually afford to forget. And what we can never afford to forget is this, we need each other. In fact, I remember reading about this in an article years ago. Maybe it was 2019. It was about the epidemic of loneliness in the lives of middle-aged men. It was this article that was documenting the epidemic of friendlessness among middle-aged men in America. And even guys who, like, they have coworkers, they have buddies, they have even family, but they were interiorly devastating. by a lack of closeness, by a lack of friendship, by an abundance of loneliness.

And that was only in 2019. It turns out we actually had read about this all along. That roughly 4,000 years ago or so, we read this, that there's this book. And in the first book, in the first chapters of the first book of the Bible, what's it say? It says, the verse chapter says that here's God who says, let's make man in our image, in our image and likeness. So you can pause on that for a second. what's that mean? What's that look like? Doesn't mean that God looks like us. To be made in God's image and likeness means that here's God who can think,

he made us to be able to think. We have an intellect. Here's God who can will, he can choose. He gave us the ability to choose freely. Here's God who creates and he made us with the ability to create. So here we are made in God's image and likeness. But then that's Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter two, God then says this phrase that is so powerful and so necessary for us to understand. he says, it is not good for the man to be alone. If we think about this, here's Adam. He's in the Garden of Eden. It's not good for the man to be alone.

Realized that God is saying this about Adam before the fall, which means Adam was alone, but he wasn't lonely. I mean, think about this. Adam had everything he possibly needed. He had work. He had downtime. He had purpose. He had a dog.

Well, he's going to get a dog later on. But we realized that here is God who made Adam with an intellect. Well, he was, his intellect, his intellect was challenged. Here's God who made Adam with a will. Well, he had to do meaningful and purposeful work. Here's God who made Adam to be able to create. And what did he do, he got to be able to in this garden and was able to cultivate and care for the garden.

Adam was perfectly content in himself. Adam seemed like he lacked nothing. Adam is not lonely. So question, what is he missing? The answer is in today's solemnity. The answer is in the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. As I mentioned at the beginning of mass, the catechism says, the catechism says, the mystery of the most holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life.

Basically every other mystery, every doctrine that we have flows from this mystery today that God is one God and three divine persons. Because why? Because the mystery of the Holy Trinity is the mystery of who and what God is in himself. Now, virtually every other mystery, every other doctrine we have is who God is for us or what God has done for us. Those are all good. Those are all super important. But today's solemnity, today's mystery we highlight and just steep in is all about who and what God is in himself. You know, when we talk about it, I mean, we actually say it every Sunday, right, in the creed.

What do we say? We say, I believe in one God. So we know that God is one. You ever talk to non-Christians, especially Muslims? One of their critiques, one of the, one of their misunderstandings of Christianity is they think, well, you believe in multiple gods. No, the answer is this. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, creative heaven and earth, goes on to say, and in Jesus Christ's only Son our Lord, who's also what? God from God, light from light, true God from true God. So here's the Father, here's the Son, who are co-equal, co-eternal,

not the same in person, but the same in substance. That's why we say, consubstantial with the Father. I mean, and then the Holy Spirit, who's also fully God. So one way to kind of explain this is, here's the Father, who is God, Here's the son who is God. Here is the Holy Spirit who is God. But the Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Now, I realize you might have a headache. And in fact, the last week I came across multiple people who used the phrase word salad. And I thought, that is appropriate. Because word salad was they were going on explaining some technical things. And they said, I'm afraid that I'm just offering a word salad. Which means I understand that the language you're speaking right now is English. And I should be able to understand it.

But it's just a jumble. To be able to say that here is God who's one divine being, but three divine persons, again, gives us a headache, which if that's the case, you're not alone. Back in the fourth century, there was Augustine. He was a non-Christian who became a Catholic. And at one point, he was the bishop of Hippo and the coast of North Africa.

And he was trying to figure out, trying to dive deeply into the mystery of the Trinity. And he was pondering, how is it possible that God is one divine? divine being in three divine persons. And so he took a break, which is always a good idea. Whenever here overwhelmed, he went for a walk. And he went for a walk on the beach, right, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. And the story goes that as he's walking along the beach, he sees this boy. And this boy has like a bowl of some kind. And he's dug a hole in the

sand. And he goes over to the Mediterranean Sea and he fills it up with water and rushes over to his bowl or to the hole. And he pours the water into the hole. Goes back to the sea, fills it up, pours the water into the hole. And Augustine just kind of taking it in, watches him for a while. And finally, he says, what are you trying, what are you doing? And the boy says, well, I'm emptying the sea into this hole that I dug. And Augustine kind of like like any cantankerous old bishop, he laughs and says, you know, a silly rabbit. He says, silly kid, you couldn't possibly empty this entire sea into this small hole that you've dug. And apparently the story goes that at that moment, the boy stopped and looked at Augustine.

And he said, and neither could you possibly hope to fit the infinite an unfathomable God into your finite and limited mind. And when that disappeared. And so one of those kind of things is like, okay, so here's the mystery of the Trinity. How do we understand it? One divine being, three divine persons. One way is just by being able to say,

God is one what and three whos, that the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, are co-equal, they're co-eternal, they're unmixed, but they're distinct. You know, there's even hints of this reality in the first book, in the first chapter, the first line of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. The first line of the whole Bible says, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, so here's God the Father, then it says that a mighty wind swept over the waters. Here's the Holy Spirit.

And then God spoke and said that there be light, and there's the Word. Right, so you have the Father, who's the Creator. You have the Holy Spirit, that wind, and you have the Son, who's the Word spoken. So even hints, even in the first line of the first book of the entire Bible, are that God is more mysterious and more deep than we ever could possibly imagine. But it's not, no one could ever say, well, that's the Trinity right there, until Jesus. Because yes, you could talk about the Father as an analogy at some point, but Jesus reveals that he is fully God.

In fact, John in his gospel, the opening words of John's gospel, are an echo of the first words of Genesis, where John says, in the beginning, just like Genesis says, but he says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, so distinct, and the word was God, so equal. And later on says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

That Jesus reveals something we never knew about God. Jesus reveals that he was the son from all eternity, which means that God the Father was the Father from all eternity, which means the Holy Spirit, the love between them. has been the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit from all eternity. And it's so powerful. I love this. The Catechism, as one of my favorite phrases, the Catechism says that Jesus reveals the innermost secret of God. And whenever I bring that up, I always say, like, wouldn't you want to know the most secret of God?

Because it's a big deal. And the Catechism then says that God himself is an eternal exchange of love. Which at first when I heard it, I'm like, want, want, like everyone knows that, right? Because if there's anything people know, even not religious people, not even Christians, they say, no, one thing I know about God is God is love. Here's the crazy thing. We can't know that without Jesus. Why? Because we're not saying God does love or God loves.

We're saying God is love. And if God is monolithic, right? If God is just one divine being and one divine person, he couldn't be love. Love could be something he did. But only if God is a communion of persons. One divine being, one what? And three whose.

Can he be actually love? You can't say God is love without simultaneously acknowledging that Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is fully God as well. So, in the Trinity, God is love. And in whose image and likeness have you been made? Here's Adam in Genesis chapter 2. He's content in himself. And yet he's not able to be himself. So what does God do?

God puts the man into a deep sleep, opens up his side, takes out the rib, and forms it into a woman. Now here's the incredible thing. When God put Adam into a deep sleep, that word in Greek is the word ecstasis. The word ecstasy. And what the word ecstasis means is it means to be taken out of yourself. So here is Adam.

He's contenting himself. But God's like, yeah, but you're not meant to be contented himself. Why? Because you're made in my image and likeness. But what am I? God himself is love, which means that the innermost secret of man, is also to be love, to be taken out of himself,

because the reality for you and for me is that you're made for love. You're made to go out of yourself. You're made to be a gift. In fact, you're made to be love. Jump up a second. He said it like this. He said, man cannot live without love.

Without love, he remains being incomprehensible to himself. His life remains senseless unless he encounters love, unless he receives love, and unless he makes a gift of himself in love. And I'm not just talking about romantic love. Any way to go out of yourself, Any way to be a gift, any way to be a love, to be love matters. In fact, I wasn't sure if I was going to share this, but I'm going to share this.

Okay, so recently I heard a commencement speech from a man that I respect and admire a lot. He's a clinical psychologist out of Canada, who also is an author and a speaker. And he was giving this commencement address. And in the course of his commencement address, he started talking about one of his former patients. And he described her in some of the most painstaking ways. He said this woman had suffered a lot her entire life. He said that she dressed like a lot. homeless person. She had this baggy, oversized, dirty winter coat. And she was very short.

And he said she was, just describing her, he said she was very unattractive. Very few people wanted to talk with her. When she approached people, she'd like shield her eyes as if they were giving off some kind of light because she was just so, so meek and so timid. He said she was also very objectively unintelligent. She was in the low 10%, the lowest 10% of when it comes to intelligence could barely read, could barely function. She had a known pain of her life. Her mom was critically ill. Her stepfather was an abusive and violent, alcoholic, schizophrenic.

And she had been a patient and inpatient at this hospital where he worked. He described the hospital in these terms, he said, it was during that time of institutionalization in North America where the people that were left in the institutions were among, as he described, the most miserable of the most miserable. People who couldn't function outside in the real world. He said he once took his brother through this hospital, and his brother described it like one of the circles of Dante's hell.

He said his brother was traumatized. He had no exposure to this. He had no familiarity with this. It was so broken, so bad. This woman had been an inpatient there. And then she was out. She got out. And at one point, she got a little dog.

And she started taking care of this dog and going for walks with it. And she approached the administration of this hospital because she wanted to know if they had anyone who was worse off than her that she could just meet up with and just take them for a walk every day with her dog. You think, here's someone who has nothing to offer. Like, I mean, no status, he says, she has no influence, she has no intention, she has nothing to give. But her goal, I just want to find someone who has less than me.

I don't want to serve them. I want to find someone that's less than me. I want to give. I want to find someone who has less than me. I just want to be love for them. Because this is the last thing. We need each other. The Trinity reveals the innermost secret of God.

He is love. But the Trinity also reveals the innermost secret of you and of me and that we're made for love. That we need each other. and we need each other not just to keep us sane and healthy, but we actually need each other to be ourselves. We need each other to be able to be who we're created to be, to be a gift, to be loved to each other.

So the question this week is this, where will I be the person I've been created to be today? Like where will I be a gift? Where am I going to pour out my time? Where am I going to pour out my energy? Where are you going to pour out your attention? Where will you meet a person? in their isolation and their loneliness.

Be a gift for them. Where will you find someone in their desperation who needs love? And where will you be love?