Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 06/27/21 Everyday Courage: Plan B

Episode Date: June 28, 2021

Homily from the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Love requires risk. Risk requires courage. Many of us make plans. And many of those plans don’t end up working out the way that we had expected. Fortunately, God calls us to be courageous even when things don’t work out as we had expected. Mass Readings from June 27, 2021: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Psalms 30:2, 4-6, 11, 12, 132 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mark 5:21-43

So I'm sure that everyone here knows people who are planners. Maybe actually you are a person who is a planner. Basically, those people who are planners, they figured out what you wanted. If you're a planner, you figure out what you wanted and you have a way to get it. That's called having a plan. You know what you want. You have a goal and you have a way to get to that goal. You have a plan.

So I was thinking about this because last weekend we had grandmas up in Duluth and thousands of people come to Duluth with a goal and with a plan. They're like whether that goal is a goal time or just I want to finish the race. But here's the plan. I'm going to run at this pace. I'm going to hydrate like this. I'm going to refuel myself like this. There's a goal.

There's a plan. In fact, there are people who come to, I work at UMD, right? So I'm a chaplain there for the last, I don't know, a thousand years. And students will arrive. A lot of times will arrive with a goal. Like, I want to be done in three years. I'm going to get here, get done, get out. Three years, they have a goal.

They have a plan. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Even at times, I don't know if you ever shown up to a party with some friends and you have a plan. Like, if this party isn't fun, here's how. how we're going to leave. This is the plan. If it's lame, this is our exit strategy. Sometimes that's the plan. Again, back to students. I sometimes have students who, their plan, their goal is, I'm going to meet the love of my life the first weekend of freshman year.

Like, okay, good luck. And sometimes the plan, the plan is, okay, I'm going to meet that person. We're going to fall in love. We're going to get married. We're going to move to whatever town I've dreamt of. We're going to have kids. We're going to grow old. We're going to have grandkids. I'm going to wear purple and be eccentric, and then that's life. Bam, done. It's a good plan. But what about when those plans don't work out? What about like, here's the marathon and there's bad weather,

or your digestive system's giving you issues, or you're off your pace? What happens? What happens when the three-year college plan turns into the six-year college plan, which I've seen so many times? What happens when, good things even? What happens when you go to the party? You're like, actually, this is awesome.

We're staying. Like, change a plan. What happens when there is no one? What happens when you don't meet anyone? What happens when you meet someone and you get married? And the plan was to have children, and that's not happening. What happens when that person walks away or that person is taken away? We look at it and it's like, this isn't what I expected.

Like, this wasn't part of the plan. Like the whole thing, all those things, that was Plan A. Plan A was all these good things. Plan A was, I'm going to accomplish this goal. Plan A was this thing. And the question, when that doesn't happen, when what we expected doesn't happen, the big question comes up, is there a plan B? Is there such a thing as a plan B? When Plan A doesn't work out, is there such a thing as plan B?

And the answer, of course, is yes. I mean, we're living it. You and I. The whole history of humanity is a story of plan B. We realize this, right? ever since Genesis chapter 3, the whole history of humanity, the whole story of all of our lives is this is actually not Plan A. This is Plan B. Plan A is in chapters 1 and two of Genesis, right? Plan A is, here's God who looked at this world. God, no, no, just rewind. God made this world,

and He made it good. The God made you in his image and likeness, and he made you good, and he made you whole. Here's the thing. Plan A of God is he made you and I like him in what's God's deepest identity? God's deepest identity, he is love, and therefore plan A is you're made for love. Plan A of God is that you're made, what I mean by that is you're meant to be a gift. Your life is supposed to be a gift. In other ways you can say it like this is the definition of love is to will the good of the other, which essentially is God's plan, plan A, is that you spend your life as a gift. We even heard it in the first reading today, right?

Book of Wisdom. It says very clearly, God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living, but God made all things that they might have life, right? God made everything to have life to be good, to be whole for love. And all of that was before the world broke. That was plan A. And then the world broke. That was plan A and then we broke.

And so what we're living in right now, we're living in plan B. Here's a crazy thing, though, even though we're in plan B, you're still made for love. Even though this is plan B, you are still meant to be a gift. That's what the point of life is. But the problem is, from now on, from now on, love involves risk. In a plan B world, from now on, love involves risk. And to be a gift is to risk.

For the last couple weeks, whenever I show up anywhere on a Sunday, I've been talking about the book of Tobit. I don't know if you've ever read the book of Tobit. It's in the Old Testament. It's about a guy named Tobit, which is really handy if you want to remember, what's the book of Tobit about?

about a guy named Tobit. So Tobit's story is like this. Tobit is living in the Northra of Israel. He's a Jewish man from the tribe of Naftali. Now, a little backstory. You probably know this. The kingdom of Israel was made up of 12 tribes, right? That sounds familiar? Just, yeah, father, whatever, Sunday school. So, and under King David, who was a good king. And then it was King Solomon, his son, who was not as good a king. And then under him was King Reauboam, who was like a poopy king. He was horrible. And under Rehoboam, the kingdom splits into two. With Rehoboam in the south, just two kingdoms, or two tribes. And, dear Jeroboam in the north. Now Jeroboam was kind of a jerk. That's how you remember his name.

Jeroboam the jerk. Jerobam the jerk up in the north where Tobit was living north of the sea of Galilee. He didn't want people leaving the northern kingdom to go to the southern kingdom to worship because that's where you'd worship. If you were Jewish, you worshipped in the temple in Jerusalem. So Jerobam, the jerk, sets up these false places of worship. But Tobit, he's like, I might be living in this northern kingdom, but I know where I belong to worship. I know I'm living in this northern kingdom, but I know where I'm supposed to worship God. So every year, three times a year, he would, Tobit would take his wife and his son Tobias, and they would march down to Jerusalem and worship God regularly, realizing Tobit was saying,

just because I can't do everything doesn't mean I can't do anything. And even though all the people around me are not worshipping the way that were called to worship, even though my family members and my friends, my neighbors are not doing this, I can still do this. Then things get worse. That this king now named Shaman Nassar from Assyria, there's not going to be a test, don't worry about it. But Shamanassar, he comes down from the north and he destroys those 10 northern tribes. And he brings Tobit and his wife and Tobias into exile to a place called Nineveh, which I know you've heard of because of Jonah, right? So here is Tobit and his wife and

Tobias, and they're in exile in Nineveh. And now we can't go to Jerusalem. But one of Tobits' thing is, just because I can't do everything, it doesn't mean I can't do anything. And so even though I'm living in exile, he's going to keep kosher. He knows he's going to keep the Jewish laws. So basically no Sundays with bacon. So sad, but he's going to do it out of love for God. He also knows there's poor people in Ninevehava so I can take care of the the poor. He's also, the people dying all over the place, so I'm going to do this act of mercy of burying the dead. And even though Tobit is doing all the good things, what happens is Shamanassar, the king, he hears that Tobit's doing all this stuff and he basically tries

to kill him for doing the right thing. Long story short, he dies, not Tobit, but Shamanasar, and the next king comes along and Tobit's like, I'm going back home and I'm going to celebrate the fact that I didn't get killed by the king and he sits down to eat and he hears someone says, hey, Tobit, someone else died. And Tobit's like, I'm not even eat my food. I'm going to go do the good thing. He goes and does the good thing. Then he comes back and eats. That night it says he goes, falls asleep. It was hot so he didn't cover his face, which is something you might not do if it's hot. And because of this, a bird poops in his eyes. This is the Bible. This is the Bible. Bird poops in his eyes and he goes blind. You imagine Tobit. His life is like, I keep trying to do the

right thing. Plan A, I'm going to follow the Lord and I keep getting sidetracked again and again and again. And after four years of this blindness, four years of this trying, he actually finally gets to the point where he says, God, just let me die. because this is not what I expected. God just take me out because this is not what I expected. It's not what I hope for. It's not what I long for. This is not what I think you promised me.

So just let me die. Now the book of Tobin at the same time says, meanwhile, in a city a couple days' journey away, there's this girl, her name is Sarah. In Sarah's life, you know, at one point Sarah gets engaged, right? She gets engaged, you get married. And they kind of jump over to the story, but you can imagine her, Sarah like any other.

young woman getting ready to get married. Here's this man. She's going to marry him. All the preparations like, okay, we're going to come together. Here's the celebration. Your family and my family are coming together. This whole thing. They go through all the preparations. She's so excited for her wedding day. They get married. And then scripture says that before they actually consummated the relationship, there was this demon named Asmodius who slipped into the bedchamber. And before they could consummate their relationship, this demon kills her first husband. And you can imagine. Again, this is what's planning. This is not what Sarah expected. This is not what her father. Her father's name was Raguel. Again, no test, but just, her father, not what he expected. Her mother, not what she

expected. Sarah, you can imagine, here's the plan. Here's plan A. This is the rest of my life. I'm marrying this man, and we're going to have a family, and we're going to grow old age together. And all of a sudden, now, on our wedding night, he's dead. And so imagine she recovers at some point. She mourns, she grieves his loss. And then she tries again. There's another man who comes and says, I will marry you. And she says, great, I'll marry you. And they plan the wedding again. And the whole festivities, and they plan all the celebration. They plan on life together and what happens? But they get married and that night before they consummate their relationship,

the same demon as Modius, he kills the second husband. And you guys, this happens seven times. You can imagine this Sarah, with every new wedding, she's less and less excited and she's more and more afraid. Because why? Because this was the plan and it is not working out like I expected. this is not how I thought it should happen, and she is absolutely crushed.

You can imagine that she's a little bit like the father in the gospel today. This dad of this 12-year-old girl, who like any parent, you see your child, not just sick, you see your child mortally sick, right? You see your child dying in front of your eyes, and even looking at his own daughter saying, like, this is not the plan. Like, this isn't supposed to happen.

This is not what I expected. or even that woman who in the gospel was sick for 12 years, it's hemorrhageous, and what does it say? It says that she spent everything she had on doctors, but they didn't help her, they only made her worse. She could look at her life and say, this is not what I expected. Like, this is not the plan.

She's crushed. But you can imagine something too. You can notice this. Every single one of these people, Sarah and this father and this woman, every one of them has something in common. Because at one point, Tobit sends his son Tobias to the town that Sarah lives in, and they meet. And Tobias is like, yeah, you're the one. And Sarah's like, I got some news for you.

Here's something you need to know about me before you marry me. And he says, okay, I'm willing to risk it. This is what they have in common. Every one of these people in these stories today, every one of them has this in common. They know the risk, and they're willing to take the risk. They know the risk. They know what's going to cost. They know what it could cost, and they're willing to take that cost.

and they're willing to take that cost. I mean, here's the father. Again, he's willing to risk it. He's willing to go up to Jesus and say, if you can, please come to my home and heal my daughter. You have this woman with the hemorrhage. What does she do willing to do? For healing, she's willing to risk it.

She's willing to say, if I just reach out and touch the hem of the cloak, she's willing to risk. Now, here's an incredible part. It's important for us to note, no one of these people, none of them were naive. None of them were naive. Every one of them knew that Plan A did not work. Every one of them knew that they might risk and it still might not work.

None of them were naive. In fact, there's this author. He's a speaker and a teacher who I just really respect. He talked about being naive. And he said this, he said, most people who trust, most people who are quick to trust, most people who trust are naive. They trust because they're innocent. They trust because they don't think anyone will hurt them. Most people trust because they're naive.

And he said, being naive is not a virtue. because if you're naive in this world, you meet someone who's malevolent, they will do you irreparable harm. If you're innocent, if you're naive, walking through this world, you meet someone who's malevolent, they will do you irreparable harm. And so you got burned.

And he says the opposite is becoming cynical, right, not trusting anybody because you've been burned. Those are only two options, right, to be naive or to be cynical. He says, we can't live like that. We can't actually, we're not meant to live like that. He says, so what do we do? What do you do when you're surrounded? by people in a plan B world we're surrounded by people who actually shouldn't be trusted.

Why do you trust them? How do you trust them? He says this. He says, you trust them because you're courageous. You trust them, not because they're good. You trust them, not because you're naive. You trust them because you're courageous. For the last couple weeks, we've been talking about courage.

One of the definitions of courage that I really love is by, again, C.S. Lewis, he defines courage like this. He says, courage is any of the very. virtues at the moment they're needed the most. Courage is any of the virtues in their moment of testing. Because we know the truth, right? It's easy to be good when being good is easy. It's easy to be honest when being honest is easy.

It's easy to be faithful when being faithful is easy. But it takes courage to be honest when honesty is going to cost you. It takes courage to be faithful when faithfulness is going to cost you. It takes courage to risk when you know that here is the risk. It takes courage when you know it needs to be done and you're willing to try again. You know what needs to be done and you're willing to try again. That's why Tobias and Sarah are such an incredible image example.

They're not naive. They know the risk. In fact, they know the risk so fully that remember Raguel, who is Sarah's father? After Tobias and Sarah go through the wedding ceremony and they go into the wedding chamber, the scripture says that Raguel, Sarah's dad, is outside burying, or digging Tobias. this grave. She's like, I know what happens. This is the deal. Seven times already. They get married. Then they die. I'm getting ahead of the curb right now. This is where they came up with that song, another one bites the dust. That's where this comes from. This comes from the Book of Tobit.

They're not naive. You have to be courageous. They had to be courageous. And there's the point for us, is that if you and I are going to live in this world, this plan B world, we're going to have to be courageous too. Because we're not living in plan A. You're still, you and I are still made for love, but every time we love, we have to be willing to risk. I think it's one of the reasons why St. Paul in the second reading today, he points out, he says, you guys, this is Jesus. This is God himself who is invulnerable. Here's God himself, who could not possibly be hurt. What does he do? He empties himself and makes himself woundable. And he gives, he enters into a plan B world knowing, knowing that the moment he makes himself weak,

the moment he makes himself woundable, we're going to wound him. Here's God himself, who is so courageous, but it's so full of love that he is willing to empty himself on the chance that you and I might be willing to let that love change our lives. And that's why St. Paul goes on to say,

like, here's the deal. That's how we have to be too. To make ourselves woundable, to actually make ourselves to risk, love even though we know that we will be risking love on people who don't deserve it. We know we're risking love on people who actually will fail us. And that's why I love, in the book of Tobit, this second and the last reference, Tobias has a prayer that he and Sarah pray on their wedding night.

And it's one of the readings that so many of our students, they choose it when they get married as their first reading. And it's because it says, on their wedding night, Tobias arose from bed and he said to his wife, Sarah, He said, Sister, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance. So Sarah gets up, and they both pray and beg that deliverance might be theirs. And here's how they pray. They said, it's not by praising God.

They say, blessed are you, God of our fathers. Praise be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens in all your creation praise you forever. You made Adam, gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support. And from these two, the human race descended. And you said, it is not good for man to be alone. Let us make a partner for himself, like himself. And here's Tobias says, like just his heart.

And he says, now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine. not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. So call down your mercy upon me and on her and allow us to live together to a happy old age, and they both of them said, amen, amen. John Paul II looks at this and he says, Tobias and Sarah have something unique that most married couples don't have.

Because in the very first moment of their married life, they have to face the test of life and death. I don't know how many of you are married who on your wedding night were like, yeah, This is the battle right, God, you right now? This is the battle between good and evil, our marriage. This is the battle over for worse, or in sickness or in poorer. In fact, I do so much, when I do marriage prep with couples,

one of the things I want to highlight with them is the fact that, okay, here's your vows, let's go over them together. Let's, like, reflect on them. And I'm afraid that a lot of times when a lot of couples reflect on their wedding vows, they emphasize the better, richer, health. Those other things are fine too, but our life is going to be defined by better and richer and health. Yes, of course, Father, we know we're real, we know the other things really exist, but they're going to be so small. And what I invite them to do is, let's stop.

Let's reflect on worse. Like how much worse? Before you get married, before you risk everything, how much worse can it get? Reflect on poorer. Like, how poor are we talking? reflect on in sickness because this is how it's going to go at some point one of you will end up probably taking care of the other one to their moment of death so what does that look like and I invite them to like way up here's this is what you're risking and that has to happen for every single

one of us even if you're already even if you're already married you're never going to get married this is what risk looks like. It's one of the reasons why one of the exercises we do is after we talk about risk, after we talk about the fact that let's reflect on worse, how bad it can get, let's reflect on poor or how poor it can get. Let's reflect on sickness how sick it can get. As I say, you could look at each other. I'm not going to look at you.

I cover my eyes. It's a whole thing. I'm like, just look at each other so they can get, you know, into it. Not wondering, why is the priest staring at us as we're staring at each other. He's creepy, that's why. So I say, think about this. Look at the person right now and realize this. The person you're looking at right now trusts you enough

that they're willing to risk the rest of their life for the chance to marry you. Just reflect on the fact that the person looking at you right now, they love you enough that they're willing to risk the rest of their life for the chance to be your spouse. Because this person, they know you're going to fail them. And you know they're going to fail you. Imagine that the person looking at you right now,

even though they know your wounds, they know your weakness, they know all these things about you, and yet they're still willing to trust you enough that they're willing to risk the rest of their life for the chance to love you because we're living in a plan B world. And love will always take risk. To be a gift will always take a risk. That means to love will always take courage. And this is the last thing. Love will always take courage. That's the risk of love. Even when it's not the plan, even when it's not what we expected, even when life is not written in a straight line. So Sarah, dad the next morning when he wakes up and he realizes, I still have a son-in-law. He just bursts into prayer. He wakes up and realizes, wait a second, not only do I have my son-in-law, my daughter, because he

grieved. You can imagine how much Raguel grieved over his daughter's heartbreak. Regul bursts into prayer, and he first, he praises God, kind of like Tobias and Sarah did. But then he says these words, and just they strike me so powerfully, he says, blessed are you, God, because you made me glad. It is not happened to me as I had expected. He just like sit with those words for a second. But God, you made me glad, but it does not happen to me as I had expected. But you've treated me according to your great mercy. How much of our lives is that exact thing?

God, this life is not happened as I expected. God, this life, it's not what I planned. But you've shown me your mercy. Because the truth of matter is, of course, is that living in a plan B world, we will be disappointed. That our gift of self will be either ignored by people, it be dismissed by, it might even be abused by people. So what do we do? We're going to risk like Jesus. In the plan B world, what are we going to do? We're going to love like Jesus. And we're going to do it because he is courageous. And you and I are going to do it because we are courageous. Because in a plan B

we need to be more than we are. In a plan B world, we need to be like him.