Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 07/11/21 Chosen and Consecrated

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

Homily from the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. You are wanted and set apart. You are special. We’ve heard that for so much of our lives that we’ve either grown numb to it or no longer believe it. But what if it is true? Mass Readings from July 11, 2021: Amos 7:12-15 Psalms 85:9-14Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:7-13

So years ago, I think I was in seminary, I heard of a man who just his life, it's pretty remarkable. He's a pretty special guy. His name was Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Tuan. And he began my cardinal at one point. In fact, he was a Vietnamese Catholic. And at the age of 40, the Pope made him a bishop, which I just is bonkers. It's just for me. That's just crazy that someone would become a bishop at the age of 40.

and he was served as a bishop, both in the small diocese and then in Saigon for eight years. And after eight years, and he was 48 years old, the Communist Party arrested him and, like, stripped everything away. He spent the next 13 years in prison. Nine of those years, he spent in solitary confinement and a place where he later on testified that he... He just, was it so desperate that he said he almost went insane, almost went insane. The only thing that held him tethered to this world, tethered to reality, was that he could call on the name of Jesus and he could offer mass in his cell.

In fact, how he offered mass in his cell, he'd have three drops of wine in one palm of his hand with one drop of water and then a crumb of unconsecrated bread that he would offer up mass from memory. He's just incredible. And he's, I guess we'll say this. He's a pretty special guy. He's clearly special.

Carl Levantuan clearly special. And I want to say this too, and this is going to sound so corny, but it's true. Cornel of Antoine is special. But you are special. Again, that sounds corny because when you say it out loud, it's one of the reasons why we don't usually say it out loud. We don't usually say, hey, you're special.

We usually put it into a movie or into a TV show, we put into books. In fact, I would say that if I were to say, hey, you're special, you'd be like, yeah, tell me something I don't know. Because honestly, if we drill it down, we realize that virtually every kid's TV show, every kid's movie, every kid's book, has that as the point. The point of the entire book, the point of the entire movie, the point of the point of the the entire series is this message, you are special. And so again, I can say that and you'd be like, duh, move on, preacher, let's go to the

next thing. And I'd say, okay, yeah, it's a duh moment. But here's the question. You've heard it. Maybe you've heard it your whole life. Do you believe it? Like you've known it. But do you believe it?

Do you believe that this is true, this claim that you've known that you know. you are special, that you're wanted. Ultimately, this claim, this claim that you're chosen because, I mean, as a kid, yeah, sometimes as a kid, it's easier to believe, right? It's before you messed up, before your life went into the tank. It's before we started making big decisions and then making big bad decisions.

And we can say, yeah, I get it. Like, I'm lovable and I'm wanted. And yeah, I'm chosen. Sure, I'm special. But then we grow up and we start wondering, is that true? Or am I disqualified? Here's the thing.

In the second reading today, writing to the Ephesians, here's St. Paul, writing to adults. And today, in Mass, what God wants to do is he wants to speak to you, and he's saying this thing to them that maybe they have never heard in their entire lives. And so we need to hear it like them. We need to hear it that not young you, not little you, not innocent you, but you, you, you, he says, you are chosen.

In fact, he says we, because he clues himself, this murderer, a former person who conspired to kill St. Stephen, we were chosen. He says, this is so incredible, that God knows all your stuff. Like, he knows the whole story. He knows all of your history. And still, he chose you because he wants you. And now, this is just one of those things that I think so easy to just brush past,

that God wants you. And I know if you ever take it seriously, we can ask the question. We can bring up the objection. And the objection is, well, why me? I think there's two ways to ask the question, why me? sometimes it's when we're in a really negative spot, really awful spot, and we're just like, oh gosh, Lord, why me? That's for another time.

But the other time we ask, other way we ask, why me, is when something positive happens, when someone's offering us something incredible, and we're like, wait, wait, wait, why me? We hesitate, and we always are tempted to disqualify ourselves. And so here is this, God's declaration to you on this day, this Sunday, saying, listen, I chose you, I want you. And sometimes we can just have that skepticism,

that hesitance and say, why me? In fact, I remember in this very chapel, there was one of young women part of this community. She was really wrestling with us. I mean, not just wrestling kind of like, oh, that's weird, but like wrestling to the point of, she came to this chapel and she said, Lord, why do you love me? And she's one of these things, I never recommend this,

but she did it and she didn't ask my permission, so whatever. She said, I'm not leaving until you answer. And so she stayed in here for quite a while. I think she said she was in here praying for two hours, with that question of God, why? Why do you love me? She said, eventually, she got this message back that came and surfaced in her prayer. And the answer was, because I do, which is less than satisfying. And so she had the next follow-up question, which is, but why?

But, okay, why do you love me? Because I do. But why? And she stayed there for another hour, hour and a half. And again, the answer resurfaced. Again, here's the Lord declaring. He says, because I want to. Here's the question, God, why do you choose me? Why do you want me? Why do you love me? Because I do. Why then?

Because I want to. Then here's the reality. In freedom, God knows you. And he loves you and he chooses you because he wants you. In fact, that's what St. Paul says. Here's a quote, Ephesians chapter 1. He says, in love, he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ in accord with the favor of His will.

That, in accord with the favor of his will, what that means is because he wants. wants to. That's it. Not because we're awesome, not because you're amazing, but because he is. In fact, there's a scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 7 where the people of Israel are chosen. And God says, here's the, you need to know this. You need to know why Moses is saying this. You need to know why God has chosen you. And he says, God did not set his love on you because you were greater than any other nations. God did not set his love on you because you were greater than any other peoples, but you were the least.

That God loves us in our smallness. God loves us, you know, again, Colonel Twan, Van Tuan, super special, super gifted, really skilled. Chosen. Here's Israel, the least. And chosen. Here's someone like me and maybe someone like you. Just a mess. And chosen.

And that's the reality, right? is that we weren't chosen because you and I are all-stars, which is great news because it also means we can't be unchosen because we're schmucks. We weren't chosen because we're champions, and that also means we won't be unchosen because we've messed up. In fact, that's one of the St. Paul's messages in his letter to the Romans chapter 5. And it's one of my favorite scriptures. When St. Paul says this, he says,

God still chose us while we were still helpless, yet Christ died at the appointed time for the ungodly. While we were still helpless, Christ died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Godly. He says, indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person or a good person. Perhaps for a good person, one might even find the courage to die. But here's the big banner, write this tattooed on your heart. He says, but God proves his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more now that we're his, that we have his love? You know, St. Paul, he's our, he's our guy today. He's our guy. He keeps reminding us of these things.

he says, in Jesus, we have redemption by his blood and forgiveness of transgressions and accord with the riches of his grace that he has lavished upon us. He says, God has adopted you. And just one of those things like, God has adopted you. Can we ever even get over this, this reality, that here is the God of the universe. Who needs nothing who says,

okay, you're chosen and you, you're mine? He says, St. Paul says today, he says, you've been consecrated. You made holy. And so this is important for us. Not only are you chosen, you're consecrated. This is both. Not only are you wanted, you're made holy. And it's great to be chosen.

That's awesome. Wow, thank you, Lord. That's amazing. And to be able to really receive that is incredible. But then to get the next part, which is you've also been made holy. You've also been consecrated. It means, in the Bible, to be holy means to be set apart. It's what it means to be set apart.

It doesn't mean to be perfect. Doesn't mean that you have no flaws. It doesn't mean you do everything right. to be holy is to be set apart. And in fact, when people come to me is, hey, Father, would you bless this cross? Would you bless my necklace? Would you bless this ring? Yeah, absolutely.

But what are we doing when we're blessing those things? We're saying that this piece of jewelry is now no longer merely an accessory to your wardrobe. This thing that was a piece of jewelry is now set apart. It's consecrated, right? It's now holy and it's set apart for a purpose. So there's no longer a bracelet that you just wear.

so no longer a necklace you just wear. Even when we bless our food, what's happening? It's no longer food that we just eat for any reason. It is set apart for a purpose. And here's the deal. You've been blessed. St. Paul. You've been made holy.

You've been set apart for a purpose. And this is the key thing because it means that you're no longer common. You're chosen and consecrated. And so that means you're meant to be... This is the hard word. This means you're meant to be different. which I think is a problem for most of us. Because I think that most of us don't want to be different.

And so we aren't. I think most of us would rather be just like everyone else. And so we are. There's a group called the Barna Group, and they contributed to a book called Un-Christian that I wrote. Sorry, didn't write it, read it back in 2000-something. They did a study on Christians in the... this world. And they didn't do a study and people just claimed to be Christians.

These were people who, that they reported, they had an experience of an encounter with Jesus Christ and they had confessed their sins, that they had changed their entire lives, that they belonged to him. So not just kind of like, yeah, I was baptized Christian when I was a kid and I just, I checked that box, but people who were committed. And here's what they found out, and I'll give you this quote, it's kind of a longer quote. They found out that those people who claim Jesus failed to display much difference in attitude or behavior in evidence to a transformed life going on. He says, for instance, this is the main author,

he said, for instance, based on a study released in 2007, we found that most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christians and just put Catholics in there too, because, come on, it's not like all those people over there, but all of us. Most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to the activities of non-born-again people. There's no discernible difference in their attitudes or actions. It goes on to say,

When asked to identify their activities over the last 30 days, born-again believers, or just disciples of Christ, were just as likely to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, a k.a. stealing, to consult a medium or a psychic, to fight physically or abuse at someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal non-prescription drug,

to have said something to somebody that was substantively not true, to have gotten back at somebody for something that he or she had done, and to have said mean things behind another person's back. It was just as likely. Here's these Christians living in the world who said, now I've encountered Christ and I've been chosen, I've been consecrated, I've been set apart, I've been made holy,

and there was no discernible difference in their life than anyone else. And again, this is really important to realize. They weren't worse. They weren't worse. They were just no different. Why? How can that be? Because you and I are a people who have been chosen, wanted, and consecrated, set apart.

Question, why are we no different? And again, I don't think it's because we're necessarily evil. Yes, we have broken hearts. Yes, we're made good, but we're broken, like all those things. I think it's because most of the time, it's a matter of time. What I mean by that is, like, okay, so here we are. Summer started, however many months ago. The students left campus in the beginning of May,

And so for the last, I guess, a couple months, it's been, oh, when, you know, summer rolls around. So here's June. We withdraw June. And at first it was the beginning of June. So we have so much summer left. And then last weekend was the Fourth of July. And for us in Northern Minnesota, at least for me in Northern Minnesota, when Fourth of July happens, it's like, oh, summer's over. And all of a sudden, all of the summer that I thought I had, all the time that I thought I had is apps. It's just gone.

And I think, oh, shoot, I was banking on later. And this is the key. I was banking on later. And I think so many of us, yep, I'm chosen. I'm wanted by God. Praise God. I'm consecrated and set apart. That's great.

I just will do that later. I'm just going to live like that later. And I think that so much of the time, later is an option for us. For so much of us, and it's actually a really attractive option. And there are things that belong to later that don't belong to right now. That isn't the problem. The problem is, I think, when later becomes a way of life. I think for too many of us later has become a way of life.

Let's go back to Cardinal Van Tuan. Here he is. When he's first arrested, he was just, and everything was stripped from him. And remember him saying, he wrote down in the book, I remember reading, that he had said, he realized he was going to wait for a lot of things. I'll wait for my trial. I'll wait for a break. I'll wait for some kind of appeal.

I'll wait for all these things. And he said, in the midst of all of this, the words of a man named Bishop John Walsh, who was a Chinese missionary, came to his mind and he just, he said it struck him. It was almost a gift of the Holy Spirit, just struck him to the core. And this quote from Bishop John Walsh transformed the way Cardinal of Antoine would enter into 13 years of imprisonment. And the quote was this. The quote was, I am not going to wait.

I will live each present moment filling it to the brim with love. Here's Cardinal Vantuan. Everything's taken from him. He's like, what do I do now? I have no power. I have no role. I have no anything. I'll just wait. I'll wait for my break.

And he said, no. Here's the words. Again, I am not going to wait. I will live each present moment, filling it to the brim with love. And he resolved to do this. And he said, okay, what can I do now? He was praying with it. What can I do now? Lord, what can I do now?

This is the first stage of his arrest. He was under house arrest. And the word came to him and said, we'll do what St. Paul did when he was arrested. Write letters to different Christian communities. And what he did was, okay. I'll do that now, and he chose now. He ignored later, and he said, the answer is now,

because here's the thing, Jesus Christ has chosen you. What's left is for us to choose him back. Jesus Christ has chosen you. We've been chosen in Christ Jesus. What is left for us is to choose him back. I don't know if you've seen, when I keep saying the word chosen over and again, maybe you're thinking of the series, the chosen, which is awesome and I can't get through an episode without bawling my eyes out.

But nonetheless, if you've seen that series, you realize that when you read the gospel, When we read the Gospels, a lot of times Jesus comes walking along, sees one of the apostles or the future apostles and says, hey, come follow me and they just do it. And you're like, well, of course they would. They just drop my nets. There's Jesus.

But the series is a great job of putting it in context of, wait, they have a life that they're leaving behind. They have reasons to not follow Jesus right now. They have a bunch of reasons that later is an option and a very, very attractive option. Every one of them had reasons for later, and so do we. But every one of them had to choose him back. And so do we.

Not later, but now. Not tomorrow, but today. And so here's the big question. What is one way today, right? Not later, but what's one way today that you'll choose him back? What's one way today that you and I can live a life that is consecrated? That's set apart. And it could be something simple, right?

It could be just time. I take time in prayer. I take 20 minutes today in prayer. And that is a reminder. That's a signifier. That's an indicator that I'm choosing him back. It's also the indicator that my life is not just mine. My time is not just mine.

Maybe it's just 10 minutes. Maybe it's 20 minutes. That time I give to him in prayer. Maybe it's, I'm going to make a decision on what I eat or what I don't eat based off of the fact that I belong to him. This is one of the great ways that God consecrated his people, the Jewish people. He said, okay, don't eat some of these foods because, you know, if you could just blend in with everyone else, that's what you're going to want to do.

And so you're going to eat different food. Maybe that's one of the things. Like that's one of the reasons a lot of Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays because this is a distinctive difference. It's not an everyday thing, but maybe it's a Friday thing. Maybe it's something like, I will make a decision about what I watch or what I don't watch because I've been chosen by Jesus because I've been set apart and consecrated by Jesus. Maybe it's even, I make a decision of what I say or what I don't say. I know for years I have, sorry, I was going to say for years I had a problem with sarcasm.

For years I've had a problem with sarcasm. had a problem with sarcasm currently right now because sometimes it's really funny and sometimes it's really hurtful. And so that sense of being able to say, okay, but I'm called to be his. I'm called to be set apart. And so if I've ever had my throat blessed, the words that come out of my throat, the words that come out of my mouth, they're set apart, they're consecrated. They have to be holy.

So here's the last thing. Again, the question, what's one way you're going to choose him back? You are chosen, you are consecrated. What's one way you're going to choose him back? What's one way you're going to live set apart? Why did he choose you? A, because he loves you, but also here's what St. Paul says. Not just because he loves you.

He says, we've been set apart, and he says it four times in today's first reading. You've been set apart for the praise of his glory. You've been consecrated for the praise of his glory. You've been chosen for the praise of his glory, which means that all these things that I say or don't say, what I eat or don't eat, what I would do with my time, it all is meant to point to him. that were meant to be different.

That doesn't mean you're meant to be weird, but that's why our lives, people can look at them and say, they're living differently. Why? The answer is because I know there's a God and he chose me in my brokenness. And I've chosen him back in my brokenness.

He set me apart in my brokenness. And I am trying to live, set apart in my brokenness to be a light. Because the truth is that is God has chosen you. God has consecrated you. The big truth is he is counting on you. Today, one thing to be able to say like Cardinal Van Tuan, he's counting on me and so I am not going to wait. I'm going to live each present moment, chosen and consecrated.