Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 08/04/24 The Most Important Sight

Episode Date: August 3, 2024

Homily from the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. There are four kinds of vision...one is the most helpful. We all want to see the world accurately. But most often, we fall into the blindness of being shortsighted. Then we want foresight so that we can know what will happen. Or hindsight so that we know what we've lived through. But God calls us to a newer sight. One that helps us get out of the desert by going through the desert. Mass Readings from August 4, 2024: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Psalms 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 John 6:24-35

Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this in other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Chapter 6, verses 24 through 35. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Copernum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered them and said, Amen. Amen, I say to you,

you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the son of man will give you. For on him the Father, God has set his seal. So they said to him, what can we do to accomplish the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.

So they said to him, what sign can you do that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. So Jesus said to them, Amen. Amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven. My father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So they said to him, sir, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst. the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I should have a seat. So something happened recently. So I thought how I started? Sorry, that was a false start. That was a full start. So when I was like in fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, I needed glasses.

So I got glasses all through high school, all through college, all through seminary until my last year of seminary, I had some surgery on the eyeballs and they gave me 2015 vision. And I was like, I feel like a superhero now. I can see. Like I remember the first time I woke up from the, this LASIC surgery, and I can look across the room without my glasses on and like, I can see the corner of this room. This is incredible. It was amazing. And it lasted for a long time until recently.

And so right now I have the eyes of an old man. And so for the first time recently, I was in, well, in public, I guess. And I was giving a talk and I pulled up my Bible and I like literally couldn't read the words. And I was like, shoot. So I had to pull up the cheaters. They call them readers because they're trying to be nice to old people. And I like, yeah, I had to use glasses again. And so I've been thinking a lot about sight. I've been thinking a lot of. about what a gift vision is, what a gift sight is. Because when you have it, I think we often take it for granted. And when it goes, it is one of those situations that we're like, well, I used to like

when I used to be able to see. It was amazing. Because how we see is so important. Obviously, physical sight is very, very important. But I think there's four kinds of sight or four kinds of vision that we're tempted to have. It's one kind of vision that we need to have. So one kind of vision that we're really tempted to have is,

I think a lot of times in the middle of life, in the middle of a desert, one kind of sight we have is we can be short-sighted. And what we are when we're short-sighted is, I can only see what's right in front of me. And the reality about this is that if we're short-sighted and we can only see what's in front of us, and all we can see is pain.

Like all we can see is the trail ahead of us. all we can see is the mountain ahead of us that's looming there so large if we're short-sighted. And all we can see is the grief or the tragedy or the loss or the suffering in our lives. That's not true, right? That's actually true. You're seeing what's there. So being short-sighted isn't that it's not an inability to see something. Because a lot of times, if we're short-sighted and we can see what's right in front of us,

that's good. But being short-sighted is this. it's saying, all I can see is all that there is. Like just saying, okay, here is, again, when it's pain, when it's suffering, when it's tragedy, when it's grief in front of me, to be short-sighted in the midst of that is to say, yeah, all I can see is all that there is. And I think about this when it comes to the first reading today in the book of Exodus. I mean, just imagine you're a Jew and you're being led from slavery into the desert.

On one hand for us, we're like, oh, that'd be amazing. But if you were living through this, it would be absolutely horrible. because I'm thinking about up to this point, for 400 years in Egypt, you knew where your next meal was coming from. For 400 years in Egypt, you knew where you were going to sleep every night. For 400 years in Egypt, there was a lot of certainty. There was a lot of guarantees. Yes, it was guaranteed pain and certain discomfort and slavery. But to then be led in the wilderness and say there are hundreds of thousands of us in a desert.

And there is no way in the world will ever be able to have enough food. I mean, you, just again, imagine this. Imagine you're surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people. You realize there is no way, how could God possibly feed all of us? I mean, it was so bad, as you heard in the reading today, it was so bad that not only are they saying, let's go back. They were saying, it would have been better if we had died. See, that's being short-sighted. Because here are these rights.

They saw the difficulty. They saw the desert. They saw the hundreds of thousands around them. They saw that it's impossible to get enough water, to get enough food in the desert to feed and to give drink to all these people. And they couldn't see past it. They were short-sighted. And that's, I mean, that's the reality of a lot of our lives, right?

There's so many times in our lives where we're just like, all I can see is what's right in front of me. And I feel like I'm just in the middle of it. So I recently came across this woman, her name is Sally McCray. My older sister right now is training for a hundred mile running race. And so she's been listening to all these, like, ultra-running podcasts. So, Sally McCray is an ultra-runner. So if you are a distance runner, that means you run, you know, half marathons to marathons, that kind of distance.

If you're an ultra-marathon or ultra-distance runner, that means you run anything longer than a marathon. And so, Salie McCrae is this ultra-distance runner. So a couple years ago, ran some 50-mile races, some 100-mile races, some 100-kilometer races. In 2024, Sally McRae, she's in, for Sally, for her life, she's a wife, she's a mother of two. Sally, in 2024, she ran four races that were either 200 miles or more. She had one 100 mile race just to kind of warm up to get ready for this. But one of the races, I think, was 250 miles, if not 280 miles.

It was just remarkable. So this is a woman who knows what it is to experience pain. She knows what it is to go out and be in the middle of a trial, be in the middle of a test, be in the middle of something that is, I don't want to be here anymore. And it's not just for her, you know, just reading. about her life, it's not just about marathon running for her. She says running is a joy, but she finds joy in the midst of a life that can be difficult for to listen to her talk about her own life. She experienced a lot of loss and sickness and grief in her young life. Her mom died when Sally was

only 17 years old. She had many other people, immediate family members and close members die even younger than that and older than that. Sally talks about this, reality of, you know, sometimes, especially when you're in the middle of the race, in the middle of life, in the middle of the desert, in short-sightedness, sometimes we can be tempted to be convinced that all I see is all that there is. And again, going back to Exodus, this is what the Jewish people said. They say to Moses, they say, you had to lead us into this. I mean, if you caught that, they said, you had to lead us into this, into this desert. so that the whole community would starve, would die of famine.

But think about, they're convinced of this. Okay, Moses, you're representative of God. So what God did is God led us into this desert so that we would die of famine. Now, I imagine that if Moses were to say, no, no, yes, that's not the story. That's not what's going to happen. They would say, great, well, then tell us what's going to happen. That's the second kind of sight. Because when we realize, okay, I realize I'm short-sighted,

so I believe, I'm tempted to believe, that all I can see is all. that there is, well, then I realize there's more, so give me the more, right? Give me the answer. Tell me what's going to happen. Give me the second kind of sight. Give me foresight. Like, just essentially, then if this is not all that there is, show me what else there is. If this isn't all that's going to happen, then tell me what's going to happen. If you didn't lead us into this desert to die, then tell us how is this possibly going to work out. And I realize, you know, for so many of us, we desire that foresight. I desire that foresight. because I realize so often that I can be short-sighted.

I realize so often that my vision can be limited. I realize that there are times when I've begun to believe that all I can see is all that there is. And so the thing is, I'm like, okay, Lord, then, tell me, give me foresight. Tell me what's going to happen. What if God did? Just imagine, like, you know, here we are. And maybe you're in a place of, like, wanting to know your vocation.

Like, God, just tell me what's going to happen. tell me what you're calling me to because here I am going through this whole string of like maybe dating and breaking up or maybe not even dating or I thought I was supposed to go to the seminary and then I got rejected or I thought it was going to go to the convent and then it just seems like it's not the right fit. God just tell me what's going to happen? What if God actually just answered and said, okay, here's your new site, here's foresight. I'm going to guarantee you here's the next step. Would that be good or would that be bad? Would that be helpful for us or would that not be? I don't think it would be helpful because I think that when we know.

that there are things out there we can't see and we say, God, just solve my problems by letting me see that. What we're saying is, God, I want to know so that I don't have to worry. God, give me foresight. I know I'm foresighted. Give me foresight so that I don't have to worry. You know what we're really saying? What we're really saying when we say that, we're saying, God, give me foresight so that I don't

have to trust. Because that's why they're in the wilderness. I mean, that's even literally in the first reading today. that being led into the wilderness is a training and trust. So basically, what did Moses say, God save through Moses? He says, I'll rain down bread from heaven. And it goes on and say in other parts of Scripture, and every day you're going to go out and you're going to collect enough bread,

enough manna for that day. And I'm going to take care of you. This is training and trust. This is learning to trust the care of the God they cannot see. This is learning to trust the providence of the God they cannot see. This is learning to trust the love of the God that they cannot see. And so, again, gathered just enough for every day. Why?

Because you can't see past today. I realize my vision is limited. I am short-sighted. So give me foresight. No, you don't get foresight. You can't see past today. So gather just enough for today, knowing one thing that when you get to tomorrow, I'll be there again. Again, foresight is not the answer.

Not even for Christians, that's why Jesus taught us how to pray, right? In the Lord's Prayer, give us, we pray, give us this day our daily bread. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. But in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus didn't say, give us this day our daily bread and all the bread we're going to need until the day we die. He just says, no, when you come to your Father, trust him. This life is training and trust. All I can see is not all there is, but the answer is not for

Now, go back to the Exodus. I think sometimes I look at this, I look at the Jews in the wilderness and think, well, that's easy for them. I mean, are you kidding me? You've seen all the signs. Like you... Imagine how easy it would be to trust God when you saw these 10 plagues in Egypt. I imagine how easy it would be to trust God when you got to the Red Sea and then Moses

stretched out his hands and the whole water like parted and you walked through. I just remember it. I imagine how easy to trust God when you wake up one morning and there's bread on the ground, maybe even after a week and there's bread on the ground, or then you complain about not having enough meat and then there's like quail everywhere for a whole month. Like I imagine at that point it'd be really easy to trust God, but the only reason I think that is because I know how the story ends. This is so important for us. The only reason I think that I would be able to live in the wilderness is because I know how the story ends. And so I say, well, if I have

hindsight, then I could trust. Because as we know, these people are no longer 2020, but hindsight is 20-20. It's really easy to trust when I know how the story is going to end. But the reality, of course, is that we're in the middle of the story. I mean, again, think of the Jews in the gospel today. Jesus has this conversation with them, and they're like, no, no, no, we know. We know what God did back in the day. We know our own story.

we know that when we were in the wilderness, the Lord God gave them bread from heaven to eat. We know that story from start to finish. But Jesus is saying, yeah, but now, today, I'm the true bread to come down from heaven. So what you need to do is not rely on hindsight. What you need to do is trust me right now. Again, I think we'd say, well, if I had hindsight, then I'd trust him. If I had hindsight, I wouldn't get discouraged. If I had hindsight, then I would hope then.

But here's the thing. the reality is when you're in it, you don't get hindsight. Like, when I'm in the middle of the story, you don't get hindsight. Trust that sees isn't trust. Hope that has what it's hoped for isn't hope. So I realize these three kinds of vision, these three kinds of sight, aren't enough. So I'm short-sighted. I realize that I feel like all I can see is all that there is.

I know that's not true. So I want this foresight. I want this guarantee. I want this certainty. or I want this hindsight. I want to know how the story ends. We're given none of those kinds of vision. We're giving none of those kinds of sight.

The one vision, the new vision that Jesus offers us is to see this season, is to see this situation, is to see this life with insight. And to see this whole life with insight is to acknowledge, yeah, no, this is the desert. to tell the truth. It's to say, no, this is grief, this is tragedy, this is suffering, this is hard.

And God is here. That this is the desert and God is doing something. Remember what the Israelites said. They said, you had to lead us into this to die. And the reality is, no, it's not true. They were not led into the dead. desert to die. In sight is the ability to see what God is doing. Short-sighted, you let us into this wilderness to die. Insight says Lord God, you let us into the wilderness. You let us into the

desert to lead us through the desert. Because that's the key. This vision makes all of the difference in the world. This kind of sight makes all the difference in the world. He was leading them into the desert in order to lead them through the desert. This was the whole point. of the entire story. Because why? Because Exodus, the story of the Exodus, is a microcosm of life. Think about this.

We have, when you were baptized, you were claimed, you were chosen by God himself. You're baptized in Christ. So you were claimed by your God's chosen people. Then, what happened? You were set free from slavery, just like the Jews are set free from slavery in Egypt.

What happened? Why? Because God conquered the Pharaoh. He conquered the evil one. He bound the strong man. So the evil one who comes against you, he's been bound, he's been defeated.

You've been set free. But then, you've been led into the desert. Because we're not in the promised land yet, right? This is not our home yet. So what does God do? God feeds you and me with bread from heaven. And he has led us into this.

Into whatever moment you're going through right now, whatever season you're going through right now, whatever suffering, he's led you into this. Whatever tragedy you experience, he's led you into this. Whatever grief is in your heart, he's led you into this. Whatever season you're in, he's led you into this. Whatever desert you're in. He has led you into this.

No matter how dark things are. In the middle of it, we're tempted to go back. Right? I mean, that's the reality. Again, Exodus is the microcosm of life. Those Jews in the Exodus are no different than us. When they found themselves in the middle of the desert, they just wanted to go back.

They wanted to go back to Egypt. They just wanted to escape this. And that's a reality of all of our lives. There can be times when you're going through so much pain, you're going through so much suffering that just like I, just like the Jews, it would have been better if I was dead. But Insight tells us this. To the voice that says, I just want to go back.

I just want to get out of this. Insight tells us the only way out is through. And you've been led into the wilderness. You've been led into the desert. The only way out is through. Why? Because God did not lead you here to die. God has not abandoned you.

And you're not done. But you might be in the middle. And this is the last thing. You may right now in this moment in your life find yourself in the middle of the desert. Sally McCray, the ultra-distance runner, who experienced so much grief in her young life. And now she experiences these massive challenges in her. adult life that in the middle of the race 50k 100k 100 miles 200 miles 250 miles she

says she says I have one rule and that one rule is never quit in the middle you may find yourself in the middle of the desert in the middle of this season of life never quit in the middle the Lord God has led you into this so that he can lead you through this. This is the desert. And he is here. And he is doing something. To not be short-sighted and say that all I can see is all that there is, but to have insight. Say, yes, here's the truth. Difficult season. Difficult life, difficult desert. And good God. God, who is here. God is doing something. God, who has led you into the wilderness. and the only way out of the wilderness is through.