Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 08/11/24 Winning?

Episode Date: August 10, 2024

Homily from the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. What does a"win" look like? There are times when we accomplish our goals...and then we still feel that there ought to be something more. There are times when "winning" is just as empty as "losing". In those moments, we have the opportunity to step back and ask what we are shooting for. These are the moments we can ask "what does a 'win' look like?" Mass Readings from August 11, 2024: 1 Kings 19:4-8 Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9Ephesians 4:30—5:2 John 6:41-51

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.

reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Chapter 6, verses 41 through 51. The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered and said to them, stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draw him. And I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the father, except the one who is from God. He has seen the father. Amen. Amen. I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors

ate manna in the desert, but they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. You should have a seat. So today, this Sunday, is the last day of the Olympics. And I love the Olympics. I wish that I had every channel that you possibly could have to watch all of the games. But America did

what America always does. really, really well. I was just, you know, we know this because you can almost always put money on America because the greatest medal winners are almost always for America. The number one, you guys all know who the number one greatest Olympian Olympic athlete of all time is. We all know his name. He's very tall. His big wing span. McAvels, yeah, exactly. Michael Phelps. So Michael Phelps has won 28 medals, 23 of them were gold medals in the Olympics. And he even said he saw an article or an interview he had, when he said, it is the greatest feeling in the world. Like, he said, to stand on that, this is the feeling that I dreamt of as a kid, like always.

I was a swimmer as well and track. I didn't make the Olympics, spoiler. But, like, he said, standing on the top of the Olympic podium, having just one year event and hearing the national anthem play and in that, whatever that space is, just, he said, the greatest feeling in the entire world, which I can imagine is the greatest feeling in the entire world. The interesting thing, you might know this as well about Michael Phelps, though, is this person who has won more Olympic medals and more Olympic gold medals than any.

21 in history also has said that the day after and the week after and even sometimes the months after having that greatest feeling in the world, that doing the thing that he, you had spent your whole life doing were some of the worst moments in his entire life. In fact, he said that I think, I think he said that after every one of the Olympics that he had won gold medals at, set world records at, he fell into a few. some kind of depressive state. He said after the London Olympics, he said, was the worst. He went back to his room and he had won two silvers and I think four golds at the London Olympics. And he went back to his room and he didn't eat or sleep for four days. He couldn't. He said, I just had

this thought like I didn't want to be in this sport anymore. He said, actually, I didn't want to be alive. He actually seriously considered suicide. Now, Michael Phelps in that not only met our Lord, but he also became vulnerable and told people about what he was going through and got a ton of help and now he's healthy because he, this is for anyone who's struggling in that way. He actually, again, he asked for help. He didn't think he could be the kind of person who could ask for help. But in that moment, again, he didn't just want not want to be in the sport. He didn't want to be alive anymore. And I just think about how Michael Phelps experience and so many people, people's experience mirrors Elijah's experience.

In the first reading today from First Kings, you have Elijah. And what happened right before this scene is Elijah has had the greatest moment of his life. So Elijah was the prophet of God and he had done incredible things. They've just remarkable, miraculous things. He had spoken on behalf of the Lord, but also had done miracles, which is kind of a strange thing. It's very rare. But right before this scene, what Elijah had done, he was on the top of Mount Carmel.

And there were 450 prophets of Ba'al, right? And just Elijah, one prophet of the Lord God, against 450 prophets of Ba'aal. And all the people are gathered there. And Elijah says, how long are you going to straddle the issue? Like, basically, if you want to belong to Ba'al, just belong to him. If you want to belong to the Lord, they didn't belong to him. And they couldn't decide. And so he throws down and has this challenge against the prophets.

And he challenges them. He says, okay, here's the deal. We'll build an altar. You build an altar. You pray all you want. And if Ba'al answers, then he wins. And if the Lord God answers my prayer, then the Lord God wins. And just to summarize the whole thing, the prophets, they pray and pray and pray.

nothing happens. No one's listening. There is no God named Ba'al. And then Elijah builds this altar and douses it with water. It's just this incredible, like, just delugees it with water. And he just utters this simple prayer to the Lord God who incinerates the entire altar. And then Elijah goes on and he basically kills all the prophets of Baal. So this is Elijah's best victory. And then all the people say, and this is the biggest thing, all the people say, well, we belong to the Lord. They said the Lord is God. They're all in for Yahweh. Amazing. If you want a good day as a prophet,

it's the day when everyone says, we're on the side of the Lord God. This is his biggest win. And then the king takes out a hit on him, and so Elijah has to run off into the desert, and that's where we find him today. And what happens? After the biggest victory of his life,

he lies down and he basically says, I'm no better than my father. I might as well just die here. In a similar sense of Michael Phelps here, the biggest day of his life, biggest accomplishment of his life. And now what is there left? And this is one of the things that happens to so many of us. Right after the big victory,

sometimes the big defeat is the thing we have to wrestle through. We don't typically prepare what do I do after the victory? What do I do after I win? What do I do after I've just done the best thing I'll ever do? Think about that. What do I do the day after, the week after, I've done the best thing, the most important thing I'll ever do? because we can have that sense of like, well, there's nothing left.

Like, what more is there? Like, all of life is in the rearview mirror now. So why even go forward? I got what I wanted. Now what? I got what I wanted. Now what? I know you know this, Tom Brady, back when he was 27 years old,

he had already won four Super Bowl trophies. There's an interview back in 2005. That's when he was 27. want to know, do the calculations. The interviewer asked him a question. He said, he said, Tom, what's your life like now? Like, how happy are you? And Tom Brady responded this way.

He said, he said, there's times when I'm not the person I want to be. He says, why do I have three Super Bowl rings? Why do I have three Super Bowl rings? And there's still something greater, and I think there's still something greater out there for me. I mean, he said, maybe a lot of people would say, hey, man, this is what it is. He said, I've reached my goal, my dream, my life. I mean, I think, God, it's got to be more than this. I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.

I mean, I've done it. I'm 27. What else is there for me? And the interviewer looks at him and says, well, what's the answer? And Tom Brady just quietly says, I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I got everything I wanted, and I'm still not happy. In fact, that's what Jim Carrey, actor comedian, right?

He once said that. He once said, I wish that everyone would get rich and do everything they ever dreamed of so that everyone can find out that it's not the answer. So here's a question. What is the answer? Like, what do we do? Someone asked me this question like a year or two years ago,

and it just has stuck with me. They asked me in terms of ministry, that's me in terms of what we want to do on campus. It's the question of, like, what's the answer? and the question they asked was, they said, Father Mike, what does in your world and your work and your life, what does a win look like? And I've spent a couple years now praying with that question, what does a win look like? And I think that's the question we can ask today. What does a win look like? So for an athlete, what does a win look like? A win looks like getting to the top of

your career in winning the victory for a business person. Maybe it means making all these big investments for an entertainer, for a teacher. Like, what does a win look like? Especially, especially when there can be in us. Maybe you have one. Maybe you've reached, maybe a win would be like recognition. I mean, we see this a lot. Maybe a win is people recognize that you're actually really good at something. And so we, I don't know if you've seen this, but then it becomes, for some people, a battle to stay relevant. I don't know if you've seen this, but I've seen with like online influencer type people who may have like started out normal and then what they're doing online seems to be more and more more erratic just to try to get more likes or to try to get

more views or more followers. He asked the question, well, will that make you happy? Did it make you happy at first? Would it make you happy now? What does a win look like? I was thinking even for like a parent. I mean, moms and dads, I think about all moms and dads do for their kids. Think to all the things that moms and dads sacrifice for their children and then they raise their children and their children grow up and then they just leave. And like, okay, wait, what do you do now? Like, for someone who like, I just did it, I poured my whole life out for this person or for these people and then they just go. Now, hopefully their relationship matures and evolves.

but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes they just take everything that you've given them and they walk away. So for parents, like, what does a wind look like? Remember hearing a pastor, he said he and his wife, they sat down and they actually said as they started having kids, they said, what kind of kids do? What do we want to get out of this whole process of being parents?

And one of the things they said is they said, we want to raise children who love coming home and spending time with us as adults. That was just one of their goals. That was what a win looked like for the two of them. I want to raise children who love coming home and spending time with us as adults. I don't know if that's a good win or a bad win, but that was their win. That was their goal. I think about this for myself.

What does a win look like? And I think about on campus, a win looks like this. when looks like students who encounter Jesus in a way that transforms their lives? It looks like it looks like students while here learn what it is to become disciples of Jesus. What I mean is they learn how to pray in season and out of season. They learn how to pray when they feel it and when they don't. They learn how to listen to God's voice. They learn how to live as a Christian.

They learn how to disciple others. What I mean by that is they learn how to walk alongside others. And a win, I think, for this ministry is that when they leave, they become the kind of people who, again, can pray in any environment, that they're willing to share their love for Jesus and the Catholic Church with their families. That they're living in the world no matter where they are and that they bring Christ with them. That's a win. That's the win. I think maybe another one for this, like for the online stuff for me, what's a win? I think I think a win looks like doing my best to share what I've been praying about.

and wrestling about and hope would help some people. And I think, you know, again, regardless of how many people watch or how many people listen, if there are people who can say, that helped me, and that's a win. Like when someone randomly meet them and they say, hey, because of whatever I've done, I've learned that I can trust God. That's a win.

When someone says, what you said about this, gave me the courage to let Jesus heal me in confession. Like, that's a win. I got a message from someone the other day that said that some of the stuff we've done up here on campus transformed the way they saw God and saw themselves and saw sex and they're now in the process of detransitioning as they're actually allowing God to love them as they are and they're learning how to love themselves as they were created to be. Here's what I know also.

I know that someday, maybe sooner, maybe later, people will cease to call. Someday, maybe sooner, maybe later, people will stop caring what I have to say about anything. And on that day, I think a wind looks like saying, God, thank you for the opportunity. Just saying, God, thank you for the opportunity to talk about you to so many people. here it is. If you can have it back. And that's what a win is for Elijah.

Like if we keep going, keep following his story. Again, this man who in his head his best day of his life, but now it's all over. He says, I have nothing left to do. Again, it might be here and die. God says what? God says, okay, Elijah, get up and eat. Why? Because if you don't, you're not going to have strength for the journey.

Because for Elijah, there's two things left. So Elijah, he gets up, he eats, and then he journeys for 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horib. And on Mount Horrib, this is a very famous scene, right, of Elijah. In this moment, there's a scene where Elijah goes on the mountain and he's listening for the voice of God. And there's a whirlwind and there's an earthquake and there's a fire. And it says God was not in the fire. But then there was a still small voice. In that moment, Elijah hid his face in the cleft of a rock.

Why? Why? Because after all this, after all this fighting, after all this battling, after all this profiting, you know, prophesying, after all this, thinking that this is what a win is, Elijah encountered the true and living God in a way he never imagined and realized and nothing compares to this. I thought that all my fighting, all my prophesying, all my working, I thought that was the goal, that was the win. But nothing compares to this. Nothing compares, not fighting for God, not talking about God, but God. That was the win. You might have heard the story about St. Thomas Aquinas.

At one point, this is in the 1,200s. Here's St. Thomas Aquinas, who is the most prolific writer. He right now probably is considered to be the theologian of Christianity for the last 2,000 years. No one were brilliant, more genius. No one gave more in the area of the intellectual life to the church other than St. Thomas Aquinas. in that apparently he's in prayer one, I think it's December, and he's praying, and he's before our Lord, and at one point, God spoke to him. And God asked him the question. He said, you have written well of me, Thomas. What reward will you receive from all your labor?

He asked the question. What's it? Hey, Thomas, you've done well. You've fought well, you've spoken well, you've written well of me. What's a win? And St. Thomas, who not only had an incredible mind but an incredible heart said these simple words he said Lord I would not accept any other compensation without you yourself the answer what's a win only you Lord and this is what Elijah gets him for all of us every one of us this is what a win looks like to get Jesus and then this is the last thing actually no it's not the last thing yet Exactly, more sports. One more sport thing, guys. Okay, I don't know, we're on the sports role. Olympics, you guys. So years ago, there was a young man, his name is Kyle. Kyle was a student

here. He played for the hockey team. And Kyle was in RCA, his senior year, is he playing for the hockey team. And we got where UMD was in the Frozen Four, made it to the finals, championship game. And that night, we had more school spirit here at UMD than I've ever experienced my entire life. And because, why? In double overtime, the championship game, double overtime, Kyle himself, his name's Kyle Schmidt, Kyle. scored the winning goal and the Bulldogs, UMD Bulldogs, won the National Championship. So I mean, the town was going nuts. The campus was going crazy and I'm like, I know that guy.

What the heck? This is awesome. And so the next day I called him, I'm like, Kyle, congratulations. And he's like, yeah, you know, it's a team effort, all those kind of things people normally say. And I said, but yeah, but dude, this is a really, really big deal. I mean, this is what kids who play hockey, this is what they're dreaming of every night they're out on the pond, like double over time, open net, go, you lived it. And he said, yeah, I know, it was a big deal.

But then he said this. He said, but nothing is going to compare to the first time I get to receive Jesus in the Eucharist after I become Catholic. That same sense like Thomas Aquinas. Like, yeah, that was a big deal. I won, went to play pro after that for a little bit. But nothing will compare to Jesus himself. Now it's been a bunch of years now.

And I talked to Kyle just a couple months ago. And he said, oh yeah, I sometimes tell that story to people. And they say, are you kidding? He's like, no, actually, that scoring that goal is not even in the top 10 anymore for my life of that great things to have done. It was a big deal. But the win was him. This is actually the last thing.

Elijah was given two tasks. One was to go to Hora and encounter the Lord. The other was to anoint two kings and anoint the next prophet, Elisha. I think sometimes when you think that the best days are behind you, like the biggest win it's already been done the most important thing you could have done has already been accomplished

think of Elijah he wasn't done why because God had to send him to Elisha to hand on the legacy here was this incredible prophet Elijah one of the greatest prophets who ever lived

and then he said God said now Elisha hand on the baton I pass it on be able to extend that legacy. And that's what those business people, extend the legacy. Maybe your best days are behind you,

but pass on the baton. Maybe parents, you say like, okay, I just gave everything for my children. Okay, consider that baton passed as they become parents. Whatever the work is, I think so often, so many of us live for what we get. But for Elijah, the win was a legacy.

And the legacy is what you get to leave behind. That's the win. You might find yourself in a season right now where your best day, the best accomplishment you've ever had is in the past. But that doesn't mean you're done. To have a new sense of what is a win. It could be just you, Lord,

or it could be legacy. To no longer live what you can get, but to live. what you get to leave behind.