Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 08/14/22 Finish the Race

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

Homily from the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Sometimes God gives the victory and sometimes God gives what we need to finish the race. Every one of us is in the middle of the race of our lives. God has called us and brought us here, even when there is no victory in sight and even when victory is not possible. But God will always give whatever we need to finish the race. Mass Readings from August 14, 2022: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10 Psalms 40:2-4, 18Hebrews 12:1-4 Luke 12:49-53

So back in the Summer Olympics of 1992, I was one of the greatest, I think, one of the greatest Olympic moments, one of the greatest races, maybe in the history of the Olympics, it was the 400 meter dash. And back in the day, I was a junior in high school going into my senior year, and I ran the 400, so the 400 was my race. And so I was following this even before the Olympics started, because I was just all about who's going to win the 400 meter dash. And one of the guys I was rooting for was a man named Derek Redmond. Derek Redmond ran for Great Britain. I know he's English, but I don't hold anything against them. I don't still resent the T-Tax. I'm past it. And so I was cheering for Derek Redmond.

I remember his story. His story was he was not only did he have incredible natural talent. Obviously, you have to have some natural talent in order to get to the Olympics, but just his story of being the kind of person, maybe like all Olympians, who just used every scrap of what he was given to get to this place. And he became incredible. He was an incredible 400-meter dash racer. And so, you know, he got to the Olympics.

He's making it through the heats. And he got to the semifinals, the race before the finals. And I remember watching this, him lining up in the starting box with everyone else. And he was in the best lane. He was in lane four-four-meter dash at the start. And the gun goes off, and he takes off around the first corner, second-corner. He's going down the back stretch. And he is catching up to everybody.

He's made up the stagger. And just before he hit the 200-meter mark, he pulls up really quick as something popped in the back of his right leg, and he grabs his leg and goes down to the ground. Meanwhile, all the other guys just blast past him. 20 seconds later, the race is over. 20 seconds later, first second and third, all taken. 20 seconds later, here's Derek Redmond

on his hands and knees in lane four at the 200 meter mark. I just imagine, like, you know what? Think of all that work. Think of all his entire life had been dedicated to this moment. His entire life had been dedicated to this race. And they just blasted past him and the race was over 20 seconds later. All of it just over. The race is over.

It's done. Like there's, the race is finished. You haven't won. And there's no way. And this is the thing. There's no way you can. The race is over. You haven't won.

And there's no way you could. There's no way you can win now. So, some of you might know this. the last couple weeks, we've been having a camp, a retreat, basically for middle schoolers called Camp Survive. So for two weeks, we had about 200 plus middle schoolers and high schoolers who helped out as junior counselors and college age students and adults, youth ministers and whatnot, come to this camp on the shores of Big Sandy Lake. And for two weeks, back to back, this group of maybe a total of almost 500 people, we wanted these middle schoolers to know

some important things. One is that God's good. Another is that God loves them. and the third is that that God is a plan for their life and so thanks me to God, so many of those middle schoolers and high schoolers and college students and us myself too. Like believe that,

which is so good because it's true, right? That God is good, that he loves you, he's a plan for your life. And it just was a remarkable set of weeks. It's such a gift to be part of that. But here's what I kind of found. I found that sometimes when people believe to accept that truth,

we can come to a couple different incorrect conclusions. Because the idea is, well, God is good and he loves me and there's a plan for my life, then I'm just going to win, like always. That if God loves me and he's good, he's a plan for my life, then whatever I do, he's going to give me the victory, right? He's going to be there and I'm going to win. In fact, all I'm going to do is win, win, win, no matter what.

If I belong to him and he's good, he's a plan for my life, then he will always give me victory. And yet we know the truth, right? All it takes is living a little while, and we know that that doesn't always happen. you don't always get the victory, even though God is good and he loves you, he has a plan for your life. We don't always get the victory.

We can even see this in the first reading. The first reading, I don't know if he caught it from the prophet Jeremiah. If you know anything about the prophet Jeremiah's life is that he, this little snapshot of him being lowered into a cistern and just sinking into the mud, that is a, that's like the theme of Jeremiah's life. Which is crazy because if you look at the beginning of Jeremiah, in fact, the very first words of the first chapter, of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, say this.

It's God speaking to Jeremiah. And Jeremiah is saying, here's what happened. When I was young, God actually spoke over my life. And here's God's words to Jeremiah. He says this, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I dedicated you. A prophet to the nations, I appointed you. You can imagine, if you're Jeremiah, you're like, sweet.

I have a plan for my life. God has a plan for my life. He's anointed me. He's declared over me. that, like a prophet in my mother's womb. Like, this is not like I had to work for it. I got trained. I got some good genes.

This is you've got the Holy Spirit consecrating you from your mother's womb. And then what happens? Well, he becomes that prophet. And he declares the people of Israel, the people of Jerusalem and Judea. He declares, okay, here's what has to happen. You have to repent, or else King Nebuchadnezzar

will come down from Babylon and destroy everyone. Guess how many people repent because of Jeremiah's prophecy? Zero. You can imagine that Jeremiah is like, okay Lord eventually I mean you said you dedicated me to me from the womb appointed me to be a prophet

and what happens is they end up in a place like today Jeremiah 38 we're in response to him being the prophet being the person God literally called him to be the response is they lowered him down to this cistern had no water

just mud and Jeremiah sank in the mud I wonder how many of us this morning that's where we are. That's actually, that's the season we're in our lives right now. Where it's like, okay, I know God is good. I know he loves me. I know he has a plan for my life, but I'm just sinking in the mud. We can ask that question and say, wait a second, God, if you called me, then why am I here? God, if you love me, but why am I here? If you have a plan for my life, then why am I sinking in the mud?

We heard what happened later on. Ebid Mellek says, let's take him out of the cistern. And so they do. And Jeremiah goes right back to preaching. Guess how many people after this? Guess how many people are converted and repents? Zero. Again, you guys are really good at the Bible. Yes, zero.

No one does. So much so that King Nebuchadnezzar comes from the north. He carts everyone off to Babylon, except for a small remnant. And Jeremiah, see, Jeremiah, this is how good he is. Even though he doesn't have victory, here's what he does. He stays in Jerusalem because he says there's a remnant of God's people who are in Jerusalem, and I'm going to stay with them. I'm not going to abandon them.

He's faithful. What happens after that? Well, a bunch of them kidnap him and take him, a bunch of the Jews, kidnap him and take him to Egypt. While he's in Egypt, he keeps preaching. And so what happens? I don't want to spoil it for you. You can watch the movie later.

What happens is that group of Jews ends up stoning him to death. That's Jeremiah's story. Jeremiah, who was, the Lord says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I dedicated you. A prophet to the nations I appointed you. and then he is that, then he does that, and what happens? He dies in a strange land at the hands of the people

that he was simply consecrated and appointed and dedicated to serve. He never wins. His entire life, Jeremiah never wins. That's one of the things we have to realize. We realize the truth of the Bible, the truth of the saints, the truth of every one of our lives is, yes, sometimes God gives us the victory. And sometimes he just gives us what we need to finish the race.

Yes, sometimes God will give us the win. But sometimes all God gives is what we need to finish the race. And I have to ask the question, is that enough? Is that enough for me? Is that enough for you? Back in the middle of 1800s, there was a man named Mark G. Tianchang. He was born in Southeast China. He was a Catholic.

And he dated his life to Jesus. as a young man he met a woman, married her, and dedicated his life to being, I'm a husband. They had children, I'm a father. He became a physician. And he lived out this vocation as a husband, as best he could, lived out this vocation to be a dad to his children as best he could. As a physician even, he would offer his services for free

to the people who couldn't pay in his village, in his town. So Mark G. Tian Chang was a man who knew that God had called him. He knew that God was good. He knew that God loved him. and he knew that God had a plan for his life. At one point, though, when he was about 30 years old, Mark G, he developed this stomach ailment, and so he just prescribed for himself

what he would prescribe for anyone. And that was opium to treat his stomach ailment. It was common back in the day. Quickly and certainly, Mark G. became an addict to opium. He kept going to pray. He kept going to mass. He kept going to confession. At one point, after about three years of being an opium addict, his priests, his confessors,

said they didn't understand the nature of addiction back then. They didn't understand that this disease sometimes can be unstoppable in some ways. His confessor said, basically, listen, if you're going to keep using, you can't come back to confession. You may not receive Holy Communion until you kick this addiction. For the next 33 years, Mark G showed up to pray every day. For the next 33 years, he showed up to Mass as often as he could, never receiving Holy Communion. He was, you can imagine his prayer. You can imagine, this is a man who's like, no, wait, God, you love me.

And wait, I know you're good. I know you have a plan for my life. But just just give me the victory. Give me this, free me from this thing. I imagine a lot of us have something like that in our lives right now. Just, God, just take it away. Give me a win. Mark, you even prayed, he said, God, make me a martyr.

The only way I'm ever going to go to be a saint is if you make me a martyr. Because this thing that's afflicted me is too big for me. after 33 years of being an opium addict. On July 7th of 1900, the Boxer Rebellion was happening, and 24,000 Catholics were murdered, martyred. Mark G. and his wife and his kids and his grandchildren were among them. And on July 7, 1900, here's Mark G. and his wife, and his kids and his grandkids marched off to be killed.

He begged those who were doing the killing. He begged them to kill him last so that no one in his family would have to die alone. And that day, on July 7, 1900, Mark G. Tianchang, an opium addict, died as an opium addict. He was never sober. He never got freedom. He never had the win. But we know this, right? Sometimes God gives us the victory.

Sometimes he just gives us what we need to finish the race. look at that and say, well, what's the point? What's the whole point of this? Well, the whole point of of this is, in the year 2000, John Paul II, declared Mark G. Tianchang, St. Mark G. Tiancheng. This man who didn't just live as an opium addict and had victory, he died as an opium addict, but he died with a deeper identity. And as someone who's an addict. Because God's grace, yes, sometimes it gives us the win, but other times God just gives us what we need to finish the race. It's like Derek Redmond. The reason why that has gone down in history

as one of the top ten moments in Olympic history is because Derek Redmond, on that track, after everyone has passed him, 20 seconds later, the race is done. Derek Redmond got up and he started hopping on his good leg in lane four. He hops around that third turn, hops around that fourth turn,

and then out of nowhere, out of the bleachers, comes this man jumps onto the track and he races across the track comes up behind Derek Redmond, and he puts Derek's arm around his shoulder, and Derek looks over, and it's his father. And as Derek sees his dad carrying him, he burst into tears, but he doesn't stop hopping. The race has been lost, but the race wasn't over.

And with his father and his side, Derek hopped all the way to complete his race. Again, a race that has gone down as one of the top. 10 greatest moments in Olympic history. I'm the biggest fan of the Formula Day. I don't remember who won that race. But I remember Derek Redmond. Because one of the things we realize is God doesn't just give us the victory. He sometimes just gives us what we need to finish.

He gives us even some of the people around us to help us finish. People like Jeremiah. You might not know this, but, you know, the letter to the Hebrews where it says, we're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. Right before this in chapter 11, verse 37, the author, he mentions Jeremiah. He doesn't mention him by name. But he says, there are some who died.

There was sawn in half. Some who died, they were beheaded. Some who died in this way or that way. And he said, and some of them were stoned to death. He mentions Jeremiah, not by name. And he said, therefore you're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. Therefore, let us persevere in running the race. Because why?

Because your race is not over. And that's one of the things we have to understand. If you're still here, I don't care. if the race has been lost, your race isn't over. If you're here today, I don't care if someone else has won, your race is not over. That means you do not have permission to quit.

That means that even on your worst day, even the worst season, even in the season of your life where you're sinking into the mud and everything in you just says, just stop. You do not have permission to quit. You do not have permission to stop because the race might be lost, but it's not done. And there is this great cloud of witnesses.

who they have run their race and they surround you. That's why this last story I just want to tell. I've shared it before. So some of you might know it, but back in the day years ago, my family and I, we used to compete in this thing called the Iron Man Traathlon. And the Iron Man is like, you have a 2.4-mile swim. There's a 112-mile bike and then a 26.2-mile run. And so we loved doing this race out in Canada.

There's a place in British Columbia because, you know, there's mountains for the bike ride and there's this really cold, crystal clear, lake for the swim, but the best part was the run. The run was this out and back course. You ran out 13.1 miles, turn around, come back 13.1 miles. But the best part of this was that the whole town came out for the race. And not only the town, but the people all around this town. So as you're running into town for the last six miles, there's people like shoulder to shoulder on the side of the road. Like they have little programs and they see your number and they know your name, they're calling you out and cheering you on. And as you get closer and closer and closer to the finish, it's not just shoulder

to shoulder, it's like shoulder to shoulder and people like multiple depth deep on the sidewalks, either side cheering you on at the last 100 meters. You run down Main Street. At the end, you take this 90 degree left-hand turn and then right in front of you is like bleachers. They set up like bleachers that there's just full and there's this inflatable like finish line and there's music going and there's this guy on the on the microphone saying, you know, bring them on in, this number 222, bring them in. It's the coolest thing just to finish like this. So the custom is that when you finish your race, what our family would do, when you finish your race, you know, you get something to eat, take a shower, and whatnot.

But then you go back to the finish line because the rules of the race are, everyone starts at 7 a.m. You have to be done by 12 midnight, that night. If you're not done by 12 midnight, you are disqualified. So we go back, and we're cheering people in. You know, it says, it's a party. As I said, music's thumping. And the guy's like, bring him in, we're all cheering.

At one point, it's 1145. And the guy says, you guys, there was someone out on the course. He's two miles away. Let's bring him in. And so, like, people start jumping off the bleachers and running across a little park, you know, running down the road. I was not one of them. I was thinking, in fact, I was thinking, wait a way, are you kidding me? He has 15 minutes to go two miles.

Like, that's, if you're feeling good, that's not a bad pace. Here's someone who's been racing all day since 7 a.m. and he's not done yet. I don't think, I mean, I'm a believer, but not in that, right? Minutes pass. The guy gets up back on the microphone. He says, you guys, he's a mile. out. He did that second to last mile in like seven minutes. He's like a mile out, bring him in. I'm like, oh my gosh, are you kidding me? So more people jumping off the bleachers are running across

this park, running down the road. Again, I was not with them. I was very tired. You don't understand. But as the minutes were ticking along pretty soon, sitting under the bleachers, the finish right in front of me. Back into the right, there was this dull roar that's just getting louder and louder and louder. And so I was looking down, looking down that shoot, that 100 meter stretch a road. And this guy comes tearing around the corner and he's sprinting all out and he's like leaning into the corner. This one man in the middle of the road sprinting for everything he's got behind him, filling up the entire road in a V formation from curb to curb is this massive group of people running behind him. These are all people who they themselves, earlier that day,

they had run their race. Earlier that day, they had finished their race. They couldn't run the race this guy, but they could run with him. They couldn't finish the race for him, but they could finish the race with him. And he crossed the finish line at 1159 and 47 seconds. It was the most incredible thing. Everyone's crying and just like, but I remember thinking like,

this is the cloud of witnesses that Hebrews was talking about. The saints who have gone before us, Jeremiah, he can't run your race for you, but he can run with you. St. Mark, G. Tianchang, he can't run the race for you, but he runs with us. That all the saints who have gone before us,

even those that didn't win their race, but those that just finished their race, especially our Lord Jesus, who have you looked at his life, you wouldn't see an image of someone who won, but you wouldn't see the image of someone who finished. Because no matter where you are today, whether you're on top of the podium or whether you're sinking,

into the mud. We know this with absolute certainty. God is good. He loves you. He has a plan for your life. And even when he doesn't give you the victory, every time

he will give you what you need to finish the race.