Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 10/16/22 Growing Through the Motions: Full Range of Motion

Episode Date: October 15, 2022

Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The only way to be able to pray in all seasons is to pray in all seasons. Growing through the motions involves commitment, consistency, and companions. It means being willing to go through the motions no matter the season and no matter the circumstances. It is only by doing this that we can have full range of motion in our relationship with the Lord. Mass Readings from October 16, 2022: Exodus 17:8-13 Psalms 121:1-82 Timothy 3:14-4:2 Luke 18:1-8

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 Luke, chapter 18, verses 1 through 8. Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, there was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, render a just decision for me against my adversary.

For a long time, the judge was unwilling. But eventually he thought, while it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me the Lord said pay attention to what the dishonest judge says will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night will he be slow to answer them I tell you he will see to it

that justice is done for them speedily but when the son of man comes will he find faith on earth the gospel of the Lord so I've been I've kind of come to this conclusion that I have reached kind of a new age like when it comes to like aging um it's the age where you make noises when you sit down and you make noises when you get up like it's just one of those things like every time I feel like one of the like a venus or serena like a tennis player I'm like like that's every time getting off of the chair getting up out of the couch I just like everything I sit down like, okay, there we go. And I just think, I made it, you know?

It's an accomplishment. It's another kind of like just moment in life. And so because of that, I was doing some research on aging. And so according to the CDC, 61% of Americans 65 years of age or older are limited in their ability to perform basic actions. Say that again. So 61% of Americans 65 years of age or older

are limited in their ability to perform like normal, basic everyday actions. From everything from like just picking something up off the floor or reaching for, you know, a box of cereal in the pantry, that kind of thing is just restricted. And one of the things we realize is, of course, as people get old, you know, our muscle mass decreases, we have osteoporosis, our bones become weaker. We have arthritis, our joints become weaker. They become more inflamed in pain. But one of the things that happens because of that is we begin to have what you call limited mobility. Especially if you've ever been injured before, you know this is one of the cases. It's, you get hurt and you stop moving that

full range of motion, you have limited mobility. And I read this article that talked about this. It said, while we're young, while we're young, we don't think about the fact that one day, simply bending down to tie our shoes might become not only difficult, but dangerous. It goes on to say, and yet, every single daily functional movement required for independent living has to be maintained. So people, you can say people are going to the gym,

they're still exercising well into their 60s, 70s, 80s, maybe even. But the point is, we need to be. to have those functional movements that are necessary for just simply daily living. This went on to say, it said, without functional exercises designed to support a healthy range of motion and condition our bodies for daily life, we become susceptible for all sorts of injuries, all sorts of detriments. In fact, one way to say it is we must go through the motions in order to be able to go through the motions. We have to keep going through the motions in order to be able to go through the motions. Or else what we have is, again, we're not able to live

with full range of motion. So some of you have heard of a man named Ben Patrick. I don't know if you've ever heard of Ben Patrick. Ben loved, as a kid, Ben loved basketball. His dream was to play Division I basketball. And so at the age of 12, I mean, at age of 12, he played so much basketball,

his knees were just already in pain. Imagine being a 12-year-old, he was just, every time he went on the court, his knees were in incredible pain, but he still went out in the court. By the time he was 15 years old, I think 14 years old, he had multiple tears in his knees.

By 18 years old, Ben Patrick had a partially replaced de-cap, He had a meniscus transplant and he had a quad tendon repair. By the time he graduated high school, he had absolutely no college basketball prospects. By 19, he had even more tears in his knees. He's one of those people that, like, if you ever talk to them, maybe you're one of those people who are like, yeah, I was a catcher in high school, so my knees are shot. Or I was a senator in high school, so my knees are shot.

Or I played anything in high school, therefore my knees are shot. He was that guy. But he didn't want to stop playing basketball. He didn't want to stop being athletic. So he found this methodology where he just said, okay, if you have limited range of motion without pain, just start there. So whatever kind of range of motion you have, just start there. Do what you can without pain.

One of his theories is don't push through the pain, just do as much as you can without pain. So limited range of motion without pain, do that increasingly over time. First, assisted, you know, body weight assisted, maybe bands. But you want to work to this place where you have full range of motion. motion in the joint, first again with assistance, then unloaded, like just body weight, but then ultimately you want to get to, you want to get to this place he describes as full range of motion with the maximum amount of weight that you can bear. So this guy, he starts doing this methodology, again, not pushing through the pain, but just

increasing his range of motion slowly, slowly over time, going through these motions again and again and again. By the time Ben Patrick was 23, not only could he dunk again, but he was recruited and he had a full right scholarship to a Division I school to play basketball for them. It was one of those incredible things. He didn't actually play. That's a whole not the story. But he had discovered this training methodology that for the last number of years, he has coached thousands of people who said,

I'm done with running, I'm done with all this athleticism because I don't have any range of motion again. He coached them back to this place where they had full range of motion with the maximum amount of weight that they could possibly bear. You might have heard of him. He's the knees over toes guy if you are on Instagram. The people I follow. Anyways, so this idea, full range of motion, with the maximum amount of weight that you can bear,

we've been doing this series called Growing Through the Motions. And the first week we talked about this, we talked about how the fact is in so many areas of life, we can just feel like we're going through the motions. We can, in so many areas of our work or our relationships or our faith, we can just feel like I'm just showing up, and all I'm doing is I'm just going through the motions. So the first week we talked about how, you know, if we're doing this, if we're doing this right, we actually don't just go through the motions. doing this right, we can actually grow through the motions. These are things that actually can help us move forward.

Last week we talked about the reality of we're not just doing them because we know what to do or know how to do them. We're doing them for a why. And our why is a who. That's basically when we go through the motions, we're doing it for Jesus. It actually increases our love. Next week we're going to talk about the reality that we have to choose the right thing. We have to go through the right motions. But this weekend, I want to highlight this necessity. And the necessity is this, we don't just go through the motions sometimes. You don't just go through the motions in some seasons. We need to be able to go through the motions in every season. Another way to say it is we need to have full range of motion. Because it's one thing, right?

It's one thing to be patient when you feel like it. It's one thing to be generous when you feel like it. It's one thing to pray when you feel like it. It's another thing to be able to be patient always. It's another thing to be able to be generous always. It's another thing to be able to pray whether you feel like it or not. This is one of those things that can be one of those rude awakenings. It happens, I mention this all the time.

We always have students who come to campus and they're growing, they're on campus and they're maturing so good and they're actually growing in generosity they're growing in patience, they're going in mercy they're going in their ability to be kind and then they go home for break and realize oh wow I am not as patient as I thought

I'm not as generous as I thought I'm not as giving as I thought because you know on campus you get to be generous when you want to be at home on campus you get to be patient when you want to be at home you have to be generous with the people you don't necessarily like the ability to have full range of motion means I can be

it means I can be patient in season and now season and it means I can pray when I'm feeling it and I can pray when I'm not feeling it. I can actually show up and go through the motions even when I'm busy or even when I'm stressed. And if I can't, I have limited mobility. If I can't, I don't have that full range of motion. And that's one of the things that you have to realize

that these motions that we're going through like mass. I have to tell you this. The mass that we've been doing, the mass that we will be doing, we will probably be doing the exact same thing. It's kind of eternal, right? It's, the mass that we're at right now will probably be the same kind of mass that we're at for the rest of your life. It will change very, very little. It will be the same thing. What will change is the season. What will change are the situations we find ourselves in, and that's the crazy thing. You and I will be going through the motions of going back to mass again and again, doing the same thing over and over again, but the thing that's going to change is the season. That's why St. Paul

said to Timothy, listen, Timothy, be faithful in season and out of season. Why? Because St. Paul is inviting Timothy to be able to go through the full range of motion. So Jesus, at beginning of the gospel today, he says, he stresses the importance of being able to pray without becoming weary. How do we pray, how do we become capable of praying without becoming weary? I think the answer is we pray even when we're weary. How do we become capable of praying in every season? I think we become capable of praying in every season by praying in this season. How do we become capable of being like Moses?

In the first reading, right, Book of Exodus. This is a battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites. What happens? Here's Moses. And everyone, think about this. Everyone Moses knows. Everyone Moses loves is on the line. Their lives are at stake. And he was growing weary.

He's up on that mountain, and he is praying over them, praying for victory over this battle, and he was getting tired. How can we become capable, like Moses, of becoming weary and not running away? How can we be like Moses of, I am getting tired, but I'm not going to give up? Because the truth is, the reality is, one day, maybe a day sooner than we like to think. The people that you love and the people that are counting on you will need you. they'll need you to be able to stand in the breach for them. One day, maybe sooner than any of us think,

the people that are counting on you will need you to be steadfast when everything else has fallen apart. They'll need you to be faithful when everyone else is running away. How do we get to that place? How do we become capable of being that? I think we do it by doing what St. Paul said to Timothy in the second reading. It's all connected, you guys.

What St. Paul said to Timothy, the very first line, he says, do the things that you have learned. Another translation is, do the things that you've been taught. Because Paul knows Timothy. If you know Timothy, you know that Timothy's mom and his grandma were Christians. So he was raised as a Christian. He was raised in a Christian household. And so when he was a kid, his mom and his grandma, they taught him Bible stories.

They taught him the scriptures. In fact, Paul says that. You knew the scriptures from when you were young. So you know how to pray. His mom and his grandma taught him the Psalms. He knew how to pray. his mom and grandma, they taught him the Our Father. His mom and his grandma brought him to Mass.

And so here's St. Paul saying, okay, here's what I need you to do. Those are the motions you were taught ever since you were a kid. Do those things. Timothy, I need you to be great. So go through the motions. What new things? No, no new things. The old things.

Those prayers your mom and grandma taught you. The mass that your mom and grandma introduced you to. The scriptures that your mom and grandma told you. you about. But go through these motions in season and out of season. We become capable of praying in all seasons by praying in all seasons. The remarkable thing is that's what Timothy did. You know, Timothy died when he was 80 years old. He was martyred. But he was martyred as an 80-year-old man who had full range of motion in his faith. He had this full range of motion because he was preaching and he did not stop preaching, even in the face of opposition.

Because he knew what it was. He knew what it was to preach in season and out of season. He knew what it was to pray in season and out of season. He knew what it was to go through the motions in every season because he just decided, I'm going to go through the motions no matter what in every season. You know, our bishop, he gathered the priests two weeks ago. He took us away for kind of a priest in service, like a formation week. And he was telling us that our bishop, he's so good. He likes to visit all the priests, and he even visits the retired priest. One of the retired priests is a man named Father Mudrake. He might be the oldest priest in the diocese.

Father Madrake was actually, he was one of my priests when I was growing up, over in Brainerd. And he was even old back then. So, like, I don't know how old he is now, like 162, I think. But Father Mudrake, he's in assisted living, and he's pretty non-responsive. So the bishop said, he sat down with Father Mudrack, and he said, I was talking to him, but he just wasn't responding. And he said, but at one point he just said, hey, Father, let's pray. And the moment Bishop started praying, he said instantly, something just switched.

And Father Mudraq was right there. And he was just, he was praying along with Bishop. When it was just a conversation, he wasn't there. But the moment Bishop said, let's pray. Father Mudraq was fully present to him. Again, I don't know what's going on in that moment. Like, I don't know what that is. what I know is that it seems to me that in the midst of limited physical mobility

and in the midst of limited cognitive mobility he still had full range of motion spiritually that when nothing else was left he could still pray it's incredible when nothing else was left he could still pray now again we could hear that we could hear about Father Madrach or about Moses and say yeah when it comes down to it that's what I'll do Like, yeah, when people who love me, people I love are counting on me, then I'll rise to the occasion.

Yes, of course, at the end of my life, I'll be able to pray at the drop of a hat. I don't know if that's true. There is an ancient Greek philosopher named Archilicus, who said something once, that's, it's been quoted many times, like Navy SEALs like to quote this, and other people, like priests at the cathedral, I like to quote this. But Archelicus once said, he said, we do not rise to the level of our expectations, but we fall to the level of our training. that we do not rise to the level, we don't rise to the occasion. We don't rise to the moment of truth.

That big challenge, we don't rise to the challenge. We fall to the level of our training. We fall to the level of our preparation. So that means is this. It means if I want to pray in all seasons, I have to start by praying in all seasons. If I want to pray in all seasons, I need to start by praying in this season. It means if I want full range of motion, I have to actually be going through the motions now. So that's how it starts.

It starts now. We get ready for then by acting now, and I think there's three things we can do. Three things we can shoot for. Commitment, consistency, and companions. So briefly, commitment. Why do we need commitment? We need commitment because if I look at this week ahead

and I say, well, I'm going to pray when I feel like it, that's not the same thing. That's not praying in all seasons. That's praying in seasons where I feel like it. But to ahead of time, on Sunday night, decide, okay, this week, not forever, not for the rest of my life, but for one week, this is what I'm going to pray.

That's what is necessary. I mean, so years ago, one of the first years I was on campus, we used to have holy hour every morning at 6.45, from 6.45 a.m. 7. 75. And so at one Sunday Mass, one of the first weekends of the year, I shared, I said, students, you know, if you, if you haven't prayed, I invite you to join us at 645, 745 every morning this week. So the next morning, go into adoration, and these two sisters, they're freshmen, two sisters showed up, they're twins, they're on the track team and the cross-country team, incredible runners,

incredible academically. They showed up, and I didn't know them at all. I recognized them from the day before. And so the first half hour of Holy Hour is just like sitting there in silence. They're just like, what do we do now? Like there's a, you know, the Eucharist is on the altar, the monstrous is there, they didn't know what a monstrous was, they didn't know what are we looking at? what are you supposed to pay attention to do.

Then we do this thing called the Liturgy of the Hours, like morning prayer. There's all these ribbons and a book to flip back and forth. They're just like, what the heck is this? Afterwards, I was like, you guys, it's so great that you're here. How come you showed up this morning? They said, because you told us to. So really? Like, people listen to me?

That's crazy. You come back tomorrow. They said, okay. I'm not going to say they were perfect. I'm not going to say they batted a thousand. But for the next four years, almost every single morning you can count. on those two showing up and praying from 645 to 745. And I have to tell you that time, that

commitment, that decision to pray, it didn't just change those four years of their college career. It charted the course for the rest of their lives since. It started the course for the then they ended up marrying. It charted the course for the children that they're now currently raising. It charted the course for the kind of professions that they've both gone into. And that happened because they made the decision. They just made a commitment. I'm going to show up. I think four years ago, we have a guy who's a senior this year. Four years ago, he went away with us for our focused national conference in January. And he's encountered the Lord in a new way. And he came back and he said to the guy leaving his Bible study. He said, you know what I'm going to do?

I think I'm going to have a holy hour once a week. That's what I'm going to do. I want to spend time with the Lord. I'm like a holy hour once a week. And his Bible study leader, his name's Tim, Tim said, you know, that's good. It would be better if he just did 20 minutes every week, every day. rather than a holy hour one day a week, how about 20 minutes every day? And the guy was like, okay. So that's what he did. He started that freshman year.

He's now a senior. Again, student athlete, academically gifted, is in band. He's a leader on campus. But this guy has been completely transformed, completely changed because he made the commitment, made the decision, and just keeps showing up.

Again, not perfectly. But that's the thing. We could only grow through the motions. We could only have full range of motion if we make the decision, make the commitment ahead of time, and then actually show up. So my invitation is for all of us to do this.

This week, maybe the next two weeks. The next two weeks, when are you going to show up and pray? Maybe in your room, but my invitation is this. The challenge is this. Come over to the Newman House. We have adoration in the mornings. Not at 6.45. You can sleep in, hit this news button.

Go over at 7.45. The only hour is from 7.45 every morning. All day, Tuesday, all day, Wednesday, all day Thursday, half day Friday. Just come on over, make a decision. Sometime tonight. that's when I'm going to go over to the Newman House. That's when I'm going to pray in front of our Lord in the Eucharist. But to make that commitment makes all of the difference.

Or to say this, you're here at Sunday Mass. So good. You know we have Mass every day. What about I'm going to go to one extra Mass. For the next two weeks, maybe next three weeks, I'm going to go to one extra mass each week. Just check the schedule and make that. But to make that commitment ahead of time

so you can exercise what it is to have full range of motion, not just when I feel like it, but even when I don't feel like it. Commitment. Second is consistency, just showing up again and again. Again, it's not, I have to tell you guys, I sometimes think that we love intensity. I'm going to show up, I'm going to do this hardcore. Consistency beats intensity every time. A couple years ago, I was filling in into parish down the way, and there's a man in the front row who I recognized. He used to teach at the medical school, on campus at UMD. And I knew him because I have a little brother and sister

who went to medical school there and I was like, oh man, that guy. I heard about that guy. I heard stories about this guy. Here he is in church. I'm like pretty cool. At the end of Mass, he comes up and says, Father, I like to talk to you.

I said, great. He said, I was raised Catholic. I said, that's wonderful. He says, I haven't been in church for 50 years. He said, that's not as wonderful. But you're here now. But I'm here now. He says, I think I need to reconnect with the Lord.

And I said, that's a good idea. He says, I think I need to go to confession. And I said, I think you're right. Can I do that with you? Yes, sir. So he said at the time, he went to confession. I'll say, we went to confession. We didn't go.

He went. He went to confession. Afterwards, he was like, so what do I do now? He said, well, you know how to pray, right? Yeah, my parents taught me. Okay. Do that. He made the decision.

He made the commitment. Year, year and a half later, he calls and says, Father, like to meet again. Great. I met at the Newman House, and he, I said, I want to give you an update. I said, great. See, that confession changed my life.

So I've been back to church. He says, some of the things that have plagued my life, he's broken past. Some of the things that have plagued my life, they're gone. But the most important thing, he says, he said, every night, I pray for 15 minutes a day. He said, every night, pray for 15 minutes a day. I said, what do you do?

He said, I just pray the prayers that my mom and dad taught me. It's like St. Paul to Timothy. He just do the things that you were taught. Do the things that you learn. Do the things you believe. Fifteen minutes a day, he says, I would never believe it. He says, but I'm a new man.

And he said, I would never believe that one year of praying 15 minutes a day. He says, I'm completely transformed. My kids don't believe it. My grandkids don't believe it. He's a 93-year-old man. Father Madrake, he started way earlier. But it's not too late.

It's never too late. Because consistency beats intensity every time. And consistency makes it so we can have full range of motion. So commitment, make the decision. and consistency, just show up again and again. When you fail, go back. And the third thing is companionship, because we realize Moses is on top of that mountain.

When he was weary, he wasn't there alone. There were two people with him. So the next week, next two weeks, next three weeks, my invitation is this. Find two people who'll do it with you. Yes, of course, because it's nice to have someone like, hey, are you showing up tomorrow? Yes, I'm sure up tomorrow.

Let's show up together. Accountability is great. But also, when you do with someone else, it's a lot more fun. It's actually a lot more enjoyable. when you don't just have to show up by yourself. So tonight, my invitation, look at all these people who are here.

This is incredible. You do not lack for options. But to ask one or two other people like, hey, what are we going to do this week? What's our commitment for the next two weeks? Because this is the thing. We need you. The people who love you need you.

This is the last thing. We need to be working towards a full range of motion with the maximum amount of weight that we can bear. because at one point, men, maybe sooner than later, someone is going to need you to be able to exercise your faith when they can't. Sometimes, maybe sooner than later, sometimes it's going to need you to have the full range of motion with the maximum amount of weight that you can bear

because they are struggling, because they are hurting. Someone very soon might be needing you to stand in the breach and remind them of God's patience and his goodness in their worst season. and the only way we can be there in their worst season is we can learn how to show up in every season. We can only get there if we learn how to go through the motions in every circumstance,

to grow through the motions and have a full range of motion in every season.