Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 11/10/19 CompariSIN: Incomparable

Episode Date: November 10, 2019

Homily from the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. We will continue walking through this world in which people are better than us. How can we become invincible to comparison? Mass Readings from November 10, 2019: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 Psalms 17:1, 5-6, 8, 152 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 Luke 20:27-38 Download the Homily Study

So I remember back in elementary school, there were two subjects, I mean, even from first grade that I just, I did, I was not a fan, not a big fan of like the most simple. People love these topics. Handwriting? Do you guys have handwriting still? Is this a new and longer, you just typewrite things? I get it. New generation. No, handwriting.

It's the worst. And crafts. Like, I never liked doing crafts. And not like I didn't like writing stuff. I liked writing stuff. And I have to admit this. I have a kind of reputation for disliking crafts, but it didn't start out that way. I was completely open to crafts when I was a kid.

Unfortunately, Tracy H was in my grade. And Tracy H. was the best. I literally mean she was the best. She was the perfect student. She was the perfect kid in class. Her handwriting was, it looked exactly like the sample handwriting. Like, you know, it had the printed letters and he had letters underneath the printed letters. Her letters were better than the printed letters.

When it came to crafts, the sample craft that the teacher made for everyone for us to see, Tracy made it bet Tracy H. She was better. I had a thing for Tracy H. Let me tell you. She was the cutest little thing. She had this patch over one eye. And I was like, adorable. But when it came to my handwriting compared to Tracy's handwriting, it was like, it was like, it was no contest.

If you compare Tracy's, Tracy H's crafts to my crafts, hers were like put in a museum. Mine looked like they were made by a two-year-old monkey who grew up on a farm. It was just, like, ridiculous. And so me compared to Tracy H. was the absolute worst. And I realized that the worst part about this was the teacher would hold up Tracy's work. And, like, look at what Tracy's done. My work never got held up, except as an example of, don't do this, children. Like, stay away from this is not where you want to be.

Don't end up like Mike S. Like, that was kind of the thing. And again, this whole thing compared to it. So here's what happened. I just stopped trying. When I came to craft, I'm like, no, I don't, I'm not dealing with glue stuck in my hair anymore. I'm not dealing with making this mess. I'm not even going to try because compared to Tracy, I have no shot.

Handwriting is no better. I'm like, when computers were invented, I'm like, yes, I type just as, she types faster than me, though. But compared to Tracy H, like, I had no chance. So I just, again, all these areas, I just, I quit. Like, I'm not going to try anymore because compared to her, I fail. you know, we're in the middle of the third part of this four-part series on comparison. That's one of the things about comparison is that sometimes we can do this. Sometimes we can let this happen to us that we meet someone who's better than us and we're like, well, then why even try?

Meet someone who's better at something than us and we're like, well then let them be better. Why should I even keep going? We realized that Teddy Roosevelt was right. He said comparison is the thief of joy. It also is just that thing that steals us from even wanting to try. But here's the hard news about this whole thing, is that Tracy H isn't the only person who's better at crafts and at handwriting and at life than I am. Like, she's not the only person better than me.

If I think about it, I'm like, I look at everything that I do in my life, and I'm not the best at anything. Like, I'm not even better than most people at anything. There's almost nothing that I do that I'm not middle of the pack at. which means the majority of the world is better than me at virtually everything I try. And here's maybe the harsh news, harsh news number one of the night. My guess is, if you're anything like me, that virtually everything you do, there are many, many people who are better at it than you are.

Because we're going to get done with this series on comparison, and we're going to go back into this world, go back into this life, where the majority of people are better at things than we are. So what do we do with that? Do we let that steal our joy? Or do we just quit? Or here's the option, other option. Or do we become incomparable?

There's comparison out there. That's just, it's rampant, right? It's in our hearts. It's surrounding us. And we can have a choice. I can give in to this compare and then despair. Or I can become invincible to comparison. You can become incomparable.

Because, yes, it's true. when the teacher held up the thing. What I, maybe what she meant was, you can't do this like Tracy H. Ken. Maybe she just meant it like, isn't this great? Celebrate what someone can do.

What I heard it as is you can't do it like Tracy H. Ken. And in some levels, that's true. I can't do it like Tracy H. can, but that doesn't mean that I can never do it like Tracy H. can. To become incomparable means that when someone else does something great,

it doesn't shut me down. It might actually move me along. You ever had maybe a parent do this where they're like, why can't you be more like, you ever play that game with anyone? Your mom and dad says, and they're maybe just trying to inspire you and they say, why can't you be more like your older brother? Why can't you be more like your little sister? Why can't you be more like your cousins?

Like, they just find someone to compare you to. And sometimes that comparison can lead to despair. Sometimes that comparison can lead to condemnation. And maybe that's what they meant. Maybe what they meant by this was they were highlighting your limitations. You can't do it. Why can't you be like someone else? But maybe they were trying something else.

Like maybe they were actually trying not to condemn you. Maybe they weren't trying to indict you. Maybe they were trying to do what was in Second Maccabee, say it's the first reading. And you heard it about, this is Second Maccabees Chapter 7. What happened is the Greeks, they came and they invaded Israel. And now all the Jews lived under the rule of the Greeks. And so at one point, the ruler was Antiochus, was saying, okay, if you're going to be Jewish, Fine, you can stay here, but you have to obey our rules.

And one of the things we're going to do is we want to make you eat pork, of course, violation of the law. And so this story we heard today is these seven brothers and their mom. And actually, this is like the edited for mass version. Like, they cut out, we kind of skipped over the, it's really gory. They're going to make a movie about it someday because it's just that violent. We didn't hear all the seven brothers. We heard about four of them or so.

But when it gets to the story gets to the seventh brother, like the story gets like just absolutely intense. Here's how it goes. It says Antiochus, the mom is talking. The mom had to watch all this whole thing, right? She had to watch six of her sons get tortured, get like literally skinned alive and killed. And now here's the seventh son, he's still alive, and she's calling out to him in Hebrew. And Antiochus, the ruler, he suspects insult in her words.

He thinks she's making fun of him. And so as the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, and not with mere words, but with promises on oath to make him rich and happy, that he would abandon if he had abandoned his ancestral customs, he would have to be able to, make him his friend and entrust him with high office. Now when the youth paid him no intention at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise the boy to save his life. And after he urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son. So she's like, fine, you're going to make me do this? I will act as if I'm going to try to convince him to eat pork. But then it says that then she got down and whispered into his

ear in Hebrew. Here's what she says. Son, have pity on me, who carried you. you in my womb for nine months, who nursed you for three years, who brought you up and educated and supported you to your present age. Now, that can sound like one of those guilty moms. You know guilty moms, right? Like, listen, I carried you in my body for nine months. I weaned you for three years. Like, I've suffered enslaved for you. You will do what I say. I'm guilting you into this, right? That's not what she's doing. She's not guilting her son into this. What she's saying is, my son, I carried you for three, for nine, three years in my body. It was the weirdest gestation ever. I carried you for nine months. I nursed you for three years. I've loved you. What she's saying is,

My son, I love you, you can trust me. I've been part of your life, your entire life. I love you, you can trust me. Because what I'm about to ask you is something big. I'm not guilting you into this. I love you, you can trust me. And she says, I beg you. Look at the heavens and the earth and see all that's in them.

Then you'll know that God did not make them out of existing things. And in the same way the human race came into existence. So now, so now, do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers. and accept death, so that at the time of mercy, I may receive you again with them. And here's a mom, you can see her, like, saying, like, why can't you be more like your brothers? Your six brothers got tortured and killed? You be like them. Like, she's not gilting him into this. What she's saying is, you saw them go ahead of you. There's something in your brothers that you admire,

right? There's something in your brothers that you are like, that's heroic. And she looks at her son, and she says, that thing you admire in your brothers, I see that in you. So this comparison, rather than leading to condemnation was comparison that was meant to lead to inspiration. It was not comparison that would highlight his limitations. It was the comparison that she's not trying to say, listen, this is the possibility. That thing you think is great, it is great.

And it's in you as well. See, this is to become incomparable means that when someone else does something great, and I'm not less, I realize I can be more. And this happens all the time. You know, up until Roger Bannister in 1954 ran a sub four-minute mile, people thought it was absolutely impossible.

No one will ever be able to run that fast. Humanly impossible. But since 1954 and he ran that sub four-minute marathon, mile. You guys, you have no idea. 487 people have run a sub-four-minute mile. Many of them high schoolers. The guy who did just, he broke a two-minute marathon, two-hour marathon.

You know, Iliad Kipchoga. his average pace per mile was around four minutes and 30 seconds. 26 of those back to back to back to back to back to back. Sir Roger Bannister in 1854, he showed it was possible. And people are like, wait, I can do that? Yeah, you can do that. His being greater did not make anyone else less,

but actually left them inspired. In fact, that's even what's happened in the church before. There's a guy named St. Ignatius of Loyola. This guy was like all about, he was all about being famous, all about being heroic on the battlefield. He went on the battlefield. He hit back cannonball. He broke his leg.

And as he was healing, his leg was healing, his sister-in-law gave him two books. He liked reading other books. He liked reading books of romance and books of fighting. And she gave him two books. She said, no, no, no, no, you need to read these two books. One is the life of Jesus. The other is the lives of the saints. Like, this will do you some good.

And as he was reading those lives of the saints, he read these lives of people who just, they got sold out for Jesus. And he said, wait a second. If they could do it, then why not me? If this was possible for someone like St. Francis of Assisi, why wouldn't it be possible for someone like me? You know, the people who are incomparable,

people who are invincible to comparison, they refuse to be threatened by other people's gifts. Imagine what you would look like if you were actually refused to be threatened by the fact that someone else is liked more than you are. That someone else might have more accomplishments than you are. Imagine if you refused to be made less in your mind

by the fact that someone else did something great. Someone else was loved more. You know, because that's the thing. It's like everyone in this room, everyone here is loved by someone. You are loved deeply by someone. But we all, we give into this comparison thing, well, I'm not loved the way I want to be loved.

I'm not loved by the person I want to be loved by. And so even the gift we're given, this comparison, it inhibits our ability to even receive the gifts, to receive the love, to receive what we've been given. Because I'm more concerned with what someone else has been given, that I can't even receive what I'm being given right now. I have a sibling who will remain nameless. who for years on Christmas morning, as we were all unwrapping our gifts, they got gifts as well. But as we're all unwrapping our gifts, they would look around and see their gifts and add them up,

and see all the other siblings' gifts and add them up. And if someone else got more than they did, they looked at Christmas morning as if they were losing. Like, why did someone else get more than me? Imagine taking a day where all you're just being given gifts and gifts and gifts and gifts and feel like you lost. Because when we have that comparison, it's in us, and we look at someone else's gifts, and we realize I haven't been given those same gifts.

And the reality, of course, is that it's true. Because we'll look around, and we'll be saying, I'm not like them. Look around this room and say, I'm not like they are. You have more gifts than me. So what? What if the people closest, do you have more gifts than you? Like, what does that matter?

In fact, you know, it's so interesting. This young woman, she had been following the podcast, like the series had been doing, and she emailed me and she said, Father, I get it. I'm infinitely preferred, infinitely loved by God. But here's the thing is that in my family and in my church, there are people around me who have been given these gifts by God that I haven't been given. Like, I pray to God for these gifts. And people around me have evidence that they've been given more gifts than me. And I feel like I'm less.

And to her, I just had to say, like, okay, I realize that. maybe other people have been given more gifts. But this is so important. Giftedness does not equal worthiness. Giftedness does not equal lovableness. Like, just because someone else but given more gifts doesn't mean that they're more loved. And because I've been given less gifts,

it doesn't mean I'm less loved. In fact, St. Paul writes about this in chapter 12 of Romans. He says, we've each been given gifts according to the grace given to us, not according to worthiness, but just according to the gift. He says, in First Corinthians, he says, because people were looking at their own gifts in the Bible,

like, listen, my maximum amount of gifts makes me better, and my minimum amount of gifts makes me less. And he looked at those people who were claiming that they were better because they had more, and he said, what makes you superior? He asked the question, he said, what makes you superior? Why do you have, or what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did not receive it, then why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Because one critical thing is not only does giftedness not equal worthiness. But God doesn't desire equality. He doesn't want us to be equal. If he did, he would have just made us all literally exactly the same. He wants complementarity.

So we're not going to have the same amount of gifts. That is an undesirable goal. Say, well, yeah, but if I had more gifts, I'd be happy. I don't think so. If people love me more, I'd be happy. I don't think so. Because until the time we become incomparable, invincible to comparison, I would say this.

No matter how many gifts God gives you, you still live under the threat that you're not loved. I've ever had this I found people I found it true that people who are gifted are just as likely to end up resenting the gift and becoming suspicious of what am I really truly loved

as people who don't have very many gifts because think about it here's someone who has a particular gift maybe their gift is service maybe they actually they come alive when they serve they come alive when they give and they just they find the time for that and so they have a role now in the community in the family in their in their church

in this community and their role is they serve or someone else as a teacher. You found you have a gift for teaching, and so you embrace it, you use it, and like, wait a second. Now you have a role in the community, and your role as a teacher. Or someone who, there's so many of you who are just such good hearts, and people, like, open up to you, have such good counsel. One of your gifts is you listen well, and people just turn to you.

Because you use that gift, and so you have a role in the community that people turn to you. Some of you, like, bring people together. I know some of you are just so gifted in that. Like, you're the one who's always calling people and saying, let's come together, let's have fun. And then you're like, but no one calls me. I'm always the one who calls everyone else, and no one calls me. I'm always the one who serves. And that's why they like me.

Just because I have this gift, I have this role of teaching, and so that's the only reason why people care about me. And we can begin to actually associate our value with the value that we offer. And we can begin to doubt the fact that am I love because I'm loved or am I love because I'm gifted. Do people care about me only because I have this role? Do people love me only because I have this gift? and we can end up resenting the role, and we can end up begrudging the gift.

And see, if that's ever been you, I just need to let you know this. What you offer is valued. Like when you serve, it's valuable. It helps people around you. So please keep doing it. What you offer is valued. Who you are is loved. What you offer is valued.

But who you are is loved. And missing this, missing that key, is what has led more people who are even massively gifted or minimally gifted to feel inferior. So many people. Even if you're massively gifted can feel inferior. Because if that's all measuring things, then everyone is seen as a threat to my own worthiness. Your giftedness is a threat to my lovableness. And so you feel inferior.

You ever wonder why we feel inferior? When was the last time someone actually literally walked up to you? and told you, I believe you're inferior. I don't believe that's ever happened in this community, although in this community, there's many people who say, like, I just feel inferior. No one is, here's the hard word. No one is doing that to you.

No one is doing that to you. We do that to ourselves. There's a quote from Teddy Roosevelt, right, about comparison to The Thief of Joy. The wife of his fifth cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, once said this. She said, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

no one makes you feel inferior we do that to ourselves we choose to feel inferior and no one can make you feel inferior without your consent yet that's still so easy to fall into it's still so easy to look over in someone else's lane right it's so easy to look over in someone else's lane and sometimes we think that's what we're supposed to do I'm supposed to be comparing myself in fact St. Paul next week just spoiler for you heads up next week St. Paul is going to say

be imitators of me as I'm of Christ So it seems like in that sense that Paul is saying, hey, look over here, be like me. He's not. This is important for us to know it. St. Paul's not saying, you should end up looking like me. He's saying this. He's saying, imitate the fact that I'm imitating Jesus.

When he says, be imitators of me as I'm of Christ, he's not saying you should look like Paul. He's saying, I'm trying to look like Jesus. You also should try to look like Jesus. There's this famous spiritual writer. His name is Dom Hubert von Zeller. He's a Benedict and Monke. English man. I read this book that he wrote once years ago. And then he described taking everyone in

this room and giving everyone a canvas and an easel and a set of paints, paint brush, and saying, okay, meet me tomorrow. We're going to sit on a hill and we're going to paint the sunrise. Anyone who wants to, anyone who wants to paint the sunrise, we have a canvas for you, have an easel for you, have paints, we have paint brushes for you. So meet me at sunrise. We're going to paint the sunrise. And we all show up for paint the sunrise. And we all show up. We start painting the sunrise, but what happens is that I end up noticing someone else's painting. I'm like, wait, my painting doesn't look like Tracy H's painting. So here's what we end up doing.

We end up, instead of looking at the sunrise, you end up looking at Tracy H's painting and try to copy the way Tracy H. is painting the sunrise. And Dom Herbert von Ziller said, what are you doing? Paint the sunrise. Don't paint someone else's version of the sunrise. When it comes to imitating Jesus, like, don't want to be it. imitate someone else's imitation of Jesus, just imitate Jesus. Don't look at someone else's crafts. Look at the master because he has so much more for you. And this is something I just

been, this has been really weighing on me for, I'm going to say, I know months, maybe years. I wasn't sure when to share it because it seems it can be received as kind of a hard word, and I don't mean it like a hard word. But the fact of the matter is I look at myself and I realize that I could be more in my life, I could be more. Not only that, I should be more. It doesn't even stop there. If I ask myself, I realize I actually want to be more. So not only could I be more and should I be more, like, I want that.

And my guess is this. My guess is if you're here tonight, you know that's true as well, that you are not yet the person that God wants you to be. That you actually, you could be more. And you should be more. And if you shut up for mass tonight, my guess is you actually want to be more. I'm guessing that's why you're here. And I want to be more so that...

You know, sometimes we want to be more so we can be noticed. Sometimes we want to be more so we can be great. Sometimes we want to be more so we can be more than someone else. But that is not the person we compare ourselves to. We can never compare ourselves to the person next to us. That's never the person. That's never a good comparison. That's not being incomparable. That's not an invincible comparison.

To compare yourself to the person next to us is never the goal. Because if we do that, it's always going to reach a limit. If I compare to myself to the person next to me, it's always going to reach a... Maybe even if you win, even if you're literally the best in the world at anything, if there's a limit there. Because who's going to take it from me? Or maybe I'm best at this thing, but I'm not best at everything. There's a limit.

Or I lose. I need to be better than someone else, and I lose. I mean, I'm glad that Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, so I know it's possible. But I also realize that that's not possible for me. I kind of liked it when it was impossible. No one could possibly do that. Now people can.

Just not you, Father Mike. But that's never been the point. The point literally has never been to be better than the person next to you. God has never asked you to paint someone else's sunrise. Paint his sunrise. Paint your version of his sunrise. This is the last thing. You guys, it all comes back to last week.

Last week, this core truth is that you are infinitely preferred already. So paint the sunrise. You are infinitely loved. So pick up the canvas and paint the sunrise. You're already infinitely chosen. So get those paints and just go. Because you're infinitely loved already, infinitely preferred already. That doesn't just mean there's a demand for you to be more.

You not have the freedom to be more. You have the freedom to paint that sort of every step. stinking every single day to pick up those paints and just not be better than the person next to you, not to compare yourself to the person in front of you. All you need to do is paint the sunrise better today than you did yesterday. Because that's the only comparison that counts. Who are you today versus who you were yesterday? There will be people who paint the sunrise better than you.

But that's not the point. The point is not to paint the sunrise better than anyone else. is to paint the sunrise better today than you painted the sunrise yesterday. That's good comparison. That's being incomparable. It isn't using comparison to make yourself feel superior or make someone else feel inferior, but to see what's possible, to rejoice in it, and to be inspired to try. And becoming incomparable, becoming invincible to bad comparison, means that God has given you the freedom to be more, not more loved, not more. more preferred, but more like him today than you were yesterday.

Hi, this is Father Mike, obviously, once again, and I wanted to thank you for listening to this podcast. Hopefully, and really my prayer in so many ways, I would even say my preoccupation for a lot of my waking hours is making sure that this podcast is a gift to you. I hope it's a gift to my student, our students, first of all, and then as an overflow, a gift to everyone who listens to this. Thank you for supporting this ministry. Thank you for supporting me with your prayers.

I was just at a men's conference this last weekend, and a number of men came up and just said, yeah, we listen, and I've been praying for you, specifically for me, in my own faithfulness, in my own pursuing of Jesus, as well as for the students on campus. And I want to let you know that there were so many students today at both of our Masses. We have two Masses on Sunday in the morning, one in the evening,

who are Catholic, but had never come to Mass on campus before, and they were here tonight, and thank you for your prayers. I hope for your prayers are what got them to Mass. And there are a number of students who aren't Catholic and they came to Mass tonight for the first time ever. And again, so grateful, so grateful for your prayers. Please keep that up. You know why I'm having this little addendum to the podcast

is we have our annual give to the Max Day. It's the day that we ask those who have been helped by our ministry to help our ministry, those who have been blessed by our ministry, to please pray about in response and return blessing our ministry. If you can, please keep praying for us. If you're willing to keep praying for us, please keep doing that. And if you feel called to this, if you wouldn't mind, praying about financially supporting our ministry, this upcoming Thursday, Thursday, November 14th, 2019 is our annual give-to-the-max

day. So there's a place called give-M-N, give-minnesota.org. And you can go there and you can find us, UMD Newman, to donate if that's what you're called to do, or even just go to bulldog at Catholic.org and then hit the donate button. There you can give a recurring gift if you'd like. You give a one-time gift. Again, this is only if you just want to, obviously, these podcasts are for free. Hopefully they're a blessing to you, and hopefully you know that there's no strings attached to any of this. I pray for you, you who listen to these podcasts, like a lot.

you have a lot of my yeah I guess I just I don't know how to say this I feel the weight of wanting to serve you I want to serve our students on campus but I really really want to serve you when you listen to these podcasts and I hope that they're a blessing to you

and again there's no strings attached if you're like no podcasts are free dude and so we don't have to do that I totally understand I 100% understand But if you are moved to support us through prayer or through financial support, I thank you. And I'm really, really grateful. This is basically this Give Me to the Max Day is the one day we ask for funds, and it's the one day that we get them.

It supports our annual, our year-long ministry. And so thank you so much for praying about that and doing that. Again, I'll keep this message short. Yeah, fat chance. But thank you so much. And please know, I'm praying for you, regardless of whether or not, yeah, I'm praying for you, no matter what. Thank you so much. And, yeah, God bless.