Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 11/19/23 Based On a True Story: Otherwise

Episode Date: November 18, 2023

Homily from the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. It could have been otherwise. We have been created good by the good God. But we have been captured by sin, death, and slavery. In Jesus, God has rescued us and transferred us into His Kingdom…His family. Mass Readings from November 19, 2023: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 Psalms 128:1-51 Thessalonians 5:1-6 Matthew 25:14-30

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. Before we get started, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you so much. This last November 16th, we had our annual give to the Max Day. That's the day that up here at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, our Newman Center, the Bulldog Catholic Newman Center, that we take the opportunity to ask all of those who have been blessed by our mission up here, those who want to be part of our mission to participate in this mission to reach the hearts, the souls, the minds of college students on campus up here in Duluth, Minnesota. We ask them to support us. And so thank you so much for the this last November 16th. Thank you for supporting us. I want to thank all of those, all of you who have said, you know, you care about college students, you care about handing on the faith to the next generation. You've been praying for us. You've been praying for our ministry, been praying for our students, praying for everything we do on campus. Also, thank you so much for those who tuned into the Q&A session. We have a live, had a live stream this last November 16th. Thanks to Ascension. It was so grateful for them to host that live stream for us.

Thank you so much for tuning in and having questions. I'm sorry if we're going to get to your questions. And lastly, I want to thank all of those who supported us financially this last November 16th. In order to reach college students, in order to keep this ministry going, we could not do it without the help of people like you. So thank you so very much. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, of course, the spirit of Thanksgiving, just thank you, thank the Lord. And I hope that this ministry continues to bless you as you have blessed us. The Lord be with you. You're reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. chapter 25 verses 14 through 30

Jesus told his disciples this parable a man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them to one he gave five talents to another two to a third one to each according to his ability then he went away immediately the one who had received five talents went and traded with them

and made another five likewise the one who received two made another two but the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward, bringing the additional five. He said, Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.

His master said to him, well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come and share your master's joy. Then the one who had received two talents came also came forward and said, Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more. His master said to him, well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities.

Come, share your master's joy. Then, the one who had received, the one talent, came forward and said, Master, I knew that you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter. so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back. His master said to him in reply, You wicked, lazy servant.

So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant And gather where I did not scatter. Should you not then have put my money in the bank So that I could have got it back with interest in my return? Now then, take the talent from him And give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich, but from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth, the gospel of the Lord. Wait you to have a seat. So as you know, a couple weeks ago, we started a new series called Based on a True Story. And some of the movies I just kind of mentioned,

I think some of the movies that we find the most inspiring are the ones that largely are true, right? the ones that are based on a true story. And so we kind of talked about, again, how inspiring, like, as an example, Braveheart, inspiring movie. I know it's really old, but still, it's still inspiring. The pursuit of happiness, if you've seen that, it's an inspiring movie. It's just really incredible.

I don't know if you ever, we didn't mention this one before, but Unbroken, if you know that story of Louise Naparini. So, so cool. Just an amazing story based on a true story. The Revenants, inspiring. The Exorcist, not inspiring, but also based on a true story. But I was thinking about this and thinking about all these movies. based on a true story, that if you were to take virtually any one of them and press pause,

at the wrong time, it would completely change the story. So if you've seen the movie Pursuit of Happiness, I mean, I don't know if you remember that scene where here's Will Smith's character and he's with his son, they're homeless, they have no place to sleep, so they're in the public bathroom. And he's lying on the floor and he's bracing his foot up against the door as someone's trying to get in and he's holding onto his son, his tears are streaming down his face because he just realizes, I've failed. I filled my family. I failed my son. I filled life. If you were to stop that movie right there, you'd change it. It'd be a different movie. If you were to take, again,

the Reverend, Hugh Glass, right? He gets attacked by a grizzly bear, and he's like left for dead. If you just paused the movie over there, that'd be a different story. If you had the exorcist and you press pause before the priest shows up, really different story. I mean, if you were to take Unbroken, again, Louis Zamperini. And here is, he's a bombardier and he's shot down over the Pacific and he's on a raft for 64 days in a row. Just stop right there. Different story. Or when he's a prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp. Stop right there. That's a different time. Or he comes back home. And if you know anything about the real story of Louis Zamperini, he comes back home and he is full of anger. He has full of revenge. He's an alcoholic. He is broken. If you stop the movie there,

if you stop the story there, it's no longer inspiring. It's a tragedy. Every one of those stories, every one of those movies based on a true story. If you stopped it at the wrong moment, you change the story. It becomes now not inspiring. It becomes devastating. It's a tragedy. And of course, the reality is life. This is life.

That's why they're based on a true story because this is actually what happens in our lives. There are so many moments. In fact, we know this, right? You don't need to tell you. There's so many seasons in our lives that are overwhelming, so many seasons that are devastating. There are so many moments in our lives

that if you just stopped right there, the story would be a tragedy. You know, I think about even just the term tragedy. I think tragedies are unique because I think the mark of a tragedy is not just it's just sad. I think the mark of a tragedy is when we know it could have been otherwise. I think that's the mark of a tragedy is when we know it didn't have to be this way. So at any moment, like we could look at our lives and say, oh gosh, if this hadn't happened, that wouldn't have happened. Or if that hadn't occurred, then this wouldn't, I wouldn't be in the same.

or if this hadn't taken place, then I wouldn't be in this place. I think that tragedy is so unique because tragedy is the kind of grief that breaks our hearts because we know it could have been otherwise. Tragedy is the kind of grief that breaks our heart because we know it didn't have to happen. But again, the stories we tell, like the movies that we have that are based on a true story, we come back again and again, not only is there like life, their loss and there's grief and there's devastation, but also that wasn't the end. There's this truth here that that wasn't the end.

So Will Smith, he made it through that night. He made it through that season. He kept working and he was able to provide a home, a place for his family. Hugh Glass, attacked by the grizzly bear, crawled miles and miles to safety. Not the end of the story. The kid in the exorcist, they did call the priest. Got the devil out of there.

Not the end of the story. Louis Zamperini, he comes back and he's broken. He comes back to the states. But he encounters Jesus, and Jesus completely changes his life. And so his story is not a tragedy anymore. His story is inspiring. I mean, even William Wallace, right?

Even Braithart, again, I know it's an old movie. Go with me. The end of movie, Brayford, I'm going to spoil it, but it is like a thousand years old. In the end of the movie Brayford, he is hung, he's drawn and quartered. But that's not the end of the story. That's the end of his life.

But the story goes on where the men he led, where Robert de Bruce stand there boldly against the English. So much of our lives are marked by tragedy. It could have been otherwise. But we realize that tragedy is not the end. And I believe this is what St. Paul is writing to the Thessalonians today.

Because when he's writing to the Christians in Thessalonica, remember we talked about this last week? He's writing to these Christians. They've experienced tragedy, right? They've experienced suffering. They've experienced imprisonment. They've experienced so much death. And St. Paul's writing to them because they know, like, this is a tragedy.

It could have been otherwise. And St. Paul's writing to them and he's saying, yeah, but this is not the end. Even today, he says, the day of the Lord will come. That, yes, this is dark. And yes, people really have died. This is real loss. This is real death. This is real tragedy.

And yes, it could have been otherwise. But this is not the end. Paul had to remind them of the story. So what we've been talking about these last three weeks. The story, remember we've talked about the gospel? What is the gospel? And we started this whole series asking the question. If someone were to ask you, what is the good news?

What is the Ewanelian? What is the gospel? Would we have any idea of how to do? to answer. So we went over Act 1, right? Act 1 in the story is that God is good, that God is love, that God creates this world good. God made you good. Not only did he make you good, he made you in his image and likeness. Act 1, awesome. Last week we talked about Act 2. That then we used that freedom, we use that image of God to break the world with our sin. And really, the truth is, that's the original tragedy. It could have been otherwise. That didn't have to happen.

But we also realize that in that original tragedy, it wasn't the end. We have Act 3. And St. Paul's reminding the Christians today, and I'm writing us today, that this is not the end. There's a third act. And the third act is, we're rescued. In fact, there's this priest out of Detroit. His name is Father John Ricardo. He's just incredible.

He has a book called Rescute. In fact, he has a whole website that's dedicated. It's called The Rescue Project. And in his ministry, he's dedicated his life, essentially, to telling the story. He said he divided the story up into four parts, essentially. The first is created, got that, then captured. The third act is rescued. That's where we are now.

That's the true story. We were created by a good God. We've been captured by the enemy. But God has not abandoned us. He rescues us. So I was inspired by Father John, like, years ago, a couple years ago, at Christmas time. And I was thinking about, like, what would be, like, the most, I'm just switching gears here a little bit. What would be the best Christmas movie of all time? I know it's not even Thanksgiving

yet, but it's coming. But think about this, what would be the best Christmas movie of all time? And some people will say the claymation stuff, like, you know, Frosty, Rudolph, that's fine. If you're a certain age, wonderful. A Christmas story, you know, you shoot your eye out, that's a good one too. Elf, of course, everyone loves Elf. Miracle on 34th Street, throwback. I would say all those are good. And if you say those are your favorite Christmas movies of all time, you probably, that's wonderful. That's great. I would maintain that you're wrong. I would maintain that you're wrong. And that the best Christmas movie of all time is the movie Taken with Liam Neeson. You guys know this story? Okay, so here's a little recap of the story. Taken is, so Liam Neeson's

character is Brian Wells. Brian Wells is next CIA operative, and he has a 17-year-old daughter. And he loves, he's a good dad, he loves his daughter, and he just, he gives her all, everything she needs, but the 17-year-old wants to go to Europe with her friend, and they're going to tour Europe following the band, You Too. And Liam Neeson, the dad, warns her, don't do this thing. And if you go do this thing, please stay away from these people, stay away from these things. She doesn't care. She's loved, she's warned, she does it anyways.

And it's one moment at the beginning of the movie, these men break into this apartment where she and her friend are staying. And this daughter is terrified. It's a horrible scene. This daughter is terrified. And she's hiding under the bed as this man who's going to abduct. and sell her into human trafficking is walking through the apartment trying to track her down. She gets on the phone with her father.

And her father knows what's going to happen, right? This is his job. He knows what's going to happen. And he says on the phone, he says, listen, now this is what's going to happen. This next part is very important. They are going to take you. But you need to stay focused. Then he tells her exactly what to do.

So this is, you guys, this is Genesis chapter two and Genesis chapter three. It's completely right. This is right out of the Bible. Why? Because here we have, we have our good father, who loves us so much, gives us everything we possibly could need. And he says,

hey, don't do this one thing. And we do it anyways. And if we know this, what happens right after this is God shows up in Genesis chapter 3, he shows up and he looks at the woman and he says, okay, now this is what's going to happen.

Now, he's not mad at her. He's not punishing her. He's just saying, you're going to be taken. You're going to experience pain and brokenness. You're going to experience slavery and death. turns to the man, says the same thing. He's not punishing him.

He's just saying, no, this is what's going to happen. You are going to get taken. And you're going to experience suffering and you're going to experience death. You're going to be taken. You're going to be enslaved. That's what happens. Created and then captured. I think one of the cool things is that even in the Bible,

we talked about this last week, even in the middle of the bad news, there's this what they call the pro-emangeline, right? The pre-gospel. and the pre-gospels in Taken as well. Again, again, just keep going with this. In this movie, Taken, what happens is the girl gets taken, his daughter gets taken, she's taken away, but she leaves her phone there. And so the bad guy, the enemy picks up the phone, and the father speaks to the enemy.

The father speaks to the one who's enslaving his daughter. If you remember this at all, because this is where he describes himself as having a very particular set of skills. And the father says to the enemy, he says, listen, if you let my daughter go, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you. I will find you.

And I will kill you. Merry Christmas. This is Christmas. This is the gospel. You guys, why? Because in the middle of this, when God says to the woman and to the man, this is what's going to happen, you're going to be taken. Then what does he do? We talked about this last week.

He turns to the enemy and he says the exact, almost the exact same words. Not as cool as Liam Neeson, but he says to the enemy, I will put enmity between you and the woman between her offspring and yours. He will crush your head. While you bruise his heel. And the whole rest of the movie is the rescue. The whole rest of the Bible is the rescue. One of the problems, of course, is that in the movie, she doesn't know.

She's taken into slavery. She has no idea. And this is too many of us, too. we're walking through life we have no idea we have no idea that our father is fighting for us we have no idea that god is here to rescue us we have this lie that comes against us and says no one is looking for you no one is looking for you you're captured and no one is trying to find you that's why st paul has to write to the vassalonians today and he's saying i need to remind you remember you're not in darkness you have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light god has not abandoned

you this is not the end you're living in a tragedy it could have been otherwise but this is not the end. It is not over. God fights for you. In fact, I love how even in the Old Testament, the book of Wisdom Chapter 18, there's this line I didn't even know existed until a couple years ago. But in Wisdom 18, there's this prophecy of what God is going to do to fight for us. And it says this. It says, Wisdom 18, verse 15, it says, when peaceful stillness encompassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent. So basically, in the middle of darkness, when everything seems lost, when this tragedy is is overwhelming everyone.

When that happens, your all-powerful word from heaven's royal throne leaped into the doomed land, a fierce warrior bearing the sharp sword, into this broken world, into this world of tragedy, it's world of darkness. Your word from heaven's royal throne

leaped into a doomed land, a fierce warrior bearing a sharp sword. Who's the word? Remember what John says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. and then the word became flesh and dwelt among us,

not just dwelt among us, fought for us. This is the rescue mission. Why? Because we broke the world. God's the only one who can restore us. We've sold ourselves into slavery. The only one who can fight for us to set us free is the one who is both fully God and fully human. In fact, this is the craziest thing.

The only one who can actually liberate us is not the really, really good human. It's the only human being who also is fully God. He comes to rescue us. and how does he do it? How does he fight for us? This is the crazy thing. If you look at the crucifix here in the front of the church,

question we can ask is, what is happening right there? Who is on the cross right there? Like, what do you see? On the cross, is that a victim or is that the aggressor? In that moment, Jesus is on the cross? Is he the hunted? Or is he the hunter? Father John back in Detroit, right?

A couple years ago, he described how he was in prayer in his church a week before Holy Week. And he was praying, reflecting on the gospel, reflecting on the story of Holy Week, reflecting on the crucifix. And he said, out of nowhere, these two words appeared to his mind, appeared to his heart.

And it was so powerful, he's like, these two words changed my whole life. And he said, he kind of, you know, I don't know if you've been praying long enough, sometimes you can recognize when a word is not just from yourself, but from the Lord. And so he wanted to check, so he pulled out his phone and typed it in the words.

You know, you've got to double-check God with Google. And so he types in these two words into Google, and he starts burst out laughing. The two words that came to his mind, came to his heart, were the two words, ambush predator. Never heard the words before, never thought the words before, never even knew they existed, looked into Google, and there's such a thing as an ambush predator.

An ambush predator, they're the kind of animals that lie motionless and still, camouflaged in their environments for one purpose. to attract prey. He looks at Jesus on the cross. What is that? Is he hunted? No, he's the hunter. He is the ambush predator.

Why? Because we're captured. We were enslaved. We belong to death. We belong to sin. We belong to the evil one. And so what does Jesus do? He disguises himself in humanity. In fact, the early church fathers described this. Father John goes on to describe how he went back to the early church

and saw how many of the early church fathers would say this exact thing, that Jesus' humanity is the bait, and his divinity is the hook. And when he wanted Satan to do, is he wanted Satan to swallow up his humanity so he could defeat Satan from the inside. Another way to say it is that Jesus' humanity is the cheese, and his divinity is the bar that crushes the head of the enemy. So what happens when at the last moment,

death overwhelms Jesus so that from the inside out, Jesus can destroy death? That Jesus becomes sin on the cross so that in his divinity, he can destroy sin. That in the moment that Satan thinks he's won, the moment the enemy, the one who's kidnapped us all, the one who's captured us, the one to whom we've been sold into slavery, the moment he thinks he's won is the moment

when God's divinity crushes his head and brings us triumph. This is the incredible news. Again, we've been created, we've been captured, but we have been rescued, and because of that, we have this triumph. In fact, it's so cool, that in First Colossians, or a letter to the Colossians, Paul says this.

He says that Jesus has disarmed the rulers and the authorities, right? He's disarmed sin. He's disarmed Satan. He's disarmed death. And he put them to open shame, triumphing over them. Basically, he says, he's disarmed them, he's disrobed them. He's stripped them naked. Death has no more power. Sin has no more power. The evil one has no more power.

He says, triumphing over them. Now, this is the cool thing. Triumph is an actual thing. Like, triumph doesn't just mean you won. Triumph is a certain kind of parade. So back in the first century, and before the first century, in the Roman Empire, a triumph parade was like the parade of parades. that if the Caesar had gone off to fight and he lost, this is remarkable, if the Caesar had gone off to fight and he lost, he would send an emissary back to the city to warn them. An emissary would say this.

It would say, your king has been defeated in battle. The enemy will soon be upon you, so man the ramparts, you are going to have to fight. Because it all comes down to you. That's if the king lost. But if the king, if the Caesar won, what he would do is something completely different. In fact, in Caesar's Gallic wars, there's this description of what Caesar does when he fights the Gauls, right?

They finally defeat the king of the Gauls, and they lead him to kneel at the foot of the Caesar, and he has to kiss the Roman eagle. That's a sign that he's been defeated, that Rome has triumphed. And then what he did is they make him stand up, and they describe this, that they cut off his clothes. He has to stand there completely naked. The enemy has to be completely naked. He's being, He's been disrobed. And they take his hands and shackle him behind his back, take his feet and shackle them together, and they put him in a cage.

And then the parade, that triumphant parade begins. And to go was from, went from Gaul all the way down to Rome. And every city they went into, Caesar would be at the front, his soldiers would be behind him, and the very last person would be this conquered enemy in a cage. And over the cage, to every city that they ride into, over the cage were the words,

this is the one who used to threaten us. He won't. do that anymore. You have been created. You and I have been captured, but you and I have been rescued. God has triumphed over sin. Jesus Christ has triumphed over death. He has triumphed over the enemy, but also it gets even better. He's not only triumphed over the enemy, he's transferred us. That's why St. Paul again in the Thessalonians, he says, you were once in darkness, now you're in light. You live in a new place. Remember what St. John says? He says, beloved, you're God's children now. Because of faith, because of baptism, because you're

received baptism and Holy Spirit, you're now God's children. You actually get to cry out Abba Father. So St. John says, Beloved, you are God's children now. You once weren't. For a long time, you weren't. But he's triumphed and you've been transferred. Remember hearing this image years ago, and it struck me, imagine you're a kid again. And imagine as a kid, you have just a horrible home with a painful family. And now some of you. Some of you. you, you don't have to imagine it, you just have to remember it. I know that's a reality for many people here tonight. But home is not a place of peace.

Home is not a place of fun. Home is not a place of joy. It's not a place you can rest. Home is a place of danger. Home is a place where there's a tyrant, not a father. Home is a place where he walk in and immediately, you don't know if someone's going to blow up, someone's going to yell, someone's going to throw something. So you hate being there. Again, some of you don't have to imagine this, you just have to remember it. home is a place where you're not safe and you're not known

no one cares you're just in the way and so you don't you don't you hate going home hate being home so as soon as you can you know the day you leave walk out the door the last thing at night

you sneak back in hoping no one sees you but imagine that some nights you know you as you're trying to get to sleep your windows open and across the street you can hear the other family there's this other family across the street in this other home and their family life is as different from yours as you could possibly imagine. Some nights you're lying there in bed and you can hear the family gathered around

the table and they're laughing and they're talking and they're having this incredible dinner. Some days you just look across the street and you can see the father in the front yard playing catch with his kids or even just doing chores together and it seems like wow they really seem to love each other. It seems like this is a place. It's so different than where you live. Imagine one day you're in your house, and you're by yourself, and the doorbell rings, and you open the door, and there's the dad from across the street, and he's standing there, and he looks you in the eyes, and he says your name, and he says, would you, would you like to come live with us, and you don't even have to pack? You don't have to run up to your room to get anything. You just run across the street,

because you've been transferred from a tyrant to a father. You've been transferred from a place of slavery to a place of freedom. You've been transferred from a life that's in darkness, as St. Paul writes, to a place where you finally know what it is to be loved. This is the good news. This is the gospel. This is the story. This is actually the life that we get to have based on a true story. This is what God has done for us.

He created us. We were captured. He's rescued us. He has triumphed and he's transferred us. And this is the last thing. This brokenness, the one you experience, the one we all experience, this broken world, these broken hearts, this isn't the end. But I think in some ways, even the story remains a tragedy. Remember, because the tragedy is something that it could have been otherwise.

Not just, and not just, you didn't have to be captured, but also the truth that we didn't have to be rescued. I don't have you ever thought about that. God didn't have to do that. It could have been otherwise. I think it was St. Augustine back in the early church. He talked about this. He noticed the phenomena of what happens when if a parent loses track of their child and they can't find their child, they're scrambling all over the place,

thinking maybe the child is lost forever. Maybe the child has been taken themselves. Maybe they don't know what's happened. Maybe the child has fallen into the river. They have no idea. They've lost their child. And then he says, the phenomena is this. The phenomenon is when they get their child back,

if they ever find their child, if they rescue their child, when they're holding their child in their arms, He said, I've noticed, everyone always seems to weep. And he asked the question, why? Why would you weep? You have your child back. Like, why would you cry in this moment? You have the one you thought you lost. You have them back.

Why would you weep? And he points out, we weep because we know. It could have been otherwise. They could have stayed lost. I might never have found them. I look at what Jesus, I look at all that Jesus has done. to think of all Jesus has done for us. The only one capable of saving us didn't have to save us.

It could have been otherwise. The only one capable of saving us didn't have to save us, but he did. So then we get to live rescued. You and I, we get to live with gratitude. We get to live freedom. We get to live an entirely new life. That's based on a true story.

Thank you.